Mondays were usually overwhelming at The Wedding Affair headquarters,
With most of the first time consultations scheduled in on that day since it's one of the most uneventful days of the week.
You don't find many brides wanting to tie the knot on a Monday, guess we all have the Monday blues hammered deep down in our systems.
Scarlette walked into her office with her orange juice in one hand and a bunch of lilies in another.
"Hey Susie, these are for you. I signed the delivery card." Scarlette stated.
Susan Miller was an excel spreadsheet in human form, and has been her personal secretary ever since she needed one.
"Umm... Thank you; I don't know who they are from.
Did the delivery man tell you the name of the sender?
What if it's for the Susan in the next block? You know how her stuff often ends up here." Susan asked, following Scarlette inside her office.
"Susan, slow down, Will you?" Scarlette added after setting her bag on her table.
"Yes yes I am sorry."
"Are you Susan Miller?" Scarlette inquired after taking a long sip of her juice.
"You know I am."
"OK then. Mystery Solved. The flowers are for you."
"Now let's get back to work, chop chop." Scarlette clapped her hands.
She looked out of her wide sliding sash windows at the sea of elegantly dressed Londoners heading to work.
Gosh! How she loved this city, Scarlette mused.
Her eye caught the mountain of consultation forms on her desk, and she dived right in.
After an hour and a half when she came up for air and looked at her watch, she realized she had about fifteen minutes before her first consultation meeting of the day.
And a clear desk which did not look like the remains of a tornado would definitely leave a lasting impression.
Her office line buzzed indicating a call from Susan.
"Yes Susie."
"Scarlette we have a Mr. Doose on the line from The Whitmore Hotel."
"Tell him I am not in yet." She sighed.
"We have already used that. This is his second call since morning."
"Tell him I got in and left again, and take a message for me please."
"Sure, also, your eleven clock couple is here."
"Send them in." Scarlette hung up and put on her happily ever after smile in place to greet her first consultation of the day.
--
The atmosphere at The Whitmore Hotel was nothing short of lethal.
Everyone was walking on egg shells throughout the morning, because no one wanted to cross Ryan today.
The CEOs office was avoided at all costs.
No one was willing to enter and suddenly be teleported from the land of the living to the one of the deceased.
Ryan hated the pounding headache, the minute he threw the first punch on Saturday night, he knew he would be spending most of his Sunday either in the ER or in the jail. And he sure as hell wanted it to be neither of the two.
He was aware that his staff had been walking around terrified of him all morning, but it wasn't his fault that suddenly most of them couldn't accomplish a simple task without having to redo it.
He knew he was being an asshole but hey! He had a weekend from hell; they should cut him some fucking slack and not be so stupid.
He had asked for the list of the builders the board had shortlisted for their new Whitmore project an hour back and now he was starting to think he should fire the entire bloody floor.
His self destructive thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door and before he could allow the person to enter, the door flung open and in came a whoosh of bright pink.
"Why is it so awfully quite outside today?" Elle Whispered.
"Argh! Elle! My eyes! Why do you look so nauseating?"
"Well, hello to you too, brother."
"You know when you knock; you are supposed to wait to be allowed in."
"What is this? Military school?" Elle arched her perfectly shaped eyebrows up.
Ryan rolled his eyes at his younger sister's attempt at humor and picked up his phone.
"Send someone to fetch some butter cream cupcakes and have it sent inside right away!" Ryan barked in the phone.
Elle laughed at that and went around his huge brown oak table to hug him.
"Now that's more like it."
"But I did not come here for the cupcakes; I came here to demand your note of absence."
"A bit dramatic, don't you think?" Ryan inquired as he walked towards his bar to get her a bottle of water.
"No, I absolutely don't think so. Sunday mornings are family mornings and you know dad gets upset when you don't show up." She took the bottle of water from his extended hand and screeched in horror.
"Geez! Elle! I am sensitive to high pitched screams today, do you mind?"
"What happened to your hand?"
"Nothing."
"Your knuckles are cut open, that's not nothing."
"You know I go for boxing. It happened there."
"Well, hello! They invented boxing gloves for a reason."
"I forgot them."
"Ryan you know I can tell when you lie. So quit the bullshit and tell me what happened?"
A knock on the door saved Ryan from answering that question; he definitely did not want his little sister to know about him getting into a street fight.
