My Version of Love

Chapter 34: The Long Days

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Chapter 34: The Long Days

I did sleep after returning from the beach, only it was barely half an hour sleep I got as I started screaming and waking up Abhimanyu with me. Abhimanyu told me it was fine if I slept, he'd be there and wake me up as I started to fidget, I refused and went to take a bath as it was almost 5 am and there was no point of sleeping when I had to report 7 am at the Perez residence. I felt good after a long shower, I did take a nap for 5 minutes and thankfully there was nothing but darkness in my sleep.
After getting my entire team ready at 6:30, we left for the Perez residence. The house was huge; it looked like those Victorian Era mansions. The interior of the house was as beautiful as outside, ancient paintings, antique decorative pieces, and vintage furnishings. For a moment I thought I was in a museum than a house but it was for a moment until I saw Esmeralda.
She looked exactly like she did during the video chat, fair, brown eyed brunette with wavy hair, only she wasn't as petite as I thought she was. She was much taller than me, maybe 5'10 when she wasn't even wearing heels!
Esmeralda hugged me with her signature cheerful smile as she welcomed me.
"Good morning Ariana" Esmeralda chirped.
"Good morning Ms. Perez" I greeted her and she made a face.
"Call me Esme, will you? Ms. Perez makes me sound old" She said with a disgusted look and I gave her my professional smile.
"Sure, Esme, where are your parents?" I asked and her face changed at the mention of her parents.
"They'll be here soon, oh is this your team?" She asked as my team entered the living room.
"Yes, I should introduce you all" I told her and she followed me. "This is Samarth, Neha, Tina, Max, Angela, Karan" I introduced her, "And Esme, this is Kai" I told her as they shook hands. "Kai is my partner- in-training and my assistant in this project" I told her and she beamed.
"Nice to meet you all" She said excitedly, "The breakfast is in the dining room, mother and father will join you there" She said and I noticed how she forced mother and father out of her mouth. What's happening?
We followed her anyways. For breakfast they had too many things, when Esme went out to attend a call I gathered everyone and instructed them to not behave wildly. It felt as if I was a primary class teacher disciplining naughty students on a picnic. I shook my head when all of them turned quiet suddenly when Mrs. and Mr. Perez entered the dining area. I scoffed slightly at their antics and greeted Mr. And Mrs. Perez.
"I'm glad you could make it Ms. Ariana Mathur" Mrs. Perez said as we shook hands.
"The pleasure is ours Mrs. Perez" I said professionally and she clicked her tongue.
"Call me Katelyn darling" She said and I nodded and greeted Mr. Perez.
"Nice to meet you Mr. Perez" I said in a similar tone as I shook hands with him.
"Call me Gustav, Miss Ariana. Mr. Perez was my father" He said with a smile and I nodded. "Please continue with the breakfast" He said and taking it as their cue, my team started digging their faces into their food and I mentally face palmed. So much for being civilized, but they were the most talented and hardworking people I could ask for. Of course they were a bit immature, but they were just in their early twenties, they deserved it at least that and I never discouraged them, they should enjoy life till they can.
Esme joined us for breakfast a little later and her mom disapproved of her choice of clothing. I didn't get what the problem was, her jeans and black tank top was fine according to me, but I was no one to say anything. Katelyn wore a similar outfit to mine, only hers was a pencil fit beige colored dress with same heeled pumps, while mine was grey colored pencil skirt and white formal shirt with a grey waist-coat and black strapped heels. Esme wore sneakers so what? But obviously her mother thought differently and her father seemed to take side with her mother.
"What should we do today?" Esme asked me once we were finished with the breakfast.
"I got the sample of the card from Mr. Carlos yesterday when I arrived, I got an approval from Mr. Valdez but I would like to know your views too" I told her and took out the card from my bag and gave it to her.
She carefully examined it and gave to her parents who looked contented "This is perfect Ms. Mathur" Katelyn said and I nodded.
"So now we have to get goodies for the basket, discuss the menu, give the cake order, pick the flowers for the decoration and get all the things needed for the wedding rituals, since I know almost nothing you have to guide me for that" I told everyone and they nodded in understanding. "Today we should get on with the goodies, I know a place where we can get everything plus the cake but I thought you would like to do that with Mr. Valdez so we can just do with the goodies and we can check out the caterer and the florist" I proposed.
