Chapter 117 Celebration
Chapter 117 Celebration
THIS IS IT. Daphne never thought she’d experience a church wedding, much less with the same man. Her smile was wide as she listened to his vows. The truth was, he’d already told her the same words last night over the phone. He told her to just imagine they’d already gotten married last night. A shorter version, so today wouldn’t take too long.
“I love you, baby. So dmn much, you know that. Right? I’m grateful that you’re here with me today, on our special day.” He held her hand as she smiled softly at him. “I witnessed the trials we faced during our first year of marriage, and I realised marriage is not easy. I know we still have more ahead of us. Whether you need me or not, I’ll protect you. My strength will be yours when you are weak. And let me be your shoulder when you need to cry. Ah, baby, it’s okay to cry, but please don’t. You look ugly when you do.”
She laughed, as did everyone else. She knew he was just joking.
Then he grew serious again, looking at her tenderly once the laughter died down. “I promise to love you every second of my life.”
Smiling, she took the microphone and looked at him. “I love you too, Blake Kent Hernandez II. I may not say it often, but I mean it. I’ve never loved anyone else—only you. I thank God because you’re the man I chose to marry, the man I chose to face life’s challenges with. Thank you for being willing to be my protector and my strength. I’m lucky because of that. So the only promise I can make is this: I will never leave you. I may rest when I’m hurt, but I won’t give up on you.”
“Thank you so much, baby,” he said, voice cracking. “I love you,” he added.
His smile never faded as the priest finally spoke.
“As God and these witnesses witness, I now pronounce you husband and wife! You may now kiss one another!”
He hadn’t even fully faced her when he pulled her close and kissed her softly. She kissed him back with the same tenderness.
Their lips stayed together for a while longer. She was the first to pull away when she heard BK’s friends laughing again.
AFTER the ceremony and picture taking, they returned to Hotel De Astin. Their reception was there, just by the hotel’s shoreline. Since she didn’t have that many guests, it was fine to hold it there.
It was already past five in the afternoon when they got back to the hotel. She couldn’t help but wonder when her husband excused himself after escorting her and their daughter to their suite. He said he had something to take care of with his friends.
The program would start at six in the evening, so she and her daughter rested for a bit. They still had a few minutes. Besides, she felt tired. Her stomach was getting heavier now that her pregnancy had grown, and she got exhausted quickly whenever she stood for too long.
She changed into another white dress when she decided to get ready. After that, she breastfed her child first. They’d be downstairs for a while, so the little one needed energy. The guests would surely wear her out again.
She didn’t realize she had dozed off beside Mirielle. Thankfully, Yaya woke her up. They were already looking for her downstairs because the program was about to begin. It was embarrassing. People were surely hungry by now. But they still had to dance the courtship dance, or pantomina, as they called it in Caramoan, before the guests could eat.
She smiled when her husband greeted her on the ground floor. The program was really about to start.
The moment they stepped outside, the sound system at the shoreline began to play.
Most of the guests’ attention shifted to them when they reached the hall that the hotel staff had set up. She and her husband walked straight to the woven mat laid out for them. That was where they were supposed to dance together.
She wasn’t really good at this traditional dance, so she just copied the hotel staff who were guiding them. They practiced it before, and even now she still laughed at herself. She was embarrassed, after all. But BK, her husband, knew it by heart since he always watched these dances back then.
Her embarrassment grew even more when people started pinning money on them. Some even hung envelopes on her and her husband while they continued to dance.
She couldn’t help but frown when she saw Rixi whisper something to Paul and Kevin, then to Sadboy. Those guys were also getting ready to stick money on BK after pinning some on her.
“The heck, Rix!” BK suddenly shouted when his friend shoved the money inside his pants. She swallowed hard. She was the one who had to take that out later, not her husband. Same with her, he was the one who had to remove the money pinned on her.
She glared at BK when he allowed Paul to do the same thing. He already guessed what Rixi had done. And he still let the other friends copy them, slipping money inside his pants. Some were near the back, but most were in front.
Her husband could freeze for all she cared. She wasn’t taking those out. She’d only remove what was attached to his clothes.
The dance lasted more than ten minutes. And then it was time to remove all the pinned bills. They began taking the money and envelopes off their outfits together.
She kept smacking her husband’s hand whenever he attempted to let it brush against her chest.
“There’s still more inside, baby. Get it too,” he murmured, pointing downward. She heard the laughter of his friends who clearly planned this.
She stepped closer and tugged out the corner of the bill sticking out.
“Damn it, baby, there’s more inside!”
“Tell your friends to get it, since they’re the ones who put it there,” she whispered to her husband with a smirk.
“Fine. But later, huh? No backing out, baby. It’s our honeymoon.”
She left her husband and handed the last bit of collected money to BK’s staff. They would be the ones in charge of counting everything.