Over the course of the next three days, Charlotte and the Wash House workers busied themselves by fixing up the shop. The days consisted of nonstop building, painting, and decorating in secret.
No one other than them knew what was happening behind the doors of the old store, but they were definitely intrigued. Nobody had even touched that building in years, and Charlotte couldn't remember the last time it had even been something. So she didn't blame them for being curious.
Then finally, on a chilly Tuesday morning, the store was complete and ready for its grand opening. Willy was bouncing around the store in a mixture of excitement and nervousness, running around and making sure everything was in order.
"Willy!" Charlotte ran over to him, a huge smile on her face. She was just as excited as everyone else.
"Charlie!" He stopped walking and smiled back.
"Are you ready for this??"
He nodded. "Oh, you know! I can't wait to open up to the public!"
He spun in a circle and looked around the shop. It was so bright and colorful. It looked like something right out of a dream!
He spun back around and faced her. "Okay, I think I'm ready to go out there."
She smiled. "Not yet, you aren't." She reached out and straightened his top hat, which was resting on top of his head. "There we are."
His face flushed and he gave her a sheepish smile. "Oh dear! I must have looked so silly." He made sure his hat was straight, as if afraid she hadn't done it correctly, before walking to the doors of the shop.
She stood watching him. His lips moved slightly and he mouthed the words, 'Here we go, Mama', before putting a bright smile on his face and bursting through the doors.
A crowd had seemed to gather around his store, as if they somehow knew it was opening today.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" he said loudly, his voice echoing through the walls of the Galeries. "Greetings to you all and welcome to Wonka's! Tremendous things are in store for you."
A man who was standing at the front of the crowd raised an eyebrow skeptically. "Really? In there?"
Charlotte watched from the inside of the store. She could see why he might have been skeptical, as the lights were completely off and it looked like there was nothing in there, but that was just part of the show. She sighed. She wished people weren't so judgemental sometimes.
This didn't seem to bring Willy's spirits down at all, as his smile only widened. "Humor me, if you will!" he said. "Close your eyes and count to ten."
The man, along with a bunch of other people in the crowd, closed their eyes and mouthed the numbers one through ten.
"Make a wish, now-" Willy lit a match and placed it inside the chandelier as the citizens counted, "-open them!"
As the man opened his eyes, the group got to work. Abacus and Noodle readied themselves and the counter, while Lottie and Piper got ready to work some of the shop's mechanics. Larry yanked a rope and the chandelier shot upward. It rose to the top of the store and illuminated everything inside!
The man practically collapsed in shock and Willy held out his arm to keep him on his feet.
"Here's a store that's like no other!" Willy chuckled and turned towards the entrance of the store. "If it were, I wouldn't bother!"
"There's chocolate bushes.." the man murmured as he glanced around the building.
"And chocolate trees!" Willy added enthusiastically and gestured towards the large chocolate tree in the middle of the store.
"Chocolate flowers and chocolate bees!" Charlotte chimed in, appearing from behind the window.
"Chocolate memories that a boy once saved..." Willy said more to himself than the customers. "Memories that I won't let melt away."
He finally stepped into the shop and gestured for the cluster of citizens to enter the store. "Welcome, again, to Wonka's, everybody!" He skipped around the floor. "Try the river, it's delicious!" he said to a passing child and their mother.
They exchanged glances, before scooping up some of the chocolate river into their hands and drinking it. Their faces lit up with delight.
Seeing this, Charlotte plucked a pretty blue chocolate flower from the ground and handed it to the person beside her. "Here, try a flower!"
The person took the flower and bit into it, and a smile grew onto their face.
Within minutes of the opening, the place was packed with customers! Charlotte's heart raced with excitement.
Willy, clapping his hands to get the attention of the customers, climbed up the branches of the large chocolate tree. When he got to the top, he grabbed a handful of one of the cotton candy clouds that were floating around and ate it. "The clouds are made from cotton candy!" he told the people below. "Grab a handful- it's allowed!"
Then, he jumped onto the cloud and sat down on it. Charlotte giggled with amusement, wanting to climb up there with him. But before she could try anything, he grabbed a bucket that was presumably already on the cloud and scooped the contents out. Moments later, it was 'raining' chocolate and hard candy!
Charlotte covered her head to protect herself from the candy rainfall. The customers were amazed. They had clearly never seen anything like this before.
She looked up at Willy and he met her eyes. She could see the gleam of pride in his eyes, which made her body tingle with happiness. He waved at her from above, before climbing down to her level.
"Hehe," he giggled. "Like what you see, Charlie?"
She wrapped her arms around him and nodded excitedly. "It's wonderful, Willy! I can't believe it's finally happening!"
He wrapped his arms around her in return and spun her around in his arms. "I can't believe it either. It's all thanks to you and the others...Without them, I don't know where I'd be..."
"Ahw, don't give us the credit, Willy!" She nuzzled him. "You did most of it!"
