Chapter 25 I Want You, Ronan

-Ronan-

My father nods at me with a smile on his face when the attendants bring out the champagne, and if he wasn't my father, I'd gladly slap the grin away.

I feel like an idiot, asking my mother to give me her engagement ring to put on Stella. But father 'suggested' it, or ordered me to. He was right, of course, as always. I have to make up for the scene with Arabella.

Stella reappears after being gone for a few minutes, and the attendants bring out the champagne. I don't even want to look at Ara in case Stella decides to bully her again.

We toast and finally say goodbye, but I can't find Ara among the attendants.

"Your attendant is already outside," Martin Van Arder tells me with a shrug. "Between me and you, I would have chosen her, too. She's hot."

Without dignifying him with a response, I say goodbye to Stella and hurry out before they all want to keep talking about the stupid wedding.

Ara is standing on the road, looking at the trees again.

"Let's