Bargain Wedding

An Awkward Reception

"Who the hell does he think he is?" Axel chided in a state of irritation, fretted, and fumed over Jona as she talked to the only person who would have understood her right now.

"Your husband," Tetsuo replied, at which Axel glared at him. "Come on, Axel. Poor Guy only took care of you."

"But that's the thing, Tete. I don't want to be taken care of. I am a grown woman~" She whined.

"Sure. I can see that," Tetsuo stated sarcastically, gawking at her up and down.

"TETE!" Bellowing, Axel almost charged at her older cousin.

"Look, you need to be retrospective, get rid of preconceived notions about Jona. He is a good man and what you came to learn about him are not facts but theories," Tetsuo reasoned as he patted the young lady's shoulder lightly, who was sitting on a resting bike with both her legs dangling on the same side.

"I don't know what to believe. He seemed nice but then too controlling at the same time. The media sure adds two on two, but there is always a spark to ignite a fire. I am not saying the media is completely right as well. Either way, this is not the marriage I wanted, and now I am hungry. I will see you later, Tete. Bye."

Straddling the bike, Axel throttled it to enter through the heavy iron university gate when Tetsuo called her out again. "Axel!"

She hit the brakes and whipped her head around, balancing the bike on her feet.

"Give him a chance to at least get to know each other. Please."

Axel sighed. "That's never going to happen, Tetsuo," she grumbled before finally disappearing behind the grand walls while the older man rubbed the bridge of his nose before brushing some of the hair away from his forehead.

☘

A boy caught up to Axel who was parking her motorbike. "Hey, hey, hey, look, what the wind brought after a week?" He uttered teasingly.

Axel looked at him, poking her inner left cheek with her tongue. "Not now, Minhaj. Trust me when I say I am not in the mood right now," she griped as she took out the keys from the bike, trying not to engage.

Minhaj was a tall young man with sharp facial features, a chiseled jaw, and light brown eyes with short brown hair. "Where were you? I thought you would miss today!" He hollered from behind when Axel strutted ahead.

Showing her middle finger without turning back, she continued waltzing forward and heard the boy's humorless chuckle.

She directly went for the dance event registration, which was going to take place in a month. Getting done with formalities, she went straight to the cafeteria to eat, now that her stomach was torturing her.

☘

"Sweetheart, you need to calm down. Axel will give you a call herself. Stop prancing around," Mr. Aoki tried to reason with his daughter's mother, who was losing her mind to know how Axel was doing.

"Do you think she will call us? What if she hates us now? What if she never calls us or never comes to see us?" Mrs. Aoki had lost it because of the conceived whimsies concocted inside her head.

"I know, love. It mustn't have been the most ethical decision we took, but one thing I am sure of is, we could not have found a better man than Jona for Axel," Mr. Aoki replied as he tried to hold Mrs. Aoki's wrist.

"WE took the decision?" Mrs. Aoki emphasized the word. "You dare to pin it on me? Wow." She was all vexed and trying to yank off her husband's hand, who in turn hugged her from behind.

"Let's put some food in you before you kill me," Mr. Aoki gently walked her to the dining room.

☘

Jona was rushing through office work as he had a reception party to put out. Since the wedding was a close event for family and a few friends, he had to throw a reception for office colleagues and close acquaintances.

Coco barged into his office and saw Jona's eyes busy, gliding through the laptop screen. "Not now, Coco," Jona uttered lethargically, his mouth hardly moving as he spoke.

"That's why I tell you that I am your soulmate, but you always deny it. You knew it was me even before you spared a glance at me," Coco remarked as he slumped on a chair and wheeled himself away from the table by kicking his feet against the ground.

"That's because no one is as useless as you around here," Jona retorted back with an unamused face, eyes still keen on the screen before he lifted his head slightly to look at his pouting best friend, spinning on the chair. "Why have I never seen you working, Mr. Coco Kimura?" Jona added with faux curiosity.

"Come on, Gramps. Now that you have a cheerful woman in your life, I'd expect you to loosen up a bit. Learn from her," Coco snickered back at Jona, who just sighed while shaking his head in response and went back to his work.

Coco dragged the chair back to its place. "Are you waiting for me to ask you?" He asked, knocking his knuckles on a thick glass sheet atop the brown table.

