Ch 79: Wedding Reception

After we finished waving to the crowds. The driver took us to this five-star luxury plaza hotel that Mr. Collin built to further expand his business.

Outside on the sidewalk more paparazzi and loads of other people were in an uproar of cheers. Certainly, their cameras were ready to bombard us with a million more pictures.

"Did your father invite all these people?" I asked Kai when the limo was pulling up to the curb before parking.

"The news about the wedding was leaked somehow," answered Kai. "Only our family, friends, and business associates will be attending the reception."

I never had a chance to reply because a man in a black suit opened the door for us to get out. Again the crowds were pushed off to the side by tons of bodyguards that made sure a pathway was cleared for us to walk.

Kai seemed to be on the edge of his patience. There is no hiding that he has a temper and only puts up with so much. I could tell by the tense body language he was coming close to that breaking point of freaking out.

He snatched my wrist and pulled me out of the limo. Then he hauled us both towards the hotel without glancing at anyone.

The crowds shouted and solicited for us to answer their questions but Kai wasn't in the mood. He had had enough of this now and pulled me into the crowded lobby. Already my bridesmaids and everyone else were here in the lobby.

"Would somebody get those nosey reporters out of here!" His icy sharp voice uproar within the lobby.

Yup, Kai's temper officially exploded. Everyone here went silent looking at him with a plain expression. Kai and his father seem to be having a stare-down going on between them.

I just stayed quietly by his side unaffected by his bizarre temperament. Either I was getting used to his weird mood swings or perhaps I had gone so far as apathetic from this wedding. That I cut myself off from feeling any emotions, including embarrassment.

"Not to worry Kai." Mr. Collin spoke and broke this idling silence. "I have everything taken care of."

All he did was snap his fingers together and his guards went around Kai and me to put down these black curtains. The guards outside came in and locked the doors tight just before they came inside.

Now the hotel was locked up tight and secure from any outsiders that weren't invited to the wedding.

With a slight head movement, I slanted my face up to look at Kai. He seemed more relaxed and at ease from his previous tension that looked like he wanted to break everyone's necks. He really doesn't like people that weren't within his cycle.

I thought as Mr. Collin said. "Everyone is ready to announce our names."

"Well, let's not keep them waiting," Kai said as he took off his shades so slyly.

He's been taking them on and off throughout our pictures. So I hope he isn't hurting his eyes too badly from all the flashing cameras.

"You can keep your sunglasses on so you don't have to hurt your eyes anymore," I told him.

Wait a minute, why do I care?

Before I even realized I had verbally said that out loud. Kai looked at me with this questionable smile that was surely flirty and gloating. As everyone else even seems to gleam too, especially Rome. He even smirkingly danced his eyebrows like an idiot at me when I regrettably made eye contact with him and everyone else.

Oh, gosh! I wanted to hit myself in the head!

"Don't worry, my love," Kai said, brightly shining like a falling angel. "I'll be just fine."

"Let's get going then," Mr. Collin said as he offered his wife Mrs. Collin his arm for her to take it.

We all lined up accordingly and our names were announced one at a time from inside the glorious ballroom.

"I now present our newlyweds Mr. Kai Collin and Mrs. Victoria Collin."

The enormous crowds applauded our entrance as husband and wife. It was triple the crowd compared to the people inside the church.

I already knew you couldn't fit everyone in the church. The remaining people that were invited would await our arrival after we get married.

But I didn't think the Collin's had this many friends, family, and business associates.

Even the Sheriff and other detectives working on Elena's murder case were here. The same men that stood by Mr. Collin when he made his announcement over the news to claim my innocence are here too. Politicians were even here attending the wedding reception.

Once the clapping subsided when Kai and I took a seat at the bride and groom table with my bridesmaids and Kai's best men.

A few heartwarming toasts were made and then the wedding reception had finally begun. Everyone mingled with wine glasses or they were dancing to the music playing.

Kai held my hand and introduced me to a lot of his family members and even more of his friends. Some of these guys that were his friends looked at me like they did wanna drink my blood. Three of them chugged down the dark blood-red wine upon our introduction. More weirdly, I even smelled the stench of blood within the ballroom. The density of that bloody smell kept on increasing as more fancy gem dark bottles were being opened.

This was surely strange but then again, I could be overthinking this from stress.

My chosen decorations were a vampire theme. Everyone dressed in that vampire Gothic-like outfit. Perhaps, I am overly stressed since I knew vampires aren't real. Just because I smell blood perfuming the air doesn't mean they're drinking blood. Goodness, I must be losing my mind!

"Are you alright, Victoria?" Kai's voice snatched me from my thoughts and I realized he and his friends were looking at me strangely. Then I kinda veered around the ballroom and saw others looking at me oddly. And there was this awkward dead silence enduring within the air.

"I'm fine, why do you ask?" I tried playing it cool.

"Because we are supposed to be heading up to the floor for our first dance as husband and wife but you weren't responding to me," Kai said with a very concerned look on his face.

I was a little shocked at myself. "I'm sorry, I must've zoned out."

Yeah, I surely zoned out deeper than I realized but hopefully, I kept that thought to myself. Since I have a horrible habit of blurting things out. That are meant to stay in my head.

"You weren't going through another time gap travel?" Ivan asked me and I didn't even realize he was here until now.

Wow! I am really out of it today.

"No, I was just zoned out, that's all," I told the truth even though Kai and his friends seemed skeptical about whether or not to believe me.

Luckily, Kai dropped it by saying "Let's head up."