"No," Valentino shook his head. "That is going to look horrible if you put those in here."
It was really amazing that he had been able to see him that day. He had been thinking about him a little bit just that morning. It was something to distract his mind from the dreams that he had the night before. He didn't think that he would get to see the man in pink so soon. He thought the next time would probably be on that Monday, when he was on a lunch break. Maybe then he could have gotten to talk to him about his car more. He really seemed to like to talk about it.
It was that sports car that alerted him to his presence. The Corvette was loud as it went up the hill all the way to the chapel that they had decided to meet. When Sunshine told him that it was her fiancé coming up, he had started to wonder if she was marrying the strange man that he had just barely met that week. He didn't exactly strike him as straight, but he wasn't going to doubt it. After all, in his line of business, he had seen crazier occurrences.
He couldn't help but be relieved when he found out that the man wasn't the groom in question. He looked stylish as he walked up to him. Those knee-high boots made his legs look slender, and those tight pants that he was wearing wasn't exactly helping either. This time, though, the boots were brown and the jacket was denim. He had a different kind of shirt on, but it was still pink just like the day before.
He was an interesting man, to say the least.
"It could work," Casimir argued with him. He looked at his clients, "If you guys want to do something like that, then I think we could find some way of managing it."
"No," Valentino frowned. "I mean, it literally won't work. It would be impossible to give it a traditional design with an architectural structure like this."
He still looked so handsome when he frowned. It must be those eyes that just stood out to him. They were a dark blue, but they were just as vibrant as any lighter color. They were so full of life, even if it wasn't to show happiness. They were truly fascinating. He could probably look at them for hours.
He was always the type of person who paid attention to the details of people and landscapes. It helped in his job, definitely. He was easily able to read people due to his attention to the details of their facial features. It was easy to see when this man was annoyed, even if he wasn't able to read people easily. However, figuring out what he actually enjoyed talking about seemed like a separate skill. It was a great way to work out his mind. That was why he originally enjoyed talking to the man.
"What do you mean?" Sunshine asked. Her fiancé had kept quiet for the most part. Casimir had tried including him in on the conversation, but it truly seemed like he had no idea what he wanted with the wedding. It was common for many men in weddings. Usually, most of the planning was left for the wife, anyway. And Sunshine seemed to enjoy taking control.
"Here," Valentino pulled out a notepad, "This is going to be the easiest way to show you."
Valentino, as he was glad to learn his name, must have been brought there to help Nikita with wedding planning. He really seemed to have great taste in style, and he was good at finding answers for the color theme along with a few others. He actually got Nikita to talk a little, which helped Casimir tremendously. He liked being able to incorporate things that both the bride and groom enjoyed because that lead to the best weddings. Nikita was a simpler man, but it was easy to see that he was happier adding some decorations and details that he was more comfortable with.
Casimir looked over his shoulder as the man began to draw a quick outline of the inside of the building. Then he drew one of the design ideas that Casimir had presented to them.
"You see?" Valentino flipped the drawing around to show the couple. "If you used that design for the wedding, it would look closed off, which would be crowded if you want to invite as many people as I'm sure you're going to invite. And it wouldn't be done correctly because of how the roof is structured. This is more for a closed ceiling, one that isn't open and showing the beams of the roof."
"It has been done for open ceiling buildings before, though," Casimir said. He liked how interested Valentino seemed to be about this whole event. "All it would take is some modification. We could even add some extra decorations such as hanging flowers and white lace to the wooden beams that are shown to add more flare to the whole event."
"That might be a good idea," Sunshine said. "I really do like this one the best. Nikita, what do you think?"
The poor groom got up from where he was sitting to look at what Valentino was drawing. Casimir had dealt with plenty of cultures before. His job required him to be all around the world to help people with their special days. Russia wasn't the most wanted wedding destination, but he had been to Moscow more than once. He could tell that Nikita was a native from there simply for the fact that he never smiled, as was that culture. It was seen as creepy, or insulting to smile at a stranger from across the street. Smiles to them were meant for their family and private life specifically.
The last time he had gone to Moscow, actually, was with her...They had gone in the summer, and he still had to buy her a dozen jackets because of how freezing she was. He could still hear their laughter as he teased her about being so cold. They had a lot of fun over there...
"No, no," Nikita said, snapping him out of his thoughts. "I don't think will work. Why not that one?"
"But that one just seems so bland," Sunshine complained. "There won't be enough room for people to eat."
"That's not entirely true," Casimir said. "If you want more space for tables, we could easily modify each and every one of these designs."
