Oh fcking shit
Author´s Note: Sorry, I had to rate it R because there are too much f-words in this chapter.
Anyway, thanks for all your reviews, really made me glad. :)
Oh, and sorry for the boring chapter :) But there are important parts in it which will appear and cause problems later in the story. Please, keep reviewing in spite of that boring chapter :)
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3 years and 2 month later. . .
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered in the presence of God and in the fellowship of this community to join together Annette Hargrove and Sebastian Edward Valmont."
The priest stopped speaking for a moment and looked at the young couple who was standing right in front of him.
They were about 21 and 20 years old, what was too young for marriage in his opinion, but as he watched them standing there, he had to admit that they looked perfect together.
The pretty blond woman´s eyes were sparkling and she looked up to him expactantly. She was wearing a Calvin Klein wedding dress, he could tell it by the little logo on her sleeve. The train was about 6 meters long and there were about 10 little girls standing behind her, all dressed like a princess, ready to carry it proudly out of the church.
He looked at the man, he was quite handsome, but he, unlike Annette (or whatever the woman´s name was, he didn´t really remember), looked kind of bored, just like he wanted the whole ceremony to be over as fast as it would have been possible.
I better go on with the speech, he thought and looked at his notes again. "Marriage is a covenant of faith that endures all things, in which husband and wife communicate with one another and trust in one another. Marriage is a covenant of hope, in which husband and wife commit themselves to the work of making a life together, creating a lasting future where the hopes of each are the hopes of the other. Marriage is a covenant of love, in which husband and wife strive to treat one another with understanding and compassion. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Do you Sebastian take Annette as your wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in proximity and in distance, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, with trust and understanding, with patience and fidelity, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do.", Sebastian answered, and he looked at his girlfriend smiling. She smiled back happily.
"Do you Annette take Sebastian as your wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in proximity and in distance, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, with trust and understanding, with patience and fidelity, as long as you both shall live?" "I do.", Annette said like she was some sort of queen. Sebastian smiled at this. He really wanted to kiss her now, take her to bed. . . But NO, they were still in this boring church in front of this boring priest. Well. . . that was the hard thing on getting married. This and the wedding party afterwards. In his opinion, they should leave out all the church and party bullshit, but that was the wedding of Annette´s dreams and if she wanted it to be like this, he´d make it like this. He really loved her a lot.
Annette was studying mathematics and english, she wanted to be an elementary teacher, and he was studying medcine in his 3rd year. They both lived in washington now, where they went to Harvard University.
Soon, they´d have a family, with children and everything. And suddenly he forgot that he usually thought wedding shit like this was boring, he was just happy. He´d have her for the rest of his life. What a great thought.
"Have you brought tokens to stand as signs of your love and commitment?", the priest interrupted Sebastian´s thoughts. "Oh yes, we have.", he said and a boy brought the rings on a pillow.
"Ok. . .", the priest went on, looking through his notes, "Go on."
Sebastian took Annette´s ring, turned to her and said: "With this ring I thee wed. Annette, please wear it as a sign of the depth of our love."
He put the ring on her finger and she smiled happily, looking proudly at the beautiful piece of jewellery.
She took the other ring, which belonged to Sebastian, put it on his finger and said: "With this ring I thee wed, Sebastian, please wear it as a sign of our lifelong commitment."
With full happiness he looked into her blue pretty eyes, which were now full of tears.He smiled, she smiled back. He still had her hand in his. It was a moment of pure but relaxing tension, until the priest said: "By joining in marriage, Annette and Sebastian have one life together where before they had lives apart. Just as these two candles burn separately, when brought together they may light a single flame."
They both lit the unity candle and "The Star Spangled Banner" was played in the background.
Sebastian didn´t really know what the Anthem of the United States had to do with their wedding, but Annette´s father wanted it to be played and anyway, he didn´t really care about it at the moment. All he cared about was his almost wife now, who was staring into his eyes, her own sparkling of happiness.
"Sebastian. and Annette, in the sight of God and this community, you have vowed fidelity to one another in holy matrimony and represented these vows with the exchange of rings and the lighting of the candle. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss." And finally, Sebastian was allowed to kiss Annette. Later on he admitted, that this, acutally, was the happiest moment in his life, but he wasn´t really aware of that now. He didn´t care about anything except his wife at the moment, and the way she felt in his arms and the way her tongue felt in his mouth.
The audience stood up and applauded, but he didn´t really hear it. Annette´s father had tears in his eyes and Tiffany (his father hadn´t been able to come because of some bank business) smiled one of her fake smiles. But he didn´t care. All he thought about was Annette.
In fact, the kiss just lasted for a few seconds, but to both of them, Sebastian and Annette, it felt like a lifetime until Sebastian finally broke away.
He looked at the priest, who smiled and said: "Let me be the first to announce you Sebastian and Annette Valmont." When the wedding march started to play as recessional he took her by the hand and they turned around, slowly starting to walk to the exit of the church, 10 little flowergirls behind and 4 in front of them, who strewed rose petals on the aisle.
For the first time for about 20 minutes, he looked at the audience. He saw Blaine mouthing "Congratulations Valmont" and a lot of his old friends from high school smiling happily, that the "legend" Sebastian Valmont had finally fallen in love.
He could have left school as a legend. But he didn´t want to and now he had to admit that this had been the best decision of his whole life. He was very happy with Annette and he wanted to keep it that way.
He looked again at the audience. This was probably the best day of his life, but something was still missing. He didn´t know what excactly, but his feeling told him that there was an empty place in his heart.
But he didn´t want to think about that now, he just wanted to live the happiest day of his life with his new wife. So he tried to repress the strange emptiness and forced his mind to be in the present moment, not somewhere rummaging through a corner of his heart.
When they stepped out of the church, he finally realized that it was pouring with rain. Annette immediately stopped and called out for their driver to bring her an umbrella.
