'My heart beats for love

It's the sound that I hear, tells me not to give up

It breathes in my chest and

It runs through my blood

My heart beats for love.'

*ASHER'S POV*

November 12, 2023.

The big day. The first day of the rest of your life. The start of the biggest adventure... and 22 million other catchphrases to describe one day. At least, according to the Google searches I'd made last night, which showed how desperate I was—because who even trusted those top 5 or 120 lists?

Still, those billions of words all appeared pointless when a familiar silhouette emerged through the crowd.

The flowers everywhere, the bows of silk and tulle, the handmade signs, and all those dots of white and pastel scattered around the large garden vanished, outshone by the pair of intense dark eyes I met and the spark lighting in the distance between us. The many people in tuxedos and colorful dresses became mere shadows that I prayed wouldn't stop her as I straightened up, though she wasn't looking at any of them.

She was gazing at me as she advanced with a slow yet determined gait towards my corner, the bangs of my heart following the rhythm of her steps more than whatever strings music was playing in the background.

Was there even music anymore?

The world could have stopped at this moment, and I wouldn't have given a shit as long as she kept floating towards me like an angel, an angel all dressed in a pale shade of orange with pink reflections.

"Peachy." I breathed out as she stopped in front of me with a shy 'hi', and after roaming down her dizzying silhouette that the long flowing dress was heightening perfectly, my gaze landed right on time on her tempting, plump lips to catch her stretching smile. "You look... stunning."

"Thank you. You too look... stunning." She glanced down at my light blue suit, and as I kept my attention only on her doe eyes, I could have almost believed her, that shy look under her thick lashes making me lift my chin like I were the king of high school again. "And you're standing."

Oh yeah, that was what made me feel on top of the world: the view of her infinite dark eyes so close, especially as her green stilettos brushed the end of my dress shoes, and she softly adjusted the collar of my shirt. That was worth the strain on each of my muscles.

"Don't forget your wrist, though."

"Don't worry. I'm only limping for the ceremony. Then I'll find back the chair." I nodded towards the wheelchair, two feet away, in case the crutch I was leaning onto and the pillar behind me weren't enough anymore to keep me standing, as the reality of it all wasn't as 'stunning' as it seemed.

"The night is young. Maybe you'll get up again for a song..."

Was that an invitation for a slow dance? With her arms lifted near my neck and her bashful smile so close, I was ready to take her hand and her hips when her gaze slid down to my left wrist—a habit she'd taken in the past ten days, as if she could scan and check my recovery that way—and she leaned away, making the little fantasy waver with my balance.

"Or a speech... Did you find what you're gonna say by the way?"

"Som'thing like 'to your big day'."

Judging by her appalled expression, that sounded even worse out loud than how I'd imagined.

"You know my mom wants me to use my voice, so I can't do a full-length sp-speech. People won't understand a thing."

"Asher." She sighed, the exhale heavy enough to let me guess the 'after everything he's done for you, you can at least do that for your brother' following. At least, that was what she'd told me yesterday.

"The kids understand very well during the story times. I don't see the difference."

Okay, she'd pulled new arguments, though it was still the same tug-of-war as I countered,

"First, more people and bigger room."

"You can have a mic."

"My voice will sound even worse through a mic."

"I don't think so, and even if it did, the important is the words you say, the story you're telling." She pursed her lips, still not backing down, and I wasn't either.

At this rate, the officiant would seal the vows before we agreed. Hell, Kylie and Pax would have kids and live their happily ever after before—Wait...

"You just gave me an idea for the speech." I grinned, the best I could with my twisted mouth, and that was surely the reason why Althea narrowed her eyes at me dubiously.

"A real speech and not some ready-made catchphrase?"

That, and because I usually didn't change my mind so easily. Even I was shocked as I let out a breathless chuckle.

"Yes, your arguments inspired me, Peachy. Thank you. I don't know what I would do without you."

Actually, I knew: nothing.

I'd done nothing for three years, seven months, and two days, and it would have been the same today if she hadn't been here. I would have written some basic speech to read with my text-to-speech app, from my wheelchair because I wouldn't have gotten up for a toast or anything, rolling down the aisle with all the pitying eyes on me and maybe the eccentric cousin Felicia, the only other single and desperate black sheep of the family.

Whereas now, one month since Althea was back, I was planning a full speech I would pronounce—or try to, at least—and maybe a dance as I stood, ready to walk the aisle—or try to, at least. I was even moving my left hand towards hers.

