The Friendly Wedding Chapter 2

TL: Hurhur, I decided to post another full chapter and here it is. I hope you enjoy reading this. After this one, the next releases will start being posted by parts. Have a good day, everyone. 
&h.e.l.lip;.

"GOOD morning!"

Though he tried to not make it obvious, Sapphire knew that her cousin Reeve was surprised when she appeared on his office’s doorstep.

"Sapphire? What are you doing here?"

She gave him a smile. "May I come in?"

He nodded and then widened the opening of the door.

"Sorry for disturbing you. Your secretary was not outside so I went directly here and knocked on your office's door,"  She explained as she directly entered and inspected the place. She sat on the available chair which is in front of his table.

"It's fine. After all, you're my cousin. But I'm quite surprised that you're here today. May I know why?" he directly asked even though her bottom has yet to heat up on her seat.

He sat down and stared at her. Reeve is powerful. He is the one holding the two biggest hotels in the whole country. He's so high and mighty while sitting on his place. But never had he intimidated her. No man can intimidate her.

She met his gaze. "Are you not going to offer me anything? Like juice, coffee, or water?"

"Come on, Sapphire. When did you ever receive something offered by a man? Might as well not offer you anything. Besides, if you want something, you'll ask for it."

She raised her brow up. Despite not being close to each other, he still knew her well. "How did you know?"

He shrugged. "Observations."

She rolled her eyeb.a.l.l.s. "Yeah, right. I'm sure mom was the one who told you about me." She crossed her arms and straightened her posture."Anyway, you're right. You don't have to offer me anything. I need your help," she frankly said.

His forehead creased. "What kind of help?"

"You know what's there in Lola Marcelina's last will, right? I won't be able to take my part as long as I'm unmarried."

He slowly nodded. "What about it?"

"I have a deadline, Reeve. I should get married on or before reaching the age of twenty-eight. And my birthday is just a month away. I'll be twenty-eight next month!"

"Get married, then," he simply said.

That response made her frown. He surely can say that easily. How good for him that he can be so relaxed since he doesn't have to go through anything to get his part. "It's easy to get married if I have someone to wed myself. But, there's no such person for me. And the reason I am here is to seek help from you."

The man's forehead wrinkled.

"Find me a husband!" she demanded.

That was when the latter's shock surfaced. "Come, again?"

She hurriedly started explaining the content of her conversation with her female cousins. The more he listens to her explanation, the deeper he frowned.

"That's a ridiculous plan, Sapphire," his only comment when she finished speaking.

"I don't care anymore, even if that's the weirdest plan ever! I badly need a groom. I need a man who will agree to my offer. And I am very sure you can refer some people to me, anyhow. Come on, Reeve! I'm a family, you should help me! I have to get my part. I have plans for it."

Her cousin started shaking his head. "It was like you're fooling Grandma if you do that."

Sapphire closed her eyes. "I know! But she left me with no choice! Argh! It's better than falling in love within a month. I hate men! So there's no chance that I could love them a bit!" The only exemptions were him, his father, their Grandpa who had pa.s.sed away long ago, and the fathers of their female cousins. "Help me, alright. I know you have many acquaintances. How about your wife's cousins? Or your colleagues?"

Reeve ma.s.saged his temple and then let out a sigh. "You will only marry to get your inheritance. After a year, you'll separate to the guy. Marriage is sacred, Sapphire. It's not so simple."

She pouted, "Marriage for convenience is a trend nowadays. Even you, you get married to make the Monteverde empire grow larger and to have the CEO and Presidential seat. You are now the Chairman of the Board as well. How did that differ from my situation? You got what you want when you got married. That's also what I plan to do," she reasoned out.

"The difference between us is large. I married Agatha but we never got an annulment. From the start, I don't plan to separate from her. How about you? You haven't get married yet and you're already thinking of separation."

"Why would I retain the marriage when I got my money? Besides, my future spouse won't lose out in the deal since he will have some part of my inheritance. When we go our separate ways, we will be both happy."

"Lola Marcelina wants you to have you own family that's why she came up with that condition in her will. Her deed will lose sense if you do your plan."

Sapphire stared at him sharply. Her older cousin was trying to p.r.i.c.k her conscience. Unfortunately, Lavender and Crystal Jane had already attempted that so it won't work on her.

She stood up and rolled her eyes at him. "If you can't help me, just say so." She turned around and raised her head as she marched onward the door.

