The Wedding Photographer
A/N: This was a submission to the 'Challenge 8 - How They Met' organised by @Romance. The prompt was to the story of how two romantic characters met for the first time.
The story received an Honourable Mention in the results. I wish it had won a price but receiving an Honourable Mention seems pretty pivotal to me, right?
Thank you for reading! I hope you like it. :)
The Wedding Photographer
(Genre: Romance)
"I miss her, dad," my thirteen-year-old daughter told me in a dull voice as she leaned her head on my shoulder and I wrapped my arm around hers. "It's only been a little more than a week that she has gone, and I already miss her like-"
"Like you haven't seen her in years?" I supplied, leaning down and placing a soft kiss on the top of her head. She simply nodded at me, giving me a sheepish smile. I chuckled at her expression, at how similar it looked to her mother's. "Me too, honey, me too!"
We sat in silence then, watching as Jane struggled to be a bridesmaid at two different weddings in the same night in the movie '27 Dresses', which happens to be one of my wife's favourites. I wasn't stupid to not know why. The thought made me smile, thinking back to how beautiful she looked on the day we met.
"Dad?" my daughter asked, pulling me out of my thoughts, looking up at me with her picturesque violet eyes that she had got from her mother.
"Yes, sweetheart?"
"Mom used to tell me 'The Bridesmaid' story many times when I was younger, and she also told me that was how you both met." She smiled at me, her eyes twinkling just like her mother's did. "Can you tell me the story again, please?"
I chuckled at her and ruffled her hair, "Why, yes, I can. But, I will not." She frowned at my words, disappointment lining her every feature. "I will rather tell you the story of 'The Wedding Photographer' and in the exact same way your mother told you stories, too." I wriggled my eyebrows at her, watching as she quickly caught the meaning behind my words.
She promptly switched off the TV as the credits were rolling on the screen, and turned to look at me, her chin resting on her palm as she looked at me with wide, expectant eyes, urging me to begin the story. And so, I did.
"Once upon a time there was a young, and not-so-handsome Wedding Photographer. He was no prince, no king but a normal man of twenty-one. He went to many weddings along with a friend and captured the memories of the bride and groom's special day with just a few clicks of his camera. This day was no different than the others for him, or so he had thought!
Dressed in simple formal attire, he went to a wedding with his camera in his hand and his friend by his side. Just like every other wedding he worked at, this place was beautifully decorated too. A white big hall adorned with red satin curtains, and the air filled with the aroma of red roses and white orchids.
Wasting no more time, the two men at once went to their work. The Wedding Photographer left his friend with the groom to go to the bride's chambers and capture her nervousness and happiness in his camera for the groom to adore for years and years to come. He knocked on the door and was soon let inside.
The first thing he saw was the beige carpeted floor, then about five pairs of blue, black and silver heels pointed towards him and sure enough, when he looked up five pairs of different coloured eyes were looking at him. "Ladies," he said, giving them a charming smile, and a graceful bow, which earned him a few giggles and another few blushes. He then looked up, and saw a beautiful bride embellished in a serene white gown, her dark hair done in an elegant bun with a small silver crown adorning it. But the bride wasn't the one who caught his attention.
Kneeling in front of the bride, with her back towards him, sat yet another lady dressed in a similar blue dress as few others in the room and yet, she looked alike none other. He couldn't catch a glimpse of her face as she turned to look at the bride again, shaking her head at probably the Wedding Photographer's mischievous spirit. Her action made her shining brown curls fall out of her neatly done hair-do, making the Wedding Photographer fall for her a little more with each falling curl, too.
"Don't be nervous, and smile. Else, your photographs will make your kids ask why mommy was so sad." He heard her melodic voice say, followed by her even more melodic giggle. She clumsily got up, and then gracefully helped the now-smiling bride stand up, too. They both turned around, just as the Wedding Photographer kneeled in front of them, raised his camera, and captured the blushing bride's beauty for an eternity; but capturing the memory of the bride wasn't his sole intention.
