It was near midnight.

Except for Kevin, who was asleep in his room, the rest of my family was sitting in the living room.

I was next to dad, laughing as he narrated an anecdote about an employee who once wrote him a mail while he was drunk.It ended up being so hilarious that dad didn't fire him.

Right about then, I heard a car loudly whir outside.

I frowned.

Only Vanessa and I owned cars that made that noise and were allowed in the house, but she had decided to stay the night at Hudson Estate and I was here.

I got up and excused myself to go out and see who it was.

Was she home early?

Vanessa opened the scissor door to the red Lamborghini Veneno she bought herself before Christmas and stood by it, passing me a half smile.

I walked up to her and arched an eyebrow," Missed me too much?"

"I did.", she sighed, wrapping her arms around me.

I instinctively placed my hands on her stiffened back, sure that something had upset her.

"You wanna talk about it?", I asked, my head still resting sideways against hers.

"About what?", she drew away and looked up at me.

"Really?"

By now she should know that I could literally sense the invisible not in her I'm fine.

She buried her face back in my shirt and softly said,"Everything was fine...until...I started thinking about something that really disturbed me and I needed to come talk to you."

"Okay. Let's go upstairs and talk."

She nodded.

I loosened my grip around her and said,"Hey, when we go in there...um...don't mention the moving in thing yet."

"You have not told them yet?", her eyes widened.

"I plan on telling them once we find a house.", I gulped.

On our second anniversary, two days ago, I had gifted her with a golden key. It felt like the right thing to do.

However my parents would be happier if my taking-it-to-the-next-step involved me getting down on one knee.

Once they found out we were planning on moving in together, mom and maybe even Charlotte would coerce me into thinking about marriage.

Vanessa hadn't mentioned the word to me even once but I knew that was an important milestone she was really looking forward to and once my family begins talking about it, she would expect a proposal soon after but I was not ready to take that step yet.

I shook my head"Just don't say anything about it right now, okay?"

She frowned and I bet she had a lot of questions but I knew I couldn't answer any of hers until I found the answers to mine.

We went in and Vanessa was enthusiastically greeted by everyone.

She was the first woman I was allowed to bring home...well more like, asked to bring home to spend every weekend at the mansion which we both had made a habit of doing, by now.

To be honest, even though her family and she were really trying to be close, her bond was more genuine and effortless with mine.

She even spent her past two Christmases here. We'd go over briefly to the Hudson Estate where her family usually gathered, we'd greet them, exchange gifts, have brunch and then return back to the Greys Mansion to celebrate.

As of now, we quickly excused ourselves to go upstairs.

Vanessa changed into her pyjamas and we both sat down on our bed as I asked her,"So, what were you thinking about?"

She looked at me, fidgeting with the button on her sleeve and then looked down, saying nothing.

I took her freezing hands in mine and held them tightly, saying,"It's okay. You know you can tell me anything."

She said,"I thought trying to forgive dad would be no different from forgiving Jennifer but the more time I spend with them, the more the contrast between these two relationships becomes visible. Jenny and I were inseparable ever since I first started living at the Hudson Estate. We were best friends, we were sisters and though I don't know if I can ever trust her again, I do love her and wanting to forgive her doesn't feel wrong. We had something before what happened did. Even though going back to how things were is impossible, moving forward and having her as a part of my life feels right. It makes me happy to see her hopeful that we can move past our problems and I know that we will.",

Vanessa withdrew her hands from mine and wrapped them around herself, closing her eyes," Something can only be mended if it's broken, not if it doesn't exist. My bond with my father has only involved me trying to gain his approval and affection and him hesitating to give me either. Other than that our relationship is hollow. There is nothing good to look back at or forward to and I feel that, distancing myself from him will hurt me lesser than trying to build something and forgive him. He has been cordial with my these past few years and Kate pushes him to call me every once in a while but everytime I talk to him, there is this heaviness in my chest, this uneasiness that I can't escape. It's not that I don't want to forgive him, it's just that I don't think that I can. Am I a horrible person?"