"Sapphire, come back here!" he commanded, authoritatively. "We're not done talking."

She was now stomping her feet in annoyance as she stared back. "I would only be wasting my time if I would convince you over and over about this matter although it's obvious you don't want to help me find a groom-to-be. It's better for me to search by myself."

He could only exhale. "I'll help you, okay?" he said in surrender.

Sapphire's face brightened up and then she ran near him. "Really?"

He sighed. "As if I could leave you alone. I also won't find peace of mind if you find some no-name people."

She smiled. What her female cousins said was true, their male cousin Reeve can't say no to them. Although he is always serious and strict, he is kind. He even became kinder when he became married.

"Yey! When are you finding me a groom?" She excitedly asked. She suddenly felt a big hope rising in her chest. She can now imagine her future bookstore.

"Come to my house tomorrow. Bring our female cousins with you. There's a little Sunday lunch party tomorrow. We can take that opportunity to continue this talk."

She was nodding profusely and promising to go there tomorrow.

&h.e.l.lip;.

Since they, Sapphire and her three cousins, stepped inside Reeve and Agatha's home, only she was being excited. Her three cousins were obviously fidgety and nervous because they learned that Agathat's male cousins will be joining them to lunch. Agatha's cousins were seven in number. One of them has wife who was even pregnant. The name of that guy was Dylan. The other six are men with no attachments.

Most of the times, when there are many boys around, Sapphire would feel suffocated. But it's different this time. She has strong intuition that Reeve made her come here to purposely introduce his wife's male cousins. Reeve, her cousin was not only helping her, he's even giving her choices!

All of the people were sitting on a very long table in the garden. Good thing, it was not hot and sunny. Everyone was chatting about anything while waiting for the food to be served.

Sapphire grew bored. It's because she found it difficult to hold proper conversation with her cousins. Haley busied herself with her own cellphone. Lavender was reading a book. Crystal Jane was flipping pages on her Bible. She could only jab at Reeve.

"Why are Agatha's cousins noisy?" she softly complained. Due to the noise, the stories got mixed up to one another until she can't understand a thing anymore. "Also, are we still not going to talk about my plan?"

Before her cousin could even reply, somebody stole their attention.

"Yo! Family, what's up?"

Everyone became silent as they turned their heads to the newcomer.

The guy has a friendly and jolly aura. His smile was so wide his slanted eyes were almost as if closed. She had seen him before. His name is 'Johann', Agatha's half-brother.

"Hey, it's good that you can come!" said Charlie to him, also one of Agatha's cousins who happened to be the leading gossiper among them. "You finally came out of your lair."

"Tss. I didn't shut myself in. I was only busy with works," he denied before greeting each of his cousin.

"What did you do? Fixing a broken heart?" teased Reynald.

"I fixed my students' grades," Johann explained although his eyes obviously became sharper as he glared at Reynald. He turned to Lavender. "How about you Lavender? You're Reeve's cousin, right?"

Lavender only smiled and nodded. Johann shook hands with her. "How are you? I heard Reynald's heart is with you. Can you please return it to him so he can move on?"

Lavender was stunned while his cousins laughed.

"a.s.sh*le!" Reynald threw the table napkin at Johann.

He only grinned. "You started it." He greeted Crystal Jane next. "So you are Crystal Jane! Right, you look like an angel. You should be the type who should not be duped, right, Ramses?"

"You want to end up in jail?" warned Ramses who was at the other end of the table.

"Why do you want to send me there when I'm not guilty?" He laughingly replied and then shook hands with Haley too. "Wow! Haley, right? The s.e.xy one!"

Her cousin giggled. "Thank you, Johann, " she flirty said.

"But you're too young. You're really a cradle s.n.a.t.c.her Mr. G-"

"Don't you even dare," Gideon immediately took over, in a dangerous tone. Johann only laughed accompanied by the others. He seemed to enjoy this tease-show.

When he came to her, Johann halted.

She can't help but raise an eyebrow at him. Even though she had seen him before, he didn't get her attention. Well, she never pays attention to any guy, after all.

"You are Sapphire?"

"Yes, why?"

"You became more beautiful. I have already taken notice of you even before." He stretched his hand. "I'm Johann."

Sapphire's cheeks heated up because of his words. She leaned her neck back and rolled her eyes at him as she secretly whipped herself. The other party only said she was beautiful yet she was immediately flattered? She has been told that for so many times and whenever the compliment came from a boy, she always ignored. But when he was the one who said it, she blushed?

