Pre-wedding shenanigans

Rachel was woken up from sleep by the sound of her phone ringing. She blindly tried to reach for it in her bedside table. After a few tries and she finally succeeded. She absentmindedly answer the call.

”He- hello?” She answers groggily into the phone.

”Where are you? I’ve been waiting for over half an our!” An annoyed familiar voice yells through her phone.

”Who’s this?” Rachel yawns.

”It’s Isaac.” The man on the other side of the line replies. “Wait, are you just waking up?”

Rachel’s eyes grew wide upon the realization. She shot up from her bed causing her to feel a little dizzy. After a second she looked at the caller ID with Isaac’s name on it.

It wasn’t that she forgot what happened the night before. She might be drunk but she remembers every detail. However, she was hoping that it was all a dream. It was only at this moment that what she agreed to the other night finally registered in Rachel’s brain. A part of her was telling her to just bail on Isaac and on the agreement, while another tells her to continue with the marriage, besides it was good money too. However, as much as she would want to bail, she made a commitment and she will see it through.

After accepting the offer to marry Isaac, Rachel asked him to make a contract. It’s not like she doesn’t trust their verbal agreement, she just wanted Isaac to sign a real contract saying that he will indeed pay her five million in case he tries to riff her off. In the said contract were some specifics of how the marriage would go. One of those specifics was what they were supposed to take care of today.

”Hello? Rachel are you still there? Hello?” Isaac’s faint voice can be heard from the phone’s speaker.

“Yeah, give me a few minutes.” Rachel hangs up the phone.

She took a few moments to compose herself before she stood up from her bed and rushed to the bathroom. In there, she washed her face and fixed her hair. She knew she didn’t have much time, so she just combed her hair as best she could and put on some make up. After that she hurried to her closet to get some clothes. With very little time, Rachel put on a pair of jeans and an oversized pullover sweater. She took her keys and headed out side.

During the night before, she and Isaac planned to meet in the morning to do some of the specifics they agreed upon. She told Isaac to meet her on the café that was a few minutes walk from her apartment. They agreed to meet at 8 in the morning, however it was now already pass 9 when Rachel arrived. She saw Isaac sitting on a table near the window and gave him a wave as she passed him by. Isaac gave her a disappointed look in response.

As she entered the café, Rachel headed straight to the counter. She ordered some pastries and a cup of coffee. It was already a bit late so there wasn't much people in line anymore. After a while she got her order and sat down in front of Isaac. There was an empty plate and a half cup of coffee in front of him. He crossed his arms as soon as he made eye contact with Rachel.

"You're late."

"Sorry." Rachel replied taking a sip from her cup of coffee.

"You were the one who told me to meet you here at 8. I've been waiting for more than an hour." Isaac complained in annoyance.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry. I overslept." Rachel responded slicing the pastry she ordered into bite sized pieces. "Besides, I'm here now."

"Yeah but you're late." Isaac repeated, starting to get more annoyed.

Rachel just waved him off and continued eating her breakfast. Isaac didn't bother say anything anymore knowing that any argument he could start would probably just end in nonsense. He patiently waited for Rachel to finish eating her breakfast and drinking his coffee as he, himself, finishes his own cup.

"So... What are we doing today?" Rachel asked after finishing her breakfast.

"We're gonna buy a ring." Isaac answered.

"We're buying a ring and that's what you're wearing?" Rachel looks at Isaac's choice of clothes. He was wearing a sharp suit again just like that day before.

"You're asking me that when you look like you just wore the first thing you pulled from your closet." Isaac gestures at Rachel's clothes.

"Hey! You can't prove that, besides this is casual wear, unlike yours. You look like you live in the office, always wearing a suit." Despite Rachel's denial, the clothes she was wearing, was in fact the first things she pulled from her closet.

Isaac, choosing to ignoring her comments about his clothing, responds, "Can we just go?"

"Alright then, lead the way." Rachel stood up and mockingly gestured for Isaac to walk ahead of her.

Isaac gave her another disagreeing look, but nonetheless still stood up and walked pass her. They exited the cafe and walked into the street. Rachel followed Isaac into his expensive looking car. It probably was really expensive. Rachel stared at it for a while and recognized that it was a Maserati convertible car. Isaac went to the driver's side and raised an eyebrow at Rachel as he noticed her staring.

