Alex huffed in the bathroom, folding her arms over her chest. She found herself again in a similar situation when she met her parents for dinner—with Logan in tow. Emily stood behind her while she sat on a stool. Her cousin held a curling iron in one hand and that made her the more dangerous person at the moment.
“You’re not still upset about what Jae and I said during lunch, are you?” Emily whined. She had divided Alex’s hair into four sections, two at the top and two at the back. It helped make even curls. She already finished the back and unpinned a section from the top. She further split them into smaller chunks of hair and wrapped them around the curling wand for 30 seconds. When it was done, she’d slide off the wand downwards so the curls could remain in place.
“I can’t believe you guys said that in front of them” Alex groaned, shaking her head.
“Hey! Don’t move!” Her cousin scolded and grabbed her head. She placed it back into a position that made it convenient for her to curl, “I already said I was sorry. Besides, Logan did get back at us.”
Alex hid a smile. He did do a good job at that.
===
While she was busy sinking into her chair, Logan wiped the corners of his mouth, saying, “I wouldn’t say there is nothing to worry about. Did you already get Hachi’s blessing, Jae?”
His twin gave him a confused look, “What do you mean?”
Logan merely tilted his head, “Oh? I thought you and Emily were already in a relationship when the attendant called you her boyfriend. Or do you call each other by something else?”
Hachi eyed her daughter, “So you did get a boyfriend.”
“Mom, I did not! It—”
===
“I should probably shave his hair off for that one” Emily remarked, unpinning the last section of hair to curl.
“Can you give me an updo tonight?” Alex asked. She looked at the mirror, already in makeup. They decided on something similar to last time with the addition of false eyelashes. Emily told her everyone wore them now.
“What kind?”
“A low side bun. Right around at the nape of my neck and below my ear?”
Emily stepped back and assessed Alex’s hair, both from the back and from the reflection in the mirror. She nodded, “And I can make your short hairs fall around your face like waterfalls. Oh! You’ll look so beautiful! I wish I had your genes!”
Her cousin raised an eyebrow, “You do have my genes.”
“Well, no wonder you’re pretty,” Emily laughed. Alex playfully tried to hit her. Such a cheeky thing to say!
Once Emily finished Alex’s hair, she told her cousin to get dressed first. Later on, Alex could help her with the bow of her dress.
Alex went to the closet and grabbed her dress. Unlike Emily’s, hers only had two layers for the skirt. It was more simple too. It had a princess cut neckline and short chiffon sleeves in pinkish peach . She loved how it held elegance without the need of more detailed designs. She knocked on the bathroom door to ask Emily’s help with the zipper. It was quite low that even when she already raised it, she couldn’t reach it from throwing her arm over her shoulder. She wore the same silver one-inch heels from Friday night.
She didn’t think she needed to buy a new pair when this worked out just fine.
When she was done, Emily emerged from the bathroom. She already had her dress on, only the laces at the back were still untied. She pointed to her, saying, “You think I should just leave my hair like this?”
Alex stood up from the bed and tested her footing with the heels. When she didn’t fall over, she figured that she was ready. She peeked at Emily’s hair. Her cousin did a no-heat way to curl them. After lunch, she washed her hair and used socks to tie them into small buns. The results turned out well. She now had wavy hair that only needed some finishing touches for it to be sleek.
“If you keep it down, no one would see the bow” Alex pointed out. She knew her cousin loved that part of the dress.
“Yeah, I thought so too” Emily sighed. She faced the mirror in the bathroom and scrunched out her scalp, “It looks so pretty though. It would be a waste if I put in a bun.”
“Well, what about a ponytail? After you tie it, you can pull the roots so it fluffs a bit. Some of the hair strands would fally at the sides of your head too.”
“Oh, oh, oh” her cousin clapped her hands, “Like Ariana Grande with wavy hair.”
“Shorter too so it won’t touch the bow.”
“Thanks, couz!”
