A Fated Night

He proposed on their second anniversary. A candlelit dinner in Paris overlooking the Champs-Élysées. The diamond ring was floating in her champagne when she turned around. Ken had his chin propped up on his hand and looked at her with the goofiest expression that said he doubted she would say no.

She hadn’t. After collecting her bearings, she instantly said yes.

They decided to get married as soon as logically feasible. They had already been living together in Ken’s apartment for three months. Now he was ready to take his business to the next level, and he needed Lana’s full-time help. As soon as she announced to Charlie Bachman that she was also leaving him to start her own enterprise, he bemoaned ever meeting the two of them. They were going to clean him out of New York.

What a fool. Ken saw a bubble waiting to burst in NYC. He and Lana agreed that the best business decision was to move to a new, more economically thriving city and grow their real estate empire there. They had already bought their first building together, the place that would become their base of operations over the coming months. As soon as they got back from their honeymoon, of course.

Perhaps most women of Lana’s standing would be scandalized to get married in a place like City Hall, but it was perfect for her and Ken. She wasn’t partial to a huge to-do that would attract every vulture in America and Europe. Lana wanted a small, private ceremony for their immediate family members. Inid was a good enough maid of honor, and Ken’s brother Travis was serving as his best man. They were probably already waiting in the judge’s office. Well, they would have to wait a little longer. Lana was having a wardrobe malfunction that made her feel more embarrassed than Janet Jackson at the Super Bowl.

This is what she got for choosing a beaded, long sleeved gown. When Lana and her darling fiancée decided to marry around Christmas (to take full advantage of a honeymoon in the Caribbean, of course) the bride got it in her head to commission a wintery dress that nobody would be expecting. They thought she would show up in a beaded white bikini? Well! Her reputation had begun to precede her, hadn’t it? But when her mother and sister saw the unveiling of a hand stitched princess gown complete with beaded bodice and lace-laden sleeves, they were speechless. Just what I wanted. Lana had to admit it was a look that suited her. When the beads weren’t popping off and rolling on the floor, anyway.

The seamstress yelled at her to sit still and to please put down the giant bouquet of white lilies and poinsettias because they decapitated the woman responsible for fixing Lana’s dress. She couldn’t help it! Lana wanted to make sure she looked absolutely perfect when she posed for pictures with her new husband. These pictures were going to be hung up in her house, sitting on her desk, and – most importantly – sent to the society papers all over the world. Lana and Ken’s relationship was a point of gossip for the local scandal rags. Didn’t help they were all online now. They would want pictures as soon as possible. Some startup called The Daily Social pooled together their meager resources and offered the bridal couple a sizable sum to have first dibs on their wedding photos. Lana had half a mind to buy out the company. Or at least buy the building they operated out of.

“How’s my hair?” she asked her mother.

Juliet twitched to not have her champagne glass instantly refilled. Functioning alcoholics. I swear to God… “Lovely, as always, dear.” She put down the champagne glass and occupied her hand by slamming it against her hip. Her glittery gold gown was almost the same color as the champagne she judiciously drank when she thought nobody was looking. “Suppose I’m expected to tell you what to do on your wedding night. Not that you need help with that.” She scoffed. “Everyone knows it’s a miracle the man is buying the cow when you gave the milk away for free for years.”

Actually, it was his milk he was giving away. Lana didn’t say that simply because she didn’t want to make her mother vomit. Yet now that she thought about it… how much semen did a man usually ejaculate in a year? Because Lana was good enough to make her fiancé give up twice as much for free. We’ve got the paparazzi photos to prove it! Lana didn’t care. Why, one would almost think someone had purposely sold some scandalous sex pics to a certain paper right before she was due to buy her first property on her own. Shook the buyer right in his boots to see her curvaceous body march into his office right after seeing it half naked and bobbing in her fiancé’s lap. I was meant for porn. Too bad I have success elsewhere. The exhibitionist in her had already impressed sex clubs across the world.