"Alright, me and Gustav have a lunch to attend, you can take Esme with you" Katelyn said and I found it very weird. "Esmeralda, dress properly before leaving" She instructed Esme who just rolled her eyes but nodded as her mother left the house.
"I'll go and change, give me 10 minutes" Esme said and I nodded.
"Their family is so weird" Kai whispered but it was audible enough for the whole room to listen and I glared him. "What? Really, Esme is such a sweet girl, poor her, she gets uptight people as parents and an angry robot as a husband" Kai scoffed and I gaped at him. When did he meet him?
"Shut up Kai, I won't hear a word now. Whatever they do is their business and not ours. You can gossip as much as you want but in your rooms. We are here to work, now be professional" I scolded him defending Reyan and I realised what I did when he looked down sadly. "Look Kai, I don't mean to be rude and strict to you but I want you to prove yourself to your parents, I am sick hearing Ruth insulting you, I can't protect you forever. You have to grow up one day" I told politely without actually looking guilty and he nodded in understanding.
"I'm here!" Esme chirped as she entered the living room wearing a straight black skirt which went up to her mid-thigh and a teal peplum top with a slim black belt with black wedges.
"Good, let's go" I said and everyone walked out of the house.
We reached Alfredo's within 15 minutes. I called him before coming so he could prepare everything by then. As I entered the store, the sweet scent of chocolate reached my nose, I turned workaholic doesn't mean I didn't like chocolates. My love for chocolate was the only thing that didn't change over years.
"Senorita Ariana!" Alfredo greeted me with a warm hug. Alfredo was a tall man with a big stomach, and why not, he lived near all those delicious things which are hard to resist.
"Alfredo, don't hug me when I am at work" I scolded him as he pulled away but he waved me. Alfredo was in his early 40's; he and his wife started this store when they were in their late 20's and since then the business has been blooming.
"Ariana, always the grumpy and this must the gorgeous bride to be" He said smiling at Esme who blushed at his complement.
"Ah, yes. Alfredo this is Esmeralda Perez" I said as they shook their hands. "And Esme, this is Alfredo, the best baker in Barcelona" I told her.
"Oh please, we are the best all over Spain, sweetheart. Ariana just doesn't like to complement people" Alfredo said and I heard a collective snicker from my team, but I ignored it. "Come on, I have everything you need" He said and we followed him.
Alfredo showed us the variety of wines, macaroons, cupcakes and rum balls and chocolate boxes and asked Esme to select whatever she liked.
It took us 2 hours to finalize everything for the basket. I sent half of the team to the caterer and the other half to the florist as I didn't need them at that moment and they were just creating chaos . Alfredo asked us if we wanted to finalize the cake and Esme agreed. I protested as a wedding cake should be finalized by the bride and groom but Esme said she knew what Adreyan would like and I had to shut my mouth at that.
Alfredo showed us the flavors he had for wedding cakes; I kept quiet and let Esme decide what she wanted.
"I am confused; I like the Raspberry Cheesecake and the Pink Velvet. It's so hard to select one" She said after 15 minutes and I frowned. Did she not know that Reyan hates raspberries? 'He is not Reyan' I scolded myself.
"I can bring you the samples if you want, I have some same flavored cupcakes with me" Alfredo said and Esme happily nodded. After 5 minutes Alfredo came back with the four flavors of cupcakes.
"This is Raspberry Cheesecake, Pink Velvet, Tiramisu and Vanilla Sponge cake I have with me right now, taste and decide" Alfredo said and Esme happily took the spoon from him and started with the pink velvet.
"I think I would go for Raspberry Cheesecake" She said and Alfredo smiled at her.
"I think Tiramisu would be better" I blurted and both of them looked at me with surprise. "I mean cheesecakes are something not everyone prefers. I don't know if Re... all the guests would like raspberry. Tiramisu on the other hand has chocolates, coffee and vanilla, definitely something that the majority would like" I said calmly but my insides were in a rush, what if they found it suspicious.
"You are right; my dad is allergic to cheese. I almost forgot about that. My second choice was Tiramisu so we should go with that" Esme said with a smile. She didn't even mention about the raspberry, doesn't she know?