"That would be your cupcakes princess."
Elle thanked his secretary who looked like he was walking on a field of mines, poor guy she thought to herself.
"Ryan what happened to your hand? You know I won't leave until you tell me.
You got into a fight, didn't you?
Is that why you couldn't come on Sunday?
Omg! Are you hurt?
Is the other person still breathing?"
Ryan narrowed his eyes at her attempt of feigning concern.
She knew all too well that he wasn't hurt and he wouldn't hit anyone to death.
This was one of her sly ways of talking his ears off till he gives up and gives her what she wants.
"Quit the antics Elle." Ryan rolled his eyes.
"What? I am concerned." Elle looked sheepish.
"I got into a fight at the race, actually dean got into a fight and we all joined in to save his ass."
"Dean should change his name to a bloody troublemaker.
He always gets into stupid fights and gets all of you'll in it.
You know when I first met him; I knew he was going to be the end of you."
Elle was pacing around his office and ranting about how she knew Dean was bad news.
That's when he saw her outside, Ms. Rose Hunter.
Her emerald green dress looked like it was custom made to fit her curves.
She was smiling at something his secretary said and maybe that's the first time he saw her smile.
Her smile was beautiful he thought to himself but he personally was a fan of her murderous glares.
"What are you looking at? I am talking to you Ryan!" Elle yelled.
And turned to look at what had her brother's attention.
"Is she your new girlfriend?" Elle inquired.
"No she is not." Ryan chuckled and turned to look at his sister.
"Are we done here Elle? I have work to do." Ryan got up from his seat took the box of cupcakes; placed it in her hands and started guiding her towards the door.
"Don't tell William about the fight, you know he will tell dad and I don't want to bother him." With that Ryan opened the door for her.
"You are pushing me out,
You are hiding something." Elle whined.
Ryan rolled his eyes at her and thought it would be wise to walk her towards the elevator, the opposite direction of his secretary's desk.
"Oh no no no no, I am not leaving.
I came for answers and I will get them." Elle dodged him and started brisk walking towards Scarlette.
And man was she quick; she reached Scarlette before he could stop her and tapped on her shoulder.
"Hi, I don't think we have met before, I am Elle Whitmore." Elle introduced herself in her I am sunshine barbie voice to a very confused looking Scarlette.
"Hi, I believe we haven't, I am Scarlette Brown." Scarlette greeted back, still no sign of understanding on her face.
"My brother thinks I will embarrass him but hey! I am his little sister; I think it's my birth right to meet his girlfriend, don't you?" Elle was still talking in her sing song voice and at the mention of the word girlfriend Ryan could literally see Ms. Hunters face scrunch up in disgust.
"I am sorry you have been misled, I don't know your brother." Scarlette glared at Ryan.
"Just for the record; I did not say you were my girlfriend." Ryan chuckled.
"You certainly must have implied something equally ludicrous for her to believe that."
"I did not even mention your name." Ryan threw his hands up in the air.
"Oh well yeah that he did not, he was just staring at you." Elle chimed in.
"No I wasn't!" Ryan glared at Elle.
"Yes you were, remember when I was talking about Dean and you were staring out, I thought it was the staring out in space thing you sometimes do when I talk, but then I realized you were actually staring at her." Elle blabbered.
"Stop talking already Elle!" Ryan grunted.
"So you sit inside your office and stare at women who walk past, like a creep? Is that your day job Mr. Whitmore?" Scarlette raised one eyebrow and smirked at him.
"It definitely isn't Ms. Hunter." Ryan smirked back.
"The name is Scarlette Brown; it would do well for you to remember that." Scarlette sneered at him and this was definitely the highlight of his day.
"I think I am still going to go with Rose, Ms. Hunter.
It suits you better." Ryan added after giving her a leisurely once over.
"I think I am going to rip your vocal cords out the next time I hear you call me that." Scarlette said in a perfectly polite tone laced with enough poison to drop him dead.
"Omg! This is so much fun. I already love you Scarlette." Elle chimed in again. Bouncing like an excited child.
Scarlette looked at Elle and her eyes softened.
"I am so sorry, I don't usually trash talk." Scarlette muttered.
"Oh don't worry, I am officially a fan." Elle stated with a big goofy smile on her face.