"You know where I stand on you trying to forgive him. I don't like him. Your father gave you nothing but neglect which made you push yourself even further and what did that give you? More neglect. Mistakes can be forgiven, crimes can't and the way he treated you is no lesser than a crime so tell me who is the horrible one? He is finally being cordial with you so I am tolerating him but Nessa, for me, he lost any chance at being forgiven when he refused to acknowledge your achievement when you finally became the CEO, knowing how much his approval meant to you. It was pathetic."

"But what about everyone else? Won't they hate me if I refuse to forgive him? Over these past two years, I have put in a lot of effort to build a healthy relationship with my family. Jennifer and I can now talk normally, go out for shopping and grab lunch together like we used to earlier. Nate and I have been running Hudson Enterprises and in these past three years, considering how much we have been interacting, we are in a good place. Hell, I even discovered he has a good sense of humor. As for Kate, I feel she'll understand because I did give forgiving him a good try but I don't think she will be able to convince Jennifer and Nate to accept it. I don't want my inability to forgive dad to ruin what I have built with everyone else.", she said, still fiddling with the button on her sleeve till it came off.

I sighed putting my hand on her arm," If you can't forgive him and trying to do it hurts you more than it helps, what's the point? As for your family, if they truly care about you, they would do it because of who you are and not for what you can and cannot do. Nessa, family is not like glass that breaks on putting the slightest pressure. It's like steel, it's strong, adaptable to change and when under pressure it usually bends a lot before it finally breaks and even if that happens, some warmth can help put back the pieces together. Do you understand?"

"I guess you are right."

"When am I not?", I winked, trying to lighten the mood.

"Don't get too cocky."

"I can't help it. It's my personality, sweetheart.", I grinned.

"It sure is.", she rolled her eyes and then asked me," By the way the glass and the steel thing, I have heard that somewhere before."

"You have. Dad said it in one of his magazine interviews.", I smiled, proudly.

She cooed,"Aww! You read his interview."

Dad promised to be more accepting of my business ideas and opinions so I agreed to learn his way of handling things and learn from his experience and so far it has been as good as it could be.

Now that the tabloids referred to me as One Half of The NYC Power Couple rather than the playboy billionaire, I had discovered a new side of my father. Who knew he had incredible ideas for dates or that he enjoyed retelling tales from his youth so much?

I had a strong bond with him before Charlotte got divorced and we both became distant, trying to use our own flawed ways of coping with what happened. Dad had taught me how to ride a bicycle, he had been there at every school function that I was a part of, he stayed up late at night wth me while I was preparing for my SATs, he taught me how to drive and I guess my love for car stems from him too. I had so many good moments to remember that forgiving him wasn't hard at all.

However, with Vanessa, things were different. I don't believe her father had been a part of any major life event of hers until now so not forgiving him was definitely the right thing to do.

"Sometimes it's okay to think about yourself too. You already gave him more than he deserved, it's time you give yourself what you do deserve.", I said.

She nodded and then tackled me, making me fall back on my pillow, with her.

"Thank you so much.", she said.

"You don't have to thank me for talking to you, that is literally the one thing people in a relationship are supposed to do.",I looked down at her.

"The only one thing?", Vanessa passed me a coy smile.

I laughed," Wow! How are you always that hor..."

She interrupted, still grinning,"Hor...horrible? Yeah, I know."

"Oh sure! That is the word I was looking for.", I rolled my eyes, drawing her closer to my face.

"Let's not forget we are at your parents place and Casey would love to make us uncomfortable by interrogating us for why we were up so late, if we accidentally end up sleeping in longer. So good night.", She said, before turning around and lying down.

"Tease.",I groaned and she looked back to giggle.

I shook my head in disbelief before resting on my pillow and whispering,"Good night."

Sometimes I wondered, how in the world did I end up falling in love with a girl like her and then at other times, I wondered how did it not happen sooner?

