Devon Point of View

"Are we supposed to prepare and organize everything too?" I looked at Illaria, who was looking at me with a bit of curiosity and anticipation, I suddenly felt a bit sorry for her.

She must've never experienced such a thing before.

I nodded and gave her a confirming polite smile. "Yes. If the engagement in the Almond colony with a Mexican festival style is chosen by your brother and my sister, then, yes, we will be working on it with the help of other family members."

"Do you have any ideas on how and what to do for this engagement party?" I asked, knowing well that she also wanted to be a part of this as much as anyone in Almond family is.

She is excited and happy to do something new and enjoyable for the family, I can see that and so I let her do the brainstorming for a few things that might interest her.

"I think so. Once we get a tick mark for the theme and venue, I will make a list and send them to you so that you can filter them out accordingly."

"Alright, there is also a certain budget we should consider." I added.

Illaria suddenly looked at me with a mix of doubt and confusion in her eyes. "I know you can afford a lot more than the decided budget and even when Zorion wanted to added a little more to the budget, grandma refused. Why so? Why only such less money when we can afford much better?"

Uh, although the budget for the engagement party is not at all a small amount, I can understand why she thinks so.

"Umm, there are two things here, one, grandma wants to get things done with less money and more than enough satisfaction. Two, the decided budget is not the actual budget. It's only half the amount that we are actually using." I explained patiently.

Almond family thoughts and actions are not for beginners.

We have a lot more to consider than any other family and we are proud of it.

"Half? What about the other half?" She exclaimed a little surprised.

"So, here's what we do when any of our Almond family members get married. Half of the engagement money goes to prepare a huge banquet in an orphanage for the orphans. Half of the wedding budget goes to the orphanage again and this time, the money is used as a scholarship for one such orphan who studies well but couldn't go to university due to financial reasons." Grandma believes in blessings.

She says that if a couple starting a new life together receives well-wishes from those who benefitted from them, it will help them in the life when they needed blessings the most.

And this is one of the ways. All my other cousins who were married went through the same thing and everyone of us encourage such good deed wholeheartedly.

"Woah, that's nice. I guess, we can really make a good engagement party and a wedding out of limited budget as well." Working with the people who accept other's ideas open-mindedly is such a relief.

This can be counted as the first time in the whole week I was a bit relaxed in my mind. Otherwise, my job is killing me both mentally and emotionally.

"Alright then, we shall meet again in four or five days and have our next plans set. I might be a bit too busy for the next five months approximately but I will still make time for the planning meeting. If I had to postpone any of it for a later date, I hope you understand." She is my cousin's to be sister-in-law, I have to be more respectful and polite as she will be her direct family in future.

"Ditto. I hope you don't mind the same as well." I expressed my understanding and after we had a five more minutes chat about few miscellaneous things, we parted ways with a clear progress on the task.

Before sending her off, I gave her the destination catalogues I got from my friend and asked her to see them first and let me know if any of them is good enough for the wedding.

If we have at least basic knowledge of the places and types of weddings people usually prefer, when we take down the preferences of bride and groom later on, we can easily connect and make suggestions accordingly.

With that in mind, I also kept a copy of catalogues with me as well.

The preparations for the engagement were going well and in an orderly manner but that cannot be said about my job.

I'm currently facing a strange fate of misfortunes in my work life and I just hope I'm done with my current project before I just go and take a nice trip alone to cool off my mind.

I drove to my friend's house first, the one who gave me the catalogues, to ask for more of them. He is also my colleague and my assistant on the current project.

His elder sister was a kind of woman who once had strange ideas for her own wedding. The whole family had to squeeze the last bit of their patience to give her the wedding of her dreams.

The result is that his house and his parents house is filled with such catalogues and heaps of notes made at that time, as much as it became the interior of their house.

Well, it did help me greatly!

"Ah, you are here finally." My friend/colleague/assistant, Ural Bethel, gasped dramatically.

Looking at his drama queen expressions and actions, I still wonder how I got to be friends with this man.

He is literally a living and breathing soap opera. This man has so much drama in him that I've not seen such in most dramatic women too.

His natural and personal theatrics has long surpassed those in the industry too.

"The catalogues helped. After engagement party is over, give me the next batch of them and the notes as well." I walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch.

"There is a need for you to ask? Is your cousin sister not my sister? Not all, of course." There he goes again.

It never ends. His plays just go on and on without a stop.

"Not all? You will not be able to get into Almond family, just to make sure." I gave him another try of reality check.

Ural Bethel has another obsession other than being dramatic.

Almond family.

I don't know when, how and why, he thought he wanted to be a part of Almond family and has been trying to do so for a long time.

"Hey just because I wasn't adopted into your family, my chances are not cut out yet." Putting the glass of lemonade before me loudly, he went on to be in denial for a while longer.

On my part, I had the drink and relaxed myself as I listened to his tantrums.

"Just because your parents or uncles and aunts did not adopt me doesn't mean I cannot be a part of your family." He rambled being extremely sour about the family.

Who adopts a man as big as a tower into their family?

That too, a man who has a loving biological family?

Bethel family is considered rich enough and is a small yet loving family. I've been to their residence since the time I and Ural had first become friends, which is when were in seventh grade.

He has been to Almond residence more than hair on his head. However, suddenly, when were doing our under graduation, he felt like it would be great to be a part of Almond family and so the drama started.

He even went on to plead my eldest cousin, who is just few years older to us, to adopt him.

I felt so embarrassed that I had to slap his head for being so irritatingly theatric.

"None of my cousins, married or not, will adopt you. Put that wish in the toilet and flush it off." As my part as a best friend, I still try to give him a reality check.

Ural scoffed at me and the his scoffing turned into a mischievous smile and then brightened more and more that it started to creep me out a little.

"No, don't even think about it. I will not let that happen. You better focus all you mind and energy into our work." I splashed water on his thoughts before he could even finish thinking.

"You don't even know what I was meaning to say."

"Doesn't matter. You never come up with anything good or useful." I shook my head.

"Hey, that's an insult. Who saved you with an amazing idea when you were in a bit of trouble few hours ago? Right, by the way, how is you hand? Are you seriously hurt?" He quickly stood up and got medicine box for me.

After taking a look, he threw a tube of cream at me for me to apply. "Isn't it because of you that I'm in such a predicament?" I grumbled.

"My idea was the best. It was just right for our project. Didn't you get through the hardest level already? It's just a matter of time for us to complete it and say goodbye."

I hate it when he is a little right.

His idea on our current project is really an apt one for me.

But how long should I go with this madness? I'm already close to admit myself in a mental clinic.

Huh, life... what weird thing is life.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Hello Sweeties,

Next chapter is here. Enjoy!

what do you think about the chapter? Boring?

What do you think about budding friendship or acquaintanceship between Illaria and Devon.

Who like Almond family and their way of doing things?

What are you thoughts on Ural Bethel and his character?

What work is Devon doing that he had to be hurt?  

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Lady Prim