You Can Paint Me

Sequel Ch.22: The Wedding Speeches

Author's P.O.V.

"Good evening ladies and gents," Olivia clutched on her mic tightly, her eyes travelling around the long table as every guest watched her give her speech. "and cats," she added upon seeing Minho's cats giving her the side eye for having forgotten their fundamental presence. She was nervous, admittedly. She looked down at her written speech scribbled on a piece of paper and suddenly felt as if she was performing an elementary school play. She hadn't given a speech before, as the maid of honor at that, and wasn't the most extroverted, charming personality in the room that could entertain a crowd at a mere sentence. But it was worth a try. "For those who don't know me, hello, my name's Olivia. I'm the maid of honor and the bride's best friend."

Mia stood on her toes, excited for her best friend's speech. She didn't know what to expect, Olivia had avoided every conversation about it for the past weeks. It's a surprise, she had told her. A nice surprise I hope, Mia had said back but Olivia never replied, only chuckled. Admittedly, Mia was in such a good mood that whatever Olivia had written in that tiny piece of paper, she was certain that it wouldn't affect her negatively. So she watched her best friend carefully, eagerly. So did everyone else.

"I hope you're all having a great evening and everything's to your liking. I was assigned as the wedding planner as well, so just keep any complaints to yourself, please," the guests laughed and Olivia felt more at ease. So far so good, she thought. "I'll admit, writing a speech was nerve-wracking. There's just so many things to say about our beautiful bride," Mia smiled and Olivia returned it with a wink. "I've known Mia since diapers. Her and Ava, our best friend, are practically a single person. We grew up together, went to school together, took the same courses, you get the picture, we're inseparable. And knowing Mia for twenty-two years now, I must say, she's one of the craziest, most dramatic people I've ever met," the crowd let out a knowing chuckle. "But that's what makes her the life of the party. Even if she might look delicate and cute like a porcelain doll, I assure you, Mia is a very strong and determined person that if you stand in her way, she might kill you. Literally."

"Damn right!" Jisung shouted from across the table, suddenly recalling all the times Mia had acted like a mad person.

Mia chuckled, unbothered. Where was the lie in that? She knew that she had a tendency to go feral when agitated. It wasn't a secret anymore.

"I believe everyone in our friend group had an almost-death experience with her. Once, we had a water fight, you know, a fun, chill game. Only that, Mia got competitive and almost drowned me under the lake. Fun times," Olivia continued, more relaxed now that Mia seemed to encourage her to say more with her blissful gaze. "She's also very noisy. It's cute and all at first, but when she starts matchmaking you with people because she wants you to get married soon and make babies so her own babies have friends, gets exhausting. True story, by the way."

"I still stand to this, Liv!" Mia called.

Olivia gestured her hand at Mia, proving her point. "You see what I've gotta go through now?" the guests laughed again. They look entertained, good. "Jokes aside, I love Mia with all my heart and can never stay mad at her. She's the sister I never had, she and Ava too. And I know both Mia and Ava don't need a speech for me to express how grateful I am to them, so I'll just say I love you both so much, thank you for dealing with me and making my life happier," her voice quivered and a lump started building in her throat. She promised herself she wouldn't cry, and indeed she didn't. Ava and Mia, however, full-on sobbed.

"You know," Olivia continued, changing the subject. "it always amazed me how Mia, a strong-willed, bubbly and talkative girl got all tongue-tied the very first moment she laid eyes on Minho."