"Ask me what?" Jona asked while clicking the keys of his laptop's keyboard softly.

"You know!" Coco rolled his tongue sweetly over the words.

"Not that it is any of your business, but nothing happened between me and Axel," Jona mumbled as he finished his typing and flipped the screen shut to give a death stare to Coco, who was looking at him with concern.

"Just be patient with her. She will take some time to adjust and understand everything, including you," he gave Jona a light pat on the shoulder after he walked around the table.

"I know. I never expected anything either. I will be as patient as I can, but I am just afraid she won't open up to me and I might unintentionally end up hurting her without even knowing about it. She had a fever this morning, so I called Dr. Choi and I felt that she got a little upset over it. I have no clue why?"

"Maybe she thought you were a bit controlling?" Coco suggested as he tapped his temple in a way of thinking and asserting his words with an I-also-think-the-same face.

Jona just rolled his eyes and pulled up his laptop from the docking station to put it in his satchel case.

"How is she now?" Coco asked as Jona got up to go back home and commence the reception.

"I don't know, man. She also left without eating. I didn't want to come off as someone pushy, so I let her be, but I am really worried about her now," Jona replied, concerned.

"I think you should at least text her if you don't want to call. She shouldn't end up feeling that you neglect her completely. Balance it," Coco gave a suggestion. "Did the plastic lady misbehave with her? I am telling you now, Jona. You respect her is your choice, but if she does anything with Axel, you need to take a stand for her. Respecting someone is one thing, but letting them rule you over is an entirely different situation altogether."

Jona sighed heavily. "Hopefully, she will act maturely with Axel. Also, I don't think I need to take a stand for her. She is capable of doing that herself." The husband answered rather proudly and walked out of the office.

"Mother Hubber!" Coco exclaimed as the office's lights automatically turned off, just as the owner's absence was registered.

☘

Axel reached home a little too late and looked at the decorated mansion. She couldn't help but worry a little. "Did I miss something?"

She knew about her meeting with the Suzuki Corporation Board of Directors, but that wasn't until the next few weeks. There was a party at her parents' house, but why would Jona's house be decorated for that? Other than those two, she had no clue of any other event.

Wondering quietly, she trudged inside as someone caught her attention. "Hey, Axel! How are you, buddy?" Coco asked in his cheerful voice.

"Coco-San," Axel bowed her head a little. "Not bad at all. How are you?" She asked politely, flashing him a small smile. Coco was the only one who seemed friendly to her. Not that Lohan and his sister, Jussy, said or did anything bad to her, but she just didn't get friendly vibes from them. She also knew that Coco was the best man at the wedding, he gave the wedding speech, and she had most interactions with only him, meaning he was close to Jona.

"Jona was worried, he told me you had a fever," Coco continued, and Axel somehow felt her heart soften at the sudden mention of Jona being worried about her, but before it sank in, she shunned it.

"It was just a little fever though, I am okay now," She answered, a brief response, but with a genuine smile painted on her lips. The smile was not broad, but it was the best she could do at the moment.

"Listen, I think I should talk to you about something real quick," Coco looked around as he remarked.

Axel nodded, glimpsing at Coco attentively and giving him a window to speak. "Jona is a mellifluous man. I have never seen him raise his voice at anyone in my entire life, and it is not an exaggeration because we have been friends since elementary school. You will find him being respectful to a few people in this house..." Coco looked around again for quick surveillance and then continued.

"-Who, I don't think deserve anything from Jona, but he respects them. So I wanted to put it out there for you because nobody would tell you this. You need to defend yourself if the need arises."

Axel nodded, and she fetched what, or more accurately, at whom Coco was hinting. "Thank you for telling me Coco-San. Really, I appreciate it." She graciously voiced out.

Her gaze fell on Jona, who was traipsing while uncuffing the cufflink of the right-hand sleeve with his left-hand fingers. He was wearing black bodycon trousers along with a black shirt with shimmering, matte-black, faceted stones placed randomly around three-quarters of his dress shirt sleeves, neatly tucked into his pants. He had big square-framed glasses on, which made him look sexier than usual.