"Oh god. . .", she wailed, "Why today?"
He put an arm around her, to warm her up a little bit, as the cold wind slept against their faces.
"It´s gonna be fine, I promise", he whispered in her ear as they watched the rain falling down. "I promised you the wedding of your dreams, and we´ll celebrate it like you wished and no fucking rain will ruin it, ok?"
She nodded, shaking because of the cold.
As they stood there waiting in front of the church, he suddenly spottet a little ash blonde haired girl, just about 2 years old, wearing nothing but a white T-Shirt and pants, running fast through the rain across the forecourt. She suddenly stopped, raised her hands up in the air and looked up to the sky. She was quite scrawny. It looked like she was watching the clouds with big interest. Apparently, she liked the way the cold rain felt on her hands because she smiled happily.
Sebastian watched the little girl fascinated. He couldn´t believe this kid had such fun just by standing in the rain.
A few seconds passed then she put her arms down and stretched them out, still smiling happily. She began to turn arround in the rain, faster and faster, until – splash – she fell in a big puddle of water. She stood up again, her hair and clothes soaked with water now. She laughed and stretched her arms out again. The wind blew faster and the girl suddenly realized that it was quite cold, she quickly put her arms down and wrapped them around her wet body, shivering.
Sebastian couldn´t really recognize her face, but from distance she was quite pretty. He suddenly felt sorry for the girl, because it seemed like her family didn´t have much money. Her clothes were dirty and why the fuck was she out there just wearing underwear? He´d never allow his kid to play in the rain like that. He also wouldn´t allow his child to be outside alone. He couldn´t understand her parents.
"Oh my god. . .", Annette said in great disbelief, interrupting his thoughts, "You see that girl?", she pointed to the little blond.
"Yeah.", he mumbled, never taking his eyes off of her.
"I can´t believe her parents allow her to run around like that.", she said, shaking her head with anger.
"Well, me neither", he wanted to answer, but in that moment Henry came up from behind with a white and a black umbrella in his hands and a few guests stepped in front of them, blocking sebastian´s sight. Henry gave the umbrellas to Sebastian and Annette and helped the flowergirls to take the train of Annette´s dress. Sebastian tried to get another glance on the girl, but it was impossible, there were too many people standing in front of them now and anyway, someone was tugging at his suit.
His little cousin Mary, who was one of the flowergirls who were allowed to strew rose petals, looked up at him. "Bastian?", she asked.
He let go of Annette and kneeled down beside her. "Mary, what´s wrong?"
"May I drive with you in that long car?", she asked with a cute squeaky voice and pointed to the white stretched Bentley.
He smiled and said "Yeah, of course."
She jumped up and down happily, threw her arms around him and said: "Thaaaaank you. You´re my favourite cousin!"
He felt another little hand tugging at his suit from the other side. He let go of Mary and looked at her smaller sister, Nadine.
"Me tooooo?", she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Yeah.", he said, smiling down at her. When they finally started walking down the stairs to the car, another 20 minutes had passed.
Sebastian was quite happy. He had his wife on his left and his whole life in front of him. They got in the car and their guests waved at them, before the car slowly started to head off to the party.
He´d soon have his own family. . . This thought really made him feel proud. He´d be a father. He´d have children. . . with Annette. . . his wife. . . the woman of his dreams.
By the thought of children he turned his head to the window and his eyes searched for the blond girl. He didn´t know why, but somehow he had to see her again. He looked at the place, where she had stood before.
But she was gone. . .
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"Oh shit!", Blaine screamed and came up behind some other people who were greeting them in the hall they had rent in case that there would be rain. They were planning to celebrate their wedding party in the garden of Sebastian´s Aunt Helen, but the sunny sky had got dark and now there was a thunderstorm outside. So they decided to use the hall.
"Oh shit Valmont!", Blaine screamed again, laughing, "Oh fucking shit!" He hugged him, still laughing. "What?", Sebastian asked also laughing, hugging his best friend back.
"Man, you´re married! Oh shit, oh fuckin' shit, you´re married! You know what that means?"
Sebastian knew that Blaine was laughing his ass off not just because he was married now but because he was married to Annette.
"Yeah, actually. . . I know excactly what that means, Blaine.", he said, his expression very serious suddenly.
Blaine lowered his voice a little. "Oh come on, Valmont. You don´t really love her, do you?"
"Yeah, I do.", Sebastian said, his voice loud so Annette, who was standing next to him, could hear him. "Yes, I do love her, Blaine."
She turned her head and if looks could kill, Blaine would have died just right in front of all their wedding guests. Her eyes wandered to Sebastian and she gave him a happy but suspicious smile. He mouthed "I´ll tell you later" and she turned around and walked up to Bunny Caldwell and her family to greet them. He stared after her, wondering what she thought about that.
"Oh Valmont. . .", Blaine snickered, "You´re still p-whipped, eh?"
"Shut up.", Sebastian said dangerously.
"Yeah ok ok.", his friend laughed, "I just realized that Kathryn was fuckin´ right about you 3 years ago."
Sebastian was cut to the quick by this name. Kathryn. . . He hadn´t thought about her since the day he proposed marriage to Annette. And that was almost one year ago now.
He snickered. "Oh yeah, Kathryn." Now it was his turn to lower his voice a little. He put his arm around his old friend and they began walking towards the corridor.
"How is she?", he asked, eyeing Blaine suspiciously.
"Well. . .", Blaine began, "Actually. . . I´m sorry. . . But. . . I dont know."
"You don´t know? Well, what happned to her after I left you the day she was beaten up by my father?"
"Well. . . Who wants to know?"
"Well. . . me?"
"Well. . . no.", Blaine smirked.
"No what?", Sebastian asked back impatiently.
"I don´t know."
"What you don´t know? Blaine, don´t tell me you woke up and she was gone or something like that, I´m not gonna believe this kinda shit."
He laughed mockingly. "Well. . . No. . . I didn´t."
