Kian Turner

Working politely while minding your own business in the presence of someone you want to beat badly that no one could recognize their face is so fucking hard.

Ezra must have perceived that Aura told me what he did which is why he kept giving me ugly stares and that irked me, it was as though he was willfully mocking me for not being man enough to fight for my girl.

If it weren't for Aura, I would have taken Ezra in the corner to knock some senses into his brain—that is if he had one.

We all were extremely busy decorating the wedding aisle for the wedding the next day. I and Joy were given the task to arrange the chairs for the guests to sit during the ceremony.

Aura was working along with Rachel and Leo on the altar. While Vinnie, Mia, and Ezra were given flower tasks. I was arranging the chairs on the left side of the altar while Joy was on the other side doing the same work.

I was attentively doing my job, although, my gaze kept traveling to Aura from time to time, taking in her carefree self. Her constant smiling face was proof that she was enjoying the moment. Also, I didn't miss the private glances she kept throwing at me. Had we been alone, I'd have kissed her senseless.

Only if she didn't want to keep us a secret from our teammates, I would have glued myself to her and showed everybody how lucky I was to have her by my side.

I didn't know I had been staring at her with a smile until she waved her hand and mouthed 'do your work'. Blinking, I hastily covered my smile and turned my back to her. Damn, I was behaving like a lovesick hormonal teenager.

Love? Wasn't it too early to term it as love? Certainly, it was.

Shaking my head at my dumb self, I began doing my work, only to be interrupted by someone again.

"Smiling while busy at work. Hmm, I wonder if it's Aura's ambiance or..." Gemma trailed off as she came and stood by me.

"And what makes you think it's her?" I raised my eyebrows at her. She stood by me with her hands stuffed in her shorts pockets and she tried to hide the smile that kept knocking on her lips.

"I'm not dumb, Kian." She rolled her eyes. "I know you more than anyone here does."

"You should be knowing the love of your life inside out, not me," I stated, then wiggled my eyebrows.

"Are you by chance not over me yet? Well, if you aren't, please move on. I ain't coming back to you." I winked and earned a slap on my arm from her.

"I don't want it either, you jerk." She threw a venomous glare at me. "I was merely confirming my doubt."

"Anyway, how is the task I gave you coming along?" I changed the topic because I surely didn't want to discuss my almost girlfriend with my ex.

She sighed. "It's pretty tough if you ask me. You were out yesterday evening or else you would have witnessed the jealousy in Mia's eyes when I introduced Rachel to the other female guests here."

A smile broke on my lips as I ruffled her hair. "I knew you'd do it!"

She slapped my hand away from her hair and combed it with her fingers, scowling. "Hey, Don't touch my hair."

"Even though you did a great job, I want you to come up with something phenomenal, for you have only today to act." I reminded her. "Act now if possible. This is the right time."

I added as I scanned my surrounding. Guests and other workers were all roaming around and it was the best time to bring Mia out of her shell.

"I too want to end it quickly. And just so you know, I have something brilliant cooking in my mind." She smirked and I smirked as well.

I knew her potential; whatever she had come up with must be worth watching.

She let out a breath. "Well then, I gotta go and do my job before your girlfriend skins me alive for standing closer to you."

With that, she winked and walked away. Frowning, I glanced at Aura and found her staring at me with a frown. I knew she wasn't jealous, well because I had already cleared I felt nothing for Gemma anymore.

She bobbed her head, asking me what was the matter. Making sure no one was watching me, I pointed at Rachel who was standing beside her and she got the clue. Smiling, she nodded her head.

My smart girl.

"Hey, Kian, come over here." Joy called for me and I ran over to him.

He patted my back. "Let's take a short break." We sat on the chairs and called Leo to join us.

"Ah, my feet are sore. Thanks, man, for calling for a short break." Leo moaned as soon as he deposited his butt on the chair. "These girls didn't allow me to rest for even a minute. They are cruel." He grumbled at Rachel and Aura who were his partners.

Leo called for Ezra to join us but instead of joining us he passed a dirty look at me and dismissed Leo's invitation. 

"What crawled up his ass?" Joy muttered while looking at him.

"Rejection mixed with jealousy crawled up his tiny ass," I scoffed under my breath.

Leo brought his face closer to me. "What? What did you say?"

I covered his face with my palm and pushed him away. "Is there a shortage of girls that you want to pounce on me?"