He smiled softly and gazed down into her eyes. "It's a world of your own, Charlie." He placed a hand on her cheek and tilted her face up to look at him.
She smiled back and shook her head. "No...it's a world of our own."
He let out a small chuckle at this and his eyes never left hers. But then something happened. Just as she was about to speak again, Willy leaned in and-
Her eyes widened as she felt his lips press against hers.
He...kissed her?
She realized it was more of a spur of the moment than an actual planned decision, but it still left her in shock.
She had never been kissed before- not on the lips, at least. So she didn't know what to think.
His lips felt so soft and gentle against hers, much like his personality. She felt her eyes close and she leaned in slightly.
After a few moments, he pulled away, but was still close enough that their noses were touching.
"I..." she whispered breathlessly. Unable to form a proper response, she buried her face in his shoulder and she heard him chuckle softly.
"Sorry..." he muttered, one of his hands gently rubbing her back. "I wasn't thinking."
"It's-" Her response was cut short by an anxious sounding customer from behind them.
"Uhm...Mr. Wonka?" he said, and Willy pulled away from her to see what was up.
"Yes, sir?" he asked the customer.
Charlotte frowned. She hadn't noticed a man with purple hair enter the shop earlier...
"My hair feels a bit funny..." The man removed his hat, revealing his peculiar purple hair growing at rapid speeds.
Willy tilted his head. "Have you always had purple hair?"
The man's eyes widened in alarm. "No, of course not!" he cried.
"Oh dear..." Willy paced around in thought. "It's not possible...unless." He reached down and plucked a purple flower from the ground. He took a bite of it and his eyes shot open. He immediately spit it out. "Yeti's sweat...?"
"What?" Charlotte asked.
"The most powerful hair potion in the world," he explained, frowning. "It's absolutely wonderful in the right conditions, but I didn't put it in there..."
He looked around, starting to panic. He ran towards the center of the shop and shouted, his voice filled with urgency, "Ladies and gentlemen, there seems to be a manufacturing error- Please, nobody eat the flowers!"
Some of the customers looked up from the flowers they were eating, looks of confusion on their faces.
"Why's that?" a lady with growing yellow hair asked.
Oh no...Charlotte thought, her eyes filling with worry as she looked around. Basically everyone in the shop now had different hair now. Some were even growing mustaches!
"But the chocolate milk is okay to eat, right?" a green-faced customer asked.
"Oh no...chameleon juice? In the milk?" Willy murmured, his eyebrows furrowing.
"What's wrong with the toadstools?" an angry woman yelled. "My daughter took one bite and she's now growing a mustache!"
"Hey, I like it!" the daughter said, an orange mustache curling on her face.
Willy looked around, a look of visible worry on his face. "Ladies and gentlemen, I- I don't know how to tell you this, but...I'm afraid the chocolates have been poisoned...!"
"Poisoned?!" a blue-haired customer squeaked.
"The chocolates are poisoned?" another yelled.
"He poisoned us?!"
"He poisoned my child!"
Willy put a hand on his heart, offended. "I...I didn't poison them...!"
"I want my money back!"
"I want compensation!"
"I want revenge!!"
Abacus, who was still working at the counter, started nervously handing customers their money back.
Charlotte yelped as a customer hurled a chocolate pear at her, dodging just in time. "G-Guys, calm down!"
That seemed to send everyone into an uproar, as everyone began throwing things around, smashing and breaking everything in sight.
She then caught sight of the woman whose daughter grew a mustache. She was angrily cutting at the rope attached to the chandelier. "This is what you get for poisoning my daughter!"
"No!" Charlotte yelled, her eyes widening in fear. She ran towards the woman, but she wasn't fast enough. The rope finally snapped and the chandelier came crashing down, setting the store and everything in it ablaze.
"AH!" Charlotte barely managed to move out of the way, tumbling to the ground. If she were one second too late, she would have been crushed by the giant chandelier.
"FIRE IN THE GALERIES GOURMET!" a customer screamed and everyone pushed past each other to get out of the store.
Coughing and unable to stand up due to the people stepping over her, Charlotte curled up on the ground and tried not to inhale any more of the smoke.
Merely seconds later, a hand thrust out in her direction and she took it. "Charlie! Come on!" Willy yelled, pulling her to her feet.
Charlotte, coughing violently, let herself be tugged out of the shop by him.
Tears filled her eyes, and not just because of the smoke.
Once they finally got out of the shop, they made their way over to the rest of the group, who watched in utter horror as the fire grew.
Charlotte hugged Willy tightly, trembling for a reason that was not the cold temperature.
He hugged her back just as tightly and his fingers ran shakily through her hair, and she got the idea that he was trying to comfort himself more than her.
What had gone wrong? Who had poisoned their chocolates? She didn't understand, but she had a darn good idea who it could be.
And right she was.
In a window high above in a building across the street, three watchful sets of eyes belonging to Slugworth, Fickelgruber, and Prodnose watched with satisfaction as they watched Willy's dream burn down.