About a week later...
Rachel was busy in her studio. Several important matters that she had to address had piled up during her several days of absence, so she'd come to the studio very early.
However, just when Rachel had finished half of her work, Carl came.
"Rachel, why are you still working? I tried to call you, but I couldn't get through. I've been looking all over for you like a madman!" Carl said, stepping into the studio with sweat all over his face.
Rachel, who was signing contracts, raised her head to look at him in confusion, and then said,"I forgot to charge my phone. What's the hurry? I'll be home at night. What happened?"
Rachel's confusion surprised Carl for a moment. He scratched his head and said,"Rachel, don't you know that your wedding ceremony is tomorrow?
Didn't you see that everybody in the family is busy with this matter for the whole week? Since your body condition won't allow you to travel abroad, Hiram decided to hold the wedding ceremony at home. Now, everything is prepared, including the church, the wedding invitations and your wedding dress. And the ceremony will be at 9 o'clock tomorrow morning. Rachel, didn't you know this?"
Rachel was so surprised by his words that she lost control of her pen and drew a half circle on the document she was signing.
Hiram had mentioned the wedding ceremony a week ago at his mother's birthday dinner. However, Rachel hadn't taken his words seriously, thinking that he was saying it just to deliberately irritate his father. And since he hadn't spoken to her about it afterwards, she hadn't given it any thought.
But now, it turned out that Hiram had really meant it.
"Let me call Hiram first... No, Carl, drive me to Streams Company. I'll talk to him there." Rachel hastily signed several important documents and then asked Celine to make some arrangements for her.
Ten minutes later...
When Rachel reached Streams Company and got out of the car, she immediately wrapped her blue wool coat tighter around herself. It was already late autumn and she was only wearing a cream-colored dress under the coat, with her ankles exposed to the cold air. Getting off the car had made her feel a certain chill that accompanied her till she got onto the lift.
"Hello, Mrs. Rong," Ben said.
"Where is Hiram?"
Rachel asked Ben, stepping out of the lift.
"Mr. Rong is having a meeting with Mr. Zhuo. The meeting is expected to end in 30 minutes," Ben said. Rachel immediately guessed what they were discussing about. Since the planning for the Cliff Mountain project had come to its final stage, Hiram and his staff must be discussing about a few details.
She hesitated for a few moments and said,"Take me there, I want to know what they're discussing about."
Although she hadn't participated in the final planning for the project, it wouldn't hurt anyone if she just sat there and listened to their discussion. After all, she had contributed to the Cliff Mountain project too.
"Okay, please follow me," Ben said as he led Rachel to the meeting room.
When Rachel reached the meeting room, she found that everyone who had participated in the Cliff Mountain project was there.
On the seat of the host sat Hiram, who was listening carefully to Daniel's presentation. The old engineer sat beside Hiram, while the rest of the members of the two teams sat on both sides of the table.
Rachel stepped in, smiled at Daniel and said,"Please continue. I'm here just to sit in on the meeting."
She sat on the assistant's seat behind Hiram.
Hiram, who was wearing a light-colored plaid shirt today, had had a serious look on his handsome face during the meeting, as he always did during work. However, when he saw Rachel, his expression became gentler. He glanced at her in greeting before turning back to listen to Daniel's presentation again.
Rachel sat there and watched the sliding pictures on the screen. Although she had participated in the planning for the Cliff Mountain project, she still felt amazed seeing the picture of the full view of the project on the screen.
Cliff Mountain was expected to be built into a big and comprehensive tourist resort, providing tourists with services such as entertainment and food. Because of the special mountainous terrain in the locality, they were planning to build structures on cliff platforms and construct a bridge that connected two mountains. A mega Ferris Wheel would overlook the entire landscape of Cliff Mountain.
They were also planning to turn the lower valley area into a small town with classic scenery, featured by small bridges and rivers.
"Hiram, why didn't you tell me about the wedding ceremony tomorrow?" Rachel asked, glaring at Hiram. Why was this man always acting first and talking later? In fact, this time, he hadn't even told her anything about it.
This wasn't the first time he was acting this way.
Sitting on the couch, Hiram pulled Rachel onto his lap and said,"Didn't I tell you about it? I remember saying it very clearly in front of my parents a week ago.
I told you that the time is perfect for holding a wedding ceremony as the weather is fine recently, and you agreed."
Rachel took off her shoes, put her arms around Hiram's neck and made herself comfortable on his lap. "But, I thought you were irritating your father on purpose. Why didn't you say anything about it afterwards?"
Hiram smiled. Then, he ran his hand through Rachel's silky hair and said,"I have everything handled. All you have to do is be my bride.
What's more, I didn't want you to worry about it. Since you're pregnant now, what if the stress got to you and you hurt yourself?"
Rachel frowned. She stared at Hiram with her big black eyes and said,"But a wedding ceremony is held only once in a lifetime, and I haven't prepared for it yet."
"Who said so? If you want, I'll hold another wedding ceremony for you after our children are born. By that time, our two children can be our page boys," Hiram said gently.
"Fine. But can you please not invite people that I don't know? Can you just invite family members and friends?" Rachel asked, because just the thought of entertaining a bunch of strangers at her wedding ceremony was giving her a headache.
Of course, Hiram had already considered this. Right then, his phone rang, so he picked up the call and pressed the mute button before saying,"You don't have to worry about that. I only invited a few important family members and friends. There won't be too many people at our wedding ceremony."
After hearing his words, Rachel felt relieved and said,"That's good. Otherwise, it would be so tiresome for us to toast to unfamiliar guests table by table."
However, she frowned when she saw Hiram turn his attention to his phone again. She got down from his lap and sat next to him.
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