■■■

"You ready?", I asked Bryan, who checked himself out for the third time in the mirror in the past ten minutes.

"Just one second. Do you think I should have gelled my hair back or this fine?", He asked, running his hand through his blond locks.

I shrugged, sitting on a windowsill, in the corner of the huge dressing room,"Do you ever gel your hair back?"

"No but..."

"Just relax. It isn't a job interview."

He scoffed,"Yeah! It is not a job interview...it is my BLOODY WEDDING!"

I added," To my sister who has been seeing your stupid face since we were in high school. She has seen your puberty face, I don't think she'd mind anything you do now."

"You are not helping.", He said, fixing his bowtie.

I laughed," You look perfect and anyways, considering how Charlotte has been going on and on about this, I think she cares more about your reaction when you see her walk down the aisle than how exactly your hair is combed."

"Good Point.", He drew in a deep breath and walked up to me,"I am going to go revise my vows once again and you go check on Lettie...Char...Charlotte."

"You know you can call her Lettie or whatever in front of me, she's going to be your wife.", I smiled.

Bryan returned the smile after which I left one wing of the Victorian castle resort we had booked for the celebration to walk over to the rooms in the opposite one, where Charlotte and her bridesmaids were.

I walked over to the suite reserved for Charlotte. Casey opened the door wearing a burnt orange, off shoulder, mermaid style evening gown embroidered with flowers.

Why the hell do I know all that?

Well, Charlotte's repeated description of her bridesmaids dresses every dinner had them imprinted on everyone's minds. I bet Vanessa could tell me about her dress while she was asleep.

"Maid of honour.",I acknowledged as Cassandra had been doing ever since we were given our titles.

"Best man.", she nodded before taking me to the bride.

When Charlotte turned around to greet me, my heart stopped.

She was the most beautiful bride that I had ever seen.

I recalled her description of her dress: It was a white A-line gown. She had a rhinestone sash tied around her waist and her hair was tied up using an embellished comb in a hair do with some complicated name that I couldn't recall now.

"So?", she beamed.

"You look beautiful."

"Of course I do. It took a lot of effort to make sure that this dress outshined my first wedding dress.", she said, reaching down to readjust her floor length veil.

"Stop! Don't talk about that day today.", I shook my head in disapproval.

"It's fine. You know I have never been an escapist and even though my first marriage ended, it taught me a lot of things, patience being one of them. It also gave me the most extraordinary, beautiful baby boy that I could have ever asked for. I have no regrets, I have moved on from what happened and I am happy where I stand today."

"You can hug me in that dress right?"

"I wouldn't normally but for you, let's make an exception.", Charlotte said before embracing me.

"You can stop worrying about me now.", She whispered.

"I could never."

Last time we were at this milestone of her life, she had been in a hurry to tie the knot but when I looked at her now, I knew she wasn't walking backwards. She was a different person than she had been that day, we all were and most importantly, she was sure about her future and was happy to begin again.

I talked to Charlotte for a while longer before I decided to go out to join Bryan.

On my way out, I heard one of the bridesmaids complain to another one,"She's gonna be late. I can feel it."

"Who is?",I asked.

"Um...hi. Vanessa, she is still in the dressing room."

This girl!

"I'll get her.",I said and excused myself.

I knocked at the door labeled 'Vanessa' and it opened slightly. A brunette peeked from behind it,"Adrian? What are you doing here?"

"The girls said you're going to be late. Everything okay?"

"There is an issue with my dress. I'll be down as soon as I fix it."

"Want me to help?"

"Do you promise to only help?", she narrowed her eyes.

I smirked,"Why? What else would I do?"

"Remember when I let you into my room before Jennifer's rehearsal dinner and we ended up missing half of it. I am glad she didn't kill me."

"That was different. You were nervous and I just wanted to cheer you up and well, it's not my fault I am distracting."

She scoffed before reluctantly opening the door. I slipped in to see her holding up the front of her light orange dress with one hand.

