“In this regard, Julian must be refrained from meddling in the affairs of the Riverdale Charity Foundation.” Given Julian’s current working style, Rachel was well aware that, if he took over the Foundation now, those disadvantaged groups out there which were in need of assistance would be suffering.
Now, Julian was just the same as Ryan since Ryan would only work if he could obtain some sort of benefits from it.
Jolly understood the seriousness of the situation, so she said, “I will convince my father to make the Carter Family vote for Justin.”
Hearing this, Rachel gave her a slight nod. However, she was still worried that everyone at today’s dinner would still end up voting for Julian. If that was the case, all the efforts would be proven futile and be wasted in the end. Just two days before the election, Victor was back from Switzerland.
Before that, Victor was staying in Geneva with Gloria for a couple of days due to Gloria’s concert being postponed for a few days due to the blizzard. Now that the concert was over, Gloria and her orchestra were leaving for the next tour location, which was why Victor came back from Switzerland.
Victor’s flight was in the afternoon. Since Rachel happened to be available, she went to the airport with the driver and picked Victor up.
In the minivan, Victor was so busy with the gifts he brought back from Switzerland. “These are the gifts for Charlotte and Samuel whereas. these are for Jolly, Leroy, and Burton…”
As he blurted out the name Burton, he hesitated for a moment. Then, he looked up and stared at Rachel.
She was aware of who he was about to name, so she changed the subject. “Don’t worry. They are all already labeled with their names, aren’t they? I don’t have anything planned for the afternoon, so I’ll send you back to the school for your meeting first. Then, I’ll send these gifts on your behalf.”
One of the reasons why Victor had to rush back here today was also because the school decided to hold an unexpected training seminar. It was related to his final exams and would affect his grades. So, he had to attend.
“By the way, have you and Gloria had any ideas for your wedding ceremony?” “I’ve gone through a few wedding planning proposals. But I still haven’t figured out which one is better, mainly because I don’t know what
kind of wedding Gloria likes. Do you think we should wait until she comes back and discuss it with her?” Rachel switched on the tablet and added “Speaking of this, Rachel. I was gonna talk to you about this.”
“Go ahead.”
“We are no longer planning to hold a wedding ceremony.”
“Why?” Rachel blurted out. Victor scratched his head in awkwardness and went on to explain, “Gloria feels that a wedding ceremony will just put a lot of people to trouble. Plus, neither of us has many relatives or friends, so we will just replace our wedding with having a meal with our small group of family.”
“No way. Gloria loves romance so much. She once told me that she wants to have a beach wedding. Don’t you know that girls like to lie about what they really want? They tell you that they don’t want you to do something for them because they don’t wanna put you out. But the truth is, deep down, they are hoping that you would do it for them without having the need to tell you to.”
“Really?” “Are you serious? Who do you think knows girls better? You or I?”
At this moment, the way Rachel talked and acted was just like the way Jolly did. She got so fed up with him for being so insensitive about what his girlfriend really wanted. “If you don’t insist on having a wedding ceremony with Gloria now, don’t regret it when Gloria is having one with someone else in the future.”
“That is not going to happen.”
“You’re that confident in yourself, huh?”
“We’ve already registered our marriage.”
“What?” Rachel was staggered. When Victor took a marriage certificate with a church stamp on it out of his bag, the corner of her lips twitched as she questioned, ‘Is marriage just a game for you two? What can this piece of paper prove?”
There was just a church stamp on it, not even an official wedding stamp from the foreign marriage notary public. It was a total absurdity that they considered themselves already married.
“It wasn’t your idea, was it?” Rachel noticed it right away. “It was Gloria’s, Victor responded helplessly.
Gloria had a sudden whim to get married on that day. She said that getting married was something that should only be done at the spur of the moment. So, she dragged him to the nearest church and took the oath. Just like that, they were then announced to be married by the pastor.
“Why didn’t you stop her?” “Rachel, yes, this marriage is not legally valid. But for me, it is a valid one. From the moment that I proposed to her, I have already decided and agreed to take care of her for the rest of my life. I think what she wanted was just a simple request from me and that could make her happy, so I didn’t stop her and I went along with it. Of course, we will also register our marriage domestically later on.”
“But both of us have already felt like a legally married couple.” He chuckled. “Legal my a*s.” Rachel rolled her eyes. “You must have this wedding. You have no say in this. You just have to.”
“Rachel.” “We’ve arrived,” she cut him off angrily as she looked out of the window, attempting to rush Victor to get out of the car. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll have the wedding ceremony all set. Both of you just need to play along with it.”
He had no choice but to get out of the car since the driver had already pulled over. As soon as he got out of the car, Rachel instructed the driver to leave. She really could not wrap her head around the fact that these two kids had done such an unreliable thing.
Although Gloria had no parents, she grew up in the love and care of Justin after all. So, they really should not be doing something that could possibly upset her.
“President Hudson, would you like to go back to the company now or is there somewhere else that you would like to go?”
“Take me to West Magnolia Summer Resort.” Rachel then stared at those gifts by her feet. It was already late afternoon. Justin was having a guest when Rachel arrived.
The new butler of West Magnolia Summer Resort was very young. He was a little clumsy, but enthusiastic. He led Rachel to the side hall and notified, “I’m not sure when Mr. Burton will be done. Please be seated for a moment while I inform him about your visit.” “Don’t worry. There’s no rush.”
The butler left politely. After a while, Justin came running over. “You don’t have to rush.” The tea in her hand was still warm. “Am I interrupting you? If you have something important that you have to attend to, please go ahead and deal with it first.”
“It’s okay, we’re almost done talking. I was having a meeting with President Connor from the Foundation.”
“President Connor is here to discuss the election that is going to be held next Friday afternoon, right? I’m sure he is definitely on your side. Do you know roughly how many. people are going to vote for you now?”
“Why are you more worried than President Connor?” Justin sighed, feeling frustrated. “Did you come all the way here just for this?”
“Well, not really.” She held back the worried look. on her back for a little and then pointed at the boxes on the coffee table. “Victor just came back and he asked me to bring you some gifts as a token of appreciation for helping him on his marriage proposal.”
“That is very kind of him. Please thank him for me.” “Thank him? He and Gloria have gotten married in a Swiss church. Are you aware of this?” Hearing the news, Justin was stunned. “When did this happen?”
“A few days ago.”
“Then, the wedding ceremony should be held soon,” he reasoned. Rachel was astounded by his reaction, so she asked, “Why are you taking this seriously?”
“So, did you come to me for this?” He smiled in response. “Yes, and on top of that, they mentioned that they have no intention to have a wedding ceremony at all.”
“Well, it’s better to advise them to really think this through,” he said calmly while taking a sip of his tea before adding, “but we don’t have to worry. It will still not be too late for them to have a wedding ceremony if they end up regretting not having one in the future.”
Hearing this, she was rendered speechless.
She felt that coming to Justin was a mistake. Maybe all men had the same kind of thoughts. They would just do anything to stay out of trouble, even if it was their own biological sister that was being involved.