"Speaking of this... there's som'thing I want to ask you."

"Of course." She nodded, the movement, as smooth as her smile, contrasting with how much my hands were shaking. Yes, both hands.

I had no idea how I hadn't fallen on my knees already, but it was more thanks to her magnetizing gaze so close than my wobbly hold on the crutch as I took a deep breath.

"Do you want to—"

"Althea. Hey, babe."

Finally, something collapsed. First, Althea's smile, then my hand, which she dropped, and quickly, my heart as I glanced over her shoulder at the man approaching us with steady steps, whom I'd researched enough on Google during my darkest days to recognize the most eligible NYC bachelor of 2021, the successful CEO of Gims' investments...

"Jordon?!"

*ALTHEA'S POV*

I blinked furiously, my eyes needing an instant to adjust to the contrast between fierce jade and soft brown, and my heart too as I tried to understand if it was really happening. Though I could have never imagined it, since he was the last person I would have expected to see right here, right now.

"What are you doing here?"

"I managed to free my weekend, so I thought it was a good time to visit Lotus Bay and meet everyone." Jordon smiled, as if it were the most natural thing in the world when he wrapped his arm around my waist and extended the other towards Asher. "And you must be Asher. Nice to meet you. I'm Jordon."

Well, thunderstorms, tsunamis, and earthquakes were natural, and it was what it felt like as Asher gestured his clenched jaw between his crutch and his tense left hand, whose hold was still hauntingly tingling my skin.

"I can't shake your hand, but likewise."

"Uh, right, sorry." Jordon pulled his hand and gaze away, both searching for me like a life preserver to avoid a disaster, while I stood as speechless as if I'd been struck by lightning, and he quickly looked for something else to hold onto.

"The weather is nice today, perfect for a beautiful wedding."

The weather, it was a secure value, and quite appropriate when there was so much electric thickness in the air around, although tilting my head up, I was surprised to not find any clouds. At least in the dots of cerulean peeking through the orangey foliage.

"Yes, it's warm and sunny..."

"What's the theme of the ceremony by the way?"

"Um, I don't think they have a theme, do they?" I tried to throw the line at Asher for him to say something, even if I wasn't sure he physically could through the clench of his jaw, the tensions there sharper than a blade.

Yet not as cutting as his words as he replied, "No, just Kylie and Pax. Their love's enough."

"Yes, of course, it's just that... themed weddings are trendy these days. My mother keeps rambling about them, and... with the orange dress and the surroundings, I thought it was a Fall theme," Jordon quickly explained, keeping his smooth smile and reasoned arguments as he pointed around like he would have in a business presentation, bringing light to key numbers no one had noticed.

Well, it would have been impossible not to catch the vibrant fall colors all over the castle's garden, and the second I'd arrived here, I'd been in awe of the orange, red, and yellow leaves highlighting every piece of white from the flowers in the entrance archway to the swings wrapped in tulle in the far back, and the most important in the middle: the aisle, bordered by two rows of majestic golden trees.

However, I hadn't got the time to catch more details as my attention had quickly been pulled by an even fiercer color, and it soon was again.

"Peachy. The dress is peachy."

Never had these two syllables sounded so bitter as Asher struggled to spit them out like a deadly poison, crippling everything on its way from the corner of his tight lips to my nervous grip around the pendant at my neck.

"Yes, I just chose it because I liked it. Nothing else..."

Jordon's smile twitched too as he cleared his throat, his brown gaze flickering from Asher to me. "Oh, well, it's... it's different from what you usually wear, but you look beautiful."

Even the compliment felt forced as I mumbled a 'thanks', glancing around in search of something else to add, an emergency exit maybe, or just for the lightness of the kids' giggles coming from the swings, like a detective trying to discover where had disappeared the one that had been there minutes ago before Jordon arrived and interrupted...

"What did you want to ask me by the way?" I came back to Asher's green eyes as it had been the last place I'd seen the lightness, though they were now avoiding me.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter."

And yet, his sigh was a little too heavy for 'nothing', carrying as much weight as the breath he'd taken in preparation for whatever question he'd had, which I probably would never hear as before I could even open my lips, he added,

"And I gotta talk to my cousin Felicia, so if you 'scuse me."

He didn't even wait for a reply, already turning to his wheelchair as if afraid he could miss the woman with a large flowery hat a few feet away who was talking eagerly, probably rambling about her 50 cats—At least, it was what Asher always said about her.