"You didn´t what? C´mon, stop the bullshit and tell me."
"I didn´t wake up and she was gone, idiot."
"Well, what happened then?"
"Why should I tell ya?"
"Why shouldn´t you?"
"Why would you care?"
"Care about what? About her?"
"Yeah and why would you give a shit about it if I wouldn´t tell ya."
"Cause I –", he began, but he stopped. Yeah, why did he actually care? He hated Kathryn, didn´t he?
No you don´t. . . There was this fucking voice again. . . The voice he tried to avoid for 3 years now. . . Thinking about Kathryn hadn´t been a good idea. . .
"You actually miss her?", Blaine mocked, grinning.
"No.", Sebastian said stubbornly.
"Well. . .", Blaine began, "Then you wouldn´t mind if I said I don´t know, huh?"
Blaine started turning around and heading back inside the hall.
"Allright.", Sebastian called out to him. "Blaine! Allright!"
Blaine went back to him and looked at him curiously. "What´s alright?", he asked with a mocking grin.
"Allright.", Sebastian repeated quietly, "Somehow I miss her."
"Just somehow?"
"Ok, I do." And as he said it he knew it was true. The empty place he was thinking about earlier in the church was the place where Kathryn should be. She was missing. She was missing on the happiest day of his life.
Blaine looked like he was trying to figure out whether he was lying or not. "You sure?", he asked suspiciously.
"Yeah. Fuckin´ sure.", Sebastian answered quietly, "It´s the truth, Blaine."
"Ok. . .", he began. "Well. . . actually, I was bein´ seriously. I have no fuckin´ clue where she is right now."
"Well. . . is she ok?"
"Hey, do I look like God to you? How should I know if I don´t even know where she is."
"Ok. . .", Sebastian said, "Well. . . what happened after I left ya?"
"She borrowed 8000 $ from me and said she was going to buy a car."
"Was she ok?"
"Yeah, halfway."
"Halfway?"
"God, Sebastian!", he said irritated, "She was beaten up by your father, don´t tell me you thought she´d feel like she had just met Robbie Williams!"
"Yeah. . .", Sebastian said quietly, "Allright. . ."
Blaine paused, looked at Sebastian and asked: "Has your father often used violene with Kathryn?"
Sebastian looked to the ground. "No. . . Don´t think so. . .", he mumbled..
"And with you?"
Sebastian didn´t answer, he just looked to the ground.
"It´s true, huh? He beat you up just like Kathryn very often, huh?"
No answer. No movement. Sebastian just stared to the ground.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence he said: "No, he didn´t. And I don´t wanna talk about it right now, k?"
"K.", Blaine answered quietly.
"So. . . go on.", Sebastian said.
"With what?"
"Well, what happened then?"
"Then?"
"After she bought the car."
"Don´t know."
"C´mon Blaine!"
"Really, I don´t know." As Sebastian just glared at him he repeated: "Seriously, I have no fuckin´ clue!"
"Shit. . .", Sebastian said, finally believing his friend, "Oh fuckin´ shit. . ."
"I tried to figure out where she went but I haven´t a clue."
"It´s ok.", Sebastian said quietly.
"Hope so. . . Well, I´ll just go back to the party, I talked to some hot guy before." Blaine grinned, turned around and headed back to the hall.
"Blaine?", Sebastian stopped him again.
"Yeah?", Blaine said irrigated.
"Just one last question."
"K."
"Why did you just let her go?"
Blaine didn´t seem to have an answer to that question, he just stared somewhere into space, lost in thought.
"She was your friend, right?", Sebastian went on.
"Yeah. But you must know, I needed to pass my final exam, too. I couldn´t take care of her just like that."
"She was your friend. You left her alone when she needed you.", Sebastian said, almost hurt now.
Blaine opened his mouth to defend himself, but then he changed his mind, he said: "Yeah, you´re right." His voice was almost a whisper now. "But. . . what about you? You were the only one she trusted."
"I am with Annette!", he defended himself.
"Well, I am gay!", Blaine laughed.
"That´s something else!"
"No, it´s not."
"Yes, it is!"
"In what way?"
Sebastian thought for a moment, then he said: "I guess you´re right."
"Yeah, but you, too. I guess I completely fucked up."
"Guess that makes two of us."
There was an uncomfortable silence again, until Sebastian finally spoke: "We should have taken care of her. We just let her go. . ."
"Yeah. . .", that was all Blaine could said in that moment.
But after a few seconds silence he added: "I don´t think she would have taken care of us."
They both grinned. "Well, that´s 'Kathryn.", Sebastian said.
Silence again.
"Valmont?"
"What?"
"You really hated her?"
"In the beginning.", he admitted. "But it just lasted till the day I overheard my father hitting her."
Blaine smiled at him. "Thought so.", he said.
That moment Annette came up from behind.
"Sebastian?", she began, "What are you doing out here?" Her eyes focused on Blaine and he´d died the second time, if looks could kill. "C´mon on.", she grabbed Sebastian by his arm, "The buffet´s ready."
He smiled at her. "You are so beautiful.", he told her quietly, overhearing what she´d just said. She smiled back. "I love you.", she whispered.
"I love you too", he whispered back. He saw in the corner of his eye that Blaine was grinning and mouthing "p-whipped" to him.
"Let´s go.", he told his wife, took her hand and they headed off towards the hall. While walking hand in hand with Annette, he turned his head and looked back to Blaine, who was still grinning and mouthed "fuck you" to him.
Blaine just kept grinning, following the two back into the hall.
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Finally. . . they were alone. Finally. . . they were driving to the Valmont´s townhouse. . . Finally, the whole fucking party was over. . .
Even it had been the happiest day of his life, Sebastian had to admit, that the party had been getting on his nerves. All the boring people, talking boring shit and wondering how long he would stay faithful to Annette.
And then Blaine with his fucking commants. Ah. . . sometimes he really hated his best friend.
