Page 118 of Brutal Unionn

“Great,” Gwen mutters, still half on the phone. “We’ve got two mini lions and a florist who thinks baby’s breath is a good idea in this color scheme. I swear to God if someone messes up one more thing for this ceremony, I’m lighting the whole chapel on fire.”

Lilysnorts, brushing hair off Ashley’s shoulder and I yell across the room. “You meanmyceremony!

Gwen scoffs. “Sure that’s what I mean.”

“Alright girls, go meet the boys downstairs,” Lily smiles, kissing Ashley’s head before she scurries out of her seat and across the room Mia in hand.

Mia stops by the door and scowls. “Aunty Nadi, do we have to walk with the boys?”

“They’re smelly!” Ashley adds, pinching her nose tight.

I turn in my seat, facing away from the mirror just as Aoi wraps another section of hair around the iron. She sighs sharply, her teeth clicking.

“Stop moving,” she says, her voice calm but with that warning edge I’ve come to recognize.

“Yes, but if you want to scare them down the aisle, I think that would be fun,” I murmur, keeping my voice low as I glance at Gwen. Her fingers fly across her phone screen, face tight with concentration. “I’m thinking… flower zombies.”

“Ooo, flower zombies,” Mia giggles, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “We can drag our feet and make gross noises. Like this—” she tilts her head and lets out a dramatic groan.

Lily joins in immediately, flinging her arms forward. “And you could drop the petals like they’re pieces of our rotting hands.”

Gwen still doesn’t look up. “If you little monsters ruin my aisle walk with a horror movie tribute, I swear I will cancel the reception and make you eat leftover pizza in the parking lot.”

“We like pizza,” Mia says brightly.

Ashley nods. “Especially cold pizza.”

Lily snorts, trying and failing to hide her laugh as she adjusts the bow on Ashley’s dress. “They’re not scared of you.”

“Of course they aren’t,” Gwen mutters, finally lifting her head with a sound of pride in her tone.

Mia and Ashley make zombie noises out the room, grabbing the baby’s breath Gwen just yelled about. Lily starts to fling her stuff around and murmurs under her breath.

She skids past me, the red silk dress billowing around her like a runaway bride as she tears the bridal suite apart. “Nadia, did you see my hair pins? They have little gold leaves with pearls? ”

I raise one brow slowly. “I didn’t touch your glittering nonsense.”

“They’re vintage!” she wails, clutching her heart like I stabbed it. “Gwen will murder me if she walks down the aisle without them. Not like… regular murder, but, like, Gwen-murder. With icy looks and thatvoice.You know the one.”

“Oh, I know,” I mutter, glancing at Gwen mid-rant, her hand slicing through the air like she’s about to summon a lightning bolt and smite the florist herself. “That voice could freeze vodka.”

“Lily!” Gwen barks suddenly, still on the phone. “Where are the back up wedding bouquets?"

Lily fumbles with her clipboard, mouth opening and closing as she skims through the list.“In the lobby!”

“Go get them because I swear if I see another baby’s breath plant I will scream!”

Aoi pauses behind me, curling iron in one hand, and leans in. “If I had friends like this,” she says quietly, “I would’ve eloped.”

Gwen doesn’t even turn. “I heard that.”

Aoi straightens like she’s been caught doing something illegal. “I’m a trained killer,” she says, shaking her head. “But she’s scary. You’d think it was her wedding.”

“It kind of is,” I reply. “She’s been micromanaging it since the moment Sho proposed to me six months ago. The only thing she let me pick was the dress and the colors.”

And even then, she fought me tooth and nail on them. Gwen hated the black, gold, and red palette—said it was too aggressive. I told her to get used to it, because if I had to stand around all day smiling in white I was going to be looking at my favorite colors.

Aoi whistles as she keeps working through the next section of my hair. “Still this wedding is like…weird.”