Aside from getting soaked with champagne and a few antagonizing comments and bickering, the night overall wasn't one that Lena would say was bad. Unexpected absolutely but not bad.
Samuel seemed to be of the same opinion. He was somewhat smug over his recent successful streak in doing things that his fiance appreciated but didn't have any idea about.
Even though it was rather late by the time they finished all the food and were, it had become rather late.
Samuel had offered that Jovani could stay at the estate for the night if he wanted to since it was technically closer. He waved the offer off however..
"Tempting offer as it is, I really do need to be heading back tonight. Besides, I wouldn't want to invade the space of the more official engaged couple." He joked helping to clean up the table. Everyone was already starting to stand up in order to be ready to leave once the tables had been cleaned up as much as possible.
It was a Julius thing more than anything else that had them making sure everything had been made tidy and organized before they could leave. Jovani even helped out with this part.
Lena had wanted to do the same, but the hand that was holding her own didn't seem interested in letting her go anywhere.
"It would be impolite not to help." Lena hissed at the other, hoping it would be enough to get him to let go of her hand.
He however, didn't do that and instead shook his head in response to her comment.
"Considering this is your engagement party, I don't think it is all that rude not to help out. You should just be enjoying it instead of always worrying about work stuff." The other replied making it evident that he wasn't going allow her to assist when that was what she normally did.
The princess didn't have a problem with the fact that it took them a while to get everything cleaned, she just hated not being able to do things.
Once everything had been cleaned up, it was time for everyone to their separate ways.
Jovani was the first to leave as he did have a lot that he needed to get taken care of and Alonso would likely throw a fit if he was unexpectedly not coming back for the night.
Thus, he needed to go back even if he didn't want to so that he could be free on the actual engagement.
His right-hand man eventually ended up working him too hard on everything that he needed occasions like the current moment in time to even it out.
At least he would have Samuel soon to help him take over some of that so it wasn't so much to handle all the time.
Julius was the one to leave next after Jovani as there were other engagements that he needed to attend which meant that he wouldn't be coming home that night.
The only other people at the table who wouldn't be going back with them was the cousins who didn't live at the estate with everyone else.
Clive as always had been very patient waiting for everyone to be done for the night. He was aware that such a space wasn't for him to invade unless he reason behind it had to do with an emergency.
Otherwise, he often slept in the car while waiting as he hated being late more than he hated missing sleep.
"So what then should we do for the rest of the evening?" Leo asked once everyone was inside the car.
"The only plan this evening is to do nothing else except for heading home and getting cleaned up after what had happened." The princess replied. She wasn't as annoyed at her brother as much as Jovani as his target had been Samuel and not her.
"Shouldn't there be a chance for more celebration after this? It's one step closure to becoming official and I know a really good night club that we could visit." He tried to reason his sister to sigh.
"How about after the actual engagement party and before you leave for England again." Samuel was going to say something but Zane was the one who suggested it.
"It would work better anyways since we need to make sure these two get home safe tonight." He was indicating to Lisa and Zeo when he said this. Both had been disappointed at the time that they weren't part of what happened with the champagne. Now though they just looked tired and like they were ready for the day to be over.
It was a reasonable enough of a compromise that Leo conceded to doing that even though his mood was set to not head home yet. He would just have to use it to finish up some of the work he had hanging over him.
Lena was thankful for the suggestion as she didn't have the energy to argue with the other about nothing more being done.
Unlike her younger brother, she didn't have the energy to be around other people who weren't family and deal with an unfamiliar setting with deafening music that would cause all other sounds to be muted.
If she was one of the fiances, would she be able to do a rain check and opt out of doing that? Probably not if her father was planning on going as well.
Plus, others might be inclined to come as well. There were night clubs in the area that catered to the Mafia and wouldn't make a big deal if they showed up.
Perhaps they might though if some odd hundred came to along to celebrate. Not all of them were the best behaved when alcohol was involved.
"What are you thinking about?" Samuel asked, curious what thoughts were occupying Lena's mind and distracting her from the other conversation.
"I'm wonder what night club wouldn't freak out if a hundred members of the Mafia showed up unannounced." She replied honestly.
Aside from her father, there were a good two dozen other people who would be attending her official engagement that didn't have the best reputation and might cause some anxiety if the club staff weren't aware ahead of time. owners wouldn't care because money was money.
"Would we even be allowed to drink if we went with?" He then asked. A mix between a scoff and chuckle was the response he got as a small amused smirk crept into the princess's face.
"Sammy, we're mafia. There's no one there at such places would tell us we can or can't." She replied.
At moments such as these, it was easy to tell that he didn't yet understand the level of power and control he had within the position he held.
If people valued their life, they wouldn't say a word even if they knew some of those attending weren't quite 21.
"And if you're worried about the legality of the issue, it's not that big of a deal because we're not hurting anyone." Leo added on. It wasn't the first time being only 16 that he'd been allowed to drink in places due to his position.
"Besides, if you were in England you'd be of legal drinking age at 18."
Those were the small things that Samuel still had to get used to. The idea of skirting between the legal and illegal world.
"You could also just come along, not drink, and instead appreciate everyone else acting like fools." The princess remarked, offering perhaps a more favorable solution to her fiance.
"Are you planning on drinking?" He then asked causing her to shift her focus from out the window to the other.
"Of course I am. It'll make things far more bearable and amusing if I drink if we actually decide to go."
An opportunity to see the princess in some inebriated state due to alcohol? That might be worth attending for if nothing else.
Could present as another chance to get a look at a different side of the princess that wasn't protected by her almost constant guard that she had up.
"Just don't think about anyone taking pictures of videos of anything that might go on there. There are various reasons for that." The comment that Lena made was mostly directed at her brother since he was big on catching photos of his older sister in interesting situations. Partly though, she didn't trust her fiancé fully not to do anything of the sort either.
There were also those who were attending that wouldn't appreciate having their faces posted places that they didn't know about. Reputations were only a good thing if you had the power behind it to protect ones self from legal or other retaliation for certain actions.
"I can't make any promises, but I won't bring it out unless there is something that would truly be worth getting on camera." Leo replied with a small smile. What he considered worth capturing and what the princess would agree on were two different things.
