.
Very early the next morning, Sammy and the others took off for Paris in France; Oliver had booked a private aircraft for them so
therefore, reducing the thirteen hour journey to ten hours; that was the fastest they could travel. They left Las Vegas by five AM
in the morning as they had all agreed to, and their flight landed at one of the airports in Paris by three pm in the noon.
From there at the airport, they quickly boarded two cabs heading for Sammy’s parent’s house. Normally, Oliver would have
prepared a car before their arrival, he would have arranged for a new car before they arrived but since they were leaving the next
day, he didn’t think it was necessary.
They arrived at the McConnell family house and Sammy’s face brightened up in excitement. He was happy to be back here after
such a long time; his family was not actually from Paris, but they had to move here some years ago because of complicated
issues. It hasn’t been that bad since their arrival but Sammy preferred to stay in Las Vegas; his whole life was connected to that
place.
“I will do the knocking this time, can’t wait to see the look on their faces,” Sammy said excitedly and walked up the threshold.
Oliver always did the knocking whenever they visited together but he wanted to be the first to see his parents this time.
“Um... Sammy, did I mention to you that I already informed your parents that we would be here?” Oliver asked and looked away,
trying to avoid his best friend’s eyes. He knew he had messed up.
“Huh?” Sammy muttered.
“Yeah, and I already told them about your wedding too,” he added and scratched his head awkwardly, while closing one of his
eyes.
“What? Oh man, you always ruin the surprise for me, you take the whole fun out of it” he whined and the others chuckled.
“Don’t be such a cry baby, Uncle Sam,” Princess Lena mocked in a taunting voice and they laughed.
“Hey, you are just as toxic and sadistic as your dad, I think your last name should have been Bully, because you are one,” He
grumbled sadly.
“The kid is right honey, just put yourself together and push the damn doorbell, we don’t have all day, you know?” The excited
Rosie said in support.
“Tots my point, now I see why my mom likes you,” Lena said and smiled, revealing her cute little teeth.
“Wow, she uses twenty-first century slang, I like her,” Rosie giggled and pinched her on her cheeks.
Sammy sighed and shook his head, then he raised his hand to use the doorbell but just then, the door opened. They stood
before the entire family of McConnell
Sammy stood there disappointed, he planned to surprise them but thanks to Oliver, they turned the tables on him.
“Hello Mom and Dad,” he said less excitedly and hugged his mom.
“Welcome my son, Oliver didn’t tell me you were bringing this much company,” she said while waving at the others.
“Oh, at least that is one thing he didn’t spill,” Sammy grumbled.
Oliver chuckled and climbed up the stairs at the threshold. Mr. McConnell spread his arm for a hug and Sammy opened up but
he was disappointed when his father gently pushed him aside and hugged Oliver instead.
“Dad, that is not cool,” he grumbled. As usual, Oliver always stole the spotlight, this has been going on for as long as they knew
each other, he was always less relevant when the billionaire CEO was around, he suddenly became invisible to every other
person.
All these years, Sammy tried not to let it get in between their friendship; he was used to it already anyway. It was not Oliver’s
fault that he was born with a silver spoon and Sammy wasn’t, or maybe the midwife had stolen his and replaced it with a wooden
one.
“You two are my son, but Oliver is my favorite, you already know that so don’t act so surprised,” his dad replied and Oliver
chuckled. “Welcome you all, please come inside before we get the French folks staring at us,” the old man said, while referring to
his neighbors.
They all laughed and followed Sammy’s mother into the house. It was a moderate one, not too big and not too small, but good
enough for them.
“So you must be Rosie and she must be Aria,” Mrs. McConnell said to Rosie with a look of excitement.
“Yes ma, but how can you tell us apart?” Rosie asked in surprise.
“Oh, Oliver already sent us photos,” she replied and they all turned to Oliver with a scrutinizing look.
“What, I couldn’t hold back my excitement,” he said and threw his hands up in defense.
“Ladies, meet my identical twin brothers, James and John, don’t get confused trying to find out who is who, even I mistake them
for each other at times,” he said in a whisper while pointing to the boys and the ladies giggled. “While this pretty lady is my
immediate younger sibling, Clara,”
“Oh, I like that name, we are friends already,” Rosie said immediately and the girl blushed. Well they had to be friends, they were
going to be sister in-laws soon.
“Hi Aunts,” the boys greeted simultaneously; they were just double of the same person, the same eyes, the same nose, hair,
height, complexion and even matching outfits.
“Oh please don’t call me Aunt, my manager won’t be pleased to hear that,” Aria replied and giggled. “Just call me Aria,” she
“Yes and call me Rosie, I am not old yet,” Rosie said and forced a smile. She didn’t really like the idea of being called an aunt by
those teenagers. She was just in her late twenties.
“Alright guys, have a seat while I go get you something to drink,” Mrs. McConnell offered and pointed to their couch.
“So is no one going to introduce me or should I introduce myself?” Lena said in a stern voice, her face crumpled and her hand
placed on her waist.
“Oh, meet my daughter...” Aria and Oliver started at the same time and paused, then they looked at each other silently.
“Oh never mind, I will just do it myself. I am Princess Lena, and this lovely couple are my parents, aren’t they cute?” she asked in
her sweet little girly voice.
“Oh dear, you are such a sweet girl. Yes your parents are cute as a couple, but with you in the center, they are wonderful,” Mrs.
McConnell exclaimed. Lena smiled and looked up to her parents; Aria sighed and walked away to the couch.
They all got seated, while Sammy followed his parents to the inner room.
“Hey John, can you get me a glass of juice?” Lena requested.
“Oh sure,” he replied and stood up, then he suddenly paused and turned back to her. “Wait a minute, how did you know which
one of us was John?” he queried.
“I was here when Uncle Sam called your names, I am not deaf you know?” she retorted and wrinkled her cheeks.
“I know, but we have both walked in and walked out since then, I bet you guessed,” he replied and smirked.
“Nah, I don’t need to guess, I can tell you two apart,” she said proudly.
“Oh really? Well prove it, turn around,” he instructed.
“Fine, whatever,” she scoffed and turned her back to them. Quickly they stood up and switched positions.
“Alright, which one of us is John?” James, who was now standing in John’s former position, asked.
“Oh, you are John, now can I have my juice?” she said to the one sitting down.
“What? She is a witch,” they both muttered and everyone burst into laughter.
“Alright Lena, come with us to the balcony, you can have as much juice as you want while we play a game.”
“What game?” she asked with a crumpled face.
“Oh, you would be trying to tell which one of us is who?” he replied.
“Okay, I can do that all day and I wouldn’t even need to think, by the way... add Princess to my name, when would you humans
ever learn!!” she groaned and matched up the stairs like she owned the place.
The twins glared at themselves in surprise, then they turned to Oliver and co who burst into laughter. They shook their heads
simultaneously and ran after Lena. They were not going to give up until she made a mistake in telling them apart.
The rest of the family had fun at the McConnell’s, the men spent the night watching soccer and playing chess while the females
excluding Lena did their cooking, gossiping and fingernails polishing till it was time for bed.
Lena kept herself busy with a puzzle game she had found in Clara’s room, she also had her face painted with tons of makeup.
Clara would certainly need a new make-up kit when they are gone.