"There is!" He exclaimed, then leaned back on his chair. "This is the first event I'm covering without being involved with a girl. Can you believe that, Joy?" He asked the question to Joy.

Joy laughed. "Nope. It's kinda unbelievable."

"Damn right. But it is what it is." Leo chuckled, then looked at me suspiciously. "Kian, I have a question for you."

"Shoot," I replied casually.

"Did the car really break down last night or did you make it up to hide the truth?"

Although my sense came alive and I almost panicked but I didn't let it display on my face. I kept my composure.

"Want the bill? It must be somewhere in Zoya's car." I lied confidently, which made him shut his mouth.

"So you didn't lie about that? Man! I thought it was a made-up story. I thought you got lucky last night."

Joy and I laughed at his dramatic eye roll.

We began chatting about stuff when after a while I saw Gemma approaching Rachel on the altar where she stood with a decorative prop in her hands.

I watched Gemma intriguingly, wondering what could she have come up with. Instinctively, my gaze flew to Mia, who now had ceased other activities, and stared at Gemma. Her nervousness and irritation were visible in her uneasy posture. She kept shifting on her feet and rubbed her hands on her sides.

Smirking, I looked at the altar, and just then Gemma tripped on Rachel, making herself fall on the top of Rachel, and the prop Rachel held in her hand slammed into her head.

Shit! She must have been hurt.

Joy and Leo were watching the scene as well and three of us rushed to help them. I didn't want anyone to get hurt.

Aura, who was standing by them, helped Gemma to her feet. Gemma, on the other hand, quickly bent to help Rachel up and began examining her head.

"Oh Jesus, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you, Rachel." Gemma apologized repeatedly while rubbing Rachel's head.

"Hey, Gemma, it was an accident, besides, I'm fine," Rachel assured with a smile.

"No, you must be hurt. It was one awful fall." Gemma stubbornly remained closer to her.

And the moment I had been waiting for had arrived.

Mia pushed Gemma away from Rachel and glared at Gemma. "Don't you have eyes? See what you have done."

Mia, with teary eyes, examined Rachel's head. "Are you alright? It doesn't hurt bad, does it?"

A genuine smile broke on Rachel's lips when she saw Mia opening up in front of people. "I'm fine, Mia." She muttered.

"That prop was heavy. Thank Jesus, you are fine."

And with that said, Mia did something that shook everybody spectating the scene to the core.

Mia kissed squarely on Rachel's lips.

Aura, Gemma, and I shared a wide-eyed, surprised look. Giggling, Gemma clapped her hands, while Aura gave me a thumbs up to me.

The audience witnessing the show clapped their heart out to cheer the loving couple. I didn't back away from encouraging them.

I approached Gemma and patted her back. "Good job, Gem."

She giggled. "Jesus, I feel so proud today. I feel like I can be a cupid, what say?" She asked me excitedly.

"Umm, to be honest, you still need some practice. You almost had Rachel bleed." I scrunched my face. I then wrapped my arm around her. "In case you want classes, I'm always here—"

Before I could complete my sentence, she elbowed me in my stomach. "Ow."

"You're a jerk, you know that?"

I laughed and flicked my gaze to Aura, who was smiling at Gemma and my interaction. "Yeah, someone hammered that into my sense by calling me that over and over again."

"And may I know who that someone is?" Gemma unwrapped my arm from around her and gave me a knowing, teasing look.

"Ahem." I looked everywhere but her. Just then, the cheering stopped and I forced Gemma to look at the love birds.

They both were teary-eyed and laughing at the same time. No one could hear it, however, I saw them exchange 'I love you.'

Rachel chose the moment to glance at me and my chest puffed with pride when she mouthed 'thank you.'

I gave her a thumbs up. Thank heaven, my body parts were safe now or she would have chopped me into pieces if anything went wrong.

Soon people dissipated to continue with their work and sadly, I had to distance myself from Aura when all I wanted was to be with her. That's fine, I knew I would have her all by myself soon.

When I resumed my work, I found a chair I had placed in the first row missing from the spot.

Frowning, I looked to my left and right to see who is mannerless enough to grab the chair from the prohibited area. I found it placed a few steps away, abandoned.

Who the fuck took the chair and did not place it back?

Cursing under my breath, I reached near the chair and was about to lift it when someone spoke, which made me curl my hand in a fist.

