Chapter 275

Elena “Oh my god.” I gasped, surprised as I exited the vehicle and stared at the fairytale-like venue in front of me. It literally seemed as if I had jumped straight into a storybook.

Right in front of my eyes was a gorgeous white church building, which seemed like the perfect location for a wedding. I looked at my surroundings and noticed the streets were filled with several fancy cars, which belonged to the guests.

For the most part, it seemed like the guests were also well off, and if I wouldn’t have listened to Victoria and would’ve shown up in my usual outfit, it would’ve been a complete disaster.

It was clear that Anya and Tiago went full out.

“Elena!”

I looked ahead and waved my hand enthusiastically at Rona, who ran down the stairs. There was still a lot we had to take care of for the reception and after-party and had she not been there, it would’ve been a lot to figure out on my own.

It was strange to see Rona in a dress, but she looked beautiful. She spun around and held the ends of her red dress as she crossed the streets, making me laugh in the process. “You look so good!” I complimented her.

“So do you!”

I looked down at the tight dress around my body before my eyes moved to the church. “Are you sure? Is this appropriate?”

Rona chuckled and grabbed me by the back of my shoulders. “Take a look at all these guests. You fit right in!”

I followed Rona’s instructions and couldn’t help but chuckle as I took another look at the guests. We were supposed to be serving them, but Tiago and Anya were kind enough to treat all of us, including the employees, as guests.

“The others have already begun with the preparations, Rona spoke while she linked her arms with mine. “Come on. I’ll lead the way.”

Rona led me to the reception hall while I looked around like a headless chicken. It was fascinating to see how much time and money these people had spent organizing the perfect wedding. “If I were to get married tomorrow, I’d cancel it,” I told Rona. “We can’t beat this!”

“We can’t,” Rona spoke. “And that’s why I’ve decided to make good use of this day.”

She pushed me into the room while I still needed some time to process the number of decorations.

“Do you think all of the gold is real?” I asked Rona. “Of course it is!” She answered. “Do you think these people waste their time on fake gold?”

“Anyway, look at them. I’ve never seen these lazy asses work a day like that in their lives.” Rona spoke, impressed as she pointed at the bar. “Yes, because they’re getting paid for it…a lot.”

The small team we worked with was young, inexperienced, and somewhat lazy. After hearing the many would probably wonder why Rona hired them–but it was cus available.

While I was also young, I always had a passion for cocktails and liquor in general. As a matter of fact, it was so out of control that my high school friends and I had secretly emptied my dad’s bottles at one of my old birthday sleepovers.

“I should be standing there with them, but for some reason, you’re always treating me like some manager.” I chuckled. It was the truth, I was nothing more than an employee-but Rona had always been way too good to me.

“Well, you made the recipes.” Rona shrugged and threw her arm around my shoulder. “And maybe it’s a bit of favoritism, but you can’t blame me.”

Maybe it was favoritism, but I was completely fine with it. She was, after all, one of my best friends and a good listener. Rona had what Victoria was lacking, and that was patience. I was able to tell her about the disaster with Marvin without her yelling in my car.

Even when she offered to let me rest for the day, I turned down her offer. “So, what do we have to do?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing much-all we need to do is check the menu and the ingredients, and then we’re all good to go.”

I followed Rona to the bar and smiled at the familiar faces. “Elena, you look pretty!” One of the girls smiled at me. “Yes, they’re way too happy today, I whispered in Rona’s ear.

After a quick round, everything had finally been settled, and we could breathe in peace. The wedding ceremony was only about two hours away, and we were all excited to experience this expensive wedding. “I think we might be glued to this bar tonight. Rona commented. “The youngsters probably want to dance later.”

“Youngsters?” I laughed. “We have the same age-and they’re only three years younger than you.”

Our fun got interrupted by the sound of cheers, and we all turned our heads to the door to look at Tiago who had just walked in. All eyes went to Tiago, who seemed a bit embarrassed at the attention.

“Oh my god, it’s Tiago!” Rona squealed as she aggressively shook her hand to greet him. Tiago waved back and made his way to us with a big smile on his face. “I thought I’d come and find you guys.” He spoke.

He seemed different from the last time I’d seen him. He looked even more handsome and perhaps even a bit more mature-but it was all because it was his wedding day.

My heart fluttered at the sight of his midnight blue suit and his soft and welcoming eyes. He looked perfect.

“Tiago-look at you!” Rona gasped. She pulled him into a hug while he seemed startled by her actions. “If you weren’t marrying Anya, I would’ve just snatched you right away!”

“He looks handsome, right, Lena?”

Tiago blinked his eyes and shot me a smile, waiting for me to compliment him. “You remind me of something.” I teased him with a grin. Tiago’s eyes lit up. “A prince?”

“No, not that.” I chuckled. “You remind me of a puppy “Elena!” Rona hissed. Tiago folded his arms and furrowed his brows. “Are you my wedding day?”

“Ye-

“N-no, she isn’t!” Rona denied as she shook her hands. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about!”

The frown on Tiago’s face turned into a bright smile as he gave me a nudge against my shoulder.

As expected, someone as sweet as him-could not hold a grudge. “I’m just kidding. I like the nickname.” “But it’s just crazy how much you remind me of my brother,” Tiago told me.

“The two of you are so much alike, share the same kind of humor and you both have that…that…

that curious look in your eyes.

