"This party is so boring. Tell your best friend, his engagement party sucks just like his fiancee," Nevada remarked, sipping her juice.
"Shut up,"
Nevada rolled her eyes, hearing Nicklaus. She turned her eyes to Seraphina and saw her standing on her place like a statue.
"Seraphina, are you feeling well?" She asked but Seraphina didn't reply.
Nevada shrugged her shoulders a bit, taking Seraphina out of her trance. She looked at Nevada.
"What's wrong, Seph? You're not looking well,"
"No, I'm fine," She lied but her words didn't buy anyone there, especially Nicklaus.
"Why don't we try dancing. Look, everyone is dancing there," Nicklaus suggested, pointing towards the stage where couples were dancing.
"It's a couple dance, Nick and remember, we're still loveless," Nevada giggled.
Nicklaus scoffed and uttered.
"We don't need to be a couple to do a couple dance. A normal partner is also enough,"
"And do you think anybody would want to dance with your ugly a#s?"
Nicklaus glared at his chuckling sister, at her mocking words.
"Don't worry, our Seraphina will gladly do it, right Seraphina?"
Seraphina shrugged her head and answered.
"Sorry but I don't know how to do a couple dance,"
"It's okay. I'll teach you, let's go," Nicklaus insisted but she denied.
"I don't want to,"
"Please, Seraphina and besides I don't want to dance with this creepy sister of mine,"
Nevada gawked at Nicklaus.
"Yeah and I am dying to dance with your ugly a#s,"
Nicklaus rolled his eyes and extended his palm to Seraphina.
"Please,"
Seraphina sighed and nodded. Nicklaus held her palm and guided her to the dance floor.
"Wow, you're doing good as a new learner. It means I am a good teacher," Nicklaus tried to lighten up her mood but she just weakly nodded.
They both were moving with the slow rhythm of the song.
"Seraphina," Nicklaus sighed.
"You know that you can share your feelings with me. Remember, we've become friends at your house?"
Seraphina didn't reply to him because she knew what he actually meant.
"Does he really love her?" She finally parted her lips.
Nicklaus stared at her for a while before answering.
"Do you love him, Seraphina?"
Her heart shrugged at his question. She downcast her eyes.
"Doesn't matter because my feelings doesn't matter to him,"
"You're the only thing and person that matters to him," He corrected her.
She looked at him, confused.
"If it was true then he wouldn't have crushed and ruined me and feelings so badly," She retorted. Nicklaus smiled.
"Sometimes we have to ruin those things which matters to us the most, just to keep them safe from getting broken,"
Her brows arched.
"Arzal is doing all of this to keep you safe," He finally told her, making her stunned.
"He has told you to justify him, hasn't he?" She became angry. Nicklaus chuckled, softly.
"Arzal doesn't believe in giving justification to anyone for anything, Seraphina but I guess, you're an exception for him but no, he hasn't told me to justify him," He uttered, making her more startled.
"And I know for sure, if he will find it necessary to justify him and his actions, he would even do it, only for you but just wait till the right time,"
Seraphina heard his every word thoroughly and parted her lips to probe the things more but before she could ask anything, the host announced.
"May I have your attention please,"
Everyone looked at the host.
"That precious moment has finally come for which we all have gathered here. It's time for Mr Grayson and Miss Bailey to exchange their engagement rings,"
Seraphina's heart started throbbing inside her chest.
"So give a huge round of applause for our couple, Mr Arzal Grayson and Miss Lyra Bailey, for starting this new and beautiful journey of their lives, together,"
The loud sound of the claps echoed but they fainted before her, whose azure eyes were staring at that stage, where he and Lyra were standing, where they both were going to be each other's, forever and where he was going to get apart from her, forever.
The couple rings were handed to both of them, who were standing on the stage. Lyra was giving her wide and happy smile to everyone, whereas he was standing before her like a lifeless statue.
"Mr Grayson,"
The host uttered to Arzal, who was just staring at the ring he was holding. Arzal looked before him and saw Lyra had already extended her palm to him and was waiting for him to put the ring in her finger.
