Lilly heard two voices on her way up the stairs. Only a number of people had gone to the second floor and none of them matched the second voice.
When she reached the top, she peeked inside and observed. Based on their interactions, she could tell the two felt rather close. Yet, she remembered that Alex only had one friend.
The corner of her mouth rose higher while the seconds passed by.
Alex… felt that this situation right now had to be the most lost she felt. Logan seeing her in that dress and Lauren discovering a folder about her life had nothing compared to the sharp eyes of her aunt. Those eyes could spot almost any ‘tell.’
‘Tell’, in this context, meant reflexive and habitual behaviors people do when withholding information. These mostly appear when under psychological stress. It could be in the lack of eye contact, in the flaring of the nostrils, in the tremor of one’s hands… and many more. Each human had, at least, one.
Alex doubted that she and Lauren would be experts at knowing their tell–even more so at how to prevent them from being revealed.
Alex sighed defeatedly, “Hello, Aunt Lilly. This is Lauren. From school.”
She held Lauren’s arm who looked at her with wide eyes. She knew Lauren thought about how she couldn’t reveal her secret to two more people. Well, that still happened. This could definitely be the end of her time at Woodlands. No matter what would happen, she’d face it.
“Lauren, this is my Aunt Lilly. She’s a lawyer” Alex gave Lauren a small apologetic smile, hoping she’d understand their predicament right away.
“Nice to meet you, Lauren” Lilly smiled politely.
Lauren left Alex’s side and walked over to the doorway. Her legs felt like jelly but somehow she could still move them. As for her lungs though, she couldn’t tell where they went.
She held out hand towards Aunt Lilly, “Nice to meet you too. Alex didn’t go to school today. I only came by to drop his homework.”
Aunt Lilly chuckled and shook her hand, “No need to hide it, dear. I know that you are aware of Alex’s gender.”
Lauren’s lips turned into an ‘O’. She didn’t know what to say to do that.
‘It was an accident. Please don’t be mad. Let Alex stay?’
That sounded bad—even in her head.
“So… what’s the story?” Lilly asked, “Hm?”
She walked into the room and sat on the foot of the bed. She switched gazes between the two teenage girls. Out of everyone in the room, she found herself to be the only person in a good mood.
“That depends” Alex answered for them, “Will you tell mom and dad?”
Lilly narrowed her eyes, “What are you hiding from them?”
“Why would I tell you if you’d reveal it to them?” Alex shot back.
Lauren stared at her in alarm. Did she really just say that? To her aunt? They had been caught red-handed! It would just lead them to more trouble!
Alex and Lilly stared at each other for a long time. Each of them had impassive faces. Lauren felt a chill in the air. A clocked ticked nearby, filling in the silence.
Then, Alex leaned forward, still not breaking eye contact. She slowly lifted her arm with her hand in a fist.
Lauren gasped, covering her mouth. Was Alex really about to punch her aunt?
Alex lifted a finger and stayed in the position.
Lilly didn’t spare it a glance. She could sense it just fine through her peripheral vision.
Five full seconds passed by before Lilly mimicked Alex’s hand.
When their pinkies connected, it became official. A silent promise had been made.
Lauren released a breath that she unknowingly held this whole time.
Aunt Lilly released Alex’s finger, “Alright, spill it.”
She couldn’t believe her niece pulled up the old conversation they had when Alex had been a kid. Lilly had wanted to sneak off from the blind date Alex’s set up for her. Yes, her brother had been involved too. It hadn’t been the date yet but a meetup at their Christmas Party that the Greenwoods host. They held the social gathering every year as a way to show their gratitude to all the people in their lives—at least, as many as their house could accommodate.
Not only would Lilly runaway from meeting this guy, she’d need to leave the party as well. Her brother and sister-in-law kept a close eye on her since this wasn’t the first time she did something like this.
She had hidden in a small room on the first floor. Alex had been there. She also had been hiding. Well, she only did so to lengthen her free time. Her parents would find her eventually. They would be too mad and too worried if she completely disappeared for the night.
For some reason, they didn’t always think of this room when looking for Alex. Either they forgot about it a lot or they just let Alex have her way for an hour or two.
“Hiding?” Alex’s small voice started her aunt.
Lilly jumped and spun around to find her niece, looking at her with wide innocent eyes. Alex sat on the carpet, cross-legged with a book in her hand. Her only light was a small lamp. If she opened the room’s main light, she’d be discovered easily.
“Oh, no, dear” she laughed breathily, “I’m just here to look after you.”
Alex tilted her head to the side. Her brown hair that had been tied to a ponytail swayed with her movement, “You don’t want to talk to the man mom and dad wanted you to meet.”
It wasn’t a question but a statement. Lilly scrunched her eyebrows, “How did you know?”
