Leila went through the next few days in a dazed. She felt like her world was spinning out of control and there is nothing she could do to help herself. She haven’t seen or heard from Raymond since their last meeting. Samuel several times and to say that he is a little concerned is an understatement. But since he was on an international mission he couldn’t get back right away. He told Leila to hold off the wedding no matter what and wait for him to get back. However, Leila knew that she was in no position to do so. In the past 24 hours, everyone in the world was calling to congratulate her. Even Nancy was getting into the moment and volunteered to be her bride’s maid. Although, Raymond hasn’t show his face, his personal assistant Ron has been stationed next to her 24/7. Raymond wasn’t kidding when he said that he already took care of everything. There were 24 custom made designer wedding dressed for her to choose from. LV, Gucci, Chanel, YSL and every other brand you can think of. Ron took pictures of her in every dress and sent it to Raymond so he could make the final decision. At the end, she went with a fairy-tale like silk dress that’s hand crafted with over 1000 pearls and swarovski diamonds.

Ron was waiting for Raymond’s response on the last dress. He looked up just in time as Leila walked out of the dressing room. She was so beautiful that his heart also skip a beat.

When Leila saw Raymond again it was 6 hours before their wedding; they were to take their wedding portraits that would be distributed to media’s all over the world. Leila was already in her position when Raymond walked in. She had to admit that he looked even more handsome in a white tuxedo that matched her dress.

Raymond looked at her carefully; his eyes were icy cold as usual: “you don’t look happy like a bride should be.”

Leila: “I’m sure any other bride is not being forced to marry a man they only met twice.”

Raymond started to laugh: “that is very true and I don’t expect anything other than resentment towards me. But I need you to understand something. There is nothing either one of could do to stop this marriage. You should know every well but your parents’ company needs the support of the Lam’s corp. and I’m not afraid to admit that I need your social network to bring my company to the next level. Let’s face it, we are the perfect match. As long as we both play our role, we can continue to live our separate lives. I will promise you no one will be able to hurt your parents’ company from now on. But there is one thing, the most important thing.

Leila: “what is it?”

“I’m the only one who can protect you.”

Leila looked up because she was truly surprised by his last comment. She knew the financial and social benefits for both parties that will result from their marriage but does he actually care about her as an individual?

For the past two days, she already consider all her options

Raymond walked over to her and handed her a box.

Leila didn’t take it: “what is this?”

Raymond opened the box to reveal a brilliant diamond necklace. He walked behind Leila and put it around her neck: “this necklace is the symbol of our family. Did you know that when my grandparents got married, my grandfather couldn’t even afford to get my grandmother a ring? When he made her a necklace out of plastic; that necklace looked just like this one. Of course plastic couldn’t withstand the test of time, so when my father told him he wanted to marry my mother; he made this necklace for her. He wanted this necklace to be passed down from generation to generation as a symbol of love.”

This was the first time Leila saw the sentimental side of Raymond. From the way he talks about his family maybe he won’t be so bad of a husband after all.

 All the dresses Leila could choose from

The dress she went with