Rachel sighed and asked, “Jolly, aren’t you afraid that you’ll be laughed upon when the others find out that you’re jealous of your goddaughter?”
“But I’m his daughter.”
“Alright. But are Richard and Marilyn still mad at you?” Rachel stopped teasing her and asked Jolly about her and Leroy while they were setting up the barbeque station.
“Although the marriage between the Bennett Family and Frazier Family wasn’t announced to the public, your parents knew what was going on. Moreover, you guys even bought Carmen back. Do you think that they would be happy about it?”
“Then what can I do? We can’t just ditch her.”
“That’s not the issue. It’s about your relationship with Leroy,” Rachel said as she looked into the distance.
Carmen was seen standing in the lake barefooted as she played with two of the children. Although she was already in her 20s, she always had a childlike smile on his face.
“At Enistan, even if the couple doesn’t register for marriage, they would be considered legally married as long as the wedding is held and witnessed by relatives and friends on both sides.”
“Why do you care about this?”
“I’m not particular about it. To be frank, none of us care about it except your parents.” Rachel tried to explain.
“Then do you think I can go back in time to call off the wedding? What’s done is done. Since it is a rule from Enistan, it doesn’t apply here in Riverdale.”
“Jolly, I think you should go visit a neurologist.” Rachel stared at Jolly.
“Huh?”
“I agree.” Gloria, who was standing next to them, rolled her eyes. “Miss Rachel had already made it clear, but you still can’t get it?”
“What is it?”
“You yourself said that the rules in Enistan don’t apply here, then you and Leroy should follow the rules in Riverdale!”
Worried that the slow-witted Jolly couldn’t understand what they meant, she asked Jolly more specifically, “When are both of you planning to get registered for marriage?”
Hearing that, Jolly was surprised as getting married had never crossed her mind.
“Rachel, I’ve told you that she’d never have thought about it. All she could think of was eating and having fun.”
Seeing that, Rachel shook her head helplessly.
Even though Jolly had finally realized the problem, there was something that she couldn’t figure out. “If my parents wanted me and Leroy to get married, why didn’t they tell me directly?”
“Since they were initially against both of you being together, do you think that they would suddenly urge the both of you to get married? The elders would find it embarrassing to have to eat their words. How would they be able to mention it if you don’t come up with an opportunity for them to do so?”
Jolly finally made sense of the situation.
“And you were blaming it on the andropause. Even if your dad had a bad temper as he went through andropause, it was all because of you.”
“Alright. Stop nagging at me.”
“And you thought that you were smart. If not for our help, do you think you would have gotten married that easily? I bet you’d be single all your life.” Jolly shot a glare at Gloria.
“Hmph. I see you’re the type that gets jealous easily.”
“I’m not jealous of you.”
Rachel’s head hurt as Jolly and Gloria started bantering. Given the circumstances, it seemed like there was no hope for Richard to recover from his ‘andropause’ in the short term.
Meanwhile, Justin and Leroy were starting a fire on the side. “I haven’t thanked you for helping me and Jolly escape from the wedding earlier.”
“Don’t mention it. We are friends, after all.”
“Yeah, we are friends. Those willing to sacrifice their lives for their friends are true friends. Let me know if you need my help in the future, and I’ll be there for you.” Leroy smiled.
As Justin was placing the charcoal into the barbeque pit, he was attracted by laughter in the distance. He couldn’t help but raise his gaze and saw Rachel and Jolly laughing out loud while chatting. The sunlight of the spring afternoon peeked through the gaps of the foliage and cast upon their faces. It was a beautiful sight. Justin’s gaze softened after he saw the sight in front of him.
“I might not have to thank you for your help after all, as it seems like you have gotten what you’ve always wanted after the trip to Enistan.” Leroy noticed Justin’s expression and understood the situation.
“That’s why I should be thanking you,” Justin admitted without hiding anything.
“Then we are even.”
While they were speaking, Carmen came running over with some wildflowers. “Leroy, this is for you.”
“Why are you giving me these?”
“So that you can give it to Jolly.” There was a naive expression on her face. “It’s for the proposal! Earlier on, I overheard Jolly and the others mention something about a proposal. If you were to propose to her, you’d need to prepare some flowers!”
A proposal? Leroy was surprised. “What else did they say?”
“Rachel said there should be a wedding, but Gloria said there should be a proposal before the wedding. If not, there won’t be a wedding, but Jolly was quiet during the conversation.” Carmen scratched her head as she tried to recall the conversation.
Right after, Carmen stuffed the flowers into Leroy without asking whether he wanted them or not. “Hold on to these first. I’ll go get more.”
Leroy was deep in thought as he stared at the flowers after Carmen left.
“Have you thought about it before?” Justin asked.
“Of course.” Leroy lifted his head before he answered firmly, but he became dubious after that. “But I keep feeling that things haven’t fallen into place yet, and I want to wait till everything stabilizes before getting married.”
“There’ll always be something that will come up, so it is impossible to wait till everything is resolved. Even if you’ve gotten married, you’ll be faced with different issues. Don’t tell me that you want to get a divorce because of that?”
“Of course not.”
“Based on my personal experience, it’s more important to cherish what is in front of you than anything else,” Justin told him nonchalantly before looking into the distance.
Just then, Rachel, chatting with the girls, raised her gaze, and their eyes met. Both of them looked at each other and smiled.
Soon, they had finished setting up the barbeque station. They spent the whole afternoon soaking in the lake while sunbathing. It was a relaxing day as they had a barbeque and played with the children. However, Jolly and Gloria were bantering over something.
“The formality isn’t that important, so why would you care so much about it?”
“If you really think that it’s unimportant, you wouldn’t have helped Victor to plan a proposal. But, since you thought of it, it meant that you hoped to have one too.”
“Nah, that’s not it.”
“You’re just unwilling to admit to it.”
“If both of you have the time to argue over here, why not go over and look after the children? They were playing in the lake with Carmen, and their socks were soaking wet. Please hurry over to the car to bring over some spare socks and shoes.” Rachel walked over with some meat skewers.
“I’ll go get it.” Gloria immediately stood up. “I don’t want them to be down with the flu again since today’s weather is rather cold. Why would they play in the water in such weather?”
“Hey.” Rachel grabbed onto Gloria’s arm and passed her the meat skewers. “Please help me to take these over there. Jolly, please get the shoes and socks from the car.”
Gloria was confused, but when she noticed Rachel winking at her, she suddenly got the message. “Oh, alright. She can go get the shoes and socks.”
Jolly, troubled about getting married, got up reluctantly and walked toward the car. “Who said that there should be a proposal before you get married? I don’t care about that,” she muttered to herself. Even so, it was actually what she hoped for.
The moment she pressed the trunk button, pastel blue and white balloons floated out from the car boot and floated up into the air. The evening light cast through the car windows and into the car, which made the fairy lights look even brighter. Jolly was stunned by what she saw.
