I've finally got myself to start a bundle of standalone one-shots for all the dozens of ideas I have! All these little stories are independent from each other and can be about every character, characters or ship, crack and canon and contain basically every genre, setting or theme!

One of the reasons I decided to put them in a bundle is to avoid dozens of small stories cluttering my story list. But aside from that, writing these short stories is also meant to be a bit of a practice for me to help lower my average word count, as people who are familiar with my stories know that they can be kind of long... to say the least! I aim to make all the stories in here about 2000 to 2500 words long.

We kick this bundle off a Alejandro and Heather one-shot! But bear with me though, I have never written dedicated Alejandro X Heather before!

There is a day for every mother that she has to see her child go to be loved by someone else. That was the bittersweet flipside of seeing your daughter getting wed. Though, as the day was there, she committed herself to make her daughter look her best before she gave her away, helping her in a dress and applying makeup gently like only the nurturing hand of a mother could.

But while it was a day of pride and emotion to her mother, to Heather, the bride in question, it felt like a humiliation…

''Gee Heather, couldn't you have gone to a tanning salon? You look like a ghost in that dress!'' Her younger brother mockingly asked as he came walking into the room after noticing Heather looked pale in her face.

''Shut up Damian!'' Heather snapped back, violently jerking her head towards him before her mother turned it back just as violently to face the mirror.

''What do you mean? We have been to the salon!'' Heather's mother stated as she undid the curlers in Heather's hair, ignorant that Heather's face was pale with anxiety, something no amount of tanning or lotion could hide.

Heather's mother removed the last curler and looked at her mirror image, her curly haircut providing a classy finish to her glamorous wedding dress fitting for a girl of Heather's stature. Even despite his mockery earlier, Damian had to admit that Heather looked really good.

''Aren't you the most beautiful bride ever?'' A mother emotionally asked as she watched her daughter standing in a wedding dress.

''Yeah…'' Her daughter responded as she looked at her mirror image, speechless.

''Come, let's go to the chapel!'' Heather's mom declared, combating her emotions.

Her mother plinked away a tear as her daughter grew up before her eyes. Heather watched herself in the mirror one last time before they left. She cast a disgusted glance at her own mirror image. She plucked at her dress and let the fabric run through her hand, finding no beauty like she was assured to see in the pure white dress at all. It was her and Alejandro's big day, the day she was going to be married to Alejandro Burromuerto. Usually, women like her would be thrilled. But Heather only got sick of the thought of marrying both her soul mate and her eternal rival.

While there was plenty of room for heartfelt romance, courtesy of Alejandro, their natures made everything a personal battle to one-up the other. Even during intimacy they'd try to outlast the other in one way or another in a duel to prove their superiority. However, as hostilely competitive as Alejandro and Heather may get, they got a kick out of the competition and had genuine respect for one another and their shrewd ways.

She thought back about the day he proposed to her. After a particularly intense advanced dancing class, Alejandro suggested they'd have a bite to eat somewhere. Heather should've known that he was up to something as they ate their meals.

''Have you ever realized how many girls and women alike think how lucky you are that I'm dating you?'' Alejandro asked as he rested his head on his arms and suavely eyed Heather, who seemed unfazed.

''No. I don't concern myself with them.'' Heather answered brutishly snobbish before she casually resumed eating.

''Oh it's true! Have you never noted all the jealous looks all those women gave you as we walked past them? For as long as we've been dating, they shot us those looks, those green-eyed envious glares…'' Alejandro continued as he leant his body towards Heather at a seductively slow while his tone gradually became a purr as Heather had to repress her cheeks from blushing red.

''… willing to kill to have your place! But they can only fantasize about walking next to me! Only you are worthy of the privilege of being my soul mate!''

''Don't flatter yourself!'' Heather scoffed, rolling her eyes.

''It's true! Everyone thinks you're lucky to have me, but quite contrary, I think I'm lucky to have you! All these things we did, all the places we went to! Buenos Aires, Rio De Janeiro or beautiful Barcelona, all of it would've felt so empty if you weren't by my side experiencing it with me!'' Alejandro passionately whispered at her as Heather couldn't keep a straight face anymore and blushed like crazy, flattered and blissfully reminiscing about their joyous past years.

