The Center of my World - Part Eight
Usagi-chan
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"Serena, it's okay, we'll work this out." Amy told her
bestfriend. The four women were now sitting in one of the
side rooms of the church trying to console Serena and fix the
entire mess.
"Tell us the entire story Serena, and leave nothing
out." Mina looked expectantly at the bride. Serena could
barely meet her eyes. Mina was one of Darien's closest friends,
and Serena had betrayed her as well.
"David.. David and I were engaged for some time, and
we began having difficulties with money for the church. David
is a minister."
"Was a minister." Raye interjected.
"What do you mean?" Amy asked.
"He was dismissed for various reasons." She shrugged.
"Anyway, Serena continue."
"So David came up with this brilliant plan. He wanted
me to seduce Darien, and get his money for the church. And I
agreed." Serena whispered. "I was willing to do almost anything
for the church. I showed up at your party, Mina, and Darien
showed a fair amount of interest in me."
"He was in love with you on sight, Andrew told me.
Darien had thought you were unlike any other girl he had
ever known." Mina said quietly.
"He was nothing like I expected. The papers made him
out to be so harsh and almost evil... When I met him... Then
when we were sailing and he saved my life..." Serena's voice
trailed off as it was consumed with sobs.
"It's okay, Sere." Mina hugged her friend. "We'll
figure something out, I promise."
"But he's so mad at me now! He thinks I only care
about his money when I couldn't care less! I love him Mina!
I love him so much..." She sobbed against her friend's shoulder.
"I'll go talk to him, and see what I can do." Mina said
gently. "I'll be back in a while."
She stood up and left Serena with her three friends.
Mina headed out to her car and took off towards Darien's
apartment, where she knew he and Andrew would be.
***
"I love her Andrew, and she betrayed me!" Darien threw
something against the wall, and Mina could hear it shattering
through the door. She didn't bother to knock, just stepping
into the penthouse apartment.
"Your going to make a mess you'll regret Darien." She
said calmly.
"What do you want?" He asked rather coldly.
"If you think I had anything to do with this, you are
sadly mistaken. I knew nothing about what Serena was allegedly
up to." Mina walked further into the apartment.
"Allegedly up to?" He asked bitterly. "She admitted it.
"And did you stick around long enough to hear what
she was admitting to?" Mina snapped.
"I didn't need to."
"Darien!" Mina exclaimed, exasperated. "Do you even
care about her?"
"What kind of question is that?" Darien asked. "I
love her, but she doesn't care about me."
"She does, Darien. You know she does. I'm not so
sure about you though. You seemed to give up fairly easily
for someone you love. I'm just wasting my time here." Mina
spun on her heel and headed out the door, much to the surprise
of her husband, whom had remained quiet the entire time, and
Darien.
"Wait Mina! Where... Where is she?" Darien asked.
"The church." Mina replied, not looking back. Darien
turned to look at his friend as Mina walked out of the apartment.
"Should I go?" Darien asked.
"Do you love her?" Andrew replied. Without another word,
Darien took off.
***
"I'm sorry Serena... There's nothing I can do." Mina
told her friend, teary eyed. "I tried my best, but you know
how Darien is." She sniffed. "He's so stubborn..." Serena
nodded.
"Yeah, I know."
"Oh Serena!" Lita embraced her friend. "Don't
worry. I'm sure Darien will come to his right mind and
realize what he gave up."
"Yeah Sere. No worries, right?" Raye asked. Serena
looked at her friends.
"Thanks guys, but this isn't some silly crush I',
trying to get over. We're talking about the man I love,
the center of my world..."
"Why don't you spend the night at my place Sere. You
all can, and we'll have a girls night or something, k?" Raye
suggested.
"No thanks Raye. I think I'll just go home and rest.
I don't feel up to anything else." Serena replied, smiling
half-heartedly.
The girls heard a door bang somewhere in the now
empty cathedral, startling them.
"I think I'll drive you home, okay Serena? I'm not
sure I want you alone." Mina said.
"My parents will be there. I'll stay with my mom,
k?" Serena promised.
"Still... At least let me drive you." Mina insisted.
Serena nodded.
"We should get going, I have chores to do at the
temple. I'll call you tomorrow, okay Serena?" Raye promised
as she headed out of the room.
"Alright Raye, thanks." Serena sniffed. A high
pitched beep filled the room, and Amy sighed.