"What? It's not everyday that I get to ride one of these." Rachel exclaimed.

Isaac smirked at her statement then shook his head and went inside the car. Rachel saw the whole thing and she wouldn't deny how attractive that looked. As soon as she realized the thought that came to her head, Rachel shook her head. She opened the door and entered the car.

The drive wasn't long, most probably due to the fact that Isaac was driving over the limit. Rachel thought that they were lucky there wasn't any cops that caught them speeding. It took about a few minutes for them to arrive at the jewelry store. When they arrived, they both got out of the car and Rachel followed Isaac into the store.

As soon as they enter they were greeted by a staff member. "Good morning Mr. Stockfeld, madam." One of them offered them small bottles of drinks. "Would you like some champagne?"

Rachel's eyes grew a bit wide. It wasn't because of the offer of champagne but at how fancy the whole place was. She looked around the store filled with gorgeous jewelry. Isaac headed straight to one of the glass displays filled with rings.

Isaac called her over to look at the rings. Rachel obliged and walked over to him. In the display were various sizes and designs of rings. She was busy looking at the rings in display that she didn’t notice the jeweler handing Isaac a box. He opens the box and inspects the two rings inside. They were both wedding rings with the bigger one being a plain silver band while the other one was with three small jewels on both sides and a diamond in the middle.

“Do you like this one?” Isaac asked.

Rachel distractedly looks over at his direction. Isaac shows her two rings and her eyes lit up. “They’re beautiful.” A small smile unknowingly shows in Isaac’s face. As soon as he realizes he was smiling, he wiped it off.

”We’ll take this one.” Isaac says to the jeweler, who smiles in return.

Both Isaac and the jeweler headed to the counter to pay for the rings, leaving Rachel at the display. The jeweler thanks Isaac once their transaction finishes. After paying Isaac walked over to Rachel who is still spinning the ring in her hand.

”You can wear it tomorrow.” Isaac tells Rachel as he stands beside her.

Rachel, not really noticing Isaac beside her, was surprised and almost dropped the ring. She took a deep breath as she held the ring in her hand. The jeweler approaches the two of them once again and holds out her hand for Rachel to return the rings. She gives them back and the jeweler returns them to the box. The jeweler then puts the box into a bag and hands it to them. They thank the jeweler as they leave the store, who smiles at them in return.

They both got in the car and drove off. The drive wasn't far because in a few minutes, Isaac stopped in front of a building. "We're here."

"Where are we?" Rachel looked out the window of the car, into the building outside. She saw beautiful white gowns in display of the store.

"Bridal shop. We're gonna get you a wedding dress."

"But it's closed." Rachel points out the closed sign on the door.

"I asked the owner for a private appointment. We have the whole store to ourselves." Isaac shrugged. Rachel didn't really know how to respond to that. Isaac must've been filthy rich for the owner to agree to that.

Isaac was about to get out of the car but Rachel stopped him. "Wait, wait, wait. What kind of wedding are you exactly planning? I mean it is a fake wedding so I guess a small one then?"

"We did agree last night that we're gonna pretend that the wedding was a secret one, so yeah, a small private wedding." Isaac answered.

"Alright small ceremony, got it." Rachel says. "Where is the venue by the way? I feel like we haven't discussed that yet."

"I booked a private garden for the venue wedding tomorrow night. Why'd you asked?"

"You said we're gonna get a wedding dress, obviously it needs to match the occasion and the place." Rachel reasoned. Isaac just raised his eyebrow at her in response. Rachel continued to explain, "Since it's a private wedding the dress shouldn't be too extravagant and all out. Just a simple one will do."

"Please tell me you're not gonna wear rags at our wedding." Isaac groaned.

"Hey! How dare you assumed that I would do such thing. This wedding might be fake but it is still my first wedding, so I'm not gonna waste it." Rachel answered.

After their conversation, they both got out of the car and went into the establishment. Once they entered, they were greeted by the staff, although unlike the jewelry store, they weren't offered some champagne.

"Good morning Mr. Stockfeld." The woman, who seemed to be in charge, shook Isaac's hand and then turned to Rachel. "And Miss..." She looked at Rachel, silently asking her name while also holding out her hand for Rachel to shake.

"Oh, Silva, Rachel Silva." Rachel took the invitation and shook hands with her.

