Gloria and Victor’s wedding was set to be held on the eighth day of Springfest at the summer villa, but Hernandez had already arrived to join the fun on the second day of Springfest.
Rachel and Jolly were happy to see him. Hernandez taught Victor oral language for free, so the two were pretty close as well. Of course, nothing needed to be said about Samuel’s relationship with him.
However, the other three were not so pleased to see the man, and Charlotte’s behavior said it all. With Hernandez’s arrival, they decided to have stew.
Hence, Victor drove Rachel and Jolly to buy some groceries, leaving three not-so- welcoming hosts and a voiceless Samuel.
Once Rachel left, Charlotte flipped as she looked at Hernandez, spreading her arms apart like a baby eagle blocking the entryway. “Don’t you have a home, Curly Weirdo?! Why have you come to stay at my place?!”
Hernandez smiled in response. “Aren’t all the wedding guests staying here? Why can’t I stay?”
“That’s because no guest would arrive a week in advance,” commented Justin. The father and daughter challenged the outsider unanimously. However, it was useless as Hernandez’s shamelessness was as deep as the Mariana Trench. “That’s perfect. I get to take my time and choose the room I like.”
“No, no, no, no, no!” Charlotte snapped as she pushed Hernandez’s legs, so angry that her cheeks puffed up like a blowfish.
“Okay, okay!” Hernandez took a couple of steps back while putting his hands up.
“Hmph!” Charlotte stood with arms akimbo like a gamecock. “Leave!”
Hernandez looked toward Justin with this little gamecock standing in between them. “Justin, this isn’t the Burton hospitality I know.”
Justin shrugged at that, remaining nonchalantly on the couch with no intention of moving. “I’m not the one telling you to leave. It’s her wish, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Gloria nodded in agreement. “There are so many hotels out there, Hernandez. Why don’t I book you a room, and you can stay there instead?”
All the hotels were located in the town area, outrageously far from where they were currently at. One round trip would take three hours, and it was obvious that they didn’t want to give him the convenience of pestering Rachel by suggesting he stay in the town area.
Hernandez had already backed up to the doorway at this point. With one hand on the door frame, he said calmly, “Alright, since you guys won’t let me stay here, I’ll go and find Chris. I’m sure she definitely has an empty room available.”
Justin stood up at once, agitated. “Now, where’s my suitcase…” While speaking, Hernandez reached for his suitcase.
“Wait.” Justin called out to him, then paused for a second before continuing, “The rooms on the second floor are all taken. You can pick any room on the third floor.”
“Thanks!” Hernandez beamed upon getting his way.
“Ugh, unbelievable! I knew I shouldn’t have invited him!” Gloria caterwauled as she watched Hernandez go upstairs with his suitcase.
Charlotte wasn’t any happier. “I hate that Curly Weirdo.”
Only Samuel remained collected. “Hernandez is a nice guy. He’s just a bit of a playboy.”
Seeing that none responded to him, Samuel looked up and commented, “He has trouble walking away when he sees a beautiful woman.”
His words struck Justin, and he turned to Gloria. “Gloria, when are your orchestra friends arriving?”
“On the sixth or seventh day of Springfest, I think. That’s about a day or two before the wedding.”
“Change their tickets. Have them come early. The sooner, the better.” With that, Justin turned to the servants. “Get the rooms in the two blocks at the back ready as soon as possible.”
There would be a solution to every problem. Hernandez’s arrival livened up the atmosphere in the summer villa even more.
Alas, typical Murphy’s law, the preparations for the wedding had been running smoothly until the fifth day of Springfest.
“These flowers have all gone bad. We can’t use any of them! Who do you think you’re fooling?!” Jolly argued with the wedding flower purveyor with her arms akimbo. “See for yourself. Look at how withered they look. We’re only on the fifth day of Springfest, and they’ll be completely unusable by the eighth!”
While Jolly argued with the purveyor, Rachel stood behind the truck and looked at the flowers they had delivered, feeling distressed.
Jolly really wasn’t nitpicking, for these flowers really weren’t even passable. Even if they could barely be used right now, they wouldn’t be able to last until the eighth day of Springfest.
“What’s going on?” Justin came over when he heard the noise. “Why are you guys arguing?”
“Take a look.” Rachel pulled a rose out from the truck. She didn’t even need to touch the petals; they would fall as soon as the wind blew on them.
“These flowers most certainly can’t be used,” Rachel continued. Justin understood at one glance, and he comforted her by saying, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll talk to them.”
Jolly was already about to fight the guys at this point. Fortunately, Justin came in time and stopped the woman, telling her to take a break aside.
“Cheating profiteers. Is this what I get for using your service?! Well, I’ll make sure you guys won’t be able to survive in Riverdale!” Livid, Jolly cursed as she walked.
“Alright, chill. Accidents happen.” Rachel stopped her. “The snow has been so heavy that the airports were forced to shut down, and tons of flowers rotted in the distribution center when they couldn’t ship any of them by air. A few days ago, there were reports about how strained the flower market has been, right?”
“That doesn’t mean they can use these flowers to fool us, though. This is a wedding we’re talking about!”
Though Jolly and Gloria constantly bickered, Jolly still wished Gloria all the happiness deep down and hoped that Gloria’s wedding was perfect. Even Rachel had to admit she couldn’t even compare to Jolly when it came to such details.
“Relax, we still have two days. Let’s figure something out.”
“It’ll be hard to order flowers when there are barely any florists open during Springfest. I knew things would go wrong if we let the wedding planner do everything. Look at how they cheated us!”
“Come on, don’t paint everything with the same brush.”
While speaking, Justin had returned from the negotiation.
“What did they say?”
“They can deliver another batch from Glensworth.”
“Will they arrive in time?” Rachel calculated the days with her fingers. “It’s possible if they ship. them out by tonight and arrive in Riverdale by tomorrow. We’ll have to make sure the venue is ready by the following day.”
“It’ll definitely be too late.’ Jolly frowned. “They still have to gather the flowers, pack, and load them up. If another accident happens, we would’ve waited for nothing. The risk is too high.”
Rachel sighed silently as she looked at the truckload of withered flowers.
Funnily enough, Gloria, the bride-to-be, comforted them after learning of the situation. “Don’t worry, guys. This is not a big deal at all. If anything, we’ll just forget about the flowers and decorate the venue with some balloons here and there. Less is more, right?” she said.
“Less is more can mean minimal or simple, but it cannot be basic,” said Jolly as she corrected. her.
“Isn’t this my wedding, though? Shouldn’t it be my call?”
“I’m the maid of honor. I don’t want to embarrass myself!”
“Well, I’m the bride here!”
“Well, I’m not going to argue with you. No means no. I’m going to make a few phone calls to my friends. With that, Jolly headed outside with her phone, leaving everyone to look at each other. Is this a backseat driver situation they’re in?
Right as Jolly went out, a ringtone came from the living room. It was Justin’s phone. Rachel happened to be standing next to him, and her gaze landed on the caller ID when she took a subconscious glance.
She frowned in response as surprise laced her expression, for the call was from Ryan..