"Sebastian?", he heard Annette saying.
"Yes?"
"We´re there.", she smiled at him. He smiled back, but he couldn´t really enjoy the moment. He wondered what it would be like returning to the house he left with the vow that he´d never come back. The Valmont´s town house. .
He hated to admit that everything in there reminded him of Kathryn. Shit, I´m thinking of her again. . . he thought. Why? Fucking why? She´s out of my life for good, and I still think about her? Why?
He had no answer. They entered the large living room. That smell. . . Everything in here smelled so familiar.
Suddenly he realized that Annette had started kissing him and he kissed back. "I´ll just need a minute in the bathroom, ok?", she whispered.
"Ok."
She left him alone, lost in the large Valmont living room. He sat down on the ottoman, where he and Kathryn had sat around 3 years ago.
He looked around. There was the TV, where she had watched the video with Ronald and Cecile, when he found out about Bunny Caldwell sending this letter to Annette. His eyes fell on the chair. She had sit in there, when they made the bet.
"You don´t stand a chance. Even this is out of your league."
"Care to make a wager on that?"
"I´ll think about it."
He slowly got up and walked along the corridor to his room. He pushed the door open, slowly stepping in. His eyes immediately fell on the picture on his bedside table. He had made it about 2 month before the whole bet thing had started.
He remembered the situation excaclty. He just wanted to borrow a pen from her, so he went to her room, but she had already fallen asleep. He headed back to his and took his camera with him. And he photographed her while sleeping.
When he had the film developed he had to admit that she really looked like an angel while sleeping. That´s why he had put it on his bedside table in first case. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. He stared at the picture, it may just have been a few seconds, but to him it felt like minutes were passing by.
Then, without a second thought, he shoved it into his pocket, took off his jacket and threw it on the couch near-by.
He wondered where Kathyrn was and what she was doing at the moment. Somehow he felt worried. He didn´t know why, but something told him that she wasn´t ok at all, even though he hoped it. He shouldn´t just have let her go. . . How could he be so stupid? Kathryn couldn´t take care of herself, without any money and no place to stay, she was lost.
And the drugs. . . God. . . he really hoped she´d quit the cocain thing.
He lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. In that moment, he really wished nothing more than that she would be here. He missed her, now he even admitted that to himself.
He missed her way of moving, her famous fake smile, her proud way of talking, her smell, her hair... God. . . The empty feeling in his heart had got worse.
"Sebastian?"
He opened his eyes again, and saw Annette looking down at him.
"Hey, sweety.", he said, sat up and kissed her.
"Are you tired?", she asked him.
"No.", he told her the truth. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About many things.", he smiled. "About you and me having some cute kids, living in a great villa in miami." Ok, this wasn´t the truth but hey, she didn´t need to know everything.
She smiled back. "Well, do you want children?", she asked him.
"Yeah, I do.", he told her.
"Me too."
They started to make out again and they ended up having sex. They finally went to sleep at 5:00 am, well, Annette went to sleep, Sebastian stayed awake.
The sex had been bad, but that didn´t really bother him right now. He wanted to think about her. About his evil stepsister. About the girl who almost destroyed his life.
He really missed looking in her eyes, watching her sleep, driving her home after school. . . Well, he didn´t do this very often, usually some of her moron admirer gave her a ride, but rarely, when she didn´t have someone to drive her, he could take her with him.
Her eyes had always sparkled when they were in his car. She had been crazy about his jaguar. That was probably why she wanted to win it in the bet. Oh, the bet. . .
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"Because of that little wager of yours. . . Count me in."
"What are the terms?"
"If I win, then that hot little car of yours, is mine"
"And if I win?"
"I´ll give you something, you´ve been obsessing about, ever since our parents got married."
"Be more specific"
"In English: I´ll fuck your brains out."
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She had agreed to fuck him, if he won. . . But he turned her down. Suddenly he realized that this had been stupid. What if he´d hurt her? Maybe he actually had? Maybe that was why she had pushed him away when he finally broke up with Annette?
But maybe not. . . His mind told him. Maybe not. . . . Maybe she was just evil.
He looked at his side, saw his sleeping wife and gave her a cuddle. He should have done this with Kathryn, too. Maybe she would have needed it some time.
He pressed his nose into Annette´s hair, closed his eyes and pushed Kathryn out of his mind. So he missed her, allright, but he wasn´t going to let this cause problem in his marriage with Annette. No way. . . The bitch herself had done that before enough.
So he forced his mind to be on something else and he immediately had to think of the blond girl in the rain. Hopefully, she was sleeping, cuddled up to her Mother in a warm and comfortable bed.
And hopefully, Kathryn was, too. . .
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"Mommy, please, tell me a good night story."
"No, enough for today, it´s almost 6:00 am."
"Pleeeeaaase. . . "
"No, tomorrow because – "
"Pretty pleaaaase."
"Allright, but just a short one."
"Yeah."
"Well, guess what."
"What?"
"I met an angel yesterday."
"You did?"
"Uhu."
"What did he look like?"
"Oh, very pretty. But I don´t remember really."
"Oh, pity. What did he tell ya?"
"Nothing. I asked him to watch over you. And then, he headed off towards your bed. So I wanted to go to sleep too, cause I thought he´d stay with you the whole night, you know. But after a few minutes, while I was in the bathroom showering, he came back. "What happened?" I asked him. I really wondered if you were ok. "Nothing.", the angel said quietly. Oh, now I remember what he looked like. He looked like. . . David Beckham. So, where was I? Yeah, right, so I asked him"Why did you come back that fast?" And you know what he said?"
The mother looked down on her child, who was fast asleep. She bent over her little girl, gave her a good night kiss and whispered into her ear:
"He said. Angels don´t need to watch over each other."
Author´s Note: Sorry, I had to rate it R because there are too much f-words in this chapter.