"There you're wrong, ma'am," he told the Bridesmaid, now looking straight into her rapturous eyes and giving her his charismatic smile. "A bride's nervousness is the true key to knowing what's in her heart. A nervous bride makes the most beautiful one." He slowly stood up, unwrapped his camera from around his neck, and held it out so the tiny screen was now facing them.
"What do you think of this picture of your nervous friend?" he asked her, still looking at her beautiful face as she looked down at the screen along with other women in the room, who crowded around the Bridesmaid and the bride. She had rosy pale skin and very light freckles on her nose. Her long, dark eyelashes surrounded her electric violet eyes and her lips, oh her lips, looked so ravishing in her light pink lipstick. She looked like a muse from his dreams with her innocent beauty and a lively smile.
"Aw! This is so beautiful."
"Oh my! You are the prettiest bride."
"Ah! You're going to win the groom's heart all over again."
There were a few more gasps, compliments and giggles as the women surrounded the bride, gushing about her beauty. The Wedding Photographer got up, and walked towards the Bridesmaid who was still looking down at the photograph in awe.
"I shouldn't be saying this," he whispered in her ear, managing to get her violet eyes to meet his blue ones, "but I find the one next to the bride more gorgeous. She is the one who caught my heart's attention."
The Bridesmaid's lips curled up into a tiny smile, revealing her euphoric dimple, before it vanished as soon as it came. She cleared her throat, gaining everyone's attention and making the Wedding Photographer step back from her with an amused smile. Just like that, he went back to his work and clicked many more beautiful pictures of the bride and all the bridesmaids, yet for him, one still stood out.
It was now time for the bride to appear. One by one, smiling bridesmaids walked down the aisle arm in arm with handsome groomsmen. And then walked in the most beautiful bridesmaid of all, holding the arm of another attractive groomsmen. The Wedding Photographer felt a bit jealous of him. He wished he was the one walking her down that aisle, but that feeling was soon replaced by a captivating one as he looked at her shy smile. She glanced at the people from the corner of her eyes, before looking back down at the red carpeted floor. Her face wore a forced smile and her eyes said everything she felt in that moment. She was nervous — nervous that she might fall, nervous that she might mess up. Then, she looked up. Her eyes met the Wedding Photographer's once again. He lowered down his camera just enough to show her the assuring smile he wore. He looked into her eyes, willing his own to silently promise her that if she fell, he would be there to fall with her and if she messed up, he would be there to make a bigger mess than hers.
She seemed to understand him because she gave him one of her own enchanting smiles. Her laughing eyes were still on his, as a light shade of red hued her cheeks.
The bride walked in, the groom held her hand, the minister said the words and the groom kissed the bride. The wedding ceremony had started and was now finished, but nothing seemed more important to the Wedding Photographer and the Bridesmaid than gazing into each other's eyes that mirrored their heart's delight.
The guests exited for the wedding reception then, and the Wedding Photographer walked side-by-side with the Bridesmaid. They both looked ahead with small smiles while their slightly touching hands craved to intertwine with each other's.
She, then, took her rightful place next to the bride and he stood in front of the table, capturing her and the rest of the people on that table in his camera, though all the other faces hardly mattered to him in that moment.
Sometime during the night, he handed over his camera to his friend and walked towards the dance floor where the Bridesmaid was dancing with another man. "May I cut in?" he asked with a slightly possessive but mostly mesmerised smile, extending out his hand just waiting to finally feel hers wrapped in it.
She wasted not even a second in placing her small, soft hand in his and putting the other on his shoulder. He wrapped his free arm around her waist and began to sway them to the soft beats of the music. "Finally," he whispered with a relieved sigh, "I know how it feels."
"How what feels?" she whispered back, her curious violet eyes looking at him with confusion.
"Having you in my arms."
She looked down and then gazed at him with hooded eyes. Her cheeks tinged red, and her lips curved up in a shy smile. "I finally know how it feels, too."
It was now his turn to ask, "What?"
"Having your arms around me."
They chuckled light-heartedly before he began to lean down. She gasped at their increasing closeness but began to stand on her toes too.