Ryan watched as Rose just nodded at Elle; gave her a tight smile and turned around to leave.
She glanced in his direction before entering Doose's office and narrowed her eyes at him and he could swear she mouthed the word 'jerk'.
He laughed out loud shocking everyone around who were convinced since morning that he was the devil incarnate.
"A girl after my own heart." Elle whispered next to him.
Mine too, Ryan thought. Mine too.
--
Scarlette entered Mr. John Doose's office with a frown on her face.
She hated how Ryan riled her up. She hated the fact that she always lost her calm around him.
But this was her work place and she wasn't going to jeopardize her reputation here because of an imbecile jerk, who couldn't get her name right.
So she safely tucked away her gruesome murder plans for Mr. Shitmore, and swore to herself that she was going to make it bloody slow and painful.
"Good Afternoon Ms. Brown, please have a seat." Mr. Doose greeted.
He gave her a once over, his eyes stopping for longer than necessary at her breasts and it took everything in her to not poke those malicious eyes with hot iron rods.
Employee like an employer, she thought to herself, if that was even a saying.
But hey! An apt one for people working for Whitmore.
Oops! Sorry! She thought to herself, it's 'Shitmore' from today, because he is so full of shit!
"I have been trying to get a hold of you since morning." Mr. Doose said while struggling to keep his eyes off her breast.
What is he hoping to see there she wondered? She made it a point to always come to meetings with him dressed in high necks, but he wouldn't stop staring.
Every few minutes his eyes dart down, hoping to suddenly develop x-ray vision, Scarlette wanted to wear a black t-shirt that said 'my eyes are up here Mr. Douche' with a arrow sign pointing upwards to her face.
"I am sorry I have been away from my desk all morning." Scarlette replied.
"Oh that's not a problem; I got an email regarding some party you want to throw here on Friday. I just wanted to discuss the event details with you." Mr. Doose mentioned, doing that thing with his eyes again.
"That's what I am here for today, shall we begin?" Scarlette asked with a tight smile, mentally filing away her unpleasant thoughts for yet another man in the span of fifteen minutes.
The meeting went on for about an hour and a half, with Scarlette explaining the nature of their event and why it was such a last minute plan.
He was shocked to hear how impulsive her bride had been in changing her plans and did not mind pointing out that women had a short attention span according to him and work purely on emotions and hence why matters of importance shouldn't be placed in their hands.
Completely irrelevant from the topic at hand! But yeah! Men! She mused.
Scarlette wanted to tell his chauvinistic ass that the very country he lived in was ruled by female monarchs for a good part of its existence, but that was an argument for another day she thought to herself.
She explained to him how they wanted to throw a bachelorette with a tropical theme in the pool section of the hotel and that they would be jazzing the place up according to the theme.
She was keeping her cool and answering the same questions he asked her every few minutes or so, the most outrageous one was him asking her if they planned to do drugs in the hotel rooms after the party.
Because according to him that was the only valid reason why the bride's crew would want to stay over in the hotel where the party was held.
Youngsters now a day's according to him did whatever they pleased, the consequences and how it affects other people around them, be damned.
Another piece of unsolicited advice that wasn't asked for.
After assuring him multiple times that nothing would be done against the hotel policies and that no drug cartel was going to have their set up here on Friday night, he was satisfied or at least pretended to be until he could come up with a list of more stupid questions to throw at her.
The meeting ended with a satisfied smile on Scarlette's face and a distressed one on Mr. Doose's and he thought it was necessary to walk her towards the elevator to keep getting re assured on the way that she had it handled and nothing would go wrong.
Normally she would have been slightly annoyed at him for trailing her towards the elevator but today she welcomed that distraction.
It was the only thing keeping her from committing a gruesome painful murder here at Whitmore.
As she walked passed Ryan's office, she glanced inside and saw him, sitting behind his wide brown oak desk, in his stuffy navy blue five thousand pound suit , reading through the papers in his hand, and as if on instinct he looked up from the task at hand, leaned behind in his massive chair and smirked at her.
She narrowed her eyes at him, only if looks could kill, she thought to herself.
He then waved at her, still smirking like he was having the time of his fucking life!
'Jerk!!' She mouthed.
He broke out in laughter like she had told him a fucking joke.
