EVERGLOW

VIII. How to get out of unwanted events

Undoubtedly, she had an amazing engagement. For the past few days, she and Dylan topped entertainment news, gossip sites and tabloids. A network even had an investigative journalist trace their footsteps in Sanya just to try and figure out the mystery of her two engagement rings. She ignored it all. No one would ever know.

The agency was quite happy, and already her calendar was almost full for the next few months with new endorsement contracts. No regrets. That didn't mean she didn't pay the price though.

Yue had been stuck in bed for three days after that night.

They had blissfully boarded the plane at dawn and finally slept cuddled together on the flight back to Beijing, only to be picked up separately by each of their teams. Apparently, arranging a wedding in a week was a lot to handle, even with all of their friends and assistants to do the legwork.

Dylan had put up a fuss, initially telling Hao Ge to let everyone back off since the wedding was off limits to the agency. But Hao Ge pacified him, explaining that all of them were not even in the agency's payroll for the next week. But if they wanted it to happen as scheduled, they would cover more work if they split into two teams.

Except the bug Yue caught wasn't helping her do much. Aside from showing up for fittings and other legal requirements that required her presence, she confined herself to her apartment. She realized she wasn't doing anybody any good being a walking virus carrier. The low fever and muscle aches were also another factor. Not to mention the fact that Xiaowen and Jia Qi constantly aggravated her headache, vying for the designation of official wedding planner.

They got into some petty competition about who could make the better suggestion at everything. Once, after having to listen to the merits of either tulips or orchids for the floral decorations, Yue simply pretended to feel worse than she really did and told them to call Dylan for whatever decisions were needed to be made. Jia Qi promptly dialled him to ask about the pressing matter, only to frown in consternation.

"He wants lilies. Chinese lilies."

Xiaowen's eyes widened. "But they're...orange!"

"They will clash with the lilac motif." And so started another round for them both.

Yue had no idea how he managed it, but even without her asking, he kept both women off her back for three days straight.

Her headache was already starting to let up by the third day. She knew there was still a lot that needed to be done. The agency had stretched both of their schedules and strategically moved everything else for the next couple of weeks. But her bed was much better company than everyone else at the moment. Another thing she failed to foresee when she signed up for this.

She groaned when her doorbell rang. Guess her hiatus was over.

She trudged to her door only to jump back in surprise when she opened it. Confetti flew over her head and her friends jumped right at her blowing party horns.

"Surprise!"

Right. A bridal shower. One more thing to add to her growing list of haven't-thought-abouts.

She was glad to see all her friends. But she had spent the last three days trying to avoid questions about her dating life and one night with all of them in one place and her on the hot seat was just not ideal right now.

"Are you surprised? You'd better be. At least pretend," Wang Zi Wei instructed as she breezed in with a cake that was topped with a bride holding a noose. Yue sighed in relief. At least it looked palatable, versus the possible alternative designs.