— Well? Tell me honestly, do you like me in it? — Maddie’s voice trembled slightly with sheer excitement.
She twirled in the middle of the spacious living room, allowing the heavy, luxurious silk of the wedding dress to softly embrace her figure. The delicate fabric rustled quietly with every subtle movement, catching the warm, golden glow of the evening floor lamps. In that fleeting moment, she didn’t feel like a grown, successful woman at all.
Instead, she felt like a little, naive girl who had sneaked into her mother’s closet to try on her best outfit in front of the mirror. Her eyes shone with an unusual, bright glint, betraying the deep vulnerability she usually kept carefully hidden from the demanding world outside. — You are going to be absolutely incredible, the most beautiful bride in all of Chicago, — Olivia replied with a warm, genuine smile.
The best friend stepped closer, carefully smoothing out a barely visible crease on the snow-white, flowing train. There was exactly one week left until the wedding ceremony, and they had decided to dedicate this chilly evening entirely to themselves. It was their quiet, intimate bachelorette party for two, far away from the noisy downtown bars.
Maddie had never boasted a wide circle of close girlfriends, and the mere idea of inviting random colleagues just to make up the numbers caused her nothing but a dull, lingering irritation. Olivia was the only person with whom the bride-to-be could share this profound moment without hiding behind fake, polite smiles. — Can you imagine, Liv, that our Brenda from the finance department almost fainted when she heard the news?
— Maddie suddenly stopped twirling, catching her breath. — She found out that Nate and I are tying the knot in a week, and her eyes practically popped out of her head. Then she spent the entire day whispering in the corners by the water cooler with the other girls.
They’ve probably picked my bones clean by now. But you know what? I don’t owe anyone an explanation about my personal life, right?
She looked intently at her friend, searching her familiar eyes for the usual confirmation of her own righteousness. — Oh, just let it go, Maddie. Let them talk all they want, — Olivia waved her hand dismissively, sinking onto the edge of the plush, slightly worn sofa.
— Where are you in life, and where are they with their petty office gossip? People simply don’t know how to forgive someone else’s genuine happiness. They are just envious of your luck, and that makes them furious.
Olivia paused for a moment, carefully observing her oldest friend in the stunning white attire. Her voice grew softer, filling with tender notes of light nostalgia. — My dear, just think about it… Very soon you will become Nate’s wife.
The man who makes you lose your head so completely and foolishly. Do you remember our high school years? How we spent hours dreaming about handsome Prince Charmings, sketching out perfect, fairy-tale weddings in our heads… We imagined how our future families would drive out to the suburbs to visit each other for Sunday backyard BBQs.
And now, look at you, your biggest dream has already become a reality. I wish you boundless happiness from the very bottom of my heart. May your big house be full of little kids running around.
Just promise me one thing — please don’t forget about me, your old, loyal friend. These words sounded so incredibly sincere that Maddie felt a sudden, tight lump rising in her throat. — What on earth are you talking about?
How could I ever cross you out of my life? — she objected with genuine indignation, carefully gathering the hem of her expensive dress. — We’ve been exploring this world together since we were practically in the sandbox.
For as long as I can remember, you have always been somewhere right by my side. Maddie walked over to Olivia, gently wrapping her arms around her friend’s shoulders in a comforting hug. — Thank you.
Thank you for putting up with my unbearable, stubborn character, and for spending hours listening to my endless whining. You are absolute gold, Liv. And I am more than certain that very soon you will also meet your perfect guy.
You’ll see, he will appear exactly when you least expect it! — Oh, I highly doubt that, — Olivia snorted cheerfully, tossing her dark hair out of her face. — The years are flying by, and the Prince Charming situation in our South Side neighborhood has been pretty grim lately.
Unless some homeless guy from under the bridge on the Dan Ryan Expressway decides to offer me his hand, his heart, and his luxurious cardboard box. But let’s leave this depressing topic alone. Today is exclusively your day!
That evening, they stayed up chatting well past midnight. They drank soothing herbal tea, recalled funny incidents from their teenage years, and painted vivid pictures of their bright futures in their minds. Back then, in their sweet and naive sixteen, the girls truly believed that meeting a worthy man and building a stellar career was the simplest thing in the world.
However, adult life turned out to be a complex game with far more difficult and unforgiving rules. Right after their high school graduation, their life paths severely diverged. Fate dealt Maddie a devastating, crushing blow — she suddenly lost both of her parents in a tragic car accident.
Left completely alone in the massive, bustling metropolis of Chicago, the young girl decided to hide from the burning, unbearable pain by plunging headfirst into her studies. She clearly realized a simple, harsh truth: from now on, her future depended solely on her, and there was absolutely no help coming from anywhere. Maddie became a true fanatic of books.
She sat up for nights on end, biting into complex, heavy textbooks, warming herself only with strong, pitch-black coffee poured into her beloved grandmother’s chipped ceramic mug. This titanic, exhausting effort finally bore fruit — she brilliantly passed her exams and won a full scholarship to a prestigious National University right in the heart of downtown Chicago. A diploma from this esteemed institution was a golden key that opened the heavy mahogany doors to the most respected corporate offices in the city.
The professors were openly amazed by her iron-clad endurance and relentless discipline. Olivia, on the other hand, had a completely different starting point in life. In high school, she never reached for the stars, barely scraping by with C’s and occasional B’s.
Dreaming of financial support from her family was completely out of the question — her hardworking parents barely made ends meet, desperately trying to feed three younger siblings. That cramped apartment was always filled with chaotic noise and a chronic, suffocating lack of money. Therefore, barely finishing her basic schooling, the girl submitted her documents to a regular community college culinary program on the outskirts of the city.
There, she was taught how to properly chop cabbage for soup and fry the perfect, uniform beef patties. Although deep down in her soul, Olivia had always dreamed of something much grander than the greasy smells of a cheap cafeteria kitchen. Throughout their college years, they traditionally spent all their weekends in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, at Maddie’s place.
It was the very same historic, two-bedroom townhouse she had inherited from her late parents. It was modest, with slightly peeling vintage wallpaper and an old, creaky wooden sofa, but it was incredibly cozy and safe. A massive oak table stood in the center, and the air was forever saturated with the tart, comforting scent of old library books and faint dust.
For Maddie, Olivia became her true family, a devoted sister who didn’t turn away during the absolute darkest days of her life. During her junior year, fate threw Maddie a unique, golden chance — an offer for a summer corporate internship in London. She grabbed onto this rare opportunity with a death grip.
She worked herself to the point of pure exhaustion, constantly surprising her local British supervisors with her razor-sharp mind and inexhaustible, raw energy. Her desperate efforts were noticed, and soon the young woman received an offer for a freelance position at “Apex Horizon,” a highly influential global marketing agency. The initial salary was a thousand dollars a week — a staggering sum that made the poor student’s head spin.
To her, this was fantastic, life-changing money.