Page 62 of Endgame

‘Yes, ignore him,’ Lara announces, coming down the stairs in a short, delicate peach dress with a long tail, followed by Honey in an elegant, feminine, cobalt-blue fitted suit.

‘Ruby, think you could shove some make-up on us when you’re done with Aari? We’ve done our bases; we just need colour!’ Lara asks, plonking herself on the couch and shooting Ruby a charming look that makes it impossible for her to say no.

‘Sure!’

Today is going to draw similar reactions from a lot of people. Caleb’s interview withTheSingaporeanis still making the rounds on the internet. Samir has done everything he can to stamp it out, but social media is keeping it very much alive.

My worry disappears when Caleb emerges in his suit. Ruby has just finished putting a delicate and pretty arrangement of flowers on the side of my loosely pulled up hair.

‘You look very handsome, Caleb.’

‘I’ve obviously got to come through, as the hot one in the Ivory Bow delegation.’ That smirk. Still.

‘Obviously,’ Ruby agrees, chuckling, as she starts on Lara’s face.

‘Want to go ahead and meet the guys? They should be here by now.’ Caleb stretches out an open hand and nods to the front door.

‘Yes, please.’ I take his hand and follow him to where the guests are already gathering for Melissa and Kevin’s wedding.

‘This is weird, Ariella,’ Akiko mutters to me as we find our seats for the ceremony. She’s right. There are no flowers, no theme and no live music. There is nothing soft or romantic about it. The location in front of the water is stunning and everything is set up with absolute precision; but as someone who has worked with Melissa for the past few months, it still feels unusually cold to me.

‘She doesn’t care about this,’ Caleb responds to Akiko as he gently guides her to sit in front of him. Kevin is already at the altar, chatting with someone who is presumably his best man. He looks unbothered and relaxed.

‘Maybe Kevin planned it.’ Akiko frowns.

‘I think it’s chic,’ Bree comments as she takes her allocated seat behind Akiko.

‘I love how it’s all about hard angles and sharp edges,’ Sian contributes.

‘It’s probably a nod to her surgical life and Kevin’s IT company. Weddings. Brought to you by precision and efficiency. Dull,’ Jess responds with deep disapproval.

‘I don’t like it. It’s cold,’ Akiko protests. ‘We should have done this. It would have been so pretty.’

‘I wish we organised weddings. This is terrible,’ Jess agrees. ‘Ariella, can we do weddings?’ she calls out so loudly that a few guests around us hear her. I love Jess. Her incredibly creative bones always seem to be tingling with new ideas.

‘Ladies, can we talk about it at work?’ Lydia diplomatically shuts the conversation down, throwing a wink at Jess to soften her response.

The first bars of Tina Arena’s ‘Chains’ song start up. As the lyrics begin, Melissa appears alone on the white carpet leading directly to the altar, prompting everyone to stand. She looks stunning in the casual-looking strapless white top and shorts she has picked for her dress, with a simple long train attached at the back. She starts to slowly dance and sing down the aisle by herself. When the chorus hits, she extends her arms above her head, sings it at the loudest volume she can and encourages everyone to sing along.

‘I’M IN CHAINS!’ The guests, seemingly unsure at first, start to sing along as requested, hesitantly clapping along to the chorus. None of us from Ivory Bow are in a singing mood. Melissa takes the full four and a half minutes to make her way to the altar. The crowd bursts into applause, probably with some relief, when she gets there and stands next to Kevin.

‘There is more truth in that song than everyone realises. She’s clearly working those emotions out,’ Caleb whispers to me. I’m struggling to empathise.

‘She’s something.’ I’m not sharing Caleb’s need to analyse the situation. Not gonna happen. Caleb and I haven’t spoken about Melissa since our chat in the flat after Em accidentally told me what happened. My heart can’t take it. I know avoiding it is unhealthy but the alternative is to let the anger at Melissa rise to the top, and today isn’t the day for it.

‘Okay. Let’s get this over with,’ Melissa instructs the registrar, causing everyone to laugh.

The weirdness that no one else seems to pick up on doesn’t end there. The vows are short, and, while poor Kevin is the doting groom in love, Melissa seems bizarrely disconnected. During the vows, her ‘You finally dragged me here after all these years, so I suppose I’m stuck with you’ draws more tears from the audience than Kevin’s sincere and emotional ‘I do.’ When Kevin is finally asked to kiss the bride, Melissa jokingly ducks,before allowing him a quick peck on the cheek. As soon as they are presented as a married couple, Melissa turns round to the crowd and shouts, ‘Right, who wants to get really REALLY drunk with me?’

The guests cheer. ‘Chains’ plays again as they walk down the aisle, a dejected-looking Kevin following behind a dancing and singing Melissa. There are no speeches, we all get individual cake slices, so there is no cutting ceremony, and the first dance is Kevin and Melissa dragging everyone but each other onto the dance floor.

I decide to slip away from the main party in the glass pavilion to the garden outside. I spot Caleb in the thick of the dancing, taking turns with different guests. When our eyes meet, he gestures for me to come over. There is no way I am getting on the dance floor. My fury at what Melissa did to him has been intensifying all day.

I blow him a subtle kiss, shake my head, mouth, ‘I’m okay’ and continue my journey. The further I get from the noise, the calmer I feel, so I walk through the surrounding garden and end up alone on the beach. I make my way to the deserted water’s edge.

‘Had enough of our circus?’

The voice startles me and I turn round quickly. It’s the groom. He nods respectfully before introducing himself and stepping forward. I feel a little ambushed.

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