The Florist And The Prince (ON HOLD)

~ 15 ~

Avery's POV

Twenty minutes before the contestants announcement would be made at the townhall, Claire and the employees of the flower shop made Avery stop working, ignoring her complaints and shooed her off to go upstairs and freshen up, before going over to the townhall.

"Wear the beige floral dress that your mother bought for you in Paris!" Claire called as her granddaughter annoyingly walked back into the storeroom, to head upstairs.

"This is ridiculous." Avery replied then jogged up the stairs.

Walking into the living room, she saw her grandfather sitting outside on the balcony working on another one of his beautifully crafted flowerpot that he makes all by himself  and decided to see what sort of ideas that he had for this new one.

"Wow, that's so pretty papa." She muttered, walking out into their small balcony that looked down at the busy street below.

"Thank you." Joshua replied and leaned back to have a better look at his work.

It was a medium sized flowerpot that was made out of cement that he moulded using the shape of his old toolbox, and now that it was fully dried he began gluing some synthetic jewels that came in the colours that you would normally find at the beach; cobalt, turquoise, aqua, seafoam green, azure and navy blue.

"Why was your grandma and the others chasing you?"

Avery blew out a exasperated sigh and leaned back against the railings. "They want me to dress up properly before going over to the townhall."

"Ha, women." Joshua chuckled.

And Avery rolled her eyes, then released a sigh. "How was your check up by the way?"

"It was all good." Joshua pursed his lips and went back to working on the flowerpot. "Doctor Nyguen said there was no sign of the cancer returning."

"That's wonderful news."

"Yes, it is." Avery frowned a little at the disconnecting tone that her grandfather had for that sentence. It was strange.

"Anyway, you should go and get ready before your grandma spurts more white hair." He continued with a chuckle that sounded forced.

"Are you sure that you are alright papa?" Avery pressed, beginning to get worry.

"Yes, I'm just a little tired. I stayed up late last night drawing this design."

"...Okay."

She still wasn't convinced but what she knew about her grandfather was that, he didn't like it when either her or her grandmother worried about him. A normal trait in most men. They didn't want to look weak.

She got her towel from her room then walked into the bathroom, stripped out of her clothes and stepped into the shower compartment to take a bath. After her bath, she went back to her bedroom and began wondering over what she would wear. She just wanted to dress normal; a pair of jeans, T-shirt and sneakers but she knew that her grandmother wouldn't approve, so after a few minutes pondering she finally chose a pretty knee-length, floral printed summer dress. It was white with orange flowers.

Then she wore a beige knitted cardigan over it that her grandmother had made for her and paired it with pretty black flats that her mother had bought for her in Paris. While she was tying her hair into a milkmaid braid, someone began knocking on her bedroom door gently.

"Avery."

"Yes. Come in."

"You look so beautiful."

"Thank you nan, but this is just simple."