Seething, she rolled her eyes and made her way towards the elevator before she changed her mind about that murder.
The rest of her Monday was spent buried in work for the upcoming bachelorette. She precisely had three and a half days and a mountain of work ahead of her.
Come Monday evening she was partly exhausted mainly her old maiden's body, but her brain was on acid.
She had so many ideas in her head, so many decisions to still put a seal on, so many bookings to be done yet.
That reminded her at least one of her bookings could be taken care of by her best friend.
Mila had a great taste in music and she would definitely be a better person on short listing the one who could play at the party from the list of DJ's she has sitting on top of her desk.
She glanced at the vintage clock on her otherwise floral wall, it read 9 pm, considering it's a Monday Mila would be home, she thought to herself and picked up her phone to ask for help.
"Its 9 pm, do I want to know why you are still at work?" Mila greeted her with a question, an answer to which she knew all too well.
"Oh yes! It's the after hours when I indulge in an illicit office affair with my boss." She joked.
"I would have believed that claim in an instant if Sophie was on the line." Mila giggled.
"Oh hey Mila, Sophie is on the line too. Say hi to her."
A horrified shriek came from the other end of the line, after a brief choke on water or whatever liquid Mila was in the middle of consuming.
"Hello? Sophie?" Mila asked nervously.
"I think she is on her way to bury you 6 ft under." Scarlette cackled.
"You vile thing! You almost gave me an attack." Mila Sighed with relief evident in her tone.
"OK OK, small talk aside, I need a favor! Pretty please." Scarlette said in her 'I am a damsel, please save me tone' she sometimes uses on her friends or colleagues when she needed to ask for a favor or something unreasonable at unreasonable hours.
"Scarlette I know you since we were five, that tone has been over used on numerous occasions which in return has always resulted in me agreeing to things I later regret." Mila chuckled.
"Thank you for saying yes! You're the most amazing best friend in the world."
"Wait! I didn't say yes!"
"I am emailing you a list of DJ's, please pick one for me after listening to their track. I need it for the bachelorette this Friday."
"Scar! Wait!!!"
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!"
"At least listen to me."
"I know you will do a great job! Love you! Bye!"
With that Scarlette hung up before Mila had a chance to protest.
But she knew Mila would come through for her, she always had.
She was really the most amazing best friend one could ask for.
Two and half days left for the bachelorette:
Scarlette was sitting in her office ticking things off on her task planner.
> E – Invites – done
(A gorgeous tropical pink background with the invite to Paris's bachelorette in gold.
With a cute flamingo next to the RSVP corner. A simple and elegant combination of chic and classy.)
Normally, Scarlette would have preferred a hand delivered invitation hamper, she believed it gave a personal touch and came off as a more sincere invite. But with the timeline they had for the event. They had to work around a lot to ensure the event happened on the designated date.
> Overnight Reservations for the brides crew at Whitmore – done
> Welcome hampers in the room – finalized – In process.
(The welcome hampers for the maid of honor and bridesmaids consisted of super cute customized swimsuits and robes with their names and designation a.k.a bridesmaid or maid of honor printed on them.)
The rest of them, who weren't a part of the wedding party, had 'brides crew' printed on them.
The hamper also included a customized hair tie card which read "Pool hair don't care",
Sun hats with names of all the girls printed on them ,
Monogrammed pool bags for wet things ,
Customized sun glasses again with 'bride's crew' printed on the side,
And a hangover kit which read 'hang over's last for a day, memories last forever.' It consisted of an aspirin, a mini water bottle, mouth freshening chewing gum and for desperate times a birth control after pill. You can't be too sure in wedding functions. It's always good to be safe.
> DJ – She made a note to give Mila a call about it.
> Decorators – The decorations were finalized! It was an over load of tropical! From balloons to table decor to pool floaters! It was going to scream bachelorette.
She had a final meeting with the decorators on Thursday when they will be coming for their set up check at the Whitmore.
> Photographer – Done
> Caterers – Done
> Strippers – Done
The strippers were going to be everywhere in the party, as requested by Paris. The lifeguard strippers would be dressed in hot pink swimming trunks with a bow tie, the server strippers would be in gold swimming trunks with a bow tie. There was also going to a surprise bride entry with strippers.
> Cake – Done
After going through her task list for the third time, Scarlette sighed and put down her task manager.