For a second there, Axel's heart skipped a few beats again like yesterday when she first saw her man at the altar.

Jona was talking to someone who was also sauntering along with him, though not side by side, he was a little behind.

Just when Jona's glance met Axel's, she shied away, wandering her gaze back at Coco. Jona dismissed the man by whispering something to him before excusing himself and advancing toward Axel. "Hey, how are you feeling now?" He asked in his usual sweet and genuine tone with a heart-warming smile.

Axel immediately and almost felt very bad for being rude to him earlier in the morning and Jona even told him sorry for calling the doctor. Incredifuckinble!

"I am alright, Jona. Thanks," she responded in a low tone, big, doll eyes not ready to make contact with the brown pair at any cost.

"COMING!" Coco screamed, looking behind at no human or alien whatsoever, and slyly left, not before simpering at Jona, who just shook his head.

"I am sorry to keep you engaged here. You must be tired after a long day. Please rest for some time and come back down later?" Jona squinted his eyes in a manner of asking.

Axel still had no idea what was going on. "Uh, Jona?" She called the older person whose heartbeat accelerated just by Axel calling his name. She moved a little closer to him and he stopped breathing altogether. "What is all this?" She asked as she pointed her finger at people and the decoration to form a circle towards the clamor.

Jona whiffed a flurry of Lilies and Musk from the younger and composed himself. "It is the reception for my office colleagues," he replied, hoping Axel would recollect, but somehow she did miss it completely and had not the slightest idea about its occurrence.

Axel now started to panic a little. "I am so sorry. I had no idea," She gushed as her eyes widened, and she peered at the crowd, gulping.

"Hey, hey. It's completely fine," Jona leaned down, leveling his face to look Axel in the eyes. "You have had enough on your mind the past week. Don't stress about it. If you don't want to attend at all, I will let them know. Just don't feel burdened, okay? Relax." He moved closer and gently put his palm on Axel's shoulder while he looked into her eyes in anticipation.

"No, I would be more than happy to join you. Give me some time, I will go change and come back," Axel told Jona, who was still not convinced that she was okay, so he decided to take a walk with her toward the room.

"What should I wear?" Axel was thinking out loud.

Jona couldn't help. "Anything... You absolutely can pull off everything."

Axel regretted letting out those words, but Jona did not. He wasn't trying to flirt or flatter the raven-haired woman, but he was giving her a genuine compliment.

☘

Axel wore a silk, white gown with white, leather, high-heeled shoes before making a grand entry, ascending the stairs. Her hair was closely tied in a high and messy ponytail, a few locks were falling on the side of her face.

When all the eyes followed her, she felt flustered, so much so that she could crawl under her skin.

Jona, who was waiting for her in the decorated party hall like everyone else, noticed a sudden change in everyone's attention as the murmur ceased. He trailed their collective gazes to catch onto one, his angel in white.

He didn't waver anywhere but remained unfazed as he found his lips forming a sweet smile. He almost didn't move until Coco pushed him lightly, and he promenaded ahead to a halt at the end of the staircase. He held out his hand for Axel to take, who tangled her own with Jona's silently.

She noticed that Jona's glasses were now off, and he had a body fitted with a black golden-embroidered blazer, which accentuated his hips and body in all the right ways. They moved together to the center stage and Jona officially announced their marriage, earning congratulatory exclamations from people.

Taking two flute glasses of champagne from the waiter and handing one to Axel, he raised a toast.

Axel's eyes didn't know where to wander off to. She kept her gaze low with a pretty and small smile adorning her pink, dewy lips while her cheeks flushed a natural rosy hue. Today, Axel noticed Jona's features when he stood with her on stage, sipping his champagne.

The man had brown hair, almost like honey-blonde, his eyes were chocolate brown and very expressive. His lips were plump and pink, and to attain lips like these, any girl would give all her money to a plastic surgeon, just like the Kardashians.

Axel gulped, eyeing Jona's Adam's apple, which looked like that of a model shooting commercials for cold drinks in the scorching heat. He also noticed Jona's ass, which was curvy. Because of that, everything he wore made him look ravishing. His voice was like an angel's harp, a soothing whisper that calmed each nerve of her body, not that she would ever admit it. His body was toned like he had put years of discipline and hard work into it. His skin was supple and fairer than hers, and his arms were veiny. The man's aura glowed brighter than gold, relentlessly. Jona had a duality in him. When he was respectful and soft-spoken to everyone around, he had a dominant side which she had seen the previous night, or right now. Whenever Jona walked, it would be as if he owned this world and let everyone live in it.

