Rachel made her point in a firm and determined tone, leaving no possibilities for a turnaround between her and Julian. Since Julian was no longer the same person he used to be, Rachel reckoned she must think out of the box, knowing that she would be bound to do things with her old and predictable methods if she decided to work with the Burton Group at that moment.
After all, Julian was no longer the same man who played by the book but was instead cunning and shrewd. “I guess we’re done here.” Rachel stared at Julian with a cold and indifferent gaze. “I’m going to head inside first. Don’t worry about your wish because I’ll send your regards to Jolly and Mrs. Carter on your behalf.”
In the meantime, Julian clenched his fists tightly with his eyes glued to Rachel’s back, his gaze darkening in an eerie manner. On the other hand, when Rachel returned to the hair salon, Jolly, whose hair was full of roller clips, walked up to her and asked, “What brought Julian here to meet you?” “Nothing. He just came here to wish us a Happy New Year.”
“Then, why didn’t he come inside?”
“Maybe he is busy.” “Busy? But the new year is just around the corner?” Jolly murmured and asked, ‘Is he still out there? Maybe I can go outside and say hello to him.”
“Alright, that’s enough. Quit being a busybody! You’re going to scare off that guy out there.” Marilyn, who had been watching the whole time, seemingly knew what was going on but felt helpless with her daughter’s foolishness.. “Just sit still and wait until you’re done.”
Nevertheless, Jolly remained unsuspecting of the danger that was lurking in the dark as she went ahead and took a few selfies of herself before posting them onto her social media news feed. ‘I’m getting a new hairstyle. Are you guys excited to see it?’
When she didn’t get any response a few moments later, she raised her phone high up in the air, thinking it was because of the poor signal. On the other hand, Rachel, who had no interest in entertaining Jolly, continued to skim through the magazine in her hands, but her mind couldn’t stop thinking about the words that Julian had told her. Justin is leaving Riverdale after the celebration, but he didn’t mention anything to me during lunch just now.
While it was New Year’s Eve the next day, a fireworks show was scheduled to take place at 12.00AM sharp, to signify the beginning of a new year. For that, Jolly wouldn’t stop begging Rachel to accompany her to the fireworks show. “Come on, Chris. We’re not going to be able to see anything here. So, let’s go to the center of the city.”
“Nope, I’m not doing that because I don’t want to freeze my buns to death.” Considering herself someone who got bothered by the cold pretty easily, Rachel decided to spend her time idling around in the house when she finally got her public holiday.
Nevertheless, Jolly was too restless to give in, although she might have looked like she had given up. In fact, she was thinking of how she could use the two kids to her advantage by counting on them to soften Rachel up. As she expected, Charlotte excitedly ran up to Rachel and said, “Mommy, let’s watch the fireworks show tonight. Jolly said there are fireworks that look like rabbits.”
Rachel replied in an annoyed manner, “What’re you talking about? She is just messing with you.” Jolly immediately replied, “I swear I just saw it. If I lied to you, I’d be no better than a dog.”
“Mommy!” Charlotte blinked. In response to her daughter’s adorable reaction, Rachel helplessly closed her book and let out a sigh. “Fine, put on your down jacket and tell Samuel we’re setting out. Let’s go.”
“Yeah! Samuel, we’re going to watch the fireworks show!” Charlotte ran all the way to Samuel’s room and excitedly told her brother that.
On the other hand, Mr. and Mrs. Carter were both watching television in the living room when they heard the others talking about watching the fireworks show. Thus, they only told them not to stay out late and continued watching their television program. Since they had an early flight to catch the next morning, Marilyn decided not to tag along, or she would have wanted to join Rachel and the others due to her adventurous nature.
Soon, Rachel drove everyone to the city center but only took a few moments to find an available parking lot, much to her surprise. “It looks like there are fewer people who have come for the fireworks show than I thought,” Rachel commented in confusion.
“No way! I think it’s because many of them didn’t drive here. Think about it. Most of the people who are foreigners in Riverdale have probably gone home for the celebration, but since the residents here are mostly locals, they could probably just stay home and watch the fireworks, except those who live further away.”
“Well, you might have figured everything out, but I wonder if that is really the case in reality.” As soon as Rachel parked her car, everyone else stepped out of the vehicle and made their way from the basement car park to the square, only to see nothing out of the ordinary there. Besides the 24-hour convenience stores, the rest of the shops were all closed just like they should be. At that instant, the center of the city, which was the busiest and most crowded area of the town during the day, appeared to be desolate and quiet..
