13 Chapter 13
The first class flight to New Zealand took them more than 24 hours, but they enjoy it since Fly Emirates gave the best service. They transit in Dubai where Alex and Emily joined them from there and continue to fly to Auckland. They stayed the night in Auckland airport and rented two SUV's for their journey to Rotorua, Hobbiton, Coromandel, and Wellington. Since their original plans were just South Island, they stayed in the North for just four days, before taking a flight from Wellington to Christchurch. They stayed the night in Christchurch and started their journey the next day.
Their first stop was the Arthur's Pass and Serena became their navigator while Lucas drove. Lorcan, Charlotte, and Fabian seat at the back. Thomas became the navigator for the second SUV while William drove with Lizzie, Emily, and Alex seat at the back. After taking a nature walk in Arthur's Pass, they drove to Lake Tekapo where they spent the night there. The next day, they continue their Lord of The Ring journey to Mount Cook where they spend hours and hours for a beautiful hike and taking pictures of the great mountain.
Serena and Lucas were taking pictures at the peak of Mount Cook when Lucas pointed something behind her. Turning around, she saw nothing. Puzzled, she turns back to look at Lucas, only to find him kneeling one knee in front of her. Serena gasped when she saw the ring in his hand. They were whooping noise as both Fabian and Lorcan jumped on the snowy mountain.
"I've known you for years, but we're together for almost a year now. Everyday, I fell more in love with you, I have always known that someday my heart belongs to you, as you're mine. I want to spend the rest of my life with you for eternity. Serena Francesca Evans, will you marry me?," Lucas looked up at her, smiling lovingly.
"Yes, I will marry you, Lucas Whishaw," Serena whispered, her eyes glassy with tears.
There were clapping sounds from her family and Charlotte, Lizzie, and Emily were all sobbing together, crying in happiness. Lucas put the ring on her finger and pulled her into a kiss, while Fabian took the picture and posted it on his Instagram. Alex who had his phone on both of them were actually recording it to send to Stefano and Scott who wants to witness the happy moment. The happy couple pulled out from the kiss as the family crowded over them to congratulate.
Few hours later, they walk down from the mountain and continue their journey to Wanaka where they stay for the night. They took more pictures on their way to Arrowtown and Queenstown where they stayed for two nights to do bungee jumping, skyline gondola, and riding the jet boat. Then they continued to the beautiful scenery of Milford Sound before crossing the other part of South Island to the Victorian city of Dunedin where they stayed for two nights. On the second night, after dinner, Serena's phone vibrates. She looked at the ID and saw that it was Scott.
"Hey Scotty," Serena answered the phone.
"Hey, sis," Scott's voice came through the phone, "Congratulations on your engagement. Mom cried for hours, kept saying la mia bambina è cresciuta,". (My baby girl is all grown up)
"Thanks, bro," Serena smiled.
"I want to ask you something though, you're still blocking Hendrick in your phone, right?," asked Scott.
"Yeah..," she answered slowly, "Why?,".
"Keep blocking it then, I don't know what's got into him," said Scott, "He went mad and threw his Champaign at the wall when he heard the news,".
"Should I be worried about this?," asked Serena.
"Well, Hans had a bro talk on him and it's quiet for now," said Scott, "Is there something you want to tell me about you two?,".
Serena sighed.
"He told me that he loves me," said Serena, "And I told him that it's too late because I have Lucas,".
"Damn.. When did that happen?," asked Scott.
"That time when you came to London, a few months ago," replied Serena.
"Well I guess he didn't get over it," said Scott, "I'll go and tell Stefano, maybe he can tell mom not to have Hendrick go to England for a while. Right now, he's back in Munich to handle some family stuff".
"Sure..," Serena replied, "Anyway, how's the investigation of the African Star?,".
Serena and her father decide to keep it to themselves. She hides that diamond somewhere people can't find.
"We came up with a dead end," Scott replied, "Both of the Kray brothers are dead, and the women they had been with had no idea the diamond existed. Not to mention, their family had no idea about it,".
