15

The Bachelorette Party.

That is what all the brides and grooms look forward to. Be it arranged marriage or a love marriage, a bachelorette party is a must. After all, it will the last party where they can be themselves without bothering to maintain anyone’s dignity or whatsoever. It is only and only about them, for both, the bride and the groom.

The groom’s bachelorette party was arranged at the exquisite bar of the estate and all of Jake’s friends and cousins had already gathered.

Jake was talking to Caleb, and Roy, their gang mates from college, while sipping drinks.

And his other friends were challenging with each other on various stupid games, some existing and some created themselves.

Arthur entered the party in casual wear. He looked younger than his age in casuals. There were a few ladies who were ogling at him when he was coming down for the party. As expected by a married man, he downright ignored them.

Emily and Amity also left for the bride’s party when Arthur left for the groom’s. Amity was super excited to attend the only ladies' party. She had made a big deal out of it. And tried to make Arthur feel jealous about how much fun they were to have at the party. Last night all she talked about was Ethan. It’s not like Arthur had any complaints listening about Ethan. He listened to everything she and Ethan did and what all he said to her about him.

He felt nice about listening to how well Ethan had described him to be. It was precise and perfect for his personality that he had developed during college days.

When Jake noticed Arthur entering the party, he excused himself from the others and walked to Arthur.

“You here,”

“Cannot afford to miss this,”

Just when they were about to speak anything more, Jake looked behind Arthur, Ethan had come into the party. He waved his hand at Ethan trying to catch his attention. Arthur looked back only to see Ethan walking directly to them.

“I feel full now. All my mates are here,” Jake said standing in between Arthur and Ethan. They both nodded their head in agreement.

“Guys, some drink,” Jake said signaling the waiter to get some drinks for them.

“Of course. How can we miss that?” Ethan had a smirk on his face.

“Exactly.”

The waiter walks to them with a lot of drinks and Jake personally picked the drinks for his friends. Soon after that, the waiter left to continue his job.

“So, are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?” Jake asked looking at his friends.

Ethan nodded his head and Arthur did too but hesitantly. They indeed had to talk about the elephant in the room, too many at that.

“You begin, you are getting married tomorrow,” Ethan said.

Jake chugged down his drinks and sighed, “As you both already know, the big gun of a father of mine blackmailed to disown me if I didn’t get married and settle down and take care of the company.”

“So?” Arthur asked, curiously.

“So…” Jake smirked, trailing off his words.

“Should you have to ask that. He’s made an arrangement to own both, his life and the company,” Ethan said.

Jake laughed rubbing his palms, “You are my best mate. You know me so well.”

Arthur and Ethan laughed loudly. They knew very well to what extent Jake can go to live his life the way he wants. Of course, not by harming anyone.

“What about you two?” Jake asked, grabbing himself another drink.

Ethan sighed, “I have been working in New York. Life is just… fine.”

Jake nodded his head and turned to Arthur who was in deep thoughts.

“I.. I got married and have a daughter as you two know. And I have been working..”

Arthur's words weren’t exactly pinching to Ethan but he did feel bad but didn’t know why.

“You guys want to talk privately?” Jake asked. But Ethan shook his head and walked away before either of them spoke anything more.

Jake patted on Arthur’s back and said, “Clear the air at least now.” Arthur nodded and followed Ethan.

Ethan walked out near the pool and Arthur behind him trying to catch up.

“Ethan,” that was the first time in years Arthur had uttered his name loudly.

Ethan stopped halfway and looked back at Arthur.

“What?”

“Listen, I just…” Arthur couldn’t come up with words. He didn’t know what to say or how to say anything.

“Listen to what?” Ethan asked.

Arthur sighed looking around, “I came here to see you.”

A spine chilling shiver ran through Ethan’s veins when he heard Arthur say those words.

“So?” Ethan tried to hide what he was feeling at the moment.

“I thought we could talk.”

Ethan walked up to Arthur and stood in front of him, very close. Close enough that they could get into any kind of act.

Arthur nervously swallowed his saliva that was secreted in his throat. They stood like that for some time. Ethan tried to intimidate Arthur as much as possible despite knowing he was pressuring him to speak, say whatever it was Arthur wanted to talk about, secretly hoping to hear he is still stuck in the past with Ethan. But that would seem like a lie if Arthur says he is stuck in the past. It was clear to everyone that Arthur is a family man now and had gone far from being a college boy.

Arthur could barely hold onto his sanity, having Ethan so close to him. He stood like a rock without making any movement.

When he didn’t say anything, Ethan placed his hand on Arthur’s heart and said, “Come to me when you are really ready to speak.” With that, he walked away. Arthur stood in the same place for a while trying to gather his thoughts. He thought he was ready to talk and tell Ethan everything. But after seeing what happened earlier had him wonder if he was or wasn’t ready to pour his heart out.

He went back to his room after thinking some time alone. He was alone in the room for some more time until Emily came back with Amity sleeping in her arms.

The wedding morning had come in a blink of an eye.

The stage was set and the groom, Jake was ready to walk down the aisle with his bride, Nicole. Nicole is a friend from high school. She is a silent, innocent, sweet girl who had a crush on Jake all along the high school years but didn’t dare to voice it considering his status as a kid from a rich family and was handsome and has had a lot of girlfriends who was on a different level from Nicole.

But when her path crossed Jake’s again after a lot of years, and her crush asked her to be his wife and promised to be loyal to her and try to be a good man to her, she couldn’t say no to him. After all, he was the man of words and had never cheated on any girls he dated in the past. And he was always truthful. So, Nicole had given into Jake’s words and had agreed to marry him.

The families of the bride and groom, relatives, friends from high school and college, everyone was present in the wedding hall and the wedding began.

The officiant called for the groom and then the bride. Nicole walked to the stage with bridesmaids and flower girls in front of her and the bride and groom said their vows. Officiant then called for the ring bearer. And the couple were pronounced as a lawfully wedded couple.

Later in the evening, after the dinner, Jake and his wife, Nicole left to their mansion in the estate, with a lot of teasing from his friends.

Most of the people who attended the wedding had left for their rooms and some of Jake’s friends had stayed back in the bar to have a few more drinks. It will be their last night in the estate and tomorrow morning, they will have to be back in their lives.

Emily turned to Arthur who was busy with his phone, “I’ll go to the room with Amy. Do you want to come now or stay back for some more time?”

Arthur looked up at her from his phone and thought for a second, “You go and rest. I’ll be back later.” Emily nodded and got up with Amity and walked back to their suite.

When he was sure that Emily had left, Arthur looked around, trying to spot Ethan. And found him in the bar counter, having too many drinks.

Arthur got up from his seat and walked to the bar.

He stood next to Ethan and put his hand on his shoulder making Ethan turn back to him.

“What?” Ethan asked in his drunken state.

“I came to talk to you,” Arthur said calmly.

“Ok. Talk,” Ethan said stumbling as he got up from his seat.

“Ethan..” before he could say further, Ethan had moved closer to Arthur and had his arms around Arthur.

Arthur could barely think anything straight. He just looked into Ethan’s eyes and him into Arthur’s. There was a moment of pure comfortable silence between them.

Ethan moved more closer to Arthur, leaning his head. Unintentionally, Arthur too leaned in. Their lips captured one another’s sending a spark into their bodies and an adrenaline rush that made them go back to Ethan’s room.