Chapter 18_ Blast from the past

Raine came down the stairs and went straight to the front of her Villa as she knew that Mr. Simon would have driven to the front for her. Getting out of the Villa, she saw him standing next to her newly purchased Mercedes Benz EQS and he bowed on sighting her.

"Good morning, Young Mistress." Raine nodded in acknowledgment and Mr. Simon smiled. "Where does Young Mistress wish to go?" He asked as she got to him and she shook her head and stretched out her hand.

"I do not require your services this morning. The Key." 

Simon looked a bit hesitant to give her the key. He had never seen her behind the wheels before so he was not reassured. "First Young Miss…I ask you to reconsider."

On hearing what he called her, Raine turned her attention to him. It had been three years since she had heard anyone call her that and it sounded weird to her. However, that didn't make her change her mind. She raised her eyebrow and motioned to her stretched hand. 

Simon sighed and reluctantly dropped the key on her palm then he opened the car door for her and closed it once she had settled in. Raine started the engine and just as she was about to drive off, she paused and turned to Simon. "Any other visitor except for April and the guest she brings is to be turned away, my relatives included."

Simon nodded his head and saluted her in response and she drove off. Raine lived in the outskirts of the city so her ride to the marriage registry would take a while, though not too long as there wouldn't be traffic around that time.

She looked at the time and saw that it was 10:50. "At this rate, I'll barely make it in time..." She muttered as she sped up and she was right. She got to the marriage registry at 11:59, there were ten seconds left to 12.

Before exiting her car, she opened the glove compartment at the passenger's side and checked the documents she had there. A week ago, her mother had sent her certificates and all she needed to register her marriage to her justifying her actions by telling Rose that she was already old enough to hold her own documents. 

Raine hadn't been bothered by what her mother had done and had taken the documents and placed them into this car for future use. Looking through the documents, she saw that they were complete and relaxed. Then she glanced out of her window.

Other than her car, there was another car parked in front of the bureau but the person standing next to that car wasn't Kyle Weiner. She couldn't really make out his features but he had a strong and commanding aura around him and from her various interactions with influential men, she knew that he was an extraordinary person. 

Remembering that she had come to marry Kyle, she reluctantly stopped glancing at him and turned towards the time, 12:08. As she had nearly come late herself, she decided to wait a bit for him. Though she couldn't help frowning a bit, she hated it when people didn't arrive on time after giving their word.

Since she had already made up her mind to wait, she wound down her window then closed her eyes and tried to relax but she couldn't because she could feel someone's piercing gaze on her face. At first, she ignored it but it soon became too annoying to her so she opened her eyes in anger, got out of her car, and leaned against her car. 

"What do you want?" She huffed out in anger as she stared at him. The more she stared at him, the more she found him familiar, especially his eyes but she could not remember where she had met him before.

"You…I want you, Special Officer Bleü." He replied with a smile that unnerved her. From the instant she had heard his voice, she had guessed who he was but she confirmed her guess when he called her Special Officer Bleü. Except for him, everyone else in the army had called her by her codename Bleü. 

She stared into his warm brown eyes and wondered why she hadn't thought of him when she saw them but it didn't take long for her to know why. The memories she had locked away and buried deep in her heart ten years ago, all began to flash through her mind. Those memories she had never wished to ever resurface began to and she began to remember the happiness, the pain, and the heartbreak she had gone through.

"It is too late for that, Commander," Raine replied icily. "I am here to get wed."

Dante stared at Raine then laughed. "To whom? Yourself" He asked as he raised one of his eyebrows.

Raine was about to reply angrily when she got caught off by him. "Ohh! That's true…To Kyle Weiner. What a pity, he won't be able to make it here."

"What did you do to him, Knox?" Raine asked in exasperation. It had taken her a while to get a partner she was a bit pleased with and Commander Knox just had to spoil everything.

"Nothing much. Just enough to ensure he wouldn't be coming here anytime today or at least soon." He replied and stood up straight before he began to walk towards Raine.

"Did you think I'd allow you to get married to anyone other than me?" Dante mocked and Raine laughed bitterly in response.

"You could have fooled me, what with you disappearing for ten years. Ten years of which I searched for you and couldn't find even your shadow."

"So you decided to get married? Even though you had promised to wait for me?" He sassed and she rolled her eyes.

"Don't ask me such a ridiculous question. Since you were able to find out that I was getting married today despite the fact that I had purposely refrained from letting anyone know about it then you should have also been able to find out the reason behind my sudden need to get married."

Dante shrugged and moved closer to her, trapping her between his body and her car. Raine didn't bother to struggle out of his hold because she knew he wouldn't do anything to her without her consent and also because she wasn't his match. Throughout her stay in the army, the only person she hadn't been able to figure out or beat was him. Eight years later, she still knew she didn't have a chance at it.

"I have never stopped paying attention to you. It just wasn't that convenient for me to show up before you earlier than now." He replied sincerely and Raine closed her eyes and thought deeply about what she should do.

She had loved him when she was younger however, because of their age differences, they hadn't had anything to do with each other. When he was twenty and couldn't push off returning to his family any longer, he had told her to wait for him but that was the last time they had ever seen each other.

Over the last ten years, she had changed and she was no more looking for love in marriage. Should she still honor their previous promise or should she walk away from him? She opened her eyes and stared into his. "Since you know about my family, you should know what marrying me would entail. Are you still willing despite that?" She asked and he smiled.

"I do not love you anymore nor do I think I may ever love you again. Are you okay with that?" She asked again and this time, his smile widened.

"You don't need to worry about that. I'll make you fall in love with me again and even if you don't, then my love would be enough for both of us." He replied and she shook her head in amusement.

"As long as you're sure you won't regret it. There's no regret pill for this. I will never divorce you."

"Regret?" He asked as he laughed off her warning. "There's no such thing in my vocabulary."

"Alright then, let's go get married." Raine retorted with a challenge. She was really looking forward to the coming years with him and wondered if he will ever feel differently down the road.