“Jolly, when is the fireworks show going to start?” Charlotte’s voice was heard. Jolly reached for her phone and said, “Give me a moment. I’m going to confirm the time now.” When she read something seemingly shocking, she reacted dramatically and said, “Damn!”
“What?” Then, Rachel leaned closer and peeked at what Jolly found, only to see the official news about the cancellation of the fireworks show. It turned out that it had been called off by the government in order to raise environmental awareness among the citizens. Therefore, not only was the fireworks show canceled but no one was also allowed to light up any fireworks. As soon as Rachel saw that, she glared at Jolly and questioned her. “So, this is the eye-catching ‘fireworks show that you had been promising me?”
Jolly was embarrassed. “Man! Couldn’t they have announced the cancellation earlier?!” “The announcement was made yesterday, but you didn’t notice that at all.” Rachel pointed at the news’ publish date that was stated on Jolly’s phone screen.
“Why are you blaming it all on me? I could say the same to you as well. Even my parents weren’t aware of the cancellation at all because the announcement wasn’t properly made.”
“Why don’t you blame it on Samuel and Charlotte as well?” Rachel refuted Jolly, thinking it was understandable for the latter’s parents to miss out on the news about the fireworks show’s cancellation because they paid little to no attention to fireworks. “I’m going to file a complaint to the city council!”
“And what would the reason be?” “Poor emphasis on cultural development.” “But the cancellation was made to raise environmental awareness.”
“Well, they could have used recycled fireworks. All they had to do was just prepare everything ahead, so why didn’t they do that?”
While Rachel was rendered speechless by Jolly’s reply, she was frustrated yet helpless about the pointless trip she had just made with Jolly and the kids. As they made their way home, Jolly wouldn’t stop complaining about the cancellation of the fireworks show. Then, Charlotte, who was sitting in the backseat, asked, “Mommy, is there no more fireworks show?”
“I’m afraid the fireworks show has been canceled this year.” Rachel tried to comfort Charlotte. “Well, if you’d like to see some fireworks, we could get some for ourselves and set them off in the suburbs in the next two days. Okay?”
“Okay then.” On the other hand, Samuel didn’t feel disappointed at all. Instead, he grabbed his tablet and indulged himself in the games as he wasn’t interested in the fireworks, anyway. After all, he had seen plenty of that when he was living abroad.
By the time they were halfway through their journey home, it was almost midnight just when they heard a thunderous roar of fireworks that reverberated throughout the center of the city. Boom! “Look, it’s the fireworks!”
“Wait! It’s fireworks! Look!” Jolly was the first to react to what she heard, turning her attention to the fireworks outside the car window. “Hurry up and pull over! There are fireworks now!”
“I thought the show was canceled?” Rachel was stunned. “They must have heard of my complaints. Furthermore, this is for the sake of the citizens’ welfare and happiness, so letting the show go on was actually a wise choice. Stop the car, Chris!”
“I’m pulling over now. I can’t just stop in the middle of the road, can I?” Rachel helplessly pulled over, whereupon Jolly immediately stepped out of the car with the kids.
Although their location was far away from the center of the city, it surprisingly gave them a better view of the fireworks above their heads. as they lit up the entire Riverdale. When Rachel saw that, she couldn’t resist taking a few pictures of it, feeling warm on the inside at the sight of the bright sky from afar. At that moment, she somehow began to find some warmth and a sense of belonging in Riverdale. “Mommy! It’s the rabbit! Look, the rabbit is there!” Charlotte pointed at the sky and scampered around excitedly.
Meanwhile, Justin was standing on the balcony, gazing at the fireworks in the center of the city from afar in his summer villa on the outskirts. Suddenly, the vibration from Justin’s phone drew his attention, and he took his eyes off the fireworks. ‘Mr. Burton, all the recycled fireworks have been safely delivered. For that, I’d like to thank you on behalf of the person in charge of the advertising department.’
‘Yeah, I saw that.’ Justin set his eyes on the firework from afar through the window. At the sight of a huge rabbit that brightened up the sky and shone on his face, the indifferent look on his face was slowly replaced by a gratified expression. He then expressed his gratitude calmly. ‘Thank you so much for all the trouble, even on New Year’s Eve.’
‘Don’t mention it, Mr. Burton. Happy New Year.’
‘Happy New Year!’