Anyway, thanks for all your reviews, really made me glad. :)
Oh, and sorry for the boring chapter :) But there are important parts in it which will appear and cause problems later in the story. Please, keep reviewing in spite of that boring chapter :)
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3 years and 2 month later. . .
"Dearly beloved, we are gathered in the presence of God and in the fellowship of this community to join together Annette Hargrove and Sebastian Edward Valmont."
The priest stopped speaking for a moment and looked at the young couple who was standing right in front of him.
They were about 21 and 20 years old, what was too young for marriage in his opinion, but as he watched them standing there, he had to admit that they looked perfect together.
The pretty blond woman´s eyes were sparkling and she looked up to him expactantly. She was wearing a Calvin Klein wedding dress, he could tell it by the little logo on her sleeve. The train was about 6 meters long and there were about 10 little girls standing behind her, all dressed like a princess, ready to carry it proudly out of the church.
He looked at the man, he was quite handsome, but he, unlike Annette (or whatever the woman´s name was, he didn´t really remember), looked kind of bored, just like he wanted the whole ceremony to be over as fast as it would have been possible.
I better go on with the speech, he thought and looked at his notes again. "Marriage is a covenant of faith that endures all things, in which husband and wife communicate with one another and trust in one another. Marriage is a covenant of hope, in which husband and wife commit themselves to the work of making a life together, creating a lasting future where the hopes of each are the hopes of the other. Marriage is a covenant of love, in which husband and wife strive to treat one another with understanding and compassion. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love. Do you Sebastian take Annette as your wedded wife, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in proximity and in distance, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, with trust and understanding, with patience and fidelity, as long as you both shall live?"
"I do.", Sebastian answered, and he looked at his girlfriend smiling. She smiled back happily.
"Do you Annette take Sebastian as your wedded husband, to have and to hold, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in proximity and in distance, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, with trust and understanding, with patience and fidelity, as long as you both shall live?" "I do.", Annette said like she was some sort of queen. Sebastian smiled at this. He really wanted to kiss her now, take her to bed. . . But NO, they were still in this boring church in front of this boring priest. Well. . . that was the hard thing on getting married. This and the wedding party afterwards. In his opinion, they should leave out all the church and party bullshit, but that was the wedding of Annette´s dreams and if she wanted it to be like this, he´d make it like this. He really loved her a lot.
Annette was studying mathematics and english, she wanted to be an elementary teacher, and he was studying medcine in his 3rd year. They both lived in washington now, where they went to Harvard University.
Soon, they´d have a family, with children and everything. And suddenly he forgot that he usually thought wedding shit like this was boring, he was just happy. He´d have her for the rest of his life. What a great thought.
"Have you brought tokens to stand as signs of your love and commitment?", the priest interrupted Sebastian´s thoughts. "Oh yes, we have.", he said and a boy brought the rings on a pillow.
"Ok. . .", the priest went on, looking through his notes, "Go on."
Sebastian took Annette´s ring, turned to her and said: "With this ring I thee wed. Annette, please wear it as a sign of the depth of our love."
He put the ring on her finger and she smiled happily, looking proudly at the beautiful piece of jewellery.
She took the other ring, which belonged to Sebastian, put it on his finger and said: "With this ring I thee wed, Sebastian, please wear it as a sign of our lifelong commitment."
With full happiness he looked into her blue pretty eyes, which were now full of tears.He smiled, she smiled back. He still had her hand in his. It was a moment of pure but relaxing tension, until the priest said: "By joining in marriage, Annette and Sebastian have one life together where before they had lives apart. Just as these two candles burn separately, when brought together they may light a single flame."
They both lit the unity candle and "The Star Spangled Banner" was played in the background.
Sebastian didn´t really know what the Anthem of the United States had to do with their wedding, but Annette´s father wanted it to be played and anyway, he didn´t really care about it at the moment. All he cared about was his almost wife now, who was staring into his eyes, her own sparkling of happiness.
"Sebastian. and Annette, in the sight of God and this community, you have vowed fidelity to one another in holy matrimony and represented these vows with the exchange of rings and the lighting of the candle. I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss." And finally, Sebastian was allowed to kiss Annette. Later on he admitted, that this, acutally, was the happiest moment in his life, but he wasn´t really aware of that now. He didn´t care about anything except his wife at the moment, and the way she felt in his arms and the way her tongue felt in his mouth.
The audience stood up and applauded, but he didn´t really hear it. Annette´s father had tears in his eyes and Tiffany (his father hadn´t been able to come because of some bank business) smiled one of her fake smiles. But he didn´t care. All he thought about was Annette.
In fact, the kiss just lasted for a few seconds, but to both of them, Sebastian and Annette, it felt like a lifetime until Sebastian finally broke away.
He looked at the priest, who smiled and said: "Let me be the first to announce you Sebastian and Annette Valmont." When the wedding march started to play as recessional he took her by the hand and they turned around, slowly starting to walk to the exit of the church, 10 little flowergirls behind and 4 in front of them, who strewed rose petals on the aisle.
For the first time for about 20 minutes, he looked at the audience. He saw Blaine mouthing "Congratulations Valmont" and a lot of his old friends from high school smiling happily, that the "legend" Sebastian Valmont had finally fallen in love.
He could have left school as a legend. But he didn´t want to and now he had to admit that this had been the best decision of his whole life. He was very happy with Annette and he wanted to keep it that way.
He looked again at the audience. This was probably the best day of his life, but something was still missing. He didn´t know what excactly, but his feeling told him that there was an empty place in his heart.
But he didn´t want to think about that now, he just wanted to live the happiest day of his life with his new wife. So he tried to repress the strange emptiness and forced his mind to be in the present moment, not somewhere rummaging through a corner of his heart.
When they stepped out of the church, he finally realized that it was pouring with rain. Annette immediately stopped and called out for their driver to bring her an umbrella.
"Oh god. . .", she wailed, "Why today?"