Arzal fisted his palm because even if it was fake. It was for her safety, he couldn't force himself to do it, knowing what and how it was affecting Seraphina.
Arzal clutched that ring in his palm, making everyone confused. He turned his eyes to see his calmness but his existence turned restless, when his gaze wasn't able to find those azure eyes in the crowd.
He roamed his desperate eyes in every corner of that place, but she was not there. She was nowhere to be found, which turned him malicious in anger and fear of losing her.
___
The cold wind was blowing at a rapacious speed. It looked like a deadly thunderstorm was about to come.
Her soft whimpers were getting muffled under the sound of the clouds roaring. Seraphina was sitting on the floor, beside a car. She ran out from that party and decided to hide herself from everything and everyone and the first place she got was the parking lot.
She was hugging her knees and was sobbing her heart out. She had finally lost him, her very first love of her life. Yes, she finally accepted and understood it when she witnessed losing him, that she loved him. She was in love with him like an insane but now he had finally become someone else's.
Her first love, her first kiss, the very first of her everything, the only man who had ever touched the deepest depth of her being, he was now someone else's.
"Seraphina,"
Seraphina took her eyes upward and saw Ryan standing before her, who was looking extremely worried and was even panting.
Ryan kneeled beside her and touched her shoulder, gently.
"What are you doing? Why did you run away from there?" He had seen her running and followed her because her safety was his responsibility.
"What happened? Why are you ...." His words halted. Seraphina hugged him tightly and bursted out crying.
"I lost my everything, Nate," Her mind had totally messed up. Her mental health worsened, to the extent she was seeing her brother in him and was craving her brother's warmth to save her from that pain.
"I.. I lost h....him," She choked on her tears.
Ryan sighed, hearing her. He didn't know what to do. He knew Nate was her brother and she was wanting her brother's embrace to cage her and comfort her.
Ryan lifted his hand and delicately wrapped his one arm over her back and one on her head, like a real brother and started patting her head.
"Calm down, Seraphina. Everything will be fine. Don't cry please," He requested while trying to comfort her.
Seraphina continued to sob and caged him more tightly, until she felt him to get snatched away from her arms. She opened her eyes and her body froze by watching Arzal clutching Ryan's collar and before anyone could do or say anything, he vigorously punched Ryan on his face.
Ryan fell on the ground and Seraphina gasped in horror.
"You ba#tard, I told you to keep her safe," He roared through clenched jaw and again clutched Ryan's collar.
He snatched him up from the ground and gawked at him. The corner of Ryan's lips was bleeding badly.
"But you took her away from my f#cking eyes and here was trying to act a f#cking good man before her," Arzal had lost his sense to think rationally.
The thought of something happening to her and losing her had enraged him to a barbaric extent. He again punched on Ryan's face aggressively, who didn't fight back.
Ryan fell on the street with a loud thud. Arzal's jaw tightened more. He again tried to walk towards him to hit him but this time he got halted.
Seraphina came between them and pushed him away forcefully.
"Stop hurting everyone, you cruel animal," She shouted out of her lungs at him, while glaring into his predacious eyes with her blazing ones.
"Be afraid of your fate, Mr Grayson. Don't push it too much that one day it will snatch your everything away from you," She snapped at him, turning him more livid in wrath.
Seraphina turned around and stormed towards Ryan.
"I am sorry. I am so sorry. It's just because of me you had to.. " She didn't have words to utter to him. Her heart clenched by watching the blood dripping from his nose and lips.
She tried to clean it with her hands but before she could do it, she felt herself getting forcefully apart from him.
"Leave me," Seraphina screamed at him, who was furiously gazing at her and then started dragging her away from there with him.
She cried, protest but he didn't leave her. Seraphina turned her head and saw Ryan standing at his place, who was gazing at her, worriedly and sympathetically because even he knew, no one was capable of saving that poor soul from her vicious fate, which now was going to ruin her.