She had a big smile on her face. She loved her work. The idea of being a part of the most important event of someone's life filled her heart with joy. And she was glad everything was falling into place.
The rest of the day was a blur of flowers and ruffles and bows and food tasting appointments for other upcoming weddings.
Scarlette had to completely clear her schedule for Thursday since her entire day would be spent at Whitmore.
First meeting with Mr. Doose,
Then, going through room allotment charts, because the bride wanted only her maid of honor and bridesmaids on the same floor as her, and the rest of the crew on different floors.
And finally she had an evening meeting with the decorators.
Time, she thought was flying and she had to put on her super girl outfit to keep up with it.
It was Wednesday night and she was completely spent. She had forgotten to eat lunch as well and was starving.
But hitting the comfort of her sofa felt more appealing than food at the moment, and she definitely had no energy to go and cook some dinner.
As she got in her matte black range rover, she made a mental note of calling for pizza as soon as she got home and got out of the heels that started tormenting her sometime late in the afternoon, maybe after her third cake tasting she thought to herself.
As soon as she unlocked the door to her apartment and stepped inside, a whiff of freshly baked buttered bread and cheese hit her nose.
She smiled to herself.
She knew who was inside her apartment.
Her savior.
Her knight.
Her thread to sanity.
"Honey I am home." She called out in a sing a song voice.
And there stood the most gorgeous specimen of a man, in the middle of her living room, with a big box of pizza and orange juice on her center table, a bright smile on his lips, Gosh! Those dimples!
How did he look so adorable at this hour, she knew he was at shoot all day, but it looks like he just stepped out of a casual Vogue edition with a white over sized sweat shirt that read 'bite me, I am delicious'. and comfort joggers.
"I called you several times after work, Susan said you were between flowers and cakes and asked to not be disturbed, I figured you could use some pizza after a hectic day." He added while walking towards her to take her things out of her hand.
"You thought right. I definitely could use some pizza." Her voice came muffled from the bear hug she was getting from Liam.
"Go freshen up, I'll wait."
"Yes sir." Scarlette added with a kiss on his cheek.
She turned to walk towards her bedroom to freshen up and stopped mid way.
"Hey Lee!" She called out to him.
He looked up from setting the table.
"When you leave this apartment tonight, the sweat shirt stays."
She said with a serious expression and turned towards her room while she heard Liam laugh back in the living room.
--
She was mid way through her day on Thursday,
She had wrapped up her meeting with Mr. Doose successfully after reassuring him infinite times that drugs won't be included and she also managed to be on that floor without bumping into Mr. Shitmore.
As she walked by his office, the usual navy blue massive chair which always held an arrogant prick was vacant and she couldn't be happier.
Her room allotments had been perfect too.
Just what the bride wanted, she smiled to herself completely satisfied.
She was waiting in the lobby going through her notes for the meeting with her decorators which was held in about an hour, when she got a call from Paris.
"Hi Paris, how can I help you?" Scarlette greeted into the phone.
"I want an outfit rehearsal for the strippers." Paris added from the other end of the line.
"I am sorry, what?" She sounded baffled.
"An outfit rehearsal, Scarlette. I want to see what they are going to wear tomorrow."
"Well we already decided on the swimming trunks for the strippers, did we not?"
"Yes we did, but I want to see how they look wearing it."
"The bachelorette is tomorrow Paris." Scarlette used her as a matter of fact tone.
"Yes I know, which is why we need to do it today, in fact right away, I am already outside your office."
"I am at the hotel Paris, I have a decorator's meeting in an hour." She sounded exasperated.
"Great! I'll see you there! I know you can make it happen!" With that Paris hung up on her.
Scarlette was staring at her phone like it was about to sprout horns.
A dress rehearsal for stripper's wasn't a first, but it happened in more elaborate themed bachelorette's, like this one time she had done it for a Greek bachelorette.
But a dress rehearsal for swimming trunks, the agency is going to think she was some creep who wanted to ogle at naked men for free.
The first thing she did was pick up the phone and reschedule her decorator's meeting and pushed it further by an hour,
And then called Mr. Doose to request for the event conference room, to hold the outfit rehearsals.
Needless to say the latter wasn't accomplished easily.
And then the final job of convincing the agency to send whichever stripper from tomorrow's event was available with both the costumes.