He put an arm around her, to warm her up a little bit, as the cold wind slept against their faces.
"It´s gonna be fine, I promise", he whispered in her ear as they watched the rain falling down. "I promised you the wedding of your dreams, and we´ll celebrate it like you wished and no fucking rain will ruin it, ok?"
She nodded, shaking because of the cold.
As they stood there waiting in front of the church, he suddenly spottet a little ash blonde haired girl, just about 2 years old, wearing nothing but a white T-Shirt and pants, running fast through the rain across the forecourt. She suddenly stopped, raised her hands up in the air and looked up to the sky. She was quite scrawny. It looked like she was watching the clouds with big interest. Apparently, she liked the way the cold rain felt on her hands because she smiled happily.
Sebastian watched the little girl fascinated. He couldn´t believe this kid had such fun just by standing in the rain.
A few seconds passed then she put her arms down and stretched them out, still smiling happily. She began to turn arround in the rain, faster and faster, until – splash – she fell in a big puddle of water. She stood up again, her hair and clothes soaked with water now. She laughed and stretched her arms out again. The wind blew faster and the girl suddenly realized that it was quite cold, she quickly put her arms down and wrapped them around her wet body, shivering.
Sebastian couldn´t really recognize her face, but from distance she was quite pretty. He suddenly felt sorry for the girl, because it seemed like her family didn´t have much money. Her clothes were dirty and why the fuck was she out there just wearing underwear? He´d never allow his kid to play in the rain like that. He also wouldn´t allow his child to be outside alone. He couldn´t understand her parents.
"Oh my god. . .", Annette said in great disbelief, interrupting his thoughts, "You see that girl?", she pointed to the little blond.
"Yeah.", he mumbled, never taking his eyes off of her.
"I can´t believe her parents allow her to run around like that.", she said, shaking her head with anger.
"Well, me neither", he wanted to answer, but in that moment Henry came up from behind with a white and a black umbrella in his hands and a few guests stepped in front of them, blocking sebastian´s sight. Henry gave the umbrellas to Sebastian and Annette and helped the flowergirls to take the train of Annette´s dress. Sebastian tried to get another glance on the girl, but it was impossible, there were too many people standing in front of them now and anyway, someone was tugging at his suit.
His little cousin Mary, who was one of the flowergirls who were allowed to strew rose petals, looked up at him. "Bastian?", she asked.
He let go of Annette and kneeled down beside her. "Mary, what´s wrong?"
"May I drive with you in that long car?", she asked with a cute squeaky voice and pointed to the white stretched Bentley.
He smiled and said "Yeah, of course."
She jumped up and down happily, threw her arms around him and said: "Thaaaaank you. You´re my favourite cousin!"
He felt another little hand tugging at his suit from the other side. He let go of Mary and looked at her smaller sister, Nadine.
"Me tooooo?", she asked, eyeing him suspiciously.
"Yeah.", he said, smiling down at her. When they finally started walking down the stairs to the car, another 20 minutes had passed.
Sebastian was quite happy. He had his wife on his left and his whole life in front of him. They got in the car and their guests waved at them, before the car slowly started to head off to the party.
He´d soon have his own family. . . This thought really made him feel proud. He´d be a father. He´d have children. . . with Annette. . . his wife. . . the woman of his dreams.
By the thought of children he turned his head to the window and his eyes searched for the blond girl. He didn´t know why, but somehow he had to see her again. He looked at the place, where she had stood before.
But she was gone. . .
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"Oh shit!", Blaine screamed and came up behind some other people who were greeting them in the hall they had rent in case that there would be rain. They were planning to celebrate their wedding party in the garden of Sebastian´s Aunt Helen, but the sunny sky had got dark and now there was a thunderstorm outside. So they decided to use the hall.
"Oh shit Valmont!", Blaine screamed again, laughing, "Oh fucking shit!" He hugged him, still laughing. "What?", Sebastian asked also laughing, hugging his best friend back.
"Man, you´re married! Oh shit, oh fuckin' shit, you´re married! You know what that means?"
Sebastian knew that Blaine was laughing his ass off not just because he was married now but because he was married to Annette.
"Yeah, actually. . . I know excactly what that means, Blaine.", he said, his expression very serious suddenly.
Blaine lowered his voice a little. "Oh come on, Valmont. You don´t really love her, do you?"
"Yeah, I do.", Sebastian said, his voice loud so Annette, who was standing next to him, could hear him. "Yes, I do love her, Blaine."
She turned her head and if looks could kill, Blaine would have died just right in front of all their wedding guests. Her eyes wandered to Sebastian and she gave him a happy but suspicious smile. He mouthed "I´ll tell you later" and she turned around and walked up to Bunny Caldwell and her family to greet them. He stared after her, wondering what she thought about that.
"Oh Valmont. . .", Blaine snickered, "You´re still p-whipped, eh?"
"Shut up.", Sebastian said dangerously.
"Yeah ok ok.", his friend laughed, "I just realized that Kathryn was fuckin´ right about you 3 years ago."
Sebastian was cut to the quick by this name. Kathryn. . . He hadn´t thought about her since the day he proposed marriage to Annette. And that was almost one year ago now.
He snickered. "Oh yeah, Kathryn." Now it was his turn to lower his voice a little. He put his arm around his old friend and they began walking towards the corridor.
"How is she?", he asked, eyeing Blaine suspiciously.
"Well. . .", Blaine began, "Actually. . . I´m sorry. . . But. . . I dont know."
"You don´t know? Well, what happned to her after I left you the day she was beaten up by my father?"
"Well. . . Who wants to know?"
"Well. . . me?"
"Well. . . no.", Blaine smirked.
"No what?", Sebastian asked back impatiently.
"I don´t know."
"What you don´t know? Blaine, don´t tell me you woke up and she was gone or something like that, I´m not gonna believe this kinda shit."
He laughed mockingly. "Well. . . No. . . I didn´t."