"What about that African gang?," asked Serena.
"Dakarai Cayman died years ago, no one knows how to track down Die Slagter since they like to keep to themselves," Scott replied, "People just don't want to have things with them because they're dangerous smugglers,".
"Damn..," Serena whispered.
"I have a question though, is Charlotte seeing anybody?," asked Scott casually.
"She's single, you like her, don't you?," asked Serena.
Scott chuckled.
"Well, I'll better let you sleep now," said Scott, "Tell the others I said hi,".
"Hey.. You didn't answer my questions," said Serena indignantly.
"Love you, sis," said Scott before he hung up.
"Arse..," Serena muttered and shut down her phone.
Serena smiled to herself when she thought about the diamond. Only she knows where she hides it. Not even her father knows. After giving a quick kiss at Lucas, she walked back towards her room where she shared it with Charlotte to sleep and prepare for the next day. The next morning, they headed to Omaru which is popular with steampunk culture and went to visit their museum. They continue their journey to Christchurch where they stayed for the night before taking a flight back to Auckland. They stayed for another night in Auckland for a last minute shopping and packing. Their flight back to England is at noon and by the time they reach Heathrow, snow starts to fall.
Serena, Lucas, Lorcan, and Charlotte stayed for a night in London and took a flight back to Manchester the next morning. Everyone was totally worn out and jet lag. They end up having a sleepover at Lorcan's house where his mother had cooked them something special for Lucas and Serena's engagement. All of them were too tired to stay up and call it a day even though it's just nine o'clock.
Four of them return to work the next Monday and Serena just closed a deal with the government to build an apartment for students near the University of Salford. She went to look at the site with Lorcan and Charlotte with her designs to get a closer look and calculate her estimation for cost and time. The projects were to start after New Year which is in about three weeks. They were walking back to Lorcan's car when Charlotte pulled Serena aside.
"I have to tell you something," said Charlotte quietly.
"If it's about you and Scott, then I just wanna say that I gave you my blessing," Serena smiled at her.
"How did you know?," Charlotte gasps.
"He asked me about you when we were in Dunedin," Serena replied as they both continued towards Lorcan's car, "I'm happy for you and Scott,".
Charlotte had turned red and beamed at Serena.
"Thank you," Charlotte whispered.
"What took you girls so long to reach my car?," asked Lorcan impatiently as both Serena and Charlotte climbed into his talk.
"Period talk," Serena replied simply and Lorcan shuddered.
The girls laughed.
"Oh come on, Lorc," said Charlotte, "You have sisters,".
"Exactly," replied Lorcan and he drove his car, "Oh and by the way, I got tickets for us this Sunday, Manchester United versus Liverpool,".
"Oh thank God, I thought it had sold out already," Serena took a breath of relief.
"Nah.. Sasha pulled out some string," Lorcan replied.
They had lunch at Subway and went back to their office to continue their work. Serena celebrated her Christmas in London a few weeks later and to her surprise, her mother and both of her brothers were there too and she returned back to Manchester the day after Boxing Day to swap presents with Lucas, Lorcan, and Charlotte. She swapped her presents with Lucas on their date night where Lucas had surprised her with a candle light dinner and a brand new custom made watch from Rolex while she gave him a VIP ticket to see the Manchester City team in person during their game against Manchester United next week. Lucas happened to be a big fan of City.
"God, I love you so much," Lucas whispered as he leaned over to kiss her.
"Love you too," she smiled at him.
"Can't wait to be yours and call you Mrs. Whishaw," said Lucas as he caressed her cheek.
"Well we can start planning our wedding," Serena replied as she leaned her forehead to his.
"How bout this summer? You have time for that, right?," asked Lucas.
"I guess so, I just want a simple wedding where everybody gets to wear anything they want as long as they're comfortable," said Serena thoughtfully.
"That'll be unique. Imagine my eccentric uncle Leopold wearing just his speedo in our wedding," he chuckled.