"Miss Silva." The woman nodded at Rachel. "Are you the bride to be?"

Rachel instinctively looks at Isaac first before answering. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Perfect." The woman exclaimed then turn to Isaac once again. "I'm Lucy and I will be your consultant for this morning. We've reserved the entire store as per your request Mr. Stockfeld."

"Thank you for making time on such short notice." Isaac replied.

The woman just nodded with the smile, "It was our pleasure sir. Unfortunately Mr. Bernard couldn't make it, he's on a flight to Italy for a fashion show." Mr. Bernard was the owner and designer of the store. He was the designer of Isaac's family whenever they have events.

"It's alright I understand." Isaac replies.

Lucy leads then through the store. "This way please."

As they go deeper into the store, different wedding gowns were in display. Rachel looked around as they continue to walk. She whispers to Isaac, "I take it back, I'm gonna pick the most extravagant and expensive gown they have." Isaac lets out a small laugh at Rachel's statement. Finally they were lead into a room surrounded by white wedding gowns with a sofa at the middle.

"You can wait here Mr. Stockfeld, while I take the future Mrs. Stockfeld shopping." Lucy tells Isaac as she leads Rachel away from the room. Rachel gives Isaac a playful look before she leaves. Isaac responds with an amused shaking of his head.

"So what kind of wedding dress are you looking for?" Lucy asked.

"To be honest, I'm not really sure. I haven't really thought about it that much." Rachel answers as she looks at the racks of weddings dresses.

"A lot of brides I've handled usually liked princess types of dresses, would you like to start from there?"

"Yeah, we can start there."

Lucy leads Rachel into another room filled with beautiful ball gowns. Rachel looks through the racks to find anything she was willing to try on. After a a while, she finds a beautiful sparkly ball gown with a beaded bodice and a skirt filled with flowers.

"Would you to try this on now? Or would you like to keep looking" Lucy asked.

"I think I wanna see how the ball gown looks first." Rachel replies.

Lucy takes Rachel into the dressing room and started helping her with the dress. Once she put it on, Rachel couldn't help but admire the dress as she looked in the mirror. It was beautiful, yes, but she didn't like how it fit her. She twirled around for a bit, but still did not feel the dress.

"Would you like to show him the dress?" Lucy suggests.

"Yeah, why not."

Rachel walked back to the room where Isaac was with Lucy trailing behind her. The dress was big and a bit heavy. It also wasn't a perfect fit so there were clippers attached to the back to keep the dress from falling. Once she enters the room, Isaac turns his attention to her.

"Wow." Isaac says flatly. It was obvious that he wasn't that impress as well.

"So? What do you think?" Rachel asked him as she twirled around in front of him.

"It's beautiful." Isaac says.

"But?" Rachel gestured him to continue.

"How do you know there's gonna be a but?" Isaac questions in return.

"I can see it in your face." Rachel answers like it was so obvious.

"Fine," Isaac sighed. "It's beautiful but it just doesn't look like you. Happy?"

"What do you mean it doesn't look like me?" Rachel became curious of what lead him into that conclusion.

"It's just," Isaac tried to find the words but it seems that couldn't. "I don't know. I just don't think you're the princess ball gown type."

"Fair enough." Rachel agrees.

"Did you actually like it?"

"Not really. I thought I would, but somehow I didn't."

With that Rachel and Lucy went out of the room again to look for some dresses. Before they went to look for dresses, Lucy asks Rachel, "So what type of dress would you like try on now?"

"I think I wanna try something fitted now."

Lucy lead Rachel to the room with various fitted dresses are in display. Rachel looks around and her eyes land on a gorgeous lace mermaid dress on the mannequin. She asks Lucy if she could try on the dress. Lucy says yes and takes the dress from the mannequin while Rachel waited in the dressing room. When Lucy came back, she immediately helped Rachel into the dress. The dress showed every curve from Rachel's body. She couldn't help but admire the dress as she twirled around in the mirror.

"What do you think?" Lucy asked.

"It's really pretty, there's no doubt about that." Rachel answers as she looks at herself in the mirror. "But I don't know. I think there's just something missing."

"Would you like to keep looking again?" Lucy suggested.

Rachel agreed with her and they go out to find another dress. As they look through the rooms of dresses, an idea popped in Rachel's head. This is probably the only time she would be able to do this so why not try it.