Emily quickly went to work. She grabbed a brush and gathered her hair into a high ponytail, making sure the strands on her scalp had smooth lines. She left a bit of her hair and tied the rest. Like Alex had said, she pulled the ponytail from both sides of her head. The hair tie tightened even more on top of her scalp while her hair now framed her face. She took the loose hair she left out earlier and wrapped it around the hair tie to hide it. Lastly, she pinned it into place and used hairspray for any baby hairs standing out.
Alex shook her head slowly. Her cousin didn’t even need to redo any step. She finished all of them in one go and had a perfect result.
Emily went into the bedroom and turned around so she could access the laces. Alex gulped. It had a perfect bow when they first saw it and she didn’t have the confidence to replicate it.
Noticing her hesitation, Emily helped by narrating instructions. Alex did her best to follow them but something still felt off about the bow. Her cousin checked it through the mirror and fluffed it out more, hiding any imperfection. It seemed almost perfect.
“That will do,” Emily sighed. She still looked just as fabulous. Her hair and makeup overpowered small imperfections. She wasn’t about to let that ruin her night.
She reached out for her shoes and strapped them on.
Alex’s cell phone rang. She opened the purse she’ll use and fished it out. ‘Mrs. G’ flashed on the screen. She winced. Her mother must be frustrated at their punctuality. Reluctantly, she pressed the answer button.
“Hello?” She said softly.
“Alex! You’re late!” Her mother scolded from the other side of the line.
Alex glanced at the time on her phone quickly before pressing it back to her ear, “There’s still fifteen minutes left before the party. It’s not like the ballroom is far away.”
Angie huffed, “Are you both ready?”
“Yes, we’re about to leave the room.”
“Good. I expect you to be here in 5 minutes.”
The call ended before Alex could say anything else. She shrugged and put the phone back in her purse. When she looked up, she saw Emily waiting.
“Shall we?” Her cousin grinned, offering her arm. Alex chuckled at her behavior. Nonetheless, she looped her arm around Emily’s. Together, they walked out of the room and went to the war—party.
===
Angie paced in front of the ballroom’s main entrance. Although it was the biggest set of doors, they didn’t allow guests to use it. They had reserved it for her mother-in-law’s entrance for the party. A few years ago, Jaime had the idea of all the family walking out of it. Before, they only worried about her showing up on time. Now, they also worried about the rest of the family.
Not one to be late, Angie knocked on the bathroom door for her husband to hurry up. Her loud voice boomed like a megaphone that Ethan had no choice but to follow her instruction. Since there was still plenty of time, he didn’t hustle to finish. At his indifferent attitude, Angie scolded him again.
Ethan sighed from a waiting chair. His head hurt from watching his wife walk around the hallway. Hach and Lilly sat nearby, chatting with each other. He wondered why Angie couldn’t join them.
“What’s taking them so long?” His wife thought out loud, not missing a step.
“Maybe the elevator stopped by a few floors on their way” he answered her.
Angie shook her head at the ground, “Would it really take this long?”
“Take what long?”
His wife stopped and looked up. Jaime walked down the hallway in a black velvet gown. It had a sharp sweetheart neckline. The chest area and the shoulders had been wrapped up with mesh that also make up the short sleeves. It had thin black velvet stripes for design. Diamond earrings dangled from either side of her head.
“Mother!”
Jaime waved her hand, “Ethan, if you tell me this is an inappropriate dress, I will ground you.”
Her son immediately clamped his mouth. It sounded ridiculous but as they aged, her mother found new ways to implement grounding. One of her favorites was instructing his secretary not to give him any work. It drove him insane when he couldn’t find anything to do. Even when he did, his work still lingered in his mind. His mother knew how well it tortured him.
“Grandma, you rock this dress like how I would rock it” Emily said. She came arm in arm with Alex.
Angie sighed in relief. Her muscles finally relaxed now that everyone was present.
Jaime frowned at her granddaughters, “Where are your dates?”
Emily gaped, “Grandma, I told you! He’s not my boyfriend!”
“Just teasing, dear” Jaime chuckled. Then, she faced the rest of the family members, “Shall we party?”
===
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