And just then, the music stopped, the couples parted and walked off the dance floor. They both looked around, slightly dazed, before realising that it was time for the bride and groom to depart. She giggled at his disappointed face, pulled away from him and went to follow the other bridesmaids.
The Wedding Photographer stood there just watching her walk away, before he came out of his trance and ran after her. He fell in step with her soon and gently intertwined their fingers. "I want you to catch that bouquet today," he told her, staring at her aesthetic face.
"Why?" she asked, looking into his eyes, searching them endlessly for an answer.
He stopped walking, making her stop too. "It might bring a hope for us. It might bring our fate," he told her sincerely.
She stayed silent, gazing into his deep eyes that spoke volumes of unvoiced words. She blinked — once, twice — then shook her head lightly to get rid of her dazed thoughts. She looked at him again, but now with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "You better keep your fingers crossed then," she told him, "I have always been bad at the game of catch." With that, she ran away from him again and towards the crowd, the sound of her musical laughter ringing in the air behind her.
The Wedding Photographer laughed too, then shook his head at her before following her. When he reached the crowd, he saw her standing at a corner of another smaller crowd formed by the enthusiastic ladies, all trying their best to get the hold of the bouquet that bride was about to throw in the air. He walked towards the crowd and stood close to the Bridesmaid. She glanced at him once and he gave her a mischievous smile paired with a playful wink.
In the blink of an eye, the bouquet was thrown in the air and the women started squealing, struggling to snatch it. The Bridesmaid suddenly gasped as she was pushed forward a little, she looked behind her shoulder trying to see where the push came from. Just as she realised whose hand it was on the small of her back, something soft fell in her hands making her look down at it. A small bouquet of red roses and white orchids was securely placed in her hand, and the crowd now cheered and applauded for her. She seemed to be in a dazed reverie and slowly, she looked at the person whose hand was still on her back.
"I couldn't let the hope for us shatter so easily, now could I? After all, they say fate is nothing without karma." The Wedding Photographer winked at her again and chuckled at her stupefied expression.
The Bridesmaid then chuckled too, before they both began to lean in. And just in that moment, a blinding flash blinked at them before a clicking sound was heard. But they paid no mind to it, as finally the Wedding Photographer placed a soft kiss on the lips of his bride-to-be.
The End."
I looked at my adorable daughter as she gazed at me with an awestruck face, filled with longing. Her hands raised, ready to applaud for my story, but before her hands even met, I heard a loud applause from behind me. We both looked at the source of the applause with startled faces.
There she stood — my beautiful wife — smiling broadly as she walked towards us. I felt a hurried movement from beside me, and in another second, I saw my daughter running to embrace her mother with open arms. I walked towards them as my wife leaned down and kissed our daughter's forehead affectionately. She, then, stood up straighter, dropped her bag to the side, and wrapped herself in my arms.
"I was starting to forget how it felt," she whispered in my ear, reminding me of the words we had said to each other when we first danced together.
I chuckled at her and kissed the side of her head, my chest filling with a similar warmth that I felt every time I looked at her, talked to her, hugged her or kissed her. "You're home early," I said slowly, pulling away but not letting go of her completely. I couldn't, not just yet.
"Couldn't stay away for much longer," she told me, smiling her heart-warming smile. "Nice story," her eyes held a mischievous glint in them along with the ever-present immense love that I saw every time she gazed at our daughter or at me, "but you shouldn't tell lies," she finished, her tone slightly chiding but mostly filled with fondness.
"What lie are you talking about?" I asked, my brows furrowed with confusion as I saw her smile at me and place her soft palm on my cheek, making me lean into her touch.
She picked up a framed photograph from the side table and looked down at it with a tender smile gracing her lips. It was a photograph of her in that light blue dress, holding that bouquet of red roses and white orchids guardedly in her hands while standing up on her toes as I stood beside her with my arm around her waist, leaning down while gazing into her idyllic eyes.
"The Wedding Photographer was very handsome."
---- The End. ----
What do you think? Like it? Love it? Needs work? Lemme know!
Please don't forget to vote and comment if you liked the story. Thank you!
Bạn đang đọc truyện trên: AzTruyen.Top