"You didn´t what? C´mon, stop the bullshit and tell me."
"I didn´t wake up and she was gone, idiot."
"Well, what happened then?"
"Why should I tell ya?"
"Why shouldn´t you?"
"Why would you care?"
"Care about what? About her?"
"Yeah and why would you give a shit about it if I wouldn´t tell ya."
"Cause I –", he began, but he stopped. Yeah, why did he actually care? He hated Kathryn, didn´t he?
No you don´t. . . There was this fucking voice again. . . The voice he tried to avoid for 3 years now. . . Thinking about Kathryn hadn´t been a good idea. . .
"You actually miss her?", Blaine mocked, grinning.
"No.", Sebastian said stubbornly.
"Well. . .", Blaine began, "Then you wouldn´t mind if I said I don´t know, huh?"
Blaine started turning around and heading back inside the hall.
"Allright.", Sebastian called out to him. "Blaine! Allright!"
Blaine went back to him and looked at him curiously. "What´s alright?", he asked with a mocking grin.
"Allright.", Sebastian repeated quietly, "Somehow I miss her."
"Just somehow?"
"Ok, I do." And as he said it he knew it was true. The empty place he was thinking about earlier in the church was the place where Kathryn should be. She was missing. She was missing on the happiest day of his life.
Blaine looked like he was trying to figure out whether he was lying or not. "You sure?", he asked suspiciously.
"Yeah. Fuckin´ sure.", Sebastian answered quietly, "It´s the truth, Blaine."
"Ok. . .", he began. "Well. . . actually, I was bein´ seriously. I have no fuckin´ clue where she is right now."
"Well. . . is she ok?"
"Hey, do I look like God to you? How should I know if I don´t even know where she is."
"Ok. . .", Sebastian said, "Well. . . what happened after I left ya?"
"She borrowed 8000 $ from me and said she was going to buy a car."
"Was she ok?"
"Yeah, halfway."
"Halfway?"
"God, Sebastian!", he said irritated, "She was beaten up by your father, don´t tell me you thought she´d feel like she had just met Robbie Williams!"
"Yeah. . .", Sebastian said quietly, "Allright. . ."
Blaine paused, looked at Sebastian and asked: "Has your father often used violene with Kathryn?"
Sebastian looked to the ground. "No. . . Don´t think so. . .", he mumbled..
"And with you?"
Sebastian didn´t answer, he just looked to the ground.
"It´s true, huh? He beat you up just like Kathryn very often, huh?"
No answer. No movement. Sebastian just stared to the ground.
After a few seconds of uncomfortable silence he said: "No, he didn´t. And I don´t wanna talk about it right now, k?"
"K.", Blaine answered quietly.
"So. . . go on.", Sebastian said.
"With what?"
"Well, what happened then?"
"Then?"
"After she bought the car."
"Don´t know."
"C´mon Blaine!"
"Really, I don´t know." As Sebastian just glared at him he repeated: "Seriously, I have no fuckin´ clue!"
"Shit. . .", Sebastian said, finally believing his friend, "Oh fuckin´ shit. . ."
"I tried to figure out where she went but I haven´t a clue."
"It´s ok.", Sebastian said quietly.
"Hope so. . . Well, I´ll just go back to the party, I talked to some hot guy before." Blaine grinned, turned around and headed back to the hall.
"Blaine?", Sebastian stopped him again.
"Yeah?", Blaine said irrigated.
"Just one last question."
"K."
"Why did you just let her go?"
Blaine didn´t seem to have an answer to that question, he just stared somewhere into space, lost in thought.
"She was your friend, right?", Sebastian went on.
"Yeah. But you must know, I needed to pass my final exam, too. I couldn´t take care of her just like that."
"She was your friend. You left her alone when she needed you.", Sebastian said, almost hurt now.
Blaine opened his mouth to defend himself, but then he changed his mind, he said: "Yeah, you´re right." His voice was almost a whisper now. "But. . . what about you? You were the only one she trusted."
"I am with Annette!", he defended himself.
"Well, I am gay!", Blaine laughed.
"That´s something else!"
"No, it´s not."
"Yes, it is!"
"In what way?"
Sebastian thought for a moment, then he said: "I guess you´re right."
"Yeah, but you, too. I guess I completely fucked up."
"Guess that makes two of us."
There was an uncomfortable silence again, until Sebastian finally spoke: "We should have taken care of her. We just let her go. . ."
"Yeah. . .", that was all Blaine could said in that moment.
But after a few seconds silence he added: "I don´t think she would have taken care of us."
They both grinned. "Well, that´s 'Kathryn.", Sebastian said.
Silence again.
"Valmont?"
"What?"
"You really hated her?"
"In the beginning.", he admitted. "But it just lasted till the day I overheard my father hitting her."
Blaine smiled at him. "Thought so.", he said.
That moment Annette came up from behind.
"Sebastian?", she began, "What are you doing out here?" Her eyes focused on Blaine and he´d died the second time, if looks could kill. "C´mon on.", she grabbed Sebastian by his arm, "The buffet´s ready."
He smiled at her. "You are so beautiful.", he told her quietly, overhearing what she´d just said. She smiled back. "I love you.", she whispered.
"I love you too", he whispered back. He saw in the corner of his eye that Blaine was grinning and mouthing "p-whipped" to him.
"Let´s go.", he told his wife, took her hand and they headed off towards the hall. While walking hand in hand with Annette, he turned his head and looked back to Blaine, who was still grinning and mouthed "fuck you" to him.
Blaine just kept grinning, following the two back into the hall.
O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O
Finally. . . they were alone. Finally. . . they were driving to the Valmont´s townhouse. . . Finally, the whole fucking party was over. . .
Even it had been the happiest day of his life, Sebastian had to admit, that the party had been getting on his nerves. All the boring people, talking boring shit and wondering how long he would stay faithful to Annette.