He'd used to avoid her like the plague at family reunions, and his rush to join her was saying a lot about his feelings toward this encounter. On top of his glare and his tight tone when Jordon offered to help him with his wheelchair.

"I can sit on a f'cking chair by myself. Don't know what Althea told you, but I'm not completely helpless."

Indeed, he was even supposed to walk down the whole aisle in a few minutes, and I'd been the first one to encourage him, although, at this instant, my belief was shaking as much as the string of tension in each of his muscles, until even the tip of the one lifted finger in his distorted left fist—Wait, was that his middle finger?

I would have been mad—or maybe have laughed—if I hadn't felt the same crippling strain on my chest, and I couldn't blame him when it was obvious he had no control over the movements of his left arm that was getting on his way to move his wheelchair.

I couldn't blame Jordon either, who blinked his brown eyes at me. "Did I say something wrong?"

He was always trying to understand, find reason, and compromise when he was encountering opposition, while Asher was like a volcano: unpredictable and unstoppable when he was seething.

They were simply too different, opposite even, and the only thing they had in common was me, which was surely the issue here.

I wasn't foolish. I'd known Asher for enough years to recognize that fierce look in his green eyes. He would have the same one every time other men were getting too close to me, sometimes even just a friendly hug, and he was seeing red, the same shade his lips would have marked on my skin to assert to everyone whom I'd belonged to the next day.

Except now, I was wearing someone else's claim on my ring finger, and he had no reason to be jealous. I wasn't his anymore, even if he still had my two other fingers crossing as he rolled his chair away.

"He just doesn't like the word 'help', and he's a little on edge because... today is a big day."

The big day. The first day of the rest of Kylie and Paxton's life. The start of the biggest adventure...

It was what everyone repeated during the magical ceremony, the enchanting reception, the exquisite meal, the moving first dance, and even during some speeches. I hoped not in Asher's, however.

We hadn't been able to exchange anything other than stolen glances since he'd told me I'd inspired him, so I didn't know what to expect. Though his piercing eyes finding mine for an instant were meaningful enough when he finally pushed his chair towards the center of the dancefloor at the end of the meal because, as he announced, 'they saved last for the best... man'.

"And I'm also known for my bedtime stories. See it as a message that these two are hoping to get rid of you and enjoy their wed-ding night." Nodding at the newlyweds, he instantly won the audience with laughs and whistles.

But what did it for me were his next words. "So I'm gonna tell you a quick fairytale." And his gesture as his gaze dived into mine from across the room, and he got up from his wheelchair. "Quick because I'm gonna be standing."

It wasn't much, yet whenever I saw him standing, he was stealing my breath like the first time his tall frame had towered over me in a high school classroom, his green gaze finding back that same confident sparkle.

And it was the third time today already. Though when he'd appeared on the other end of the white aisle, tall and handsome in his pale blue suit, he'd caught more than the air out of my chest.

Yes, he'd walked down the aisle, 27 steps exactly. I knew it because my heart rate had jumped with each one, while my nerve endings had been hanging on every tremble of his tense muscles, and his gaze had held onto mine, as if this invisible string of pull and tug between us had helped him keep his balance—along with cousin Felicia's tight grip on his arm.

It had turned out she was the one escorting him, and it was what he'd wanted to discuss with her earlier. A last-minute arrangement, according to Giada, although she hadn't mentioned whom Felicia had replaced. Had he invited a date?

The question resonated in the back of my mind almost as deafeningly as the screeching of the mic as the DJ adjusted its stand to Asher's full height, but thankfully, his deep voice soon silenced everything around with a few words.

"Once upon a time..."

Just like the kids did every night, I found myself captivated, soon traveling into the world he described, which wasn't so far, in fact.

"A long, long time ago, it was the birthday party of the most popular guy in town. Everyone cool was there. If you weren't there, you weren't cool. Pax was invited—only 'cause he lived in the house too." He nodded at Paxton, who simply shook his head and took a sip from his drink, a lot like seven years ago, at this party, when Asher had introduced him... the same way.

"And lucky for him because that's the night he found this princess right here in his room. Yes, yes, I'm not kidding. Fate was really kind to him. That, and his awesome b-brother, who saw her encounter with some witch and sent him to comfort her.

"Don't know what happened in there, but we'll keep it PG and say they 'talked' all night."

"That's what we did!" Paxton and Kylie tried to defend themselves, their protest drowned under the laughs around as Asher cocked a dubious eyebrow.

