Jaime walked back to her party. She had an arm around her husband’s and her head cradled on his shoulder, a giddy smile stretching her lips to oblivion. Her facial muscles will hurt later but she didn’t care. Her family was complete. No one could possibly ruin the moment for her.
Oliver ran a thumb over the back of her hand that rested on his elbow. The texture had changed. It used to be smooth and soft. Now, they had a few wrinkles and her veins stood out more. It didn’t matter. He still knew her hand like his own. It could change all it wanted but he wouldn’t mistake it for someone else’s.
Behind the couple, Angie turned to Alex, “It’s getting late. Have you packed?”
“Yeah, Emily and I already cleaned out the room” her daughter affirmed with a nod. They already predicted that they wouldn’t have time after the party.
“Is Emily going to stay another week with you?” Hachi asked.
“That’s the plan” Emily said with enthusiasm, “Ah, I wish it could last longer.”
“You need to come home at some point, you know” her mother pouted. She hugged Emily sideways, “I can’t believe you want to leave me by myself.”
“You have your fiance.”
“He’s not my daughter now, is he?”
Angie gazed at her own daughter. Alex immediately caught her look, “You’re not about to become sentimental too, are you?”
“You already know I miss you everyday.”
“I will graduate soon enough.”
“Then, you’ll pick a college that is far from home and live in dorms” her mother snorted. She rolled her eyes and kept them up to where the wall and ceiling connected.
Alex shook her head, “Maybe it can be an apartment and you can come live with me.”
She felt a sudden hard tug on her arm. She almost tripped again. When she turned her head to scold her mother, Angie looked back at her with starry eyes, “You mean it? You won’t be embarrassed to have your mom around?”
“Sure” she replied, “But you won’t bear leaving dad alone.”
Angie nodded at her statement, “That’s true. He’d get into loads of trouble.”
“Just wait one year and I could live in that apartment with you” Emily butted in. She already felt excited about the plans. They’d go furniture shopping and create themes for each room. A spare room for her studio so she could on her designs. Alex could also have one and she could decide on what to do with it.
“We’d have to go to the same college first” Alex chuckled over her shoulder.
“I can be as smart as you” her cousin scoffed, “Elena and Charlotte keep nagging me whenever I get a grade lower than an A.”
“I meant for specialization though since I’d most likely get a business course while you’d head for a fashion career.”
“Let’s worry about that next year” Emily waved it off with her hand, “Right now, let’s worry about how we’ll get home. Aunt Lilly is still missing.”
“You’ll have to go with the boys. It’s good that they brought out their cars along” Hachi said, “Just don’t let grandfather catch you.”
“Don’t let me catch what?”
All four girls whirled their heads to the front. They’d already left the hallway and reached the ballroom. Both Jaime and Oliver gazed at them with suspicious eyes.
“Catch us…” Alex stuttered, “And not let us leave, grandpa.”
She ran up to him and engulfed him in a hug, startling her grandfather. She made sure to squeeze tight, “I missed you a lot but I still have school tomorrow. I need to go so I can get enough rest.”
“I heard Lilly isn’t around so how will you get home?” Oliver frowned once Alex released him, “Should I have my driver drop you off?”
“Uh, no, there’s no need.”
Her grandfather frown turned into a scowl. He folded his arms over his chest, fully facing his granddaughter. When he squinted his eyes, Alex blinked and gave him a closed cheeky smile, “We already arranged a mode of transport.”
“And that is?” He used a crisp voice, getting straight to the point.
Alex gulped. She didn’t have the confidence to say it so she answered hesitantly, “A taxi?”
“A taxi?!” Oliver Greenwood bellowed. Jaime instantly turned to their guests nearby and reassured them about it, “I won’t let any family of mine take a taxi. What if something happens to you?”
“This is a special taxi service, grandpa” Emily walked up behind Alex. If she didn’t step in, they would be in a mess of trouble. Thankfully, she was able to come up with a plan, “It’s luxurious and meant for VIPs. It even has a phone app. All of their information is in it so if anything happens, they’d be easier to track down.”
“I still don’t feel comfortable with letting strangers drive you around” their grandfather hissed. His hands clenched into fists, a sign of him holding back his anger.
“Actually, we already booked it” Emily continued, not letting anyone have a chance to cut in, “We can even meet the drivers while they wait for us at the lobby. Like I said, it’s a VIP Taxi Service but it’s more like a… chauffeur for hire? They’re paid by the hour and not by mileage. Because of this, they go through excruciating tests before the company would hire them. Some of them offer great service that a client hire them permanently—”
The more her cousin talked, the clearer Emily’s intentions became clearer to Alex. She locked eyes with her grandmother. It seemed that they had the same idea. Jaime nodded and gave her thumbs up, her way of telling her that she’d help out.