Neither of them were certain at this point. They both looked at each other, and then turned to Valentino. Nikita looked a little more desperate than his fiancé. He really didn't seem like he knew a single thing about this. And the Maid of Honor, whom he had learned her name early on, had gotten upset after they figured out the color and it wasn't what she liked. Casimir decided to not try and include her on everything. After all, she wasn't who the wedding was for anyway.
"Let me see really quick," Valentino sat down on one of the benches and began to draw again. Casimir wound up sitting right in front of him on the couch. There were many things that the chapel had. It wasn't used for religious events anymore, but plenty of people would have their weddings there. The location was big enough to host many, many people. And the gorgeous white columns allowed for a fantastic setting for a classic wedding. It had stopped being a place of worship after the roof caved in one too many times due to harsh weather conditions. After they could no longer afford to fix it up, they sold the location to an independent local of Amor. It was that local that decided it was a great spot for weddings and the like.
Casimir was excited about this job when he got the call. It was two people who had found love from two very different cultures. It wasn't very often he'd see a couple like these two, and it truly seemed like they loved each other to the moon and back. It had been a blast seeing just how he could merge the two different cultures to one grand event. That was another reason why he walked around so much when he first came to this city. Walking around gave him inspiration for his work.
Meeting Valentino was a new excitement that he wasn't expecting. The man had popped into his life and frowned his way into perpetually piquing his interest. He could ask him any question and get some sort of reaction, whether it be a happy one from a compliment, or an annoyed scowl that for some reason had him needing to hold back laughter. When Casimir could no longer focus on work, he could use this man to keep his thoughts away from anything bad.
He still probably needed to talk to someone about this. The thoughts were bad, especially late at night and in the morning. He found himself trying to get on his phone to try and talk to her again at those times. After all, it was those times when he was alone with her the most. He could still remember the late-night talks where they would say anything and everything. He could still hear her whispers in his ear when he tried to go to sleep. His arms tried to go around her instinctively, but they were always left empty.
He hated her. And he loved her. It was a bad mix of emotions that he couldn't quite find the cure for yet.
"What you guys should probably do is mix those two designs together," Valentino explained. "Use the floor plan of the first one to have as much seating, but have the set up of the second one for the openness and where to hang the flowers."
He turned his notebook around to show them the most amazing picture he had seen yet. It was the perfect mix of the work that he had done by himself. The designs were created by him, based off from his own experience in his line of work. But this drawing of Valentino's seemed as if it was completely new, even though it was based off from different designs. It was true art. And it seemed to strike him to his very core.
"You truly could make a great interior decorator," Casimir told him. Then he looked over to Sunshine and Nikita. "The greatest thing about my designs is that they're meant for change. There's an easy chance that we could include things from both of your cultures as well. This is just a rough draft of what could be the most beautiful combination from both Russia and Mexico."
"It still seems like such a crazy thing to mix," Sunshine chuckled and shook her head. "Both of our moms are trying to work together to figure out what food to cook for it."
"Oh, don't get either of them started on that," Nikita shook his head. "My mom barely speaks English, but she absolutely loves cooking. She was going to cook for whole wedding when we first brought it up."
"I'm glad your mom learnt a little bit of English," Valentino smiled. "I know your dad wound up learning it before we graduated."
"Oh, that was just so he could embarrass me," Nikita rolled his eyes. "He loved talking to Sunshine about me when I was little. Then my mom would show album and baby pictures."
"You were so cute," Sunshine giggled. "I don't see why it was so embarrassing."
"That's because you don't get embarrassed about anything."
"That's not true," Sunshine pointed a finger at her fiancé playfully. "My entire family embarrassed me when we both went to prom for the first time."
"Oh, that was so much fun!" Josefina, the Made of Honor, finally started talking. "We all had a blast sneaking into that dance."
"You guys were all so annoying," Sunshine hid her face.
Casimir smiled as he listened to the stories they had to share. The closeness that all four of these people had was something that he always loved. When it came to weddings, it was so easy to see people getting torn apart due to the stress of it all. That was why his job existed: so that he could take the stress away from the bride and groom. It was rare to see such a happy couple that brought nothing but joy all around them. And he would never forget the stories of all of his clients, no matter how long ago it had been since he had planned their wedding. That was what brought him joy in life.
Now if only he could find joy for himself.
Author's Note: Hi guys! I absolutely fell in love with writing Casimir's perspective when I was first getting the bones of this tale together. With so many inner demons to face, and a broken heart, can love be the right fix for him? Or is it going to spiral back into the rabbit hole that he was going in before?
Thanks for the votes and comments!
-Saturn