Why Did I Get Married; Part Two ☾☀︎ Camren

Chapter Nine: Sibling Bonding

"Where's Maggie?"

At the mention of her name, the door to the study where everyone gathered had burst open.

"I'm here! I'm here!" She panted. "José was supposed to drop the kids to school but his sister fell sick and he went to the hospital. So somebody; the somebody being me, had to take the little rascals to school." She rambled on and on as though anyone really wanted to hear her excuse as to why she was late.

Maggie took a seat at her usual chair around the table; gesturing for her siblings to continue with what they were doing. "Y'all may proceed and why not." She said, grinning.

Lauren sighed heavily and nodded. "Since everyone is finally here," she sent a pointed glance to her youngest sister. "...shall we begin?"

Everyone nodded.

"Right, so I already drafted up the contract for Astrid's attorney and manager to look at. Once everyone gives it a read, I'll have Alejandro deliver it immediately to her attorneys and manager, so that we can begin our partnership." Lauren said. "As you can see, the deal starts up with three years but if all goes well and the partnership between the two of us is fruitful, we can renew the contract."

After about an hour of going back and forth about the details of the upcoming meeting with Astrid and the partnership that they will have, if she does go through with it, the Jauregui siblings finally concluded that they were prepared for possibly the biggest break that both their jewellery and clothing companies would ever experience.

"I take it everyone has everything under control in their particular field?" Paul asked his siblings, who nodded. "Good, then, I guess we can regroup coming closer to our meeting with Astrid."

Lauren nodded. "I guess so." One or two of the siblings gathered their paperwork and belongings and exited the conference room, with some still lingering behind, exchanging some passing words here and there. "Just an idea but, given that none of us have any plans, why don't we do that little assignment that Singh told us to do?"

Maggie groaned. "Do we have to? I mean, I didn't have anything planned for today, but do I want to spend today with you guys? Now that is the actual question."

"It's either that or as the Judge said, we start from the beginning until we get this shit right."

"Well," Yaniel stood abruptly. "That's just for the four of you, so that sounds like my cue to leave. I'm out of here."

The other remaining siblings who didn't need to be a part of the little sibling bonding, left the room as if it was on fire because clearly, the idea of spending time with each other was the worse thing to ever happen to them. Besides probably, their failed marriages and what not.

"Do you guys have leprosy?" Catherine asked her siblings, "because the last time I checked, I don't have it."

Maggie snorted. "They're just as eager as I am for this little bonding."

"So," Paul loosened his tie, "...what do we have planned?" He kinked an eyebrow at Lauren, since she was the one to have brought it up in the first place. "Should we go playing in the river like the good old days? Riding our bicycles in the park not too far from here, or maybe...hear me out, we go sneaking into mom and dad's alcohol stash and grab a bottle of their Caribbean rum?" He asked with sarcasm laced in his tone.

Lauren rolled her eyes and ran a hand through her thick, black hair. "Listen, this isn't my idea of a fun way to spend the rest of my day. I have clients' cases to focus on, but finishing these family therapy sessions are a part of my priority and I think it should be a part of yours as well." She told her elder brother pointedly. "And, I don't have anything in mind planned as yet. What Singh simply said was to spend some time together without our families, and if you were paying attention, you would've heard her say that."