Alex shrugged, her dress ruffling from the movement, “I heard you yell it to someone over the phone. Your room is next to mine, isn’t it?”
Lilly immediately went to her side. As fast as her bodycon maroon dress and 3-inch heels would let her that is.
She sat on her hip, a finger pressed to her lips. Alex’s expression didn’t change.
“You mustn’t tell anyone, Alex” Lilly whispered to her niece, “I’m leaving.”
“What about your things?”
“I’ll come back for them another day.”
Alex blinked. She placed an elbow on her thigh and cupped her cheek, “What if I tell mom and dad?”
“Then, you’d lose your precious hiding spot.”
“There’s always my backup hiding place.”
Lilly exhaled sharply. She wondered if she and Ethan had been this difficult to their parents when they were young. Alex certainly didn’t get it from her.
She copied Alex’s position and racked her brain for an idea. She didn’t know how to get out yet so if Alex ran to her parents right now, no doubt they’d have the whole household looking for her. Then, she won’t be able to make an escape.
“Here’s what I think” Lilly began to say, “You won’t tell them about this.”
“And why wouldn’t I?” The corner of Alex’s lips lifted up, poking her cheek.
Such a cheeky brat, Lilly commented in her head, “Because if you pretend that you don’t know where your beautiful aunt is, I will owe you a favor.”
Alex raised an eyebrow, “A favor?”
“Yes for when the time comes that you’ll have a secret to keep from your parents. Trust me, you’ll have one eventually. Sooner or later, I’ll also catch you like you did with me.”
“What’s the favor exactly?”
Lilly smiled mischievously, “Just the same thing I’m asking from you, to keep it a secret from them.”
Alex pressed her lips together. She thought about her aunt’s words carefully. She had been told that lying to her parents was bad. Then again, she was in this room hiding from them.
The idea didn’t seem far fetched.
“Pinky swear it” Alex demanded, lifting up her finger. Her aunt didn’t hesitate to take it.
“I pinky swear.”
They paused for a while. Then, Alex took a deep breath, letting go of her aunt’s finger , “There’s a window behind that bookcase over there.”
Alex pointed to the one directly behind her aunt. Lilly instantly turned her to look at it.
“Nothing used to be there so I know it. I just kept buying books so I needed space. I didn’t mind not having any window light if it meant I get to keep my books on display. There’s a row of bushes on the other side if I remember right so you could hide in there while you figure how to leave the gate.”
Lilly felt an overwhelming sense of triumphant in her chest. A bit of price was also mixed in. Her niece’s clever mind clearly came from her.
She beamed at her niece, who felt quite smug at her aunt’s reaction.
10 years had already passed by and yet neither of them forgot about this promise.
Alex looked just as smug as she did back then. She thanked her brain for remembering the favor just in the nick of time.
“Well” Alex cleared her throat. She still couldn’t get over how she outsmarted her aunt this time around. Most of her attempts had been unsuccessful, “Lauren happened to see my school records and she confronted me about it. We talked and now, we’re good friends.”
“Your school records?” Lilly exasperated, “Those are confidential for any student. How could someone access your records like it’s on a magazine stand?”
“That’s the part that we don’t know.”
Lauren chose this time to cut in, “I asked to see the club portfolios from the staff. They had it in a drawer nearby and allowed me to get them. That’s how I found it.”
“In those portfolios?”
Lauren shivered at Lilly’s gray eyes on her. They looked like pointed marble weapons ready to strike.
“Yes” she nodded, “I don’t know how or why.”
Lilly turned her head between the two girls. A leak of Alex’s identity was an important matter. Ethan would most definitely be furious by this lack of security. He’d definitely find a way to consider this as a breach of contract.
No wonder her niece wanted to hide it. He did have quite the temper.
Lilly pinched the bridge of her nose. That didn’t mean she should just let it go.
She gave Alex a pointed look as well as a pointed finger, “Your parents won’t know about this like I promised but I will not let this slide. I will have a talk with the principal about this. Since this would cause him to lose your father’s funding, he’d be more than willing to keep this under wraps. From this moment onwards, you are to update me on this situation if any new developments happen. Are we clear on this?”
Alex smiled cheekily, “Crystal.”
A weight lifted off her shoulders. She had full confidence in her aunt. The best thing that could happen was her aunt discovers the culprit, prevents any more leak of information to happen and her parents wouldn’t need to know.
At least, not until she graduated.
Lilly huffed, sliding off the bed and standing on her feet. She faced Lauren, a wide smile on her lips, “Come by anytime you want to. Alex could surely use the company. She always kicks Logan out.”
Lauren held back a laugh, “Yeah, I noticed.”
“Speaking of Logan, your mom is gonna call you” Lilly informed Alex.
Alex’s smug smile fell of her face, replacing it with a frown, “What does my mom and Logan have to do with each other?”