"It's your habit to have eyes on others' property, isn't it?" Ezra walked up to me.

With my jaw set tight, I faced him. "This never belonged to you in the first place."

He scoffed. "Could have been mine if you minded your own business."

I knew why he said what he said. It was clearly directed at Aura. That had me over the edge. I had had enough of his shit. I dropped the chair, stepped closer to him, and made steady eye contact.

"That was a low blow from you to call Aura a bitch. Why don't you man up and accept the rejection? Is it that hard?" I let out furiously.

He let out a mocking laugh. "Oh, seems like she has you under her spell. It's just a matter of a few days you'll know her real self. She'll show you she's with you but will be fucking someone else behind your back. That's what she did with me. She fucked you while giving me false hopes at the same time."

And with that, my temper climbed the peak, and without giving a shit about the audience around us and the drama it could bring, I punched him straight in his face.

"You're a worthless bitch, not her. You getting me?!" I shouted as he fell flat on the ground due to the impact of the unexpected punch.

Almost immediately he got back on his feet and punched me back. "How dare you!"

I didn't back down and took over the fight. I repeatedly punched his face. Rounds of punches were exchanged between us within a short time. I tackled him to the ground.

Leo and Joy rushed to us to separate us but we weren't giving up. It was only Aura's screech that had me cease the assault.

"Kian, leave him, now!" I shoved him hard against the ground and stood up. Aura approached me and glared at me.

"Why'd you do that? I told you not to, then why?" She whisper-yelled. I was about to answer her when the teammates bombarded Ezra and me with the questions.

"What is wrong with you guys? You were alright a few minutes ago. What happened all of a sudden that you both started knocking each other off?"

By that time the spectators had gathered around us, murmuring amongst themselves.

I made eye contact with Ezra who was glaring back at me while wiping the blood off his lips. "You'll pay for this." He gritted out.

"If you think you can fucking do that then you are living in a fucking delusional world." I spat.

Aura grabbed my arm and pulled me back to her. "Stop it. Stop it." She cried, looking in between us. "You two making a scene over here!"

"What about the scene you created, huh?" Ezra scoffed at her, which made me lunge at him but I was stopped by Leo who pulled me back by my waist.

"What's going on?" Vinnie questioned. "What is it, Aura? Why does Ezra mean by that?"

I saw Aura gulp as she stared at me with her eyes wide. Instead of her, I chose to speak, however, before I could utter a word, the guard, who had been keeping his eyes on us shouted.

"Hey, you, stop making a ruckus over here!" He approached us and questioned the issue. Just then, Zoya came rushing to us, apologized on our behalf of us, and dragged Ezra and me to the corner.

She crossed her arms across her chest and gave us a bossy, firm glare. "Never had I expected two of my best employees would ever embarrass me in front of my client. Why were you fighting?"

We didn't reply, so she continued. "What was so important that had you leave your work and knock each other on the ground? Tell me? Do you know how I managed to calm Mr. Mackay? He had ordered to throw you two out for making a scene at his daughter's wedding!"

I felt guilty; no matter the reason for our fight, Zoya must not suffer. I should have thought before acting.

"I'm sorry, we shouldn't have done that." I sincerely apologized. "This won't happen again."

Her eyes remained on me for a while. She nodded her head and flicked her eyes to Ezra. "What about you? Will you apologize?"

"I'm sorry." His hollow apology didn't go unnoticed by Zoya, which made her stare at him in shock.

Mannerless, worthless bastard!

Zoya released a sharp breath. "This, whatever you did must not happen again if you want to work with me. Now, go wash your face, change and get back to work. We're running out of time."

With that, she marched away, leaving us standing there alone. I faced him.

"Stay away from Aura," I warned him and walked past him without giving him time to answer back.

I went to my room and kicked the door shut. I removed my t-shirt and furiously threw it carelessly in the room, not caring where it landed.

I sat on the edge of my bed and closed my eyes to calm myself down. I should have controlled myself. Aura wouldn't be pleased with what I did. Fuck! What had I done? What'd I say to her? How would I face her?

I sat there almost for five minutes, worrying about what problems my decision could create in our relationship. But Aura would understand that I did it for her, right?

I let out a sharp breath and stood up to go to the bathroom. I could think about that while doing work.

I was about to open the bathroom door when the door of my room was slammed open and was shut with the same ferocity.

I turned, only to find Aura standing there with her hands on her waist.

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