Free Web NovelChapter 150: Wedding Crashers
The next morning was especially bright, as if even the sun had prepared for the upcoming wedding. The weather was pleasant enough for no one to complain.
The common area outside the apartment building’s main entrance had been transformed overnight.
Different kinds of chairs and even some boxes and crates had been arranged in uneven rows on both sides of a makeshift aisle that someone had marked out using strips of the red and gold fabric left over from the night before.
A garland of dried flowers lined the ground, making up the ’aisle’. A rough arch had been constructed at the end of the aisle using salvaged pipe and rebar and covered in whatever green things they could get their hands on. They did a decent job. It looked lovely from certain angles.
Every tenant in the building was there, dressed in whatever their best version of dressed up looked like. Some of it was formal. Some of it was just clean, but everyone had tried to look their best for the occasion. But no one looked as good as the groom standing under the arch.
This darn collar is too tight. System! Could you not have given me something more... free?
[You can take it up to your wife. She’s the one who chose it, Host.]
At that response, Aiden could just sigh and bear with it. fгeewebnovёl.com
Alisha’s pick was solid. The suit fit perfectly, which was the one thing going right at this exact moment. Dark, well-cut, with a white lapel that matched the arch decorations.
The only issue was that he just couldn’t stop touching the collar.
It happened for the fourth time in under two minutes. Just as he was about to do it again, a hand came out of nowhere from his left side and swatted his fingers firmly back down to his side.
"Stop that," Karina said without looking at him.
She was standing just to his left in a deep red gown that surprisingly suited her enormous figure. Even though the elegant gear didn’t stop her from ensuring Aiden behaved.
She pulled her hand back after swatting him when laughter erupted through the front rows of seated tenants.
Aiden dropped his hand, only to do the same a few seconds later. Karina swatted it down again without even turning her head to look away from the building entrance.
Finally, he sighed and straightened up. The demons also made a show of marriage, but it was nowhere as agonizing as it was for Aiden at the moment.
Meanwhile, Milarel only smiled at Aiden’s discomfort from the other side of the stage. Aiden had selected Karina as his best woman, while Alisha had chosen Milarel as her maid of honor.
In reality, there was no distinction between the two roles, as both women were wearing the same red gown provided by the system, and even the officiant, Carmila, was in the same dress.
Carmila stepped forward, and the quiet chatter ceased. She looked over the assembled tenants and then turned to Aiden with a smile as if saying she can’t wait to be in the same position before starting the ceremony.
"We’re here to celebrate one of life’s biggest joys," she began. "We’re here because two people decided, in the middle of everything this world has become, that some things are still worth doing properly."
Nobody moved, but there were snickers from here and there.
"That takes a specific kind of stubbornness which the groom doesn’t lack at all," she smiled as if her words were meant as the highest possible compliment she could give to Aiden. "And an equally stubborn woman who wanted to make him hers."
As soon as she said that, the doors of the building opened, and a hush fell over the crowd. A few seconds later, Lily trotted out with a basket in her small hands, sprinkling flowers down the path.
A few seconds later, Alisha walked behind her. Aiden didn’t care to see what she was wearing as his eyes were fixed on her face and the way she was smiling at him from the far end of the aisle.
He had seen her smile a lot before, but nothing came even close to how wide she was smiling now and then... she let out a sigh as if she had been worried he might not be there when she walked out.
Adrian almost laughed at that thought. No matter how many times he told her that he couldn’t leave the building, she was always worried about him disappearing someday, as he had after her sister’s death.
Aiden watched her walk toward him and felt his heart skip a beat. Even though it wasn’t ’his’ body, nor was he the original Aiden, he knew that the feelings he shared with Alisha were real, or else, his heart that didn’t act up when fighting gods, certainly wouldn’t act up when he was getting married.
She reached for him. Aiden took her hand and gently walked her under the arch. Alisha looked up at him, and he looked down at her, and neither of them said anything, just enjoying the moment.
"Hi," she mumbled, hiding the excitement under her voice.
"Hi," he smiled back.
Karina made a small sound behind him that she covered immediately with a cough because she was worried the two would forget about the ceremony and just launch themselves at one another.
Carmila too sensed the urgency and rushed along with the ceremony.
"The vows," she reminded the two.
Aiden cleared his throat, intending to go first. He had told everyone that he wasn’t going to, as doing that wasn’t his style. Yet, now he was going back on his word, surprising the girls.
"I won’t talk about our past because I don’t know a thing about it," he said, holding Alisha’s hand. "What I know is... I’m not an easy person to be around, but you know that, better than most people here."
He continued, "You have seen me be loving and seen me be ruthless and yet you stuck around... which either makes you very brave or slightly crazy, and honestly, I think it’s both."
"I spent a long time in places that had nothing worth coming back to, but returning to you never felt like that to me. You felt like home... so now I’m going to spend whatever comes next making sure you never regret being the reason I came back."
The crowd remained silent, but quite a few of them were smiling and nodding. But none looked as touched as Alisha, as she teared up and couldn’t stop smiling.
Carmila then nodded at Alisha to continue. She took a deep breath and did just that.
"I spent years telling myself what I felt was wrong, that it wasn’t meant to be. When you disappeared, I thought I would get over it, and my feelings for you would disappear in time..."
"Reality check, it didn’t. When you told me that you didn’t remember me, it broke my heart. But then I got to know the new you and realized the past didn’t matter because the man standing in front of me was already everything I wanted. But that wasn’t enough..."
She turned back to look at Lily, holding Milarel’s hand.
"I knew I loved you, but it wasn’t until I watched you protect Lily like she was already yours that I decided that you are the man I would live and die for."
She continued, "I don’t need you to remember the past. I just need you to stay for the rest of it. That’s all I’m asking. Stay, and let me stay with you so I can love you for all eternity..."
As she finished saying her piece, the crowd erupted into cheers. The women were shedding tears like they were all related to Alisha, while the men couldn’t help but be jealous of Aiden for finding such a great partner.
Carmila gave the crowd a few moments to calm down before producing two rings prepared by Lina. They weren’t anything extravagant. Just a simple band, but it was the abilities Lina had imbued in them that made them special.
However, it wasn’t the time or the place for Aiden to explain all that to Alisha. He would do it when they were alone at night.
The crowd once again erupted as they exchanged the rings.
"Then by whatever authority this strange world has left to offer," Carmila announced. "And by the considerably more relevant authority bestowed on me by our benevolent landlord... You may kiss your bride."
Before Carmila had even finished the words, Alisha was already leaning towards him, and he met her halfway, caressing her face with one hand while the other was wrapped around her waist. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com
He was about to pull back and say something when a distant roar interrupted him. Everyone stood up at the same time. All the joy of the moment had disappeared at that second.
Just then, one of the guards stationed at the guard tower came rushing and pointed to the west.
"Orcs! Orcs are coming!" he yelled.
"How many?" Marcus asked the guard.
"...hundreds."
A hush fell over the crowd. They had realized how terrible their combat strength was after fighting the creature yesterday and Joan’s army before that.
If hundreds of orcs actually appeared there, then going out to fight them was out of the question.
Aiden stood there, looking at the army of monsters coming toward his building, then he looked down at Alisha beside him. She was looking at the orcs just like everyone else.
"Aiden..." she whispered.
He kissed her on the forehead.
Then he turned to face the barrier, rolled up his sleeves, bought hundreds of rifles from the shop, and picked up two of them.
"It would be rude of me to not show gratitude to these uninvited guests. Feel free to join me, wife."