"A-ha-ha! Snubbed!" His other cousins chaffed him.

The  man withdrew his hand and then talked to Reeve.

Haley poked at her, "Hey, why did you do that to Johann? He's a cutie. And I can sense that he's kind," the woman whispered.

Sapphire eyed her. "He only complimented you a little and you’re already saying that he's kind? I don't care at all."

The chat grew louder because of Johann's arrival. She was not aware but before the lunch commenced, she was following him with her eyes.

The table was filled with laughter. Because of Johann's stories, the awkwardness looming around her cousins faded. Now it seemed like he was the only story-teller and the rest only came here to laugh.

Even when the lunch was finished, the chattering didn't stop. Sapphire could only admit that she had also been hooked by Johann's stories. She even laughed at one of his jokes earlier. She thought, maybe it feels good to have him as a friend. Too bad, she doesn't make friends with guys.

"Reeve, can we talk now?" she urged her cousin.

"Okay. Let's go to the study room." Reeve stood up and informed his wife.

She also rose from her seat and said to the girls that she'll be leaving for the meantime but her cousins went with her. She could only shake her head in helplessness.

As they enter the house, they immediately turned to the study room. And she immediately started after closing the door.

"So, Reeve, you invited me here to check out Agatha's cousins?" She impatiently asked.

Haley barged in. "Huh? You really pushed your plan of picking a groom out of Agatha's cousins?"

Crystal Jane said, "What now? They all said they each have their girlfriends," the woman lowered her head in dejection.

"I invited you all here because my wife wants to spend some bonding time with everyone. Also, she wants to know you guys more. It just so happened that her cousins were invited as well since she hadn't seen them for too long," Reeve explained as he sat on the only swivel chair. "Anyhow, Sapphire, I shared your problem with Agatha. We talked about&h.e.l.lip;" he sighed. "About which man to refer."

Sapphire's eyes shone in delight. "Who?" Oh, she's closer to her money!

"It's Johann."

Her cousins gasped before she did. Haley screamed, "Ohhhhh! He's Agatha's brother, right? He's so funny and cute," the girl mouthed in a flirty manner.

"He was also the one Sapphire snubbed," added Lavender. "But he did not fret over it. I think, he can handle our Sapphire here."

"He's nice and friendly. I like him for Saphi!" Crystal Jane commented. "Nice choice, Reeve."

"W-wait, wait." she said and raised her hands to stop their conversation. They already said too much while she was left here gaping. "W-why him?" she asked.

It is not that she hates it. Actually, everything's fine for her but she thinks it would be hard to conspire with the likes of Johann. Likely he won't take it seriously.

"Why not?" Reeve asked back.

"Yeah. Look, Saphi, he's older than you, he's cute or handsome," Haley defended and started counting on her fingers. "Has strong s.e.x appeal, and he said a while ago that he's a professor from a prestigious university."

"He looks like someone who loves joking but you can obviously see that he's witty and a gentleman," Lavender chimed, "And the sense of humor? He has a lot!"

"It would be fun being with a person like him. Like, there will be no boring times when he's around. He's perfect for your plan, Saphi."

Oh sure he is! She noticed a while ago when she was observing the guy in secret. The truth is, he caught her attention because he said she was pretty. For the first time, someone had grabbed her attention!

She turned to Reeve. "Do you think he will agree? Why did you refer him?"

Reeve shrugged. "He's brokenhearted."

She was once again overtaken by her cousins in reacting so she chose not to react anymore although she also felt surprised.

"He is?" said Haley. "Seems not obvious."

"He's really brokenhearted. My step sister who he claimed as his first and true love dumped him. Added to the fact that his best friend was not around to comfort him. She can't be found. So, my wife thinks that her brother is just trying to be happy but is deeply hurting inside," Reeve explained while she listened attentively. "Hopefully, he will agree, just to divert his attention."

She unconsciously nodded to him. There are actually guys who can feel hurt? She thought they only know how to bring pain to women.

She suddenly felt pity for Johann. Another first time! It was her first time pitying a guy.

"Oh, in short, he's vulnerable right now. He can be easily roped in!" Haley exclaimed. "oh my, you're a genius Reeve! Saphi, grab this chance!"

She hastily exited the study room.

"Where are you going, Saphi?" Lavender followed.

"I'm gonna fetch my groom!"

&h.e.l.lip;

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