Two Doors Down

Despite how beautiful the wedding was, I was too focused on the fact that it would be me on that alter soon to properly enjoy the ceremony. Especially considering the fact that I had my eyes on Draco all day even though Blaise had his arms around me. For once, he never let me out of his sight and I was sure that we looked like the perfect couple.

In fact, I was beginning to feel overwhelmed by how clingy he was acting.

But, the day that Blaise was going to present me with the promise ring came eventually. My mother woke me up at dawn to get me ready. The huge ceremony would be taking place at noon and I was lying if I said that I wasn’t pleased with my appearance. My hair and makeup had both been done professionally. The dress I wore was handmade and I knew it must have cost a fortune. But, none of it made me happy. Honestly, this would only make it more and more difficult for me to be happy since this meant Draco and I couldn’t be together. There was a knock on my door and I sighed.

"Come in." I called to the person on the other side of the door without bothering to look away from the mirror that I had been staring into blankly.

"You look beautiful." Blaise said with a small smile on his face, most likely just trying to make me feel better since I could tell that he was worried as well.

The only difference was that we were worried for different reasons. Whereas I was worried because this might be the end of my relationship with the love of my life, Blaise was worried because our relationship was slowly becoming more and more serious.

"It's your job to say that.” I said to him as I turned around to look at him, smiling softly when I noticed that he was wearing his best dress robes.

“Not until after today.” He teased playfully as he walked towards me, sitting down on the edge of my bed so that he was just a few steps away from me.

“Blaise,” I started to say with a sigh as I looked over at him on my bed with worry clearly written across my face, “Are we really going to go through with this?”

“Of course we are.” He said simply as if he couldn’t understand why I was having second thoughts, “Our parents did and our grandparents did. It's our responsibility.”

“I just don't know if this is really a good idea.” I mumbled quietly since I wasn’t sure if I could go through with this anymore.

“Hanna, don’t do this. We can’t go back on anything.” He said to me with an overdramatic sigh, definitely fed up with me.

Blaise and I made eye contact as the reality slowly set in my body. I would be stuck with the same person for the rest of my life if my parents had it their way. Ordinarily, it would seem romantic to be tied to one person for an eternity. However, I wasn’t sure how I actually felt about Blaise.

“You love me, right?” I asked him suddenly, biting down on my bottom lip and messing up the bold lipstick that had been put on me recently.

“More than anything.” Blaise said instantly, not even bothering to think about his answer before the words left his mouth. “Don’t you love me?”

Unlike him, I took a second or two for the words to register in my mind. Luckily, I was able to play it off while I looked into the mirror and fixed my lipstick. Did I love him? Yes. No matter what, there would always be a special place in my heart for Blaise. Especially since he would one day be my husband and the father of my children. Did I love him more than I loved Draco? Definitely not.

“Of course I do.” I answered sweetly as we made eye contact through the large mirror attatched to my vanity.

He smiled softly and I finally noticed that he was playing with the small box that he had recently taken out of his pocket. I assumed that it was the box of the expensive promise ring which Draco had helped him pick out for me. While I was sorting through my thoughts, Luke walked into the room to tell us that we had ten more minutes until the ceremony. I sighed softly and stood up in order to stretch out my sore limbs.

“Well, I guess we don’t have much time now.” I mumbled softly, speaking more to myself than to Blaise while I looked down at the recently waxed floor beneath us.

“At least we got lucky with one another,” Blaise began to say as he walked towards me, “Unlike how most of the other couples in the ballroom felt when they had their promising ceremony, we actually love each other.”

Before I could even open my mouth in protest, he grabbed my wrist and led me out of my bedroom. I really didn’t want to do this. Hell, I realized now that I should have gone against my parents months ago. I waited too long. We entered the large ballroom that was part of my parent’s home and everyone started to clap. Every couple in the room had been placed together the same way that Blaise and I were put together.

Our parents stood side by side while the two of us sat down. They started to give a small speech about how happy they were now that we were starting to make our relationship official. I felt like I was smothering a bit with each word that they said. Then, from across the room, I made eye contact with Draco. His eyes were sad and I could almost feel the pain as he tore his eyes off of mine.

“It’ll be okay.” Blaise told me in a whisper so that we didn’t disturb anyone who was at one of the tables around us, trying his hardest to make me feel better.

“How do you know that?” I asked him while I felt my heartbeat continue to quicken as we got closer and closer to the point in the evening in which he would be slipping a ring on my finger.

“Because I promise that I’ll be a very good fiancée and an even better husband.” He said with a small smile before leaning in to peck my lips gently.

“Well, I didn’t have any doubts about that.” I answered simply, shrugging just a bit before I leaned my head against his shoulder.

“This is just the promise ring, Hanna. We aren’t really doing anything too big here. It’s a formality to make our parents and grandparents happy. You don’t even have to really wear it on campus if you don’t want to.”

“I know. It’s just that all of this suddenly feels very real.”

“Are you okay?” he asked me while he gently laced our fingers together and pulled me even closer towards him.

“No. But, I’ll be okay eventually.” I responded to him with a small shrug while my eyes scanned the room around us, “I hope you're not taking this personally.”

“Of course not. A beautiful girl isn’t sure if she wants to marry me. I'm not taking that personally at all.” He said in a joking tone that made me smile for the first time all night.

“I'm serious.” I said after I slapped his chest lightly, joking around with him and knowing that those around us were enjoying our playful banter.

Rather than respond, my loving boyfriend kissed me softly and a few of those around us let out small ‘awes’ that made my cheeks warm up. When we pulled away from the small kiss, I ended up in his arms again.

“I feel bad for you.” I began to say to Blaise after he pressed a kiss to my forehead, “You’re getting a very stubborn wife.”

“But, you admit that you will be my wife one day?” he asked me in a teasing tone that made me roll my eyes before I nodded softly.

“Do I have much of a choice?” I asked him around the same time that my father finished his speech and everyone clapped.

Everyone’s attention turned towards Blaise and I while we were still cuddled up. Despite the fact that we had missed our cue, the crowd around us started to coo and awe because of our position at the table. I blushed softly and before I knew what was happening, his lips were pressed against mine once more. When we pulled away from each other, I saw Draco walking out of the room and going towards the backyard through the glass door that was behind Blaise. My eyes were focused on that direction so much that I didn’t even notice when Blaise gently grabbed my hand in his. In fact, I wasn’t even paying attention to anything that he said until I heard him say my name at the end of his last sentence. I looked back into his eyes and he could tell I hadn’t been listening. He mouthed the words ‘say yes’ and I nodded.

“Yes. Of course, Blaise.” I said to him, not realizing what I had been agreeing to until he slipped the expensive ring onto my finger and the crowd around us started to clap again.

I bit my lip softly and looked down at the ring that Draco and Blaise had picked. I knew that with each day I let this continue, it started to get more and more likely that nothing would change. So, I was stuck between the love of my young life and the man my family had chosen for me.