"Tiramisu it is! Now the design of the cake, have a look at them" Alfredo said giving us his tablet where all the designs were.
After going through all 27 designs, finally Esme decided on a white and gold cake which matched the fairytale theme. It was a four tier cake with embellishments of gold. I liked it too, it look classy and stylish and as Esme said, according to the theme. But all I thought was that Reyan would have liked this one too.
"Alfredo, do you think you can make those gold embellishments in some flavor? Sugar-coating would be too over the top" I asked Alfredo and Esme's eyes glittered.
"Oh yes please can we have it in chocolate or maybe in mocha, Aide loves coffee, it's like he lives on it. And chocolate would be cool too" Esme said cheerfully and Alfredo thought for a moment.
"How about we mix coffee and chocolate together? I can do that. I can do anything!" Alfredo offered.
"Yes! Totally yes! I'd love that, Aide would love that!" Esme exclaimed and I felt a similar burning sensation returned in my chest. Why am I feeling like this? He's her fiancé, she obviously knows him more. Why are you jealous? He's not Reyan. I scolded myself again.
We exited from Alfredo's and I got a call from Neha that the caterer was waiting for us. So we went straight there.
It took us less than 10 minutes to reach the caterer's. I was surprised when Esme decided everything herself, I asked her why nobody was helping her but Esme said she and Adreyan decided the menu much before so she didn't need any help with that. It barely took us an hour to finalize the menu and the caterer said he would call us for the tasting as soon as possible.
The florist too was nearby and Kai said that he described the arrangement to them and the work would be done, we just have to tell them what our requirements were. Kai and Samarth listed the things which would need flowers and Esme selected which flowers should be put where. She said that she didn't have much idea for the decoration so and decided to hold the order until Mr. Valdez returned. Angela shortlisted the flower selections as Esme selected them, while I called Abhimanyu to see if he is alright.
During all this work I had almost forgotten that Abhimanyu waiting for me, but he wasn't really. He had some work come up so he was busy too, but we decided to have dinner together later today.
"What's the issue?" I asked the frowning Esme as I returned.
"I can't decide flowers for my bouquet" Esme said frowning even more.
"Okay, let's shortlist the flowers and you can ask Mr. Valdez after he returns like the others, you can select the common liking" I offered and she looked up and smiled at me.
"Okay, I need your suggestions though, what do you think?" She asked me from the flowers she picked up.
"I think the whole white thing is getting too much, you could add colors to your bouquet" I said picking up the white lilies and blue orchids and pairing them up. "What do you think?" I asked her, it looked elegant and serene yet went with the theme. Esme thought for a while and picked up Valencia roses and red carnations.
"What do you think? Total contrast right?" She asked and I put the orchids and lilies back to their place feeling a bit hurt.
"Yes, if you are sure then we should write that down" I told her and Esme nodded while Angela wrote everything down.
"Well then it's all for today, we have an appointment with photographer and the DJ tomorrow" I told Esme as we exited from the florist's.
"Ariana, I have this friend of me who is a great DJ, do you want to consider him?" Esme asked me as we sat in the car.
"Sure, if you think he's good we could always meet him" I said with a small smile.
"Oh yes! Theo is amazing; he has this power to make you dance on his tunes. He's so talented and he has a great taste in music, he worked under Martin Garrix, he's amazing" Esme gushed and I saw a tint of red on her cheeks, maybe because of walking in the sun.
"That is really impressive, if you don't mind me asking, if he's so good then why would he play at your wedding? I'm just curious, one of my...friends loved Martin Garrix and he definitely doesn't play in weddings" I asked her and I saw her eyes widen at my question for a second but she calmed herself.
"He's a friend, he would do that for me, plus there would be a lot of famous people and media that's why I thought so" Esme explained and I nodded.
"Then if you don't mind, can you arrange an appointment at 4 with him? We could meet him after we meet the photographer and we'll be free so you can even spend time with your friend" I proposed.
"Awesome. I'll text him right now" Esme said happily and I sighed. These days are going to be way longer than I thought.
***
Yeah I know you guys must be disappointed with no Reyan (or should I call him Adreyan) in this chapter but he'll be back soon!
Anyways do tell me your views on this chapter.
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Until next time...