"You are the bride's brother and the best man. You've got to be responsible so no funny business, okay?"

"Speaking of responsibility, why aren't you ready yet? You could have easily asked for help when the other girls were getting dressed."

"That's because I just came back to my room a few minutes ago. Your sister invited over a lot of guests and your parents were having a tough time greeting and seating all of them so I volunteered to help."

"Earning brownie points, are we?", I mocked.

"I wasn't the one who decided not to tell your parents we were moving in together, till after we moved in. Was I? So any brownie points I earn are actually a favour to you."

"Not fair!",I crossed my arms in protest as she chuckled.

"Now, what's wrong with the dress?"

"My zipper is stuck. It won't budge, at all."

"Did you try to google help?"

"I...kind of...left my phone somewhere."

"What a surprise.",I rolled my eyes.

"Are you going to keep passing sarcastic remarks or are you really going to help? We can't be late, especially not you."

"Fine. Give me a minute."

After looking through a few websites instructing what to do, I asked her,"Soap, you've got soap?"

"Yeah! I carry soap bars with me everywhere cause you never know when the right opportunity for a bath might come up."

I clicked my tongue, scrolling further,"And you say I should tone down the sarcasm. Forget that, you must have clear lipstick, right?"

"Lip balm? I could arrange that.", she said and went over to the table and began turning it inside out.

"Got it.", she held it up, as if it were a trophy.

She walked over to me and turned her back towards me. I began putting the balm on the teeth of the zipper, trying hard to not get it on her dress. Once I was done, I looked at her reflection in the mirror, fidgeting with her bracelet, looking at the wall clock.

"You look better in red, you know?", I said, trying to distract her.

"Just because it is your favorite colour doesn't mean I can always wear it. Plus a red dress for a bridesmaid is tacky."

"I am not just talking about dresses.", I said, trailing a finger up her spine and then stopping right over her strap.

She drew in a sharp breath as colour rushed to her cheeks.

"The look on your face works too."

She looked back at me with a smile forming at the corner of her lips,"Remember what I said about no funny business? Let's just zip me up, okay?"

I nodded and with two short tugs, the slider safely made it's journey to the top of her dress.

Fall was the running the theme of the wedding so it wasn't a surprise that Vanessa's short dress, like that of all the the bridesmaids was light orange. Just like Casey's burnt orange gown, their dress had an off shoulder neckline and flower embroidery. Charlotte had also gifted each one of them with unique diamond pendent with flowers that suited them. Vanessa got a rose as it was her favourite flower...

Vanessa cleared her throat,"If you are done checking me out...", but I interrupted her,"I am not done."

She opened her mouth to protest but I stopped her,"What? As your boyfriend, I have that much right, don't I?"

Vanessa turned around and tugged on my tie,"You have got a lot more rights that just that, Adrian Greys."

I leaned in for a kiss,"I sure do."

I was about to kiss her when she pushed me back, grinning with satisfaction, "But right now, your duty to your sister outweighs your rights so we've got to go downstairs."

I looked at her in disbelief,"You are the world's worst tease, you know that?"

She winked,"Don't worry. I heard patience is always rewarded."

She continued laughing as I excused myself,"I'll see you after the ceremony."

She nodded but before I left, she held me back by my arm. I looked at her in confusion but she began fixing my tie and smiled.

I held her gaze for a while before softly asking,"What are you doing?"

"What? You can check me out, I can't?", she arched her eyebrows and I chuckled.

She slid her arms up to my neck and said,"You've got a lot of responsibilities on your shoulder today as you are equally responsible for both the bride and groom but I know for a fact that you can handle everything. And come on, being the best man shouldn't be that hard considering you already see yourself as the best man there is. Just don't get stressed, you will be great."

"I'll try.", I closed my eyes and locked her in an embrace as everything around us melted away. It was just her, me and my stupid heart that wouldn't stop drumming.

Did you know it was possible to love someone so much that looking at them made you forget how to breathe sometimes?

What was Vanessa doing to me?