Daniel heard it too.
"Is your mom right there? Put her on, let me talk to her."
I didn't move.
He tried again. "Nanette, let's not let this get out of hand."
I looked up at my father.
He stood at the edge of the red carpet, the red umbrella already folded down at his side.
The relatives had gone quiet, their eyes settling on the gift envelope in my mother's hands. A few of them glanced at the empty driveway and the empty carpet.
Another message came from the wedding planner.
【Miss Fox, are we confirming the bridal pickup is on hold? The hotel needs to be kept in the loop.】
The relatives downstairs all turned to look at my mother. No one pushed about the car anymore.
In front of all of them, I typed two words back.
【On hold.】
Daniel called again almost at once.
"Nanette, I'm already driving over to your place."
"Just have the planners wait a minute, okay?"
I looked at the tea-ceremony envelope in my mother's hands, then at the red umbrella my father had folded away.
This time, I didn't smooth it over for him.
"There's no need to wait."
The line went silent.
I hung up and slipped the phone into my pocket.
Yuki came to my side and asked under her breath, "So what do we do now?"
I took my mother's arm.
"Let's go up."
"Don't stand here waiting."
As I was helping my mother up the stairs, another message popped into the family chat.
It was from Nora.
【Nanette, are you mad at me? Maybe I should just get out of the car now, so I'm not holding up your pickup.】
The chat went still all at once.
The relatives who'd just been asking where the motorcade was said nothing more.
My mother stopped at the top of the stairs, head bent over her phone.
She typed a few words, then deleted them.
She still hadn't put the tea-ceremony envelope down, and one corner of the red paper had crumpled under her fingers.
A long moment passed before she said softly, "Let's wait for him to come first."
But my father leaned the red umbrella against the wall and said only, "Don't bother answering."
My mother looked up at him.
His voice wasn't raised. "His wedding car went to pick up someone else. What are you still defending him for?"
No one in the stairwell answered.
Yuki's eyes were red with anger. She bit down on her voice and muttered, "He's not even here yet, and already he's got you fending off the relatives for him."
I said nothing.
The phone buzzed again.
Daniel had sent two messages.
【Nanette, stop posting in the group for now.】
【The hotel's already asking me. Tell your mom and dad not to come downstairs. I'll be there any minute.】
I stared at those two lines for a long time.
The wedding planner called again, her voice even more careful than before.
"Miss Fox, the hotel's asking whether we're still filming the pickup."
"If the pickup is cancelled, the videographer will switch to shooting exterior footage at the hotel instead."
My mother asked first. "If we don't film it, will that hurt the rest of it?"
"There'll be a gap. The groom bringing the bride out, the handoff from her parents, and the tea ceremony for the parents—there'd be no footage of any of it."
The moment she said tea ceremony, my mother's hand pressed down over the mouth of her bag again.
That little red envelope shell was something she'd spent half the night before picking out.
Afraid it was too flashy, then afraid it wasn't festive enough.
Now, with the groom still nowhere in sight, she tucked the envelope a little deeper into the bag.
My father took the phone from her and told the planner, "Skip the pickup segment for now."
The line went blank for a second. "Sir, are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
He glanced at me, his tone level.
"The groom hasn't even shown his face. What is there to film?"
After the call ended, my mother turned her face away, her eyes going red all at once.
Daniel's call came right on its heels.
I didn't pick up.
He sent three voice messages in a row. Yuki went ahead and opened the last one for me.