“And he recently got dumped-so please tell me you’re single!” Tiago spoke with big eyes. “I mean…

if I can’t have you—one of us has to have you!”

“What?” Rona and I spoke at the same time while Tiago nearly choked at his own words. I decided to tease him a bit more and shot him a disgusted look. “What are you, a pig?” I questioned.

“Because you’re not even married yet, but you’re already being unfaithful.

“I-I, t-that’s not what I meant!”

Rona and I shot each other a look before we burst out in laughter. Tiago wasn’t used to our way of joking and was innocent beyond words. “It’s okay, puppy-it was just a joke.”

“1-it was?”

“Yes.” Rona nodded. “And Elena here went through a tragic experience of her own, so she would love to meet your brother.”

“I—what?”

“Play along. These people are loaded.” Rona whispered in my ear.

“I’m going to kill you.” I giggled through gritted teeth while I showed my sweetest smile to Tiago.

After the unfortunate experience with Marvin, meeting someone else was the last thing on my mind.

“Santi, there you are!” A woman suddenly called out from a distance. Tiago closed his eyes and took a breath. “No, please no.” He whispered, but it was already too late.

Two women made their way towards us. One of the women had a kind and gentle smile on her face, while the younger one clearly had a bit too much to drink as she couldn’t even walk in a straight line “Are these bugs in charge of the bar?” The younger woman pointed out. “Nice to meet you guys. I’m Karina-his sister!” She slurred her words while she placed her hand on her hip. I observed the tight blue dress around her body and instantly felt good about myself. Rona was right, I did fit in.

“Come on, guys-what can you offer me!” Karina clapped her hands. Rona and I looked at each other with our usual judgmental look.

“We can offer you some water,” Rona spoke in her usual shady tone and wrapped her arm around Karina as she pulled her away-leaving me alone with Tiago and the woman.

The woman cleared her throat and brushed her hair to the side to grab my attention. Only now I could clearly see the golden earrings around her ears and her classy bouffant dress, which was in a beanie salmon shade.

If Karina was his sister, she must’ve been his mom.

The smile on her face told me she was waiting for a compliment, and because I was in a good mood at the moment, I had decided to give it to her. “Oh, hello!” I greeted the woman. “You must be his other sister?”

“M-me?” The woman pointed to herself while Tiago hid his face in embarrassment. She held her hand in front of her mouth and giggled as a child would. “No, I get that a lot-but I’m Tiago’s mom.”

“No!” I gasped. “You must be lying, ma’am. I thought you were younger than me!”

“Ah, stop it, and please don’t call me ma’am!”

“Mom, come on.” Tiago rolled his eyes. “I think it’s time for us to g-

“Absolutely not!”

“It was a pleasure meeting you, and everyone calls me Linda.” The woman stuck out her hand. As expected, I had managed to capture the heart of a rich person.

“Your name makes a lot of sense.” I worked my charms. “My name is Elena, but you can call me Lena.” “Oh?” Linda clutched her heart. “Tiago, did you hear that?”

Tiago couldn’t help but smile. “I did, mom, and she’s pretty, polite, and single-so maybe we can set her up with M—-

“Victor?” Linda interrupted him. “Don’t be crazy. I wouldn’t hand my worst enemy to your nutcase of a brother.

Well damn.

“I wasn’t talking about Victor….you know what, we’ll discuss this later.” Linda and Tiago argued back and forth. Even though Linda and Tiago were pretty much pimping me out, and I should’ve been pissed, 1 surprisingly grew a smile on my face.

Tiago seemed like a mama’s boy, and the two were obviously very close. I had often wondered why God blessed demons like my own mom with children-when they didn’t even have the heart to take care of them.

“Please excuse my embarrassing mom,” Tiago spoke after noticing the look on my face. “That’s okay- don’t worry about it.” I shrugged. Tiago stared into my eyes with a shy smile on his lips as his cheeks slowly grew red.

“T-Tiago, we should go now.” Linda wrapped her arm around his waist. It was most likely that she was aware of her son’s behavior and did not want to cause any misunderstandings as other people were around. Tiago seemed like the type of person who could not hold a conversation with a random woman without puking at one point.

“It was nice meeting you, Linda,” I spoke. “And good luck. Tiago-don’t be nervous!” I balled my fist to give him a bump, but Tiago flinched and covered his face with his hands.

“I wasn’t going to kill you. I was just going to wish you success.” I laughed uncomfortably after our awkward encounter, Tiago scratched the back of his head and tried his hardest to look unbothered.

“Yes, I knew that.” He mumbled. “W-why would you beat me up at my own wedding?”

“Yes…why?” I smirked. Tiago took a step back and lowered his head, while I just couldn’t stop teasing him. Tiago cleared his throat. “Bye, Elenal” He grabbed his mom’s hand and pulled her away, while Linda. laughed at her son’s behavior.

“Mom, Tiago-wait for me!” Karina yelled as she ran behind the pair with a glass in her hands. I squinted my eyes and observed the girl’s behavior. There was something wrong with her, there had to be-because no normal human being would behave like that at a wedding.

“That’s a weird-ass family,” Rona concluded as she made her way next to me. “But I like them.”

“So do I. I agreed. I couldn’t even remember the last time that my dad, Alex, and I behaved like a normal family. Was this what it was like? Was I supposed to be the Karina of the family?

“You know, Lena.” Rona began.