My Best Friend's Wedding
Part IV of The Wedding series.
Natsume Hyuuga had been staring at the bills in front of him in shock. I heard him flip page after page. Finally, he threw them on the table in mixed annoyance and disbelief. "I'm not paying for this," he finally declared.
I barely threw him a glance, working on another clump of papers. "Of course you are."
"It's a low-key wedding, Imai, not the wedding of a century."
"Listen, Hyuuga," I said, spitting his name as well, "If I want this wedding to happen, it's going to happen."
"You're charging me double for everything."
"Your future wife has incessant desires," I said airily.
"Marry Ruka then," Natsume said, amusement playing in his eyes. I twitched in annoyance.
"I won't even let you five miles near my wedding."
"That is, of course, if anyone ever plans to marry you. You are a horrible spawn of Satan disgustingly disguised as a woman."
"And for that," I said strongly, and slapped another bundle of papers on his chest, "We are getting the food services of—"
"Is this a sick joke?!" Natsume complained. "My loft costs almost as much as this!"
"Don't be so melodramatic, Hyuuga. Your loft cost you only two months' worth of salaries. Two more won't kill you."
He had opened his mouth, probably to spit a couple of things usually censored on television, but Mikan had already bounded towards us.
We currently sat on the corner of the hotel's lounge. Ten o'clock was too early for lunch, and so we reclined in the hotel Anna's working in for brunch and tea. It was a fine Saturday morning for the two engaged couple, with me as the bride's plus one.
Mikan would be marrying Natsume in six weeks' time. Now, that may be too far for some, but for wedding planners, that's six days. There always is the trouble of last minute preparations gone wrong, sudden cancellations, or (God forbid) unforeseen accidents. So you need more than a contingency plan, and the rest of the alphabet for more alternative plans.
I am not a wedding planner by profession. I still work my hands in the fields of science and economics. The thing is, my best friend is going to get married to a man who proposed to her fourteen years since they got together. Ruka and I have known each other for more than two decades, have also dated for quite a while now, but we, at the very least, discussed the matter more than five times just in the past month. Natsume, on the other hand, had to be the one being proposed to before he realized just how important wedding vows actually are.
I admit there are people out there who willingly show their care and affection towards their friends, and this is a way of mine: by planning my best friend's wedding.
"No," I said firmly, "We're not getting that."
"But this is my wedding," Mikan whined beside me, "I'm the one who's supposed to be the boss!"
"As long as I'm in charge, you will not make everyone wear pink on your wedding day."
Mikan frowned. "Well, I personally think it's a wonderfully unique idea."
"It's not unique. Majority of the weddings happening is themed pink."
"Hyuuga, back me down on this!" I turned to her fiancé.
"Mikan," Natsume sighed, looking agitated. "We've talked about this. I am not wearing a pink suit on my own wedding."
"Pink is a very masculine color," she said, unyielding.
"It is on Narumi," he muttered darkly. "Imai, you handle this."
I threw him an amused glance. "I was given the impression that you wanted to handle things on your own."
His expression masked that of a vile man, and for Hyuuga, that's saying something.
"Mikan," Natsume called out once more, but that was all he did.
At once, the bride sighed. She slumped back on her chair and said, "Fine, but it was worth a try."
Natsume seemed to have difficulty with his next doors, and I guessed that he was going to compromise. He loosened his tie a bit to tell her, "Pink roses are... okay."
But Mikan shook her head. "No, we're having chocolate bouquets."
Natsume turned to me, but his face mirrored mine.
Mikan took out a sketch she was holding on her hands and set it down the table. She wasn't much of an artist, but what she tried to draw was clear, at the very least. Instead of roses, chocolates were bounded and tied with a ribbon.
"But I'm having roses still," Mikan declared, "Although it would be nice if I held on one during reception..."
The theme of the wedding is rainbow. But of course I'm kidding. They're all basically pastel colors, and for each part of the entourage, they'd be wearing a different color. Mikan argued earlier the various shades of pink and make it the theme instead.
How flattering her trust is on me that I can pull everything off by six weeks.
Three weeks before the wedding, Mikan had thrown a fit. She wanted this four-layered cake for the wedding, but the chef assistant had the details wrong and ended up giving it to a married couple's fiftieth wedding anniversary. The cake was pretty big and costly. The frozen fruits took a couple of days to sweeten, and the pearls were delivered all the way from Australia, which had to be reserved for at least thirty days prior.
"What about this fondant cake?" Anna asked, flashing us a photo of an elaborately designed cake of leaves of a cherry blossom tree scattered from the top of the cake down to its fourth level.
"Yes, if I were sixteen," Mikan said heatedly.
I quirked a brow. "Personally, I think it delves a lot about your relationship together. After all, your intimate nightly escapades were often spent up on a tree."
"Ah, you were spying," Natsume commented from beside Mikan, his arm snaked around her waist.
