Rachel held Gloria back. “Relax, they’re just messing around.”
Jolly, however, wasn’t just going to stop at the red envelopes. She had prepared a whole lot of props outside designated to ‘torture’ Victor and the guys. “You guys have to do the hula dance and send us a video of it!”
The outside sounded pretty rowdy. Then, Hernandez’s voice came. “Have you forgotten that Leroy’s the best man?”
“Yeah? Well, I don’t care who’s out there today. Even my dad will have to dance if he’s a groomsman.” Jolly’s words led the other girls in the room to guffaw. Outside, the guys did as they were told resignedly.
It was soon before the video of Victor, Leroy, and Hernandez doing the hula dance in pink tutus was sent to the group chat, and Rachel and the other girls thought it was seriously hard on the eyes.
Even Gloria failed to hold back her laughter. “Right, we’ve done what you asked. Can you open the door now?”
“Dream on! I’m just getting started. There’s still a bunch of props out there.”
With that, Jolly fished out the game list from her bag, which was exaggeratingly long like the cartoons depicted, leading Gloria to become seriously agitated..
Before Jolly could even finish relaying the rules of the game, Gloria held her skirt up, ran to the door, and opened it despite Rachel’s attempts to stop her.
Shouts and whoops burst out in an instant, and the guys barged right in, causing the massive room to be packed like canned sardines.
“Hey!” Jolly stumbled to the side before she snapped in exasperation, “Gloria, are you so scared of not being able to marry yourself away?!”
“Abduct the bride!” Someone could be heard shouting, leading Victor to immediately run away with a barefooted Gloria in his arms.
“Her shoes! I spent the whole night hiding her shoes!” Jolly cried out in exasperation as she stomped her feet.
Rachel was the only other person left in the room at this point. She patted Jolly’s shoulder and urged, “Come on, take the shoes out and bring them to Gloria.”
It was impossible to force the bride and groom back into the room when it had come to this. As exasperated and unwilling as Jolly was, she obediently got the shoes she had so arduously hidden the whole night and brought them downstairs.
Though it was a mere formality, Gloria’s eyes still turned red-rimmed from oncoming tears when she bid Rachel and the others goodbye after getting into the wedding car. When she noticed Justin standing away from the crowd, looking all alone, tears instantly pooled in her eyes.
“Justin!” she suddenly shouted. Amidst the babel of voices, the crowd followed Gloria’s line of sight to the back and tacitly made way.
Justin was carrying Charlotte in his arms while seeing Gloria and Victor’s wedding car off, so when Gloria suddenly called out to him, it rendered him somewhat stupefied.
“Come down, Charlotte.” Rachel beckoned to her daughter, who sensibly came down from Justin’s arms at once. With that, Justin went up to the wedding car.
“What is it?”
Gloria held his hand. “Justin, no matter what happens, I will always be your sister.”
“Isn’t this a fact?” Justin smiled. “Why suddenly
bring this up? It’s a happy day today, so you should smile.” “Mm.” Unable to utter a word, Gloria nodded.
non-stop.
Justin looked further into the car at the man sitting next to Gloria. Victor rarely wore suits, and he looked exceptionally handsome in his white tuxedo, no longer looking like the punk he used to be.
“Go on.” Justin waved his hand toward them. “Don’t miss the hour. You’ll be back in the afternoon anyway.”
Following that, the car started as the engine bellowed. Victor, who had been silent all this while, suddenly said to Justin, “I’ll take good care of Gloria, Justin. You’re my brother now as much as you have been hers all these years.”
His words left Justin stupefied for quite a while, and by the time he came to his senses, the wedding car had already driven a slight distance away. He could even see Gloria wiping her tears away through the tiny rearview mirror.
Suddenly, he fell into a bit of a trance. He suddenly recalled the day he picked up Gloria from the small town in the north twenty- plus years ago. It was the first thing he did after taking over Burton Group.
She was a scrawny kid at the time, abused and very much underfed. She was already five or six years old then, yet she was tiny. When he got to her, she was squatting on the floor, washing her entire family’s clothes..
Before arriving, he thought he would let her continue living her life if she had a good one. But at first glance, he instantly knew he had to take her with him. Following that, in the next twenty-plus years, Gloria was nearly his only support.
All these years, rather than saying he adopted Gloria and raised her, she had instead been keeping him company, giving him the comfort he scarcely had.
“They’re gone.” A familiar voice came from beside him; it was Rachel. Justin came back to reality and hummed a response, unsure of what to say.
“Although they’ll be returning in the afternoon and Gloria hasn’t married off far, she’s still getting married, nonetheless. It still feels different, doesn’t it?” Rachel commented.
“A little.” Justin slowly settled down. “But since she’s married to Victor, I’m greatly assured.”
“Are you?” Don’t you think Gloria can do better? I seriously doubt you’re pleased with Victor.”
It seemed that all parents and elders would think so. With how excellent their children were, they only deserved the best, and as opposed to Gloria’s name as the piano prodigy, Victor was just an average elementary school teacher.
Justin shook his head in disagreement. “Gloria prefers the simple life. She grew up simple as well, unlike us.”
Slightly stumped, it took Rachel a moment to finally understand what Justin meant. She recollected her first meeting with Gloria. The young girl was dressed like an average girl next door, and after years of knowing her, Gloria still dressed very plainly like she had no desire for the finest things in life.
On the one hand, it had to do with her nature, and on the other, it was also likely the kind of lifestyle she had developed over the years.
“The best would be to live the most mundane life. It’s something that most people can only wish for,” said Justin, leading Rachel to nod in agreement. “Yeah.”
Speaking of which, she now wished to live such a life as well. Sadness crept on the two as they chatted. However, the feeling didn’t last too long as the wedding car returned once more sometime before noon, and everyone came back to attend the wedding ceremony merrily.
There was a saying that minor mishaps would inevitably happen during a wedding, or it wouldn’t be right for the big day. As proven, the maid of honor had gone missing. at a crucial time. Worst of all, the wedding ring was with her.
“Where’s Jolly? They’re exchanging the rings soon, and Victor’s ring is with her.” At that, Rachel grabbed Hernandez. “Hernandez, have you seen her?”
“She said she was heading to the washroom not too long ago.”
“Heading to the washroom at a time like this?!” Leroy tried calling her to no avail, so he said at once, “Don’t worry, Chris. I’ll go and find her.”
Meanwhile, at the northeast corner of the summer villa, a phone lay on the lawn with its screen flashing an incoming phone call. However, the owner couldn’t answer it.
Jolly struggled desperately. Her eyes were already red-rimmed, but she couldn’t make a single sound as her lips were sealed by a piece of black duct tape..
Just a moment ago, two men in suits covered her mouth and held her hostage the second she came out of the washroom.
Her arms had been tied behind her back at this point, and one of the kidnappers was squatting in front of her, tying her ankles together with a rope.
“Stay still, or you’re going to suffer.”