"That's the hospital, I'd better get going. I'm
sorry Serena, it's an emergency."
"It's okay Ames. Go on. They need you, but I'll
be okay, I guess." Amy left as well, leaving Serena with
Mina and Lita.
"Are you two going to be okay, 'cause Ken's going
to be wondering. If you want me to stay with you, Sere, I
will, but I have to at least call home." Lita said.
"No, that's okay, I'll be fine. Go home to your
family."
Finally it was just Mina and Serena.
"What happened when you went?" Serena asked softly.
"He loves you, Serena. He really does, and you hurt
him. A lot." Mina replied. "He was breaking things when I
got there. I don't know what he's doing now."
"Oh Mina! What am I going to do? I love him, and I
want to see him! I want to spend the rest of my life with
him. I just... I... I love him Mina! I do!" She sobbed.
A dark shadow fell over the room, and Mina looked up
in surprise. Darien was standing in the doorway. Mina
reached into her pocket and hit a button, causing her cell
phone to ring.
"I'm sorry, I'll be right back. I'm so sorry." Mina
stood up.
"It's okay Mina. I don't want to hold you up from
your life." Serena wiped the tears from her cheek.
"I'll be back." Mina promised before dashing out the
door.
Serena remained sitting on the blue white couch, her
dress drapped on the cushions behind her. Her gaze moved up the
wall until she was looking at a picture. Recognizing it, Serena
thought to where she had first seen it. Mina had the original
at her house. Serena had seen it the first time she had been
there, for the ball.
"One of my favourite artists, Lonnie Lanai."
Serena gasped and whipped around to find herself face
to face with Darien.
"Darien..." She whispered.
Slowly Darien pulled away and turned away from her. He
stood in front of one of the dual windows in the room.
"Mina told me you were here." He said softly. "I wanted
to apologize for walking out on you."
"No Darien! Don't apologize for anything. It was my
fault. I should have been honest with you from the start, but
once I met you, everything else seemed so distant and trivial. When
I'm with you, it's like I'm in my own little world." Serena
stopped as Darien turned to face her.
"And nothing can touch us here, in our world." Darien
whispered.
"And your the center of my world." Serena's voice was
just as gentle. "You are what everything I think and feel
revolves around. You are always there, in my mind and in my
heart."
"Serena..." Darien shut his eyes for a moment before
looking at her again. "Who was that man?"
"His name is David. I met him a couple of years ago.
We were engaged until a few months ago."
"When you met me?" Darien asked.
"Shortly after I met you, I broke off the engagement."
Serena confirmed.
"Why?"
"Because he wasn't you." Serena found her eyes wandering
back to the painting on the wall. "David runs a small church
in the area, and we were lacking funds. The patrons were faithful,
but you can't heat a church with faith. We needed money. I
trusted David, and he convinced me to try to find another source.
He wanted me to get money from you."
"And you tried."
"At first, yes. The first time I met you, that's what my
intention was, but you were so different from what I expected. You
weren't anything like the newspapers said you were. You were so caring,
and passionate."
"Not like David."
"Nothing like David. I found myself comparing you two
constantly, and you always came out on top. When I first told you
my ideals on love, I began to realize that David didn't fulfill them.
Then I began to realize that you did." Serena glanced at
him. He was watching her with soft eyes, and this gave Serena a
sense of hope.
"When I broke off the engagement, it meant the end of
everything with David, including the part involving you." Serena
bit her lip. "I don't know how David even found out about the
wedding."
"We didn't exactly keep it secret. It was all over the
gossip column." Darien replied.
"I supposed." Serena shrugged, the silky material of
her wedding gown rippling down her back. She turned to look at
Darien, huge, luminous blue eyes gazing into his stormy ones.
"Where does this leave us, Darien?" Serena asked,
startling them both.
"I don't know, Serena." Darien whispered. "Where do you
want it to leave us?"
Serena smiled gently before replying.
"In our own little world, just the two of us,
where nothing can touch us."
Darien looked at her skeptically, so she stood
up and walked towards him.
"Where do you want this to leave us?" She asked,
standing directly in front of him. Darien shut his eyes
and sighed.
"I don't care, Serena. I just want to be with
you."
AUTHOR'S NOTES: The End! I did it ^_^ So what did you
all think? I would like *some* feedback please!
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