"I have the right to be concerned of her whereabouts just in case she wanted to elope with a twat like you," I rolled my eyes.
"What about this one?" Anna asked again, giving our distressed bride a photo of a tiered round cake heavily embellished with white pearls as if it were icing.
Mikan took a moment to reply. "I like it... But it's not good enough."
Anna nodded serenely, and went back to searching for more cakes. Mikan didn't want Anna to bake the wedding cake. In fact, I was the only one she let to be part of the wedding preparations. Given the circumstances, we didn't have the right to be picky.
"Why don't you tell us what you want instead?" I asked Mikan.
She crossed her arms and sighed. "The cake I ordered." I understood her relentless behavior over the initial cake. Even I liked it. It was a light shade of green, with a cascade of big tulips falling down from the top to the bottom level.
"Yes, but we can't have that anymore, remember?" I said. "What about something that won't need to be started two months before?"
"I liked the first one," Natsume told her quietly.
Mikan bit her lip and sighed. "Okay, we'll get the first one. Does this mean we're getting trees for the wedding?"
"If you want to," Natsume said quickly, at the same time I voiced "Yes".
She finally smiled. "I'd like that."
The day before the wedding, Sumire demanded Mikan's rights to have a last night out as a single lady, so we reserved the rooftop of one of the tallest hotels in the city for spa day. I couldn't bring myself to leave my checklist in fear that something would go wrong and I have to quickly commence another plan, but Mikan had me convinced that everything would go on well.
The following morning, I dropped Mikan to a hotel where she can start preparing for the wedding. I was to go back to the loft she lived with Natsume to get the wedding dress that was dropped off the night before. I knew nothing was going to happen since there were at least three mature men present.
But I realized that this was a wedding I was planning, not a science project. Not a computer program. Not a business deal. While I can find loopholes to those even before it happens, I can never tell what'd happen to a wedding until it fails right in front of my eyes. So although I have several alternative plans, sometimes there really is no escape to getting over the worst catastrophes in wedding planning.
"You," I pointed to Yuu, "are the last person who I thought would consent to this."
"It was Koko's idea," Yuu mumbled, nursing his hangover with a cup of black coffee.
I ignored his reasoning. I was not accepting any. I pointed a finger at Natsume, "I can't even fathom what must've run through your head when you felt the need to put on your wife's wedding dress over your head!"
Natsume remained silent. He knew I was right. Of course I am.
"And you," I spun around to face Ruka, "You I have absolutely nothing for."
"Hotaru," Ruka sighed, and attempted to reach for my arm to console my obvious distress, "Don't be so..."
"So what, Nogi? I had alternative plans for every damned thing in this wedding except the wedding dress because I had it sent the night before to assure that nothing, and absolutely nothing goes wrong! I hadn't expected my idiot of a boyfriend, and his equally moronic friends, pounce on the groom to wear the bridal dress!"
"But the reception dress is still—"
"A reception dress! It's every bit a far cry from the modest cut a wedding dress has! You bloody hope I get something done to mend this mistake of yours or none of you are ever going to see your own weddings."
"Fine work, Imai." Natsume commented as he set down his glass of wine. The owner of the empty chair between us was Mikan, who was currently on the dance floor with Koko.
After quickly finding a solution to the dress catastrophe, I quickly boarded a cab to get back to the hotel to have my make-up fixed. I made sure that Sumire and the rest of the girls kept Mikan busy and company, but not seeing her best friend (not the wedding planner) worried the bride. I refused to accept the first six phone calls, but then I snapped and told Mikan I was getting our gowns dry cleaned. Naturally, she bought it. I gave the people concerned (which were practically everyone) to not relay the dilemma to Mikan. The last thing we needed was a bride finding a reason to call off the wedding because she has no dress. The important thing was, I found a way to fix the dress, I got back in time, with a few more minutes to stop my best friend from bursting into tears before she walked down the aisle.
"You are still one fine idiot, Hyuuga. I will never stop wondering what my best friend saw in you."
"Obviously it's not his charming personality," Ruka snickered from his other side.
"Yeah, but I'm married and you're not," Natsume countered, and stood up from his chair, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to dance with my wife."
I watched the two of them glide in the middle of the dance floor. A small smile was on his lips, and she looked truly happy. I knew that, by the time it comes, Mikan would be busy with her own family, and instead of pestering me to spend time with her, she'd be making me spend time with my future godchild. I guess I am glad I got to plan my best friend's wedding.
"You think we'll be as happy as that?"
I turned to Ruka. He had on a genuine smile playing on his lips, and his eyes were bright. Instinctively, I touched the engagement ring on my finger, remembering his proposal a week ago. I didn't want to announce it yet, since Mikan's wedding was the highlight of the season. But perhaps, in a few days, I'll be the one getting measured, choosing cakes, giving invitations.
"I know we will."