Of course they all couldn't make it, since they were already on assignments today, but she did manage to get a hold of at least four of them.
Four should be good she thought to herself.
Paris could dress them up in half and half and check whatever it is she needed to check.
At precisely half past five, Scarlette was seated with Paris in the conference room staring at four really good looking men, with perfectly sculpted abs, dressed in bright pink and gold swimming trunks with bow ties.
And to her and their horror, Paris was on a video call with her maid of honor, showing her the strippers, God alone knows why!
"Scarlette I need a private moment on the phone, I'll be back." Paris said and walked out of the conference room, leaving Scarlette alone with four semi naked conscious men.
They did not know what was expected of them, they just stood there feeling awkward and were subconsciously flexing their arms and the popping veins made her eyebrows shoot straight out of the roof.
Ryan chose that exact moment to walk inside the conference room and stopped dead in his tracks.
He tried to take in the scene around him and Scarlette could see the mirth bubbling up in his eyes.
"Why am I not surprised Ms. Hunter?" Ryan said mocking her.
"This is not what it looks like." Scarlette got up from where she sat during the obnoxious dress rehearsal.
"There are rooms you can book in this Hotel, I am sure you are aware of that.
These gentlemen can be at your service behind our closed doors Rose." Ryan teased while gesturing with his hand towards the four strippers standing there.
"I...Uh...Paris was here..." Scarlette stuttered wondering why he was always the one to find her in situations she would rather not be found in!
"Oh! I am so sorry; I think you would then not need a room but a suite for this orgy." Ryan chuckled.
"I am hurt Ms. Hunter, I would have loved to be a part of this crew." Ryan said while feigning hurt.
"That's it! Get out!" Scarlette yelled.
"Might I remind you that I own this establishment you are so politely asking me to get out of?" Ryan asked with a raised eyebrow, mischief clear in his eyes.
Scarlette marched towards him with the intent of murder evident on her face that was turning redder by every passing minute.
She jerked the door wide open and challenged him with her eyes to go against her.
Meanwhile he was looking at her like she was the most amusing creature he had come across and she honestly wanted to wipe that smile off his face, but he really did own the establishment and it wouldn't do her any good to get his blood on her hands.
"Just, don't do it on the table Rose." Ryan stepped a little too close to whisper in her ears, stepped back, winked at her and left the conference room.
The nerve! She thought to herself.
"Pack up!" she bellowed and left the room herself.
--
An hour before the bachelorette:
"This goes on all tables please." She pointed towards the drink floaters.
Scarlette looked around her with a satisfied smile on her face,
From the bright pink foil letter balloons that read
'LAST SPLASH ' between two palm trees,
To the 'ITS DAY DRINKING WEATHER ' banner up on the bar, and customized pink paper napkins that read the same in gold print.
She had planned every last detail and it had worked out. She thought to herself.
They also got drinking pouches so that people don't spill their drinks inside the pool, they were obviously customized with 'the bride's crew ' printed on them along with funny quotes like 'shut up liver, I am fine ' 'I am about to get a whole lot funnier.' and various others.
'The bride's crew ' towels and pool sliders were neatly racked up on one side and every person attending the party already had a customized robe sent up to their room with the welcome hamper.
The DJ had almost finished setting up and the so had the flash tattoo desk at the entrance.
She looked around to see all the pool tables nicely covered in tropical pink table cloth with gold tassel fringed edges and the usual hotel monogrammed sun umbrellas were replaced with customized sun umbrellas that read 'Paris's Paradise.'
The pool was filled with Floaters that screamed bachelorette!
Flamingos, unicorns, pineapples, tropical colored pool balls, they had it all.
They even had a funny looking pink colored penis floater in the pool.
Two out of the four strippers in the dress rehearsal yesterday were carefully selected by Paris and her maid of honor to serve as a photo booth prop. They looked like absolute eye candies standing in front of the enormous photo booth wall bursting with colorful balloons like lavender, mint, yellow, pink, sunset orange and gold.
The other two were waiting in the back for the bride's entry on top of a sun bed hoisted up by both of them while she popped open a bottle of champagne and declared the party open!
Every last detail was carefully thought over and Scarlette was looking around feeling absolutely satisfied and completely unaware that she was being intently watched from a glass box above.