Jennie
As it turns out, Lisa Manoban is the least of my problems.
There is nothing rustic about the Bhuwakul family ranch. Sometimes, old things are priceless antiques. And other times, they're just really, really old.
This place is in the really, really old category. And nowhere near wedding-ready.
The two-story farmhouse is made entirely of wooden panels with a turquoise panelled roof. There are bits of the house that are nice, the open screened patio addition, the brick chimney, the indigo-blue mountains in the backdrop. Then there are parts of the house that are not-so-nice, like the exploding tufts of spruce bushes, the broken panels, and the "Beware of the Dog" sign. Worse, the ground is barren, dry, and dusty, with not a sprout of grass in sight. We might as well host the wedding at the parking lot of a monster truck convention.
"This is our rustic farmhouse?" Ren asks, with his expression falling. "Are you sure we didn't make a wrong turn?"
"I'm sure."
"This is absurd. We're wedding planners, not bloody magicians."
My brain is spinning. Surely there's a way to make this work.
"Failure is just fate telling you to try harder." I tell him.
Nayeon adjusts her glasses and scrunches her eyebrows. "Or maybe it's telling you to stop?"
"Quiet." I hiss. "I think that's Mama Bhuwakul approaching."
Two figures walk down the dirt hill from the house toward us, with the Jeju sun momentarily blurring their faces. Bambam ambles side by side with his mother, a beautiful woman with a long, grey ponytail streaming out behind her Stetson hat. She wears a brown leather hide jacket, heavy boots, and a crooked smile, and she opens the wooden fence for us to pass onto her property.
"Well, come on in! Join the party!" she says. Her warmth lightens my mood, especially when Lisa and Mina catch up and she throws her arm around Mina's shoulders. "You must be the gal of the hour. Let me take a look at you. Pretty little thing, aren't you?"
"It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Bhuwakul." Mina says. Her voice rises to a nervous pitch as she takes the other woman's hand and squeezes.
"Oh, please, we're family now, aren't we? You call me Roxanne."
"Lisa." Lisa introduces herself, swooping an arm over her sister protectively. "I'm Mina's sibling. We brought the wedding planners with us, so they can help set up."
"You all brought the whole gang here!" Roxanne exclaims. "Well, come on, let's get out of the sun before this little flower starts wilting."
She's gesturing to Mina, who does admittedly look quite out of place. Her heels wobble precariously on the uneven dirt, and she tries to smile through it, even as she braces herself on Lisa.
