The CEO’ s second choice novel Chapter 5

　　Elena

　　“This one looks beautiful, Elena!”

　　Can you guess where I am right now? What a way to spend a peaceful Sunday.

　　Currently swaddled in lace and silk, my mother and Mirabelle had kidnapped me so we could go hunting for a wedding dress. “Why can’t I just wear Eliana’s?” I had asked, and both of them looked like I had spat in their faces.

　　Okay, then.

　　So here I was, being a doll to my mother and Mirabelle. After trying on at least 10 more dresses, I started losing my temper.

　　“Let me find my own dress, mother. Give me a few minutes,” I say in an exasperated tone to the surprise of the two ladies with me. If this was going to be my wedding, I might as well choose the damn dress since I didn’t get to choose the groom.

　　I walk into the back section of London Bride Couture and sigh. This wasn’t how I pictured myself when I eventually had to choose a wedding dress. I thought I would be a lot happier.

　　Scanning the room, my eyes discard every single one of the poofy monstrosities. Just when I was about to give up, my eyes fell on a gorgeous dress; A-line with a princess waistline, a Queen Anne collar and a beautiful lace illusion sleeve. The back revealed a diamond-shaped opening. The train wasn’t too long either, and that got me giddy to try it on.

　　Slipping on the wedding dress, I found it fit perfectly. I stared at myself in the floor-length mirror and could not believe how beautiful I looked. My eyes started brimming with tears and I immediately looked around the room for my handbag.

　　“That one suits you better,” I hear a voice behind me, a voice I never thought I would hear, especially not in a bridal fitting room.

　　I look up into the mirrors and spy a pair of honey-coloured eyes staring at me. Sebastian was standing in the doorway of the fitting room; dressed in a pair of black jeans, a casual t-shirt and sneakers. He regarded me with a bored expression as I continued to dab my eyes.

　　“Thank you,” I say and straighten my back.

　　He walked into the room and stood behind me. Our eyes met in the mirror and suddenly I felt nervous to be alone with him.

　　As if he could pick up my anxiety, he chuckled, “It makes you look less podgy,”

　　If there was anything else that could have ruined my day further, this was it. My eyes blaze with a hurt that I swallow down. I stare up at him and offer him a thin smile, “Are you always so mean to people who have done nothing wrong to you?”

　　I don’t think Sebastian expected me to speak at all, because his eyes widened at my response. I forgot my sister was the reserved one, so she probably always let him take the lead.

　　Not waiting for an answer, I turn to leave the room but he snatches my wrist and I turn my head towards him, horrified.

　　“I want this even less than you do,”

　　“Mr Dumont, they made me into an offering of appeasement, so you better suck it up and get used to me. Because I am just as pissed off as you.” I say through gritted teeth and Sebastian blanched. I snatch my wrist away from him and saunter out towards my waiting mothers.