And then Blaine with his fucking commants. Ah. . . sometimes he really hated his best friend.
"Sebastian?", he heard Annette saying.
"Yes?"
"We´re there.", she smiled at him. He smiled back, but he couldn´t really enjoy the moment. He wondered what it would be like returning to the house he left with the vow that he´d never come back. The Valmont´s town house. .
He hated to admit that everything in there reminded him of Kathryn. Shit, I´m thinking of her again. . . he thought. Why? Fucking why? She´s out of my life for good, and I still think about her? Why?
He had no answer. They entered the large living room. That smell. . . Everything in here smelled so familiar.
Suddenly he realized that Annette had started kissing him and he kissed back. "I´ll just need a minute in the bathroom, ok?", she whispered.
"Ok."
She left him alone, lost in the large Valmont living room. He sat down on the ottoman, where he and Kathryn had sat around 3 years ago.
He looked around. There was the TV, where she had watched the video with Ronald and Cecile, when he found out about Bunny Caldwell sending this letter to Annette. His eyes fell on the chair. She had sit in there, when they made the bet.
"You don´t stand a chance. Even this is out of your league."
"Care to make a wager on that?"
"I´ll think about it."
He slowly got up and walked along the corridor to his room. He pushed the door open, slowly stepping in. His eyes immediately fell on the picture on his bedside table. He had made it about 2 month before the whole bet thing had started.
He remembered the situation excaclty. He just wanted to borrow a pen from her, so he went to her room, but she had already fallen asleep. He headed back to his and took his camera with him. And he photographed her while sleeping.
When he had the film developed he had to admit that she really looked like an angel while sleeping. That´s why he had put it on his bedside table in first case. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. He stared at the picture, it may just have been a few seconds, but to him it felt like minutes were passing by.
Then, without a second thought, he shoved it into his pocket, took off his jacket and threw it on the couch near-by.
He wondered where Kathyrn was and what she was doing at the moment. Somehow he felt worried. He didn´t know why, but something told him that she wasn´t ok at all, even though he hoped it. He shouldn´t just have let her go. . . How could he be so stupid? Kathryn couldn´t take care of herself, without any money and no place to stay, she was lost.
And the drugs. . . God. . . he really hoped she´d quit the cocain thing.
He lay down on his bed, staring at the ceiling. In that moment, he really wished nothing more than that she would be here. He missed her, now he even admitted that to himself.
He missed her way of moving, her famous fake smile, her proud way of talking, her smell, her hair... God. . . The empty feeling in his heart had got worse.
"Sebastian?"
He opened his eyes again, and saw Annette looking down at him.
"Hey, sweety.", he said, sat up and kissed her.
"Are you tired?", she asked him.
"No.", he told her the truth. "I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"About many things.", he smiled. "About you and me having some cute kids, living in a great villa in miami." Ok, this wasn´t the truth but hey, she didn´t need to know everything.
She smiled back. "Well, do you want children?", she asked him.
"Yeah, I do.", he told her.
"Me too."
They started to make out again and they ended up having sex. They finally went to sleep at 5:00 am, well, Annette went to sleep, Sebastian stayed awake.
The sex had been bad, but that didn´t really bother him right now. He wanted to think about her. About his evil stepsister. About the girl who almost destroyed his life.
He really missed looking in her eyes, watching her sleep, driving her home after school. . . Well, he didn´t do this very often, usually some of her moron admirer gave her a ride, but rarely, when she didn´t have someone to drive her, he could take her with him.
Her eyes had always sparkled when they were in his car. She had been crazy about his jaguar. That was probably why she wanted to win it in the bet. Oh, the bet. . .
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"Because of that little wager of yours. . . Count me in."
"What are the terms?"
"If I win, then that hot little car of yours, is mine"
"And if I win?"
"I´ll give you something, you´ve been obsessing about, ever since our parents got married."
"Be more specific"
"In English: I´ll fuck your brains out."
O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O o o o o O
She had agreed to fuck him, if he won. . . But he turned her down. Suddenly he realized that this had been stupid. What if he´d hurt her? Maybe he actually had? Maybe that was why she had pushed him away when he finally broke up with Annette?
But maybe not. . . His mind told him. Maybe not. . . . Maybe she was just evil.
He looked at his side, saw his sleeping wife and gave her a cuddle. He should have done this with Kathryn, too. Maybe she would have needed it some time.
He pressed his nose into Annette´s hair, closed his eyes and pushed Kathryn out of his mind. So he missed her, allright, but he wasn´t going to let this cause problem in his marriage with Annette. No way. . . The bitch herself had done that before enough.
So he forced his mind to be on something else and he immediately had to think of the blond girl in the rain. Hopefully, she was sleeping, cuddled up to her Mother in a warm and comfortable bed.
And hopefully, Kathryn was, too. . .
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"Mommy, please, tell me a good night story."
"No, enough for today, it´s almost 6:00 am."
"Pleeeeaaase. . . "
"No, tomorrow because – "
"Pretty pleaaaase."
"Allright, but just a short one."
"Yeah."
"Well, guess what."
"What?"
"I met an angel yesterday."
"You did?"
"Uhu."
"What did he look like?"
"Oh, very pretty. But I don´t remember really."
"Oh, pity. What did he tell ya?"
"Nothing. I asked him to watch over you. And then, he headed off towards your bed. So I wanted to go to sleep too, cause I thought he´d stay with you the whole night, you know. But after a few minutes, while I was in the bathroom showering, he came back. "What happened?" I asked him. I really wondered if you were ok. "Nothing.", the angel said quietly. Oh, now I remember what he looked like. He looked like. . . David Beckham. So, where was I? Yeah, right, so I asked him"Why did you come back that fast?" And you know what he said?"
The mother looked down on her child, who was fast asleep. She bent over her little girl, gave her a good night kiss and whispered into her ear:
"He said. Angels don´t need to watch over each other."