While Veruca did not find the cocoa bean fields interesting at all, she was much more intrigued by the tour the Villareal's gave her, and Charlie again, of their family's home. The structure mostly consisted of brick walls plastered over the decades they remained standing, with bricks occasionally remaining exposed, primarily to denote a passageway like an archway. The walls were decorated in local folk artwork as well as more Eurocentric classics, but what remained a staple throughout the home were photos of the Villareal family spanning generations. This family had been a part of Tabascan high society stretching all the way back to Mexican independence, they had almost lost everything during the Mexican Revolution but they managed to scathe off a massive peasant revolt by giving up some of their land so that the poor families in the town could have their own land and grow their own crops to sell. And, as the international goods market changed, so did what the Villareal's grew, and cocoa beans were just the most recent good in a lengthy line of crops they grew on their land. Although, the family still kept a large garden where whey grew an assortment of vegetables in order to keep themselves sustainable in that department, the same vegetables as those used in the food the guests would eat during their upcoming dinner.
The tour culminated in the dining room where in a few hours the two parties would celebrate their agreement over a meal prepared by the family's new cook who took over after Doña Rosita and her family left for the UK. After spending the rest of the afternoon lounging in the living room and chatting with the Villareal's, both former Golden Ticket winners were more than exited for the dinner Mr. Villareal had planned to honor Charlie's visit, especially Veruca, albeit she was interested in any social gathering involving important people, after all. The two were escorted by servants to individual bathrooms where they each washed up and straightened out their outfits after a day out in the fields, as well as having wrinkled them while lounging on sofas.
Still dressed in their over enthusiastic tourist and en vogue colonial overlord costumes, respectively, from when they arrived, Charlie and Veruca made their way over to the dining room where a well-dressed man stood next to Mr. Villareal, only for the host to have summoned the heir, and have said, "Oh, Charlie, come here. I want to introduce you to Mr. Miramontes. He's the banker I do business with, the money Wonka sends from New York will go through his institution in the capital."
Charlie took a good look at Mr. Faustino Miramontes, he was a tall gentleman in his early sixties with white hair, dark eyebrows and rather fair skin, but such a physical description was to be expected considering he belonged to the White elite class of the Mexican capital. The banker was dressed in nice eveningwear, he combed his white hair neatly towards the side and he also wore a golden, oversized signet ring with some emblem engraved into its large, flat, round face. It almost looked like two domes separating up and down and with something sticking out on the dome going down, but Charlie could not really tell what it was without holding the piece of jewelry up to his eyes. Another interesting tidbit was that the heir noticed that Veruca was almost amused observing the man and he had a theory as to why, the way he dressed and looked, he sort of looked like a slightly younger Mr. Salt. Nevertheless, Charlie did the polite thing and stuck his hand out to shake it, and announced, "Greetings, Mr. Miramontes, it's an honour."
The banker demonstrated that he had been educated overseas as he spoke English with a minimal accent, unlike Mr. Villareal, after he reciprocated Charlie's greeting, and replied, "Likewise, so I understand you work for that chocolate maker."
"Yes, Willy Wonka," Charlie clarified as the entire group began walking over to the table for dinner.
Every guest was guided to their seats by the servants who then returned to the kitchen to begin rolling out the first course of the night, and as they took their seats, was reminded of the hunt for Wonka's Golden Tickets, and recounted, "That's his name, my daughters, when they were young, they tried their hardest to find two of those tickets he hid in those bars of chocolate. I drove them all over Mexico City just to find a store that still had his chocolates in stock. They sold out quickly and the stores that sold them always broke down into chaos with people fighting each other for just one bar of chocolate."
From the initial interpretation, Mr. Miramontes' girls almost sounded like toned-down Verucas, daughters of a wealthy man who was made to go out of his way in order to try and find one of the amazing chocolatier's Golden Tickets he hid inside a chocolate bar at random. Nevertheless, it was still best that not even one of his daughters found a Golden Ticket, because any ticket one of them found could have been the one that went to either Charlie or Veruca, and thus depriving them of the opportunity to have met and to have gotten to known each other as they had done over the past few weeks. Reminded of this reality and how easily it could have happened a whole other way, Charlie gestured over to his plus one, and declared for all to hear, "What a coincidence, that's how Veruca and I met Willy Wonka, and each other, actually. Sorry for having made you drive about without finding one in the end, but I guess it turned out rather dandy for us. Didn't it, Veruca?"
"Well, it turned out great for some of us," the little brute hissed, refusing to be reminded of what happened to her at the factory and saying it in a way to make sure the heir understood she did not like what she thought Wonka had allowed to happen to her.
Despite the awkward conversation that developed between the two, Mrs. Villareal had observed Charlie and Veruca's interactions with each other since the moment they arrived, and now hearing about how their relationship spanned years into the past, she turned to face the heir, and affirmed, "You know, Charlie, you two do make a...como se dice...cute couple."
Even the delay caused by the planter's wife struggling how to say what she thought was not enough to prepare the two former Golden Ticket winners for that kind of labeling of their relationship. Charlie nearly choked on the water he was sipping from his cup, gagging rather loudly, all the while, Veruca's eyes nearly popped out of her sockets as she clarified, "We are not a couple, I just want to clarify that for everyone. Got it!"
The brat raising her tone at the end caught everyone else's attention and put them all a bit on edge, leading, Mrs. Villareal to reply, "Sorry, I meant no disrespect. But, Charlie, forgive my intrusion into your life, but I don't understand, if you are not a couple, then why did she accompany you on this trip?"
"I just invited her to come and enjoy the view, we both needed a break from cloudy London," the heir retorted as he turned over to face his plus one.
"That I do agree with," Veruca interjected, seconding the Good Boy's reasoning.
As odd as it was that the tension that had built up quickly just as rapidly came down, the thing that really puzzled the older adults was how the two former Golden Ticket winners traveled this far to a secluded destination together as just friends. Mr. Miramontes did not buy it while neither of the Villareals understood the nature of Charlie and Veruca's relationship, and to be honest, neither did Charlie or Veruca. The idea of a day to themselves on a private beach sounded more like couple's getaway or a honeymoon destination than for two people who first met as kids and now were reconnecting as adults. The only explanation Charlie could think of as to why he decided to bring her along was that if he wanted her to open up to him even more, a spoiled brat like Veruca would most likely be inclined to do so in response to him doing something memorable for her, like getting her a house on the beach for the weekend. But regardless of the reason Charlie invited Veruca to come with him, the two were about to be treated to a meal prepared by a new cook, Margarita, who took over after Doña Rosita and her family left working for the Villareal's for London. The servants, who, unsurprisingly looked a lot more like Doña Rosita than the Villareals, and they definitely did not look like Mr. Miramontes, soon came out of the kitchen, with each plate of dinner looking amazing. For the main course, they brought out servings of Mariscos al Chiltepín, a plate of shrimp cooked in a sauce made of tepin peppers and served with a salad and a side of buttered white rice. The Villareal's also served Platanitos Rellenos, baked ripe plantains stuffed with minced meat and covered in cheese, that night. And, to top it all off, a mug of the iconic Tabascan drink, Puntal, a chocolate-based drink made with ground corn and cinnamon; or, in other words, the perfect drink to seal a cocoa bean seeds deal.