"Could you show me the most expensive dress you have?"

An approving nod and a smile grazed on Lucy's face. She asked Rachel to head back to the dressing room as she took out their most expensive dress. She came back carrying this giant sparkly wedding dress with sweetheart neckline, a glittery fitted bodice and an A line skirt decorated with ruffled lace. It also has a very long train at the back. Rachel twirled around in front of the mirror. She didn't really like the dress that much. She didn't like that there was too much going on in the dress. She also didn't like the way it fits on her body. Even though she didn't like the dress, she still decided to show it to Isaac.

As soon as Isaac saw Rachel walking towards the room he couldn't help but smile at the sight, trying to hide his laughter. It wasn't because he liked the dress on her, no, it's because he knew that Rachel was playing with him. This is exactly the dress she said she didn't want to get, something too extravagant and all out.

"So?" Rachel twirls around in front of him.

"I- I'm totally speechless." Isaac responds. Lucy smiles, not really knowing that the two were just playing with each other.

"This is it, this is exactly the dress I wanted." Rachel exclaims continuing to dramatically spin around and pose in the dress. Isaac just laughs at her.

"Are you gonna take the dress?" Lucy asked.

"No, I'm sorry. This isn't it." Rachel stopped her over dramatic twirling and responded.

"That's okay." Lucy replies as she and Rachel gets out of the room.

"Just imagine yourself walking down the aisle, what do you think you'd want to wear?" Lucy suggests.

Rachel thoughts for a moment before answering. "We're having a private wedding on a garden so nothing to extravagant and showy."

Lucy let Rachel look around as she trails behind her. Rachel noticed one dress that was on display in one of the mannequins. It was a beautiful V neck dress that has a bodice decorated with lace leaves and flowers that reaches into the A line skirt. It was a right amount of sparkle and lace. Lucy noticed Rachel staring at it so she decided to get it for her.

After some more looking, Rachel finally chose another dress. Lucy help her into it and she once again admired the dress in the mirror. It was a simple dress this time, just like she said. It was a see through thin lace long sleeved dress lined with beads with a thin strap and V neck bodice underneath. It also has an A line skirt that reached just below her knees. She also asked Lucy to put on a veil on her that matches the dress. The veil was also lace with some beadwork at the ends that only reaches to her waist. It was a perfect match for the dress. Both the dress and the veil were simple and classy but more importantly it was beautiful on Rachel.

"I think I'm gonna take this one." Rachel says as she looked at herself in the mirror.

"Are you sure?" Lucy asks.

"Yeah."

"Alright." Lucy responds. "But before I fix this one up for you, I noticed you looking at a dress earlier and I think you should try it."

Lucy shows her the dress and Rachel gasps in response. Rachel debated in her mind whether she should try it out or not. On one hand, she wanted to see how it would look on her since she was mesmerized by the dress as soon as she laid eyes on it. On the other hand, she knows in herself that this wedding is not real and that dress is something she would want to wear in her actual wedding.

In the end, Rachel decided to try it on. As soon as she looked herself in the mirror, she knew this was the wedding dress of her dreams. This is the kind of dress she imagined herself walking down the aisle and getting married into. She couldn't help but smile as she feel a mixture of emotion coming onto her.

"You look beautiful." Lucy comments.

"Thank you." Rachel's voice breaks as her emotions start to take over her.

Lucy handed her some tissues. "Would you like to show this to your fiancé?"

"No. No, thank you." Rachel says as she composes herself. "It's okay. I'll take the other one."

Lucy of course did not understand Rachel's decision. The dress was beautiful on her after all and it certainly matches the garden wedding that they were planning. However, Lucy did not question her decision anymore. It was Rachel's wedding after all. She just helped Rachel out of the dress and packed the dress Rachel chose.

After that Rachel came back to the room Isaac was in. He was doing something on his phone but as soon as he heard her, he turned his attention to her. He immediately noticed that Rachel wasn't wearing a wedding dress anymore.

"What happened? You didn't find a dress you liked?" Isaac asked Rachel.

"No. I did. Lucy's just preparing it."

"Aren't you gonna show me?" Isaac frowns at her.

"Nah, you'll see it tomorrow." Rachel responds. "Besides it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride in her wedding dress before the actual wedding."