Suddenly, everyone demanded a dance from the couple after someone specifically decided to shout at the top of his voice.

A thousand years started playing when the party hall switched to dim lights from illuminating ones, and the party officially kickstarted.

Jona knew that Axel would get uncomfortable again, so he was hesitating until he felt her body close in on him. Axel placed her hands delicately on Jona, and this time, she took the lead.

Jona just smiled. It wasn't just his usual, endearing smile. This time, his eyes were smiling along with his lips. Everyone except Axel could see the love in his eyes at the moment, the way he was adoring his honest wife showed how whipped he was for Axel.

There was no worry, no other thought, no hesitation. He was slowly falling for Axel more under the cool, romantic air filling the room.

He wanted to hold his suave wife close forever. He wanted to slowly kiss her lips and tell her how beautiful she was, how precious she was, and most importantly, he wanted to confess his love for her, announce how much he cared for her, and would stay in love as he agreed to, for better or for worse.

Axel's eyes were not meeting Jona's, but they were stuck somewhere between his lips and his chest. Why was her heart beating fast? She knew that she would never be able to love this man the way she dreamed of loving a partner. But now that she was in Jona's embrace, she wanted nothing more than just to melt there without thinking about the past or future.

Was it because Jona was heartbreakingly beautiful? On top of that, Jona was a good man as she was coming to understand him. Was it because of all this façade of being a newly wedded couple and the share of the limelight she was getting? Or was it a physical attraction at best? She didn't know the answer to any of those questions, but she wanted not to care about anything else right at the moment as she moved closer with such confidence and kept her cheek on Jona's left shoulder blade, nuzzling into his neck and the crowd cheered

Jona shuddered lightly at Axel's delicate touch, his heart filling with warmth and contentment. She closed her eyes and Jona immediately took charge when he felt Axel letting her body go onto him.

His heart was synching with the symphony created by Axel's heart. He soothingly rubbed his right hand on Axel's back like she was a soft toddler, making her feel more relaxed than she already was. They could see no one, feel nothing, but just each other under dim lights. Jona felt butterflies damage his stomach so strongly. Only if he could kiss Axel one more time.

Unfortunately, the awareness returned as the song finished, which they were not ready for. Jona wanted that song to play till the end of time so that he could have his girl encased in his arms forever.

Bright lights were turned back on. People clapped and then proceeded to congratulate the couple again.

Axel was flustered, thinking about the moment she just had with her husband. Her eyes fell on cheerful people, her in-laws, who were flashing plastic smiles, then on Coco, whose smile she swore was the brightest and sparkiest.

She nervously chuckled and bowed before leaving the stage with Jona who still held her hand.

Just as the crowd started to scatter, Coco jumped on them and Axel thanked the heavens for him for coming and saving her from an awkward reception. "You guys! You looked so good up there, dancing so close." He exclaimed happily.

And with Coco's last phrase, Axel took her thanks back. She was now blushing, a beautiful crimson burning in her cheeks. It was becoming very difficult for her to even stand near Jona, who was trying to get her introduced to everyone, but her mind remained absent. She was staring at Jona like she never thought she would. The stares were as if she hadn't seen him in a long time.

Jona's stares had been sly ones, but her stares were more obvious. Jona knew that the situation wasn't settling well with her as she was stiff and tense.

A voice interrupted them, "Axel honey, and Jona. God bless you both. You were exquisite up there. I quickly want to congratulate you too," Ms. Suzuki articulated as she ascended the stage and grabbed the mic.

"She has to suck the fun out of everything," Coco muttered under his breath, but Axel was standing too close, and it didn't get unheard by her as they both laughed, making Jona wonder what happened.

The husband wanted nothing more but to comfort his wife, but his heart wasn't different either. He was currently high on Axel's blush. As they stood together as a couple for the photographer to click them, they looked like they were caught red-handed staring at their high school crushes.