She brisk walked over to the other table. Her father was nowhere to be found while the rest decided to stand up, stretching their legs. A few guests had joined them.
“And here she is,” Angie said proudly. She wrapped an arm around Alex’s shoulders, “She looks more like me everyday, doesn’t she?”
“Yes, she does” a woman smiled pleasantly. Her bronze skin glowed against her white gold evening gown. The color also brought the yellow hue in her eyes. It had a cape made of lace around her shoulders and flowed behind her.
“Alex, this is my friend, Piku” Angie told her daughter, “She’s a friend of mine from India. We met at a book tour of one of our favorite writers. She’s been dying to meet you ever since.”
“Oh” Alex gasped, “Then, it’s a pleasure to meet anyone who could tolerate my mother’s mischief.”
Piku laughed whole-heartedly, “Trust me, the pleasure is mine. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“I do not.”
“But someone is interested,” Angie added. Alex shifted her eyes in her mother’s directions, giving her a look. Even if her mother speculated it, unless the person actually said it out loud, it wouldn’t be good to spread unverified information.
“Oh, has he kissed you?”
Alex immediately shook her head before Angie could say anything else, “Nothing of the sort happened.”
“Well, then, he’s cancelled” Piku scoffed, sipping from her glass of sparkling wine.
Hachi chuckled from the side. She placed a hand on Piku’s shoulder, “Now, now, they haven’t known each other that long yet. There is no need to rush.”
Piku sighed and looked at Alex once again, “Has he confessed?”
“No.”
“Has he expressed his intention to court you?”
“Nope.”
“Well, he’s still cancelled until further notice” Piku declared firmly. She folded an arm below her chest and made an L-shape with the hand that held her glass raised up, “If he really was a man, he would own up to his feelings and be clear about it. No use in dillydallying.”
“Some may not find that easy… especially if they have had a bad memory,” Hachi answered. It wouldn’t be easy for anyone to find a new love after a breakup—more so if it had unclosed matters or large scars.
Piku paused for a moment. Then, she turned to Alex, “Does he?”
“Sort of” she replied, unsure of how much she should say. Wait, how did I end up here talking about my love life to someone I just met? Alex suddenly thought.
“He better make up his mind soon. A good catch never waits.”
At Piku’s third opinion about the matter, the women decided not to probe it further. Oh, some of them wished it would progress as much as she did but… they also didn’t see the need to speed things up at the moment.
Yet, that didn’t stop them to scheme a bit on the sidelines.
“Do you give the same advice to your nieces as well?” Angie asked. She felt her daughter’s muscles stiffen from the woman’s words. She could guess that the reason must be from the negativity she heard. If she felt that way, that meant Alex opposed it—not that she’d say it out loud.
“My niece?” Piku lifted an eyebrow, “She’s 3 years old. When I spend my time with her, I draw her pictures to color.”
“Aw, that sounds adorable” Angie gushed. She tilted her head to the side, bumping into Alex’s, “When will you get married and give me grandkids to spoil like that?”
Alex snorted. She almost saw that question coming, “When will you give me a sibling? Aunt Hachi can also give you another niece.”
“If anyone should give us someone to spoil, it should be Lilly.” Hachi laughed. She gazed around the room, “Wait, where is she?”
The rest of the group mimicked her movements. The ballroom was big and a lot of people blocked some of their views. They could only guess that she went to the toilet or she stood in the middle of the crowd.
===
Lilly shut the door behind her. Her mother was truly relentless. She even found a way to set her up with someone during a party! How did she even find the time to do it? She blew on the hair strands that blocked her vision. She would need to hide again. Why couldn’t she go through one party without being probed to meet and date?
Peeling herself off the door, she checked around the room. It seemed to be a storage unit. She found several themed decor such as moon and stars, pumpkins and ghosts—even Christmas lights and socks. She left in haste and merely checked every door she passed by if they would open. Sadly, it took her some time to find one.
At the chance, she didn’t hesitate to open it. Her mother would have already noticed she went missing.
She searched for something to sit on. Luckily, she had her business phone with her, a device her family didn’t know. She could entertain herself with it and place the one they did know on airplane mode. She quickly thought of an excuse. Her period was about to come. It wouldn’t be surprising if she suddenly had cramps.
She found a fake barrel on top of a junk pile. She reached up for it and used her fingers to push it towards her for a better grip. Once it fell off, she caught it with her hands and arms. Then, she placed it on the floor, the flat side on the bottom. She pushed it towards a wall so she could rest her back against it.
As planned, she prepared her phones and opened up her business files. Something about the new case nagged at the back of her mind but she couldn’t point her finger on it.
A crash broke her reverie. She hopped onto her feet, eyes zeroed on the source of the disturbance, “Who’s there?”
Inside, she cursed at herself. She should have done a clean sweep of the place when she arrived. She let her guard down easily.
“I mean no harm” a deep male voice answered behind a stack of chairs. Lilly would have reached for one but the top ones were too high for her to reach.
“Say that to my face and let me be the judge of it” She scowled. If someone planned to sabotage her mother’s birthday party, they would have to go through her first.
The man walked out, revealing himself, with his coal black hair gelled back in a suave style and his dark violet eyes half hidden beneath hooded lids. He wore a sharp black suit. He raised his hands in surrender, hoping it would ease the tension. He drew a breath at the sight of her. He recognized her immediately from the entrance they made earlier.
Lilly squinted her eyes, “I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.”
The mysterious man gave her a tight smile, “I’m here in place of my brother.”
“You mean by hiding in a storage unit?” Lilly clicked her tongue. She crossed her arms over her chest, still untrusting of him.
“Well, that wasn’t part of the plan” he chuckled, “But I had an emergency.”
“Sure, you did.”
“Aren’t you in a predicament as well and ended up here?” The man suppressed the growing smirk on his face. He had seen her prepare the barrel for use. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know she planned to stay for a while.
“Why should my predicament justify yours?” Lilly retorted. Never had she heard about a grown man hiding from a possible match. If anything, they’d be too proud to do it. Even if they did, it would be a lot grander than staying in a storage unit.
The man chuckled, tucking his hands into his pockets, “That may be true. Yet, there are also people who’d spend $50 on makeup while others would spend the same amount on games. Is either one superior? I think not but it’s still the same $50.”
“I don’t know what you just spouted and why it relates to the situation.”
“The $50 is the both of us hiding while the make and the games are our predicaments. As different as they may be, neither one should be inferior to the other.”
Lilly sighed, looking away from the man. She got the gist of what he meant. Alright, they both had their reasons to hide. She shouldn’t judge him while he shouldn’t judge her. It sounded fair—but that didn’t mean she found his company to be quite pleasant.
“Well, then” she cleared her throat, “Since you came here first, I’ll take my leave and look for somewhere else to stay.”
She began to step towards the door. The man dashed to block her path. He didn’t dare touch her, fearing she might strangle him with it, “It wouldn’t be right to force a lady to leave. Allow me to do the honors.”
“If it’s an honor then, why can’t I do it?” Lilly cocked an eyebrow. She could almost imagine a bead of sweat trailing down at the side of the man’s face.
“You can take it as preserving a man’s ego” he explained lightly. He stepped backwards until he felt the knob pressed against his back, “Take care, Ms. Greenwood. I’ll be taking my leave.”
Then, he turned on his heel, opening the door. Without a single look back, he left Lilly to her own demise.
Lilly merely shook her head and went back to her barrel. Whatever the man’s problem was, it was none of her business. What was her business were the document files in her phone and she gave them her 110% attention.
===
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