''A woman so intelligent, persistent and thorough! No one but you can compete with me in anything, and it's a complete delight, it has always been these years that we've been a couple! Never could I've wished for a lady who's both as delicate as a rose but as deceivingly shark as its thorns!'' He continued, staring in her eyes as Heather turned her head, completely enamored but reluctantly not wanting to completely submit to his flattery.

''Let those other women dream on! None of them could ever live up to their fantasies! They wish to be toreros to have a chance to dance with this bull and hope to tame it…'' Alejandro dismissively called before he stood up and walked up to Heather, puzzling her as he stood next to their table. Then, he undid his necklace and got down on one knee.

''…But you are the only one who could tame this bull, and even make it wish to share its life with you!'' He concluded, his necklace resting on his open hand palm as he presented it to Heather, who choked up.

''Is, is this a proposal?'' She gasped, shocked and on the verge of tears of pure happiness.

''A proposal? No! This is only a request to make me the happiest man on this planet!'' Alejandro calmly explained. ''Would you want to?''

A short silence persisted before she shot up and flew into his arms. ''Yes of course!'' Heather bawled, overjoyed, allowing her cool demeanor to fall out of pure bliss.

That was then, and a shudder of disgust went down Heather's spine as she thought about it once more. She was weak, distracted and caught off-guard by his flattery. Soon, she'd grow to suspect that this was part of his most elaborate plan to demote her to 'misses Heather Burromuerto'. She'd have this title for life, it felt demeaning and Alejandro knew she hated that. Though she felt like she couldn't just object to their marriage in any way. Regardless whether she'd admit that it didn't feel right or outright accuse Alejandro of what she suspected, she'd completely embarrass herself and her family to Alejandro's kin by throwing a scene, who were rather high-class and viewed such a denial as an insult, especially because Heather always has been in their good graces.

The ride to the church was rather long, but not even remotely long enough for Heather as she idly listened to everything her parents said and listlessly took all the pestering from her siblings. Her family not once seemed to suspect something was off, probably because anything they did note about Heather was blamed on nervousness for the ceremony.

Shortly after, they pulled over at a cathedral.

Heather wasn't religious at all, she never cared for it. But Alejandro and his family, despite everything, were fiercely loyal Catholics and insisted they marry in a cathedral, in Catalonia nonetheless. She remembered all the fuss they had to go through, all the flights from Toronto and Barcelona and back in such short time for the preparation and the organization. But now that it was the big day, she had to admit that the atmosphere was beautiful, though if only Heather could enjoy it so much better than she did now.

They were accompanied by organ music as they entered the cathedral. Heather's siblings and her mother went ahead into the chapel as she and her dad stayed behind at the entrance.

''This is it!'' Heather's dad excitably whispered.

''Yeah.'' Heather replied as she shook, but from dread rather than excitement.

A acolyte then gestured them to enter the chapel as a different organ melody was played. Heather was anxious, and her nerves weren't exactly soothed by an entire chapel seating two families eyeing her and her father as they entered.

The only one not watching her was fortunately the only person she couldn't stand to look in the eyes right now as he stood at the end of the aisle. Alejandro dutifully looked at the altar and didn't allow himself at cast a look at Heather before she was right next to him. Meanwhile, one of Alejandro's brothers did look back at her before he whispered something to Alejandro.

She was stuck between two evils. If she allowed herself to marry Alejandro, she'd be his wife with all the , but if she denied their marriage, she'd have to disgrace herself and admit weakness, something Alejandro and his family preyed on like starving wolves, and they wouldn't make an exception for such a big event. No matter what Heather did, she'd feel like Alejandro would win.

By now, she'd rather rip her dress off and walk down the aisle stark naked, for that'd feel as much less of a humiliation to herself than any of the choices she was presented. But Heather herself was fully aware that that was ridiculous to even consider, even now.

She cast a glance at both their families, one looking even more menacing than the other as her heart throbbed in her throat. Heather was something she never was before and feared the most to be; She was lost on what to do.

