Beer?
Beer?
She seriously wondered whether there would come a time where they would all have a peaceful family dinner without quarrels or dramas.
After Leo left the house angrily, Louis had gone after him immediately, but seeing Louis return almost immediately he left, she could tell Leo already drove off so Louis went straight to his room while their father followed suit, leaving herself and her mother sitting there alone awkwardly.
"I hope you aren't doing anything capable of making your father mad at you?" Mrs King asked carefully.
"No.. not at all." Chloe shook her head immediately. This was exactly the reason she hadn't bothered to tell her family about David's stalking. If they realised he had been her boyfriend who had been leeching off her to the point where she had put up her brother's house as a sharehouse, they were going to disown her for real.
Mrs King smiled warmly at her.
"Good. We can count on you to always do the right thing." Mrs King said and placed a hand on top of Chloe's hand.
"Just study really hard, take care of your mall and be happy. When it is time, we are going to fix you up with a good guy so do not let anything distract you, okay?" She said with a smile.
Chloe cringed at that. Seriously? That wasn't what she wanted. She didn't want that kind of life. Were they in the 20s?
"Something wrong? Anything you want to say?" Mrs King asked as she