Chapter 525 - Letting Go Of The Past

Aleksis closed her eyes and enjoyed the taste of Nicolae's lips on hers. Although they had been together for years and Aleksis had accepted Nicolae's proposal to be his wife, the man had never kissed her like this. This time was the first.

Maybe Nic remembered Lauriel's words which advised him to savor the moment and enjoy being together as much as possible, so tonight Nicolae decided to pour out his love openly to Aleksis.

He had expressed his love to the girl, making peace between himself and their future with Alaric Rhionen and Aleksis' past. He knew that Alaric had a place in Aleksis' heart that he could never and would never want to replace.

And for the sake of his love for Aleksis and her children, he had decided not to have any biological children with Aleksis, because he didn't want to share the affection he wanted to give to Altair and Vega alone.

The gentle kiss gradually became more passionate and soon the two were hugging and caressing each other. Aleksis knew that no one understood her better than Nicolae, and she felt grateful for her future husband's understanding. She welcomed Nicolae's outpouring of love and accepted him with an open heart.

Aleksis felt that her steps would be lighter if Nicolae held her hands as they walked together, without her having to forget her memories with Alaric.

Both of them broke free when a young giraffe approached them and rubbed his head against Nicolae's shoulder.

"Uhm... We better go home. It's already quite late now," Nicolae whispered as he loosened his arms. He kissed Aleksis's forehead, clasped his hand on hers, and guided her back to their horse.

The journey back to the bungalow went on in silence.

***

The wedding preparations took place very quickly and efficiently. The bride and groom only needed to take care of the invitations by writing their own names on the card that had been prepared, and for that, they had asked for Altair and Vega's help, as the kids had learned calligraphy from Aldebar. Their writings were much better than their parents' even though both of them were still very young.

"Ahh... Mommy is very proud of you. You guys write very well," Aleksis complimented them after thirty cards had been written. There were still over a hundred left. She could only massage her forehead while reading the long list of names.

"Hmm... The next invitation is for Uncle Jean." She exchanged glances with Nicolae, "Do you think they'll come? They haven't been here for the past ten years. I'm sure my mother misses him a lot."

Nicolae nodded, "I'll ask Terry. Hopefully, he can persuade his father to come. I heard Uncle Jean has a daughter who's almost the same age as our children. It'd be terrific if they could meet. You know for yourself that it would be very unlikely for us to see little children from the Alchemist family attend our wedding."

Aleksis always felt her heart tremble warmly whenever Nicolae referred to Altair and Vega as their children or his children. For the past four years, she had seen how much Nicolae was taking up a fatherly role for her twin children, and their relationship was very close to the point that they almost became inseparable.

"I sincerely hope Marion comes too," Aleksis quietly uttered.

She remembered that Marion was the last person to see Alaric alive. She was hoping that, someday, Marion would want to sit down and talk to her about the events that happened that night so Aleksis could slowly let go of everything and move on.

"I hope so too, Honey." Nicolae nodded. He took his cellphone and quickly called Terry.

Aleksis saw Nicolae get up and move away to call Terry. She wondered why Nicolae didn't talk to Terry in front of her.

"Mom, I'm tired. I'll rest first, okay?" Altair waved his hand and put down his calligraphy pen. Vega followed. Their glittering puppy eyes made Aleksis unable to say no and she finally nodded.

"When will we get the puppy?" Vega asked her.

"Well... later on. Wait for all the invitation cards to be sorted out," Aleksis replied with a smile. She looked back at Nicolae, who looked serious on the phone. What could possibly make him look that serious? Aleksis could only wonder.

She continued to write the guests' names on the invitation cards and tried to make her writing as good as possible, albeit it being difficult.

Finally, Nicolae finished his call and returned to Aleksis, who was staring at him in puzzlement.

"Why did you call him in secret like that?" Aleksis bluntly questioned. "Are you up to something with Terry?"

Nicolae just smiled and nodded. "If I told you, the surprise won't be fun anymore."

Aleksis hit his shoulder, "You planned a surprise for me, but you intentionally did it in front of me so I become curious. You're really too much."

Nicolae just shrugged and mysteriously smiled. He hugged Aleksis from behind and his hand held the pen in Aleksis's right hand. "I'll help you write. Who knows, maybe if we combine our two hands - our bad writing can be a little better."

"Hahaha... How is that possible?"

Nicolae didn't listen to her protest. 

"Sophia Meier... Who's this?" Nicolae asked as he read the name on the invitation card.

Aleksis' face suddenly turned red with anger and she subconsciously threw the card away. "I don't want this snake woman invited! She separated me from my father because of her lies, and her brother once even poisoned me to the point that I was dying. Your father almost sacrificed his life to save me."

"Oh... right," Nicolae remembered which Sophia Aleksis was referring to. He had heard the story of what happened when Aleksis was two years old. Ten years ago, he actually wanted to take revenge for what the Meier family did to Aleksis, but then Aleksis had an accident and fell into a coma, diverting his attention.

He just remembered again that he had planned to punish Sophia and Alexei. Now, he wouldn't let them go free just like that.

"I don't want to see the snake woman's face at our wedding," Aleksis snorted.

"No, of course not." Nicolae nodded and crossed out the name from the list. In his mind, he made a mental note to take care of Sophia, Alexei, and the Meier family after their wedding.

Next, there were the names Ned Lewis and Portia Baden. He remembered Lauriel specifically asking him to invite the two.

"This is my mother's cousins. I must invite them," Nicolae told her.

Aleksis nodded, "Of course."

They continued to write the names on the invitations while Altair and Vega returned to chasing rabbits.