They arrived at the altar and her father let go of her hand. For a moment, Heather felt a tinge of fear. It was as if she was back on her first day at kindergarten, unsure of what was to come as she was on her own for the first time of her life.

Alejandro finally allowed himself to look at Heather, and seemed genuinely enamored with how she looked. a warm smile was etched on his face as he realized how fortunate he was to have such a beautiful bride. All Heather could do, consumed with her own dread, was hissing in disdain and cocking her head slightly, seemingly hurting Alejandro.

As the bishop took his place, the ceremony officially began. All present listened attentively, except for the bride herself. She was so lost in her own thoughts and plans on how to get out of this that she didn't hear anything of the bishop's story of Alejandro and Heather or how a lively, captivating speaker he was.

''Heather?'' Alejandro asked as Heather was rudely pulled back to consciousness from the depths of her thoughts. Time had rushed past her. The bishop had long stopped speaking, and it was time for Alejandro to read his vows to Heather.

''If I may, can I recite something I've written for you?''

''Yes?'' Heather allowed, unsure what to expect.

"Heather, my muse, my soulmate, mi amor! I fondly remember the day we first met, and even though the road that followed often was bumpy as we butted heads like bulls, I always appreciated, no, loved butting heads with you! You are true brilliance, you are blessed with both astounding beauty as well as brilliant intellect! Every time we make a battle out of something and you manage to outsmart me, as I see that cunning and proud smile, No matter what I'll say, I'm reminded that I'm alive! I wish to marry you as a pledge that together, we can take on everything, and everyone. We can take on the whole world for that matter! May we charm, outsmart and betray our way to the top, on the condition that we'll never betray each other or our vows! That is the oath I wish to live by with you, and may God strike me down if I'm lying!'' Alejandro passionately recited as he grabbed Heather's hand, getting the whole cathedral silent in awe, including Heather.

Heather's mind was blown. Hardly ever before has she seen Alejandro so ardently promise something. Usually, Alejandro's promises were worth as much as his beauty was skin-deep. But there was something about how Alejandro concluded his oath, pledging on divine retribution. Heather knew all too well that Alejandro lies and deceives on a regular basis, but he'll never do so under oath, especially under a spiritual one. Heather was moved by his promise, but would he break his own code just to coax Heather, or was there no scheme after all?

''Right...'' Heather mumbled, taken aback as she still processed her feelings getting in order. ''You expect me to recite something to you as well?'' She asked, a little undignified considering the circumstances. Alejandro nodded and Heather briefly regained composure.

''Alejandro, my significant other. Never in my life would I think I'd fall for someone as I did for you! I didn't want to admit it at all, I only saw that slick smile and the charismatic mind behind it, able to play whoever he set his eye on like a experienced puppeteer! I... I...'' Heather spoke as she paused briefly, thinking of what to say as she had somewhat forgotten her original vows and had to improvise. ''-I'm happy to discover that your smile could be real and your passion genuine! As we always duked it out to beat each other, I admit I sometimes had my doubts, but I'm happy to find out that that despite everything, I can fully trust in you to never stab me in the back. At least, not where it counts! I pledge to be to you exactly as what you are to me!'' Heather concluded, sounding overall less formal or passionate, but Alejandro still cast a legitimately warm smile and a proud nod.

The families applauded light as Heather reflected on her choice. Alejandro and her were so much alike, they'd do everything in their power to suit their needs and achieve their goals, no matter how petty or insignificant they might seem. She was aware that Alejandro was still like that, and that her initial fear of his true intentions wasn't unjustified. But seeing Alejandro pledge his love to her in this church, the one place he wouldn't dare disgrace made Heather's resolve that he did want to marry her without ulterior motives; purely out of love for her.

However, as the bishop continued, Heather cast a devious smirk.

And if he was lying after all, she'd be sure to find a way to make him pay.

Despite having no experience with them, I got to admit I have a good feeling about it! Is that justified?

So, who do you think will star in the next story? It's almost finished, so you'll find out in a few days!

Review, fave, follow or check out some of my other stories if you'd like!

:D,

L.W.