Wickedly Ever After | Hevie

Chapter 20: Make It Shine

Days passed by as Evie fully dedicated herself to planning the boutique's grand opening. She wanted to make sure everything was running perfectly so she woke up at the crack of dawn every day to drive to the Isle and supervise every stage built and every lighting equipment set up. She gave out suggestions where she saw improvement and nodded where she saw perfection. People came up to her and asked her to choose which curtains to put up, which drinks to serve and even to choose between a milk chocolate fountain or a white chocolate fountain. She chose the latter, of course, knowing Carlos very much preferred milk chocolate.

Nothing ran through without Evie's approval, and if she saw something she didn't agree upon, she would quickly shut it down. She had also made sure to hire people from the Isle, given that they were the foundation of everything she was building. All her models were from the Isle, as were her kitchen staff and her construction workers. Her servers would be from the Isle, as would her musicians. This was going to be a celebration of the Isle, for the Isle, and by the Isle.

The day Harry was definitely not looking forward to had finally arrived, where all of the models had to come in to rehearse walking the runway in the entirety of their outfits. Evie called him just when he was about to get in the shower to let him know she was already on her way to pick him up. He lied, saying he was already eating breakfast before hanging up and moving at the speed of light. He got out of the bathroom in five minutes and got dressed in three. He kept berating himself for shutting off all five of the alarms he had set the night before to get up at six in the morning. He ran out of his room while simultaneously tying his leather boots. Breakfast had to be quick, he thought, something light and easy. Cereal was his best option so he took out a ceramic bowl from the cabinet, then the almond milk from the fridge, and lastly the delicious Jasmine-O's cereal box Uma bought last week. It was his favorite. He eyed his phone, eagerly waiting for Evie's I'm here! text as he chomped down on his food.

It never came, and as he heard two knocks coming from the front door, he threw the bowl of unfinished cereal in the sink and walked briskly to the door to open it. Evie stood with a smile on her face, a bag of donuts on one hand and an iced coffee in the other.

"Did you brush your teeth or did it slip your mind along with your eyeliner?" She asked playfully, brushing past him as he exhaled with relief. She set the bag on the countertop and pushed the drink in his hand. "You can eat calmly. The rehearsal isn't until eight."

"Then why'd ye tell me to— Nevermind." He sat down and munched on the delicious chocolate-filled donuts Evie brought him from the café they had gone to on a friend date. She looked at the cereal bowl in the sink and chuckled quietly under her breath, shaking her head in disbelief. "How's everything going?" Harry asked.

"It's going great," she began. "I've only got a few things left to sort out, the seating arrangement for the V.I.P. section being one of them. Hopefully, I'll get that done today then I can fully focus on coordinating the fashion show."

"The fact that it's only days away is just mind-boggling," said the pirate. Even though Evie had been a total boss handling every single minute detail pertaining to the event, he could see through her and find that she was really on the edge, her nerves growing by the second. She really wanted everything to go exactly the way she wanted, perfectly and without a hitch. "What are we gonna be wearing? Assuming I'm still yer date and we're matching, of course."

"You're funny," she rolled her eyes. "Your suit and my dress are locked and loaded at home. I have them sealed away in my closet. They're both a mix of our signature colors."