Argh, so sorry, guys! Internet's been down for days. Bloody torture, that was. Ugh. Sorryyy.

Epilogue

KPOV

"Thanks for the help, Galen! Goodbye, Mr and Mrs D!" Keller smiled.

Only a few more minutes and she could stop grinning like a fool.

"Oh, one more thing, dear," Galen's mother said, beckoning. If she was older, and had green skin, and this was a house made of candy, Keller would be really freaked out. Who beckons anymore these days?

"Yes, Mrs D?"

"Well, me and Galen's father decided that...since Galen and Iliana are such close friends of yours, you can come to the promising ceremony."

What?

"Pardon?"

Gosh, this polite thing was annoying.

"The promising ceremony, Keller! Since their too young to get married, we'll go through the promising ceremony first. We wanted it to be a private thing, only family but I'm sure they'd really appreciate it if you came."

"Oh..."

"So what d'you say, Keller?" Mrs D beamed brightly, not noticing Keller's dark cloud.

"When is it?"

"Next Saturday."

So soon...

"Please, Keller? Think of it as a promise-ceremony gift. They'd really want you there."

All the more reason to not go, Mrs D.

"I'll come if I can bring my twin and her date."

Mrs D hesitated slightly but nodded anyway.

"Goodbye, Mr and Mrs D!" Keller put on a smile and turned to look at Galen, who was staring at his shoes. "Goodbye, Galen! Congratulations, by the way." She even waved.

Raksha Keller doesn't lie.

But for this one boy, she sure has been doing it a lot lately.

QPOV

"Hey, guys," Keller said in a monotone, not even looking a tad bit surprised when she saw Quinn and Rashel on the couch watching TV.

"Hey, Kell'. What's up?" Quinn grinned.

She ignored him and said, "Anything on your agenda next Saturday is cancelled. We're got an as-binding-as-marriage ceremony to attend. Formal and yaddi yaddi yadda. 'Wear nice clothes' and blah blah blah."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Quinn asked, genuinely curious.

"Here," Keller tossed him a silvery card littered with golden flowers.

"Blah blah blah...cordially invited...blah blah blah...Mr Galen Drache and Miss Iliana Dominick...blah blah blah...wait, what?"

Rashel sat up straighter and stared at Keller. "You going?"

"Duh. One night there and Mr and Mrs D thinks I'm their BFF. Don't even know why she got a card with her."

"Galen probably talks about you a lot," Quinn said helpfully, hoping that she finally got the damned hint.

"Yeah, whatever. 'Shel, help me get a dress ready or something. 'Night, guys. Quinn, you're not staying over. Me and 'Shel share a room."

Quinn saw Rashel blush and smirked, "it's alright. We have a nice and comfy couch here! But don't worry, we won't do anything. That's for after the wedding."

"You two are so immature!" Rashel exclaimed, smacking Quinn's arm.

"Hey, that actually hurt!"

"That's the point, dear."

RPOV

"What's keeping you, Keller?" Quinn sighed exasperatedly. Keller had been sitting inside the car stubbornly for ten minutes straight.

"My pride and dignity." Keller's muffled voice called back.

"Fine, I'll tell Galen you couldn't make it because you were depressed that he's gonna spend his life with Iliana and not you. And there won't be anything you can do to stop me," Quinn said, turning away and walking to the large, legal looking building.

"Wait up, stupid heels won't let me run," Keller murmured.

"Atta girl, Kell'."

GPOV

"Hi, Mrs D. Sorry I'm late, traffic and all," a tall, black haired girl in a black dress barged in suddenly, smiling sheepishly.

"Oh, that's all right, dear. Nothing terribly important happening yet."

"Oh! Mrs D, this is my sister, Rashel," the girl gestured to Rashel, who nodded politely. "And this is Quinn, her date."

"Nice to meet you. You two look wonderful together, just like a married couple," she nodded approvingly, and turned back to Keller, "you see, Keller. You look so much prettier in a dress. You should wear them more often."

Pretty was a major understatement. She was beautiful, but he wouldn't dare say it to her face. Not because he was scared of her, of course, but because it might upset her.

"Thank you, Mrs D," Keller said while Quinn snickered and nudged Rashel. Galen could faintly hear the words, "See? I told you so."

"Sit down, sit down," his mother ordered, "it'll be over soon, don't worry."

Iliana was sitting down with her hands placed delicately on her lap as she bit her bottom lip, looking nervous.

"I have to say something, mama, daddy," she said suddenly, standing up.

"Yes, dear?"

Iliana fidgetted with her sleeve, looking self-conscience.

"I...I can't do this. I'm sorry, Mr and Mrs D, but I can't do it."

"What? Why, Iliana?" her mother asked, eyebrows furrowed together. "We thought that's what you wanted."

"You two always looked so happy with each other," Mrs D said.

Galen looked up. Did he look happy around Iliana?

"Mama! You never asked us!" Iliana said, stomping her feet. She really did. "You just assumed! That's how it always is! And to be honest, I hate the family business! I've always rather Thea or Blaise or Jill or even Syl have it!"

"What do you say, Galen?" his father asked suddenly. "No more lying, son. Say what you want to."

KPOV

She stared at him. It was now or never. If he couldn't man up and say those simple words, he wasn't worth it.

"I..." he took a deep breath. "She's right. But the company..."

"Oh, son. We already signed the contract," his mother said. "We didn't know...and we never did ask. I'm sorry."

"We're very sorry, guys," Mr Dominick said suddenly, looking very apologetic. "We should just go and – "

"Not yet, daddy. Galen still has something to say, don't you, Galen?" Iliana stared at him imperiously, as though ordering him.

"Yeah, I guess..." he stared at the ground.

"Spit it out, boy!" his father growled good-naturedly.

"You never really asked who I wanted to be...promised to, but you knew there was someone. And you're right. She's right here, and I hope she's not very disappointed in me," Galen said, looking straight at her.

She smiled and shook her head to answer him.

Few months later...

"Hey, did you guys hear?" Ash whispered-yelled. "Grandpa Redfern died!" Then he laughed.

"Why are you so happy?" Mary-Lynette frowned, "shouldn't you be mourning?"

"Aw, heck no," Jez muttered, taking a huge bite of an apple. "Grandpa Redfern was a horrible old guy. Always ordered us around to do stuff. He seemed to like Delos best. Always making the poor thing scrub his feet."

"I just can't imagine it," Maggie said, glancing at Delos, who was pouting.

"Well, you better believe it, Mags. I had nightmares about those feet for over three years."

"Anyway, he never made Lily do anything, because one time, she ended up putting shrimps in his milk," Kestrel said, grinning. "Good times..."

"The will came out yesterday and guess what?" Ash grinned. "Delos gets his very own summerhouse! And enough money to maintain it for at least ten years without him even breaking a sweat, I reckon."

"Whoa, seriously?" Jez murmured. "Damn, I wanted that summerhouse. That was the only reason I visit the old man."

"Doesn't matter. Point is," James grinned, "out of Grandpa Redfern's thousands of millions of treasure, Lily only got five hundred bucks. Grandpa Redfern left me enough to open my own disco and I'm not even a Redfern!"

"What? Seriously?" Keller laughed.

"You better believe it, Keller. Haven't you seen her emo cloud?" Blaise smirked, high-fiving Thea who was rolling her eyes.

"Maybe the old man wasn't that bad, after all," Delos grinned. "Hey, Mags. Take care of my food for a sec, will ya? I need to go rub it in."

Making Iliana the hero makes me feel uncomfortable. :/

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