"Anyway, since then, they've been insep-perable. Of course, their happy ending didn't happen instantly. Like in every good love story, they denied their feelings, pretended to be 'friends' for months, driving everyone crazy, and when they finally got together, she had to leave for the other side of the... world." His voice and his gaze wavered on this word, both landing on me and making my heart skip a beat, which echoed as sharp as the thud of a book closing as a whole different story formed before me.

"But true love goes beyond time and distance, and as soon as they reunited, they fell in love all over again, even more p-passionately."

It wasn't about Kylie and Paxton anymore, and although the tale was still as familiar as if I'd read it a thousand times, I was hanging onto his twitching smile to find out what happened on the last page.

"Of course, fairytales don't exist in real life." He paused for a second, barely a breath for anyone around. Nevertheless, inside my tight ribcage, it felt like a final point as his gaze flickered down to my left hand, which had been clutching the pendant at my neck almost all day, before he focused on his brother and Kylie again.

"But if two people can have their happily 'ver after, it's this cupcake fairy—your pastries really make everything sweeter, Kylie—and this loyal knight. Trust me when I say this man would do anything for the people he loves, really anything. I love you, bro. You both are the best."

And with a 'here's to your big... wedding night', he concluded the most unique speech and 'the sweetest fairytale', according to Carol, who also mentioned he would have to share this story with the kids of the clinic.

I could only agree with her as, like everyone else, I lifted my cup of champagne and toasted, although the alcohol wasn't enough to wash away the bitter taste of unfinished in the back of my throat.

Once more, it wasn't about Kylie and Paxton, as the tender kiss they shared looked like the perfect magical kiss on the last page of a children's book, and both deserved so much happiness.

But what about the others? Couldn't they have a happy ending too? Maybe just a glimmer of hope?

The questions bounced through my mind, resembling a lot the kids' at the end of the story times, and maybe I was spending too much time with them at the clinic—which like Jordon mentioned 'had almost become my second home in the past month'—because my heart was growing as agitated as them while I watched Asher go back to his wheelchair.

I didn't even pay attention to what Jordon, Carol, and her husband were talking about on our side of the table until someone called my name.

"Sorry, what were you saying?" I quickly shook my head, focusing on the nurse across from me.

"I was wondering if you wanted to show Jordon the clinic tomorrow?"

"Oh, um, yes—"

"No, sadly, I don't think it will be possible because my flight is tomorrow early morning," Jordon quickly replied for me, while I blinked slowly, realizing I hadn't even asked how long he was staying, or anything else since he'd arrived. Maybe even before. "But it's fine. I've visited the PT clinic in Manhattan last week with my mom, and they said their organization is pretty much the same."

"You've visited a PT clinic last week? Is your mom interested in volunteering?" I tried to catch up on what I'd missed, which seemed to be a lot because if, for as long as I'd known him, I'd been aware of his mother's generous donations towards various causes, never had she been one to participate directly, especially in hospitals or clinics.

"No, not her. You." Jordon shrugged, as if it were obvious. Well, in theory, it was surely more plausible, but not inside my chest as he continued, "I thought you would want to continue volunteering once back in New York since you like to do charity."

"Charity?" The word screeched through my head and surely around the table too as Carol's eyes widened, and she subtly suggested taking a walk outside to her husband.

Before the confused man could catch the hint in her awkward smile though, I stood up and grabbed Jordon's hand. "No, I think I need to get some fresh air."

Indeed, it was getting suffocating here, and I wasn't sure if it was the topic of conversation, the strobe fog coming from the dance floor, or the pair of green eyes that seemed to pierce through it all. However, I was about to find out, getting away from two out of the three, as I dragged Jordon out of the wide ballroom and left behind the echo from the DJ's mic.

"It's time for the bouquet toss! So all the unmarried girls, this is your chance if you want to be the next in line to tie the knot..."

Did you feel the tension? 👀 And if yes, which one lol? 😅

I know you've been waiting for Asher and Jordon to meet, so here we are! Did you expect this? 👀

Also, tell me what you think about Asher's speech?

And as always, don't forget to vote ⭐ and comment if you liked this chapter and can't wait for more!

I promise I'll try to be faster with the next update! I don't know why but this encounter between Jordon and Asher got me as tense and crippled as Asher 😅. So thank you for sticking with me. You're the best, my little Peaches!! 🥰😘🧡✨