“I don’t understand why you don’t want to go to North Carolina for our wedding.” Lauren practically yelled as she looked at her girlfriend who was busy pacing around in the living room.

“Because I don’t want my family to be invited!” There was a gasp as Lauren looked at Scarlet with a disbelieving look. “How could you even say that? They. Are. Your. family.”

“Yes, but—” Lauren interrupted Scarlet, who glared at the younger woman as she stopped her pacing. “I want this wedding to be simple and only surrounded with family. Why don’t you want that too?” Lauren’s voice was defeated as she sat down on the couch while Scarlet looked at her fiancé.

“Because they’re noisy.”

“Oh my god, you just don’t want your family to be at our wedding because they’re noisy??” Lauren stared at her girlfriend incredulously as the other woman mentally slapped herself for saying that.

The Payne family was surely loud, but that was what made them so lovable, yet also annoying. Annoyingly lovable.

“Well, ye—” Scarlet was cut off by an angry Lauren. “That’s how every family is at a wedding, you idiot!”

“Hey, you’re gonna call me an idiot and defend my family.” Scarlet frowned which made Lauren laugh with shock. “Yes, I am doing exactly that, you idiot.”

There was a glare off between the two girlfriends before Scarlet sighed loudly and in defeat. She knew that she could never compete with Lauren’s glares, and how the blonde had all the control over Scarlet. And it was that exact control that made Scarlet give up on her argument.

“If you want this—”

“Yes, I really want us to marry in front of your family as well as mine.” Lauren stated as she stared up at her fiancé.

Scarlet gave her a loving smile before sitting beside her and draping an arm around her shoulder, “Then okay. We’ll go to North Carolina at the week’s end to prepare for our wedding.”

Lauren couldn’t be happier as she jumped into Scarlet’s arms, who could only laugh at the blonde. Scarlet lovingly caressed Lauren’s back as she hugged her, nuzzling into the other’s shoulder.

As the two sat hugging each other, Scarlet’s smile slowly turned into a frown as she looked at the head full of blonde hair of her counter-part. She didn’t know why Lauren was so bent on having their wedding at her home town. She wanted them to have a silent wedding and then come back home, because Lauren was becoming famous now. She was turning into a highly-demanded model. Everyone wanted her to feature in their fashion shows or wear their designer clothes.

Scarlet didn’t know if their wedding would be the way she always imagined.

But, she knew one thing: going to her home town would definitely not be as beneficial as Lauren believed it to be, since she also knew that marrying in New York would just be as hectic as their everyday life.

They needed a peaceful wedding, and then a peaceful honeymoon.

Although, they need the peaceful honeymoon more than the wedding itself.

…………………………………………………………….

Scarlet was stood in front of Stewart nervously moving around her right foot, while the said guy was busy giving her a glare. “So, I heard you asked my sister a very important question.” Scarlet gulped before nodding her head.

Apart from everything that had happened, Stewart was still Scarlet’s boss and on top of that he was Lauren’s brother, so she was a little afraid of him at the moment.

“She said yes.” Stewart stated and Scarlet nodded.

He slowly stood up from his place behind the large mahogany desk, as he walked around the desk towards Scarlet. She gulped as she stood facing him now, while he looked at the woman with squinted eyes.

“Then why aren’t you preparing for the wedding?”

Even though Stewart had been nothing but accepting towards Scarlet and Lauren’s relationship, he still wasn’t over the fact that Scarlet had chosen to remain friends with Katie, and how Lauren wasn’t aware of this teeny tiny fact.

“Um, that’s why I was here with this.” Scarlet spoke while showing him the envelope in her hands, which made Stewart raise an eyebrow in question. “I would like to take a leave for a month at most. If you can give me two months off, then that would be even better.” A nervous smile came over her face, as she looked at Stewart.

He was shocked as he stared at his best editor.

“You can just marry and then get back to work.” He insisted which made Scarlet frown. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been married before but that’s not how marriages happen, sir. Lauren deserves my time right now as well as after the marriage.”

Stewart scratched his neck while looking at the envelope which was still in Scarlet’s hands. “Well, at least you didn’t give this to my secretary like before.” He mumbled while taking the envelope from her hands, while she smiled gratefully.

“Fine, you can take a leave, but for only a month.”

Scarlet was happy even if it was a month. She would either way take two months off, since she didn’t care what Stewart might do. He needed her more than she needed him.

“Thank you, sir.” She spoke before leaving Stewart’s office with a happy smile.

No one exactly knew about Scarlet and Lauren’s soon-to-be wedding except for the Payne family and Lauren’s brother, and Scarlet wanted to keep it that way, since she didn’t want anyone to tell the media about this.

Yes, Lauren had become popular enough to have paparazzi following her.

Scarlet walked over to her own office before plopping down on her leather chair, circling it around with happiness. She did love her job a lot, but she also loved to be lazy and do nothing but snuggle next to Lauren, so she was pleased to get her leave request accepted by her boss.

Scarlet was in the middle of moving her chair around in circles when she was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Come in.”

And in came her personal assistant who she really didn’t like.

Mr. Clark Benson.

And what she didn’t like about him was the fact that he always flirted with Lauren, and even though Scarlet was extremely jealous by that fact, Lauren would always brush away his attempts.

He even flirted with Katie once when she had come to meet Scarlet.

“What is it, Clark?” Scarlet asked with a sigh. The other person smiled at her boss before handing her a file. “Mr. Grayson told me to give you this and tell you to handle the monthly issue of the magazine before taking your leave.”

Scarlet squinted her eyes at her assistant before opening up the file and looking at it. “He can’t do this.”

“I’m pretty sure he did do it already.” Scarlet raised her head to throw a glare her assistant’s way who only gave her a sly smile. “I told him that I was gonna start my month leave from today.”

Clark shrugged his shoulders, not knowing why she was even fussing in the first place. She only had to fix all the edits and send the magazine off for publishing in a day. It wouldn’t be so hard, right?

Another knock on the door distracted Scarlet from her mental breakdown as she closed the file and placed it on her table before telling the person knocking to come in.

What Scarlet didn’t expect was to see her now fiancé step into her office with a lunchbox in her hands. “Am I disturbing you?” She asked cutely with a smile on her face, as her eyes darted from Scarlet to Clark, who was busy checking the model out discreetly.

“No, Clark was just leaving.” Scarlet spoke as she looked towards Clark, who immediately got the message and went out of the office, but not before shaking Lauren’s hand and giving her a flirty smile.

Just as Clark was out of the office, and the door had closed behind him, Scarlet let out a heavy sigh. Lauren, seeing the way Scarlet was sighing and frowning, came around her desk towards the woman.

“You don’t look too happy.” Scarlet nodded as she pushed her chair away from the table before signaling Lauren to sit down in her lap. Lauren obliged happily, as she sat sideways in Scarlet’s loving arms.

“Stewart just told me to finalize the magazine draft and send it for publishing, when he clearly knows that from tomorrow I’m gonna be taking a month’s time leave.”

Lauren could only giggle as she saw Scarlet pouting. “Aww, is my baby sad.” Scarlet nodded her head while smiling, which made the blonde’s heart melt.

“Don’t worry, we’ll go on the weekend.” Lauren patted Scarlet’s head as she smiled towards her with all the love that she possessed for the woman.

Lauren stared at Scarlet, as the other woman wrapped her arms around the blonde before beginning to work on edits on her computer.

The blonde didn’t know what she had done in her life to have such a blissful life now, maybe she had done something good in her previous years. She wondered when she had become so lucky to be with a woman that was faithful as well as understanding.

Yes, Scarlet had her cons, but she was also always there for Lauren whenever she was facing hardships. She didn’t solve all her problems for her, but Scarlet sure offered to help.

And Lauren loved that most about her, the way she would give Lauren the opportunity to be great by herself and not push her forward. Working for such a huge fashion magazine, Scarlet could easily feature her girlfriend on the cover page, but she chose not to, because she wanted Lauren to earn that.

Lauren, herself, never took Stewart’s offers on being promoted for no reason, because of how hardworking and earnest she was.

And somehow, both of them admired these qualities of each other.

“You know,” Lauren started as she moved her hand from Scarlet’s neck to her face, where she caressed her cheek. The other woman looked away from her computer screen to her fiancé, with a nod. “I love you so much.”

A smile broke out on Scarlet’s lips as she leaned in a little closer to Lauren, quickly placing a warm kiss on her lips. “I love you so much too, soon-to-be-wife.”

A giggle escaped Lauren’s lips as she hugged the other woman closer to her body. “You’re being quite clingy today, I’m afraid to ask why but I’ll do it any way.” Lauren giggled again, before shaking her head. “This is how I usually act.”

Scarlet raised a single eyebrow before shaking her head and backing away from Lauren, which made the blonde frown.

“Is it that time of the month?”

Lauren slapped Scarlet’s arm before getting up from her lap, while the other woman laughed heartily. “You’re an ass.”

“What? I need to know if its your time of the month or not. What if I’m in the mood when I get home?” Scarlet wiggled her eyebrows which made the blonde roll her eyes at the sexual innuendo.