Jaime toucher her husband’s arm lightly, “Aw, come on, honey. I personally picked out the drivers. You’d see a whole list of them. These two are really reliable. We used a pseudonym so they won’t know about our family reputation. I already met them before you came. I specifically required it in order to interview them. They’re working to earn enough for their college tuition.”
“How old are these drivers?” Oliver looked at his wife skeptically.
“They’re 18 years old.”
“18?! They could still be irresponsible—”
“Aw, grandpa. I already told you about the tests” Emily interrupted, “They’re highly qualified. That means they’re exceptional since they’re still young. They also have a reason why they have this job. They wouldn’t want to lose it so they’ll be on their best behavior.”
Oliver exhaled sharply. Then, he shifted his attention to his wife again, “You said that they’re here. Where are they? I should be the one to decide this.”
“We’ll get them” Alex answered for her grandmother, “The two of you haven’t spent much time together. Every minute counts!”
She pushed Emily away from the couple. Her cousin didn’t need to be told twice. The two girls escaped the scene and went on to hunt for the two boys that would be driving them.
“A taxi service?!” Alex breathed out, almost whispering. Then, she looked around the room. There were so many faces. They needed to find the boys as soon as possible or their grandfather would become suspicious.
“Well, I remembered that Logan had driven you around twice already. That being said, we could use it to boost up his reliability reputation” Emily explained in the same tone.
“We don’t even know if they’ll go through with this plan.”
“They’ll either go through with it or they’ll have their sticks cut off.”
The two of them did their best to not appear inconspicuous. They walked briskly as they continued their search. They had thought about splitting up but two sets of eyes might be faster than two sets of feet. They walked through the crowd like they would in a supermarket, dividing the people into aisles.
“Elena! Charlotte! Have you seen Logan and Jae?” Emily called out. She spotted the two near a window curtain. Something they did when they wanted a way to hide easily. They only needed to pull it around them.
“They went over there” Elena leaned her back off the wall to point at a nearby doorway that led outside the hotel. The moment she told them about it, the two boys walked into the room with Ethan Greenwood in front of them.
“Thank you! See you next week!” Emily grabbed her cousin’s wrist and pulled her towards their targets. It would be hard to explain their situation to her uncle. She needed to come up with another plan.
“Uncle Ethan!” She yelled. The three males stopped in their tracks at the sound of her voice. Emily and Alex panted once they reached them, their muscles dying from the adrenaline they just used.
“Grandpa is looking for you” Emily said, “We’ll be going soon so we were in a hurry to find you.”
“I see. Where is he and mother?”
Emily pointed at the general direction they left the couple in. Hopefully, they didn’t move from the spot. Ethan nodded and proceeded to greet his father. She hadn’t been able to come up with another lie for her uncle. She could only rely on the rest of the women to intervene if he’d say something out of the ordinary.
When he was out of earshot, Emily turned to Jae. She clapped on his shoulder hard as if she had a fly to squish, “We were looking for you. It’s time to leave.”
Jae furrowed his eyebrows, “You could have called us in our cell.”
“I don’t have your number.”
“Using pickup lines on me now, huh?”
Emily closed her eyes and groaned loudly. She curled her fingers on his shoulder into claws and pushed it down, seething, “I don’t have time for your games! My grandfather isn’t someone to mess with. Aunt Lilly left early so we’ll be riding with you but he wants to meet you first. He has no idea we have any relations that are not between a chauffeur and a client.”
“Chauffeur?” Jae asked.
“All you have to do is pass his interview.”
“Interview?”
“Grandfather is really protective” Alex cut in when she noticed her cousin had almost drained her patience, “He wouldn’t let us leave with strangers. We also wouldn’t be able to leave if we told him we’re friends because that would be a longer interrogation. He likes to make his own decisions with his own observations. It takes him longer to believe in second-hand information.”
Logan cocked an eyebrow, “So you decided to make us your chauffeurs?”
She turned to him with pleading eyes, “Please, just play along. I really want to go home in peace.”
Logan’s shoulders slackened at the sight. He patted her arms, nodding, “Okay.”
She beamed when she heard his answer. She looked so happy that Logan couldn’t help but smile at her expression. He made the right choice. The situation must be serious for them to come up with such a plan. He knew Alex didn’t do them for the fun of it.
Alex jumped in gratitude, kissing his cheek, “Thank you.”
LINK:
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