If Thorne ever regretted his choice of profession, it was now.

Torture in hell had nothing on the nightmare that was the Park-Mira wedding and more than once, Thorne had been tempted to throw the money back into the couple's faces and just run as far away as he could.

Instead, he was plucking baby's breath from every single bouquet, wreath and vase because Miss Mira had suddenly decided she hated them. Everyone else was busy with the decorations, the lighting and sound systems, the cleaning, and so on, so Thorne was practically on his own.

He had tried to reach Jules, an old school mate whom he usually hired to do the odd jobs at Thorne's weddings, or Darla, his usual assistant, but neither of them were available today. Jules was driving someone's car to a different state and Darla had a model casting.

It was just him and the couple from hell. Just his luck.

Sybil stomped up to him. "I expect that none of those ugly shrubs remain. I wanted classy flower arrangements, not a bunch of weeds on my wedding day."

A bunch of weeds she had previously agreed on. Thorne bit down the response and flashed her an amiable smile. "No worries, everything is taken care off."

"It better be."

By now, Thorne was used to the constant sneer on Sybil Mira's face. There was no way he could imagine her walking down the aisle with a radiant smile like every other bride. If he was lucky, she wouldn't bite off the priest's head during the ceremony.

Aimery Park, the groom, was only slightly less difficult. At first, Thorne had thought only Sybil with her bossy attitude, her constant berating and sour mood would be testing his patience. But even though Aimery had a constant smile fixed on his lips, he wasn't amiable at all. He was always making sure to point out how much money he spent on this wedding and on Thorne's services and what he expected in return. Less prone to outbursts than his fiancée, Aimery nevertheless grated on Thorne's nerve with never-ending monologues to communicate what he wanted and didn't allow for any interruptions.

So far, this job was more trouble than it was worth. And he had no one to help him.

Or maybe ... he did?

Thorne eyed his phone. Cress had offered to help him with his other jobs several times. She had even been disappointed that he hadn't let her help. Partly, he had declined her offers because he was still used to doing his own thing. Even Jules and Darla were just following his orders, with Cress he would be working together. This was fine for their friends' wedding but he hadn't been sure about it when it came to one of his usual high class engagements. But if he were honest with himself, he knew Cress would undoubtedly be professional and a great help.

But Thorne was concerned about Sybil and Aimery's behavior towards everyone in the staff. More than once, Thorne had to smooth over their obnoxious comments to the vendors, cooks, waiters, and florists. All of them were used to stressed-out clients and still, Sybil's snide comments had left more than one staff member in tears.

It wouldn't be fair to subject Cress to that, especially since she refused to get paid. Or at least, while she had almost begged him to let her help him, she had mentioned that she didn't even needed to get paid for it. Really, if there was one thing thing he could say against Cress, it was that she didn't focus enough on the financial aspect of their jobs.

Maybe if he could convince her to accept payment he would consider it.

"A word, Mr. Thorne."

He doubted that Aimery could keep it to one word. He picked out the last of the baby's breath and turned to Aimery. "Yes, Mr. Park?" He found the formal addresses ridiculous but Aimery had been very adamant about this and refused to call Thorne anything but Carswell or Mr. Thorne. And Carswell was out of the question so Mr. Thorne it was.

"Since you don't seem busy, I have to ask you to focus on more urgent matters." He waited patiently for Thorne to acknowledge what he said. His jaw tense, Thorne only managed to nod. Not busy? By now Thorne had arrived two hours early to rearrange the tables and, as a result, the lighting. He had to rework the menu with the cooks, had to get the wrinkles out of Sybil's dress with a steamer, book some last-minute rooms for guests who had previously declined the invitations but showed up after all, had to fire and rehire the photographer and discreetly get rid of one of Aimery's more recent affairs who had arrived solely to make a scene.

And Aimery had the audacity to tell him he wasn't busy?

It took every ounce of professionalism not to snap at Aimery. Instead he kept silent, indicating with only a small nod that Aimery had his attention.

Aimery smiled pleasantly. "It seems like I have misplaced my wedding vows. I had a whole speech prepared but alas, I can't seem to find them anymore."

"Have you looked everywhere?" Was Aimery trying to get Thorne to look for the speech when he had a hundred other things to focus on before the wedding could even start?

"Indeed. I think they might have gotten lost a few days ago but I only just noticed."

Thorne forced a broad smile on his face, the one he had practiced to set his clients at ease. "Alright, that's too bad. But I'm sure if you speak from the heart, no one will ever be the wiser. And let me tell you, women appreciate that sort of thing," he whispered conspiratorially.

But Aimery shook his head and Thorne's stomach dropped. "As you probably can tell, Mr. Thorne, I'm always well-prepared and my wedding day shouldn't be an exception, wouldn't you agree?"

Oh no. Surely, Aimery wouldn't ...

"And since I'm very generous with your wage—"

... ask him ...

"—and have influential friends who would undoubtly notice if I weren't satisfied with your service—"

... to write ...

"—I would appreciate if you could write my wedding vows."

Thorne gaped at Aimery, whose smile grew even more. Thorne had heard his fair share of ridiculous commands but usually, they were asked with a minimum of embarrassment. Aimery obviously felt no such thing; rather, he thought he owned Thorne.

"Mr. Park, I would recommend rewriting the speech yourself if you want to have a speech prepared in advance. I'll have to prepare the wedding and there's still a lot to be done. I'm already redoing the seating arrangements and your fiancée wants the roof opened and decorated which hasn't been yet discussed with the owner. One of the bridesmaid's dresses arrived in the wrong size so I'm waiting for the dress shop to call me back to tell me if they found a replacement. You still have three hours until the ceremony and only need to get dressed, surely that is plenty of time to—"

"I'm not asking again, Mr. Thorne. My initial speech was exactly two minutes long, I would prefer you to stick to that. Do not disappoint." And with an almost friendly clap to his shoulder, Aimery left.

Thorne blindly stumbled to a chair to sit on, ignoring the pitiful glances of the staff. He clasped his hands, not surprised when he noticed them shaking.

There was no way he could add a two-minute speech to his pile of unfinished tasks. Already, this wedding turned out to be a disaster. The worst of all was that Aimery was right. He had seen the guest list, the friends he had. If word started to spread that Thorne didn't meet Aimery's expectations, if anything went wrong, Thorne was done for.

Recommendations, reviews, interviews—all that ensured that Thorne was known to be a one of the best and only then, could he pick his jobs (and his wages) as he wanted. He couldn't risk it.

He had no choice. He picked up his phone and scrolled to the number he had called more than anyone's in the last three weeks.

"Cress, I need you. And those are not words that I throw around every day."

"You are my favorite person ever, have I told you that yet?" Thorne told Cress, his arm still slung around her shoulders as she tried to open the door to her temporary apartment.

"You might have told me that once or twice, yes," she said with a chuckle and together they half-stumbled into the hallway. "Really, it was nothing."

Thorne leaned into her, hugging her closer to his side. "Nothing? Oh, darling, no. It was everything. You were amazing."

Cress showed him the way to the kitchen and they set the boxes and bottles on the counter. Leftovers were common after a wedding and Thorne had encouraged not only the staff but Cress too to take a few things home. Eventually, Cress had invited a tired Thorne to stay at her place for the night since Huy Deshal's apartment was much closer to the venue than Thorne's, so they had picked out food for the both of them.

Cress stored most of it in the fridge but kept a few desserts outside. Thorne held up two bottles. "Champagne or wine?"

She considered, licking some spilled creme from her thumb. "Wine. You okay with the amarena mousse, or do you want some cake too?"

"The mousse is fine." He looked for wine glasses and then his hand found the small of Cress's back to lead her towards the couch. "Wow, that Deshal guy knows how decorate," he said with an impressed whistle before slumping down with an exhausted sigh. "I'm dead. That was the worst day of my life."

Cress sat next to him, tucking her feet under her knees. "Aww, it wasn't that—," She stopped herself.

Thorne grinned at her. "Yes?"

"I don't think, you know, considering everything..."

"Yeees?"

She sighed. "It was a nightmare."

"That's what I wanted to hear." He filled the glasses with the red wine (topnotch quality like everything the Parks had ordered which was a small consolation) and handed one to Cress, letting his fingers linger for a fraction of a second longer than necessary. "If you asked me to pick the worst moment, I don't think I could. They were all terrible. Like when she asked me to ditch one of the bridesmaids last-minute."

"Gosh, yes. Or when she screamed at the ring bearer for getting a smudge on the ring pillow. That poor kid."

Thorne shuddered. "I could go on and on. But I think the worst was when Sybil came after you." He had almost got into a fight with Sybil right there. Cress had been an immense help, efficient, fast and always polite. Even when Sybil had screamed that she wouldn't pay for another wedding planner, Cress had smiled and assured Sybil that her being her would come with no additional costs but was a special service by Thorne's Event Planning for his best clients. Only because Sybil had left it at that, he hadn't confronted the witch.

Which reminded him ...

"Cress, I think I told you that you were absolutely irreplaceable to me today?"

Cress licked a spoonful of mousse clean before she answered. "Yep. As I said, once or twice." But even with the small shrug, he could tell that she was flattered. Good.

"Yes, but you think it wasn't a big deal. Not everyone would have come just to help. You were like a knight in shining armor. A hero." He chuckled but in truth, he was only half-joking.

She laughed. "Does that make you a damsel in distress?"

"Definitely," he told her with a wink before reaching into his breast pocket. "And since heroes always get rewarded, I want you to have this."

Cress took the piece of paper, unfolding the cheque he had written during a few quiet minutes, her eyes widening almost comically. "Thorne, no. There's no need. That is way too much. You really shouldn't."

He held up his hands, having already anticipated her objections. "No. You earned it. I also gave the waiters and the cooks and the rest a small bonus from my payment."

"You did?"

Just like him, Cress knew how the payments were calculated for the wedding planner. Thorne earned a lot and the Park-Mira wedding had been expensive to boot but even then, his payment were tied to the overall wedding budget. Giving bonuses from his own pocket was not beneficial. However, he wanted to make sure the staff knew that he appreciated their hard work and would work with him again. He saw it as an investment for future projects, after all, the venue belonged to an old friend of his and he would like to use it again sometime. "After today? This was a horror wedding. The worst of the worst and the staff handled everything exceptionally well. They earned it. So did you." He found her free hand, stroking the soft skin lightly with his thumb.

There was a bashful smile on Cress's lips but he was glad when she pocketed the cheque. "Thank you."

They ate and drank, chattering amiably into the night. It was exactly what Thorne needed to unwind. At one point, Cress left to change and come back in a simple tank top and spaceship bottoms which pleased Thorne immensely.

As she settled back next to him, hair up in a bun and her make-up removed, there was it again, the odd feeling of domesticity. Of closeness.

It didn't scare him the way it did before. No, it was working quite in his favor for the night.

"Do you have something to sleep in?" Cress asked, looking almost guilty being so comfortable while he was still in his dress shirt and trousers.

"Yes, I always bring a spare shirt with me to the weddings so I can lose the fancy clothes as soon as possible. I've got no pants but my boxers should be fine for the night. If that's okay with you?" When she nodded, he relaxed. "And thanks again for letting me stay."

"Sure." She eyed him curiously out of the corner of her eyes. A few times she opened her mouth but then closed it without saying anything. Thorne thought it best to let her say what she wanted without prompting and pretended to be engrossed in his mousse.

"Say, Thorne ... um, what about Boots?" She asked though Thorne could tell it hadn't been her question.

He decided to humor her. "What about Boots?"

"Just wondering since you work a lot, who is feeding her? Like tonight, you're staying here."

"Ah, I've got a nice neighbor. Janette looks after Boots while I'm at work. She's got the keys to my apartment and I always message her if I can't feed Boots myself. Boots is in good hands."

"Okay. Great." Nibbling on her lower lip, considering her next words. "You know, two of the bridesmaids today seemed interested in you. I heard them talking about you."

"They did?" He shrugged. "Well, can't say I noticed it. Why?"

"I just thought since, you know, you told me about ... dating them," she said diplomatically. "I thought maybe you would spend the night with one of them." As she fidgeted with the stem of her wine glass, he noticed a pronounced blush on her cheeks.

"Oh, so we're back to that? I told you I don't date every bridesmaid that crosses my way. I just happened to take the opportunity to ask out a few. I don't see anything wrong with that."

There was a short silence. "So why didn't you?"

That conversation called for more wine. He poured himself another glass. "I had my hands full with everything else. You don't ask out people when you're stressed. Then, those women were either related to the witch bride or friends with her and that doesn't bode well for either of them. I rather not take my chances. And also, why would I spend the night with some maybe evil bridesmaid when I can be with my favorite person of the day, no, the week. No—the month!" He playfully tugged at one of her loose curls. "Really, it's too bad you never visited Kai before, we could have a great time."

Something stirred inside him when Thorne mentioned Kai's name. Oh right, he was supposed to snoop in Cress's private life because Kai was too curious for his own good. Thorne had put it off, partly because he was so involved with his job, partly because there hadn't been an opportune moment so far.

And also, because he didn't want to. Really, it wasn't any of his business.

But then Thorne had started to pay attention and as far as he could tell, Cress really evaded Kai and most private questions. She had done it so sneakily that he hadn't noticed so far. Oh, she could hardly shut up about her job and she had opened up to him about her childhood. But anything else, she didn't talk about. Or rather, she turned the conversation around so they would talk about Cinder and Kai's wedding, their jobs in general, him or just general topics.

So, naturally, Thorne was now curious too. And not quite for unselfish reasons. If Kai was right and Cress actually had broken up with some guy, well, maybe she needed some consolation. Someone to take her mind off the heartbreak.

Because if Thorne was honest with himself, he had started to notice more than Cress's reluctance to talk about whatever it was that bothered her. There was some attraction there that had initally caught him by surprise. An attraction that wasn't just based on her good looks but on the closeness they had developed over the last few weeks. After their rough start, they had an easy rapport with each other and he had come to look forward to the days he would see her again to work on the wedding. He had no illusions about some deep feelings but he could admit that he was indeed interested in her. And why shouldn't he? She was fun, brilliant and gorgeous. If Cress was interested too, they could be in for a great time while she was here.

Cress interrupted his thoughts. "Don't you want to ever want to find the right woman though?" With her head resting on the back of the couch, Cress turned to him. She studied him as if to gauge his reaction to her question, the lights from the cars outside playing on her face.

"Meet the right woman, marry her and settle down with a family, you mean?"

She nodded.

Thorne rubbed his temples, trying of ways to answer. That was not a talk for a successful seduction. But he hadn't lied to Cress so far so he wouldn't start now. "That's not for me, Cress. I'm independent in every part of my life. I can do whatever I want when I want. There's no one I have to answer for and these are the things that matter to me. I'm quite happy with my life." This might be the moment to find out more about Cress. He leaned towards her. "What about you? What about the right guy?"

Instead of answering, Cress took a huge gulp of her wine. When it was just the two of them, she wasn't quite as successful at turning the conversation around as she was around Kai, he found.

She gave a small cough. "Don't you ever want to fall in love?"

"Ah-ah." He wiggled his finger at her. "I was asking first."

"And I was asking second."

He sputtered. "That doesn't even make sense."

"Sure, it does. My house, my rules." She waved at him. "So?"

"It's not even your house," Thorne reminded her. He eyed her, wondering if he should insist but decided against it. He would get his answer soon enough. "Marriage, love, it's all the same."

"Hm. But what if you meet a woman and she's perfect, what then?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Perfect? There's no perfect person."

"I mean generally."

"Generally perfect? Nah, that's not how it works. No one is perfect, the sooner you realize that the better off you are." He chuckled. "Or would you say I'm perfect?"

"Gosh, no."

"Hey!"

She stuck out her tongue at him and with her eyes sparkling mischievously, Thorne almost forgot to be offended. Almost. "I mean, you're great and all but not perfect."

"See? No one is. So, no perfect woman, no reason to get married."

There was a silence during which Thorne thought of ways to get Cress to talk when— "But wouldn't that be lonely?"

He turned to her but she stared out of the window. The playfulness from before was gone. Suddenly, she looked very small.

And very lonely.

It was an uncomfortable thought. Thorne reached over, grasping her hand in his. He had tried to initiate contact over the whole evening, small touches that should linger and put her at ease. But this time, there was none of that. "Hey, everything alright?"

It took Cress a few seconds to answer. "Sure." She squeezed his hand reassuringly. "I just feel it sounds very lonely. Aren't you lonely?"

"Are you?" He shook his head. "Listen, Cress, you know I'm always honest with you. I'm probably not who you imagined me to be at first and everything—"

She interrupted him. "I'm sorry I said those things to you. I wasn't ecstatic about finding out you lied about your job and everything but I had no right to take it so personal."

"And now you like me even more than the sappy guy from the magazine, right?" He poked her good-naturedly. "Right?"

She laughed. "Right. No, seriously. I mean when I came here I was hoping—" She looked down at their still intertwined hands, quickly releasing hers. Tucking back a strand, she laughed a bit nervously. "Anyway, yes, you're great."

Even Thorne had to admit that the evening wasn't quite progressing as he had expected it too. Too bad but nothing he could do about it. Something had changed and Thorne wouldn't force the mood to become anything it wasn't meant to be. It wouldn't work and if he was honest with himself, Cress hadn't given him any of the right signals so far. Might as well do Kai a favor and help him out with his best friend. "Good. What I wanted to say was that, no, I'm not lonely. I have my friends. They all matter to me and I spend time with them. I go out with women when I feel like it. But even so, I don't think marriage is the solution to end loneliness. I feel too many people get married because they're expected to or because they don't want to be lonely or ... I don't know. But marriage is no guarantee for happiness." He thought of his parents but quickly dismissed it. He leaned closer, catching her gaze. "But if it's friends you need ... Cress, if there's anything you want to talk about, you know I'm here for you? Maybe you don't want to talk with Kai and you don't know Cinder all that well yet but if you want, I can be a great listener."

Leaning towards him, Cress looked into his eyes, her gaze questioning.

She was close. Very close and Thorne reconsidered being just a friend. She nibbled on her lip, drawing his gaze to her mouth and back to her eyes. Maybe she was sending him the right signals after all?

"Can you keep a secret?"

He didn't miss a beat. "Of course." Slowly inching closer, their knees made contact. "You can tell me whatever you want." His voice dropped as he said it.

Cress's eyes lingered for another moment before she drew away. "Okay, great." She stood up, taking Thorne by surprise. "I—there's something and I'm ... Can you give me a second?"

Ah, now that felt more familiar. "Of course."

Cress practically fled into another room which Thorne assumed was the bedroom. He heard her rummaging through something and took a few moments to unbutton his collar and check his hair in the window's reflection.

But when Cress entered the room, she didn't look like she had changed her appearance at all. Usually when women needed a second for themselves, they did at least some small touch ups: A bit of make-up, smoothing down hair, maybe a drop of perfume. But Cress apparently hadn't done anything of that sort.

When she sat down next to him, he noticed she was holding something in her palm.

Oh.

She opened her hand towards him. In Cress's hand was a small red velvet box. And inside ...

... a ring.

A/N: Dun-dun-duuuun. ;) Where do we go from here? What's the story behind the ring?

As always, a big thanks to my beta kiminicricket who just got swamped with new chapters to betaread. :) I had some hours to kill at work (while still having to look like I'm working) so I could write a bit for Planning Ever After, Masks and Till We Meet Again. I would appreciate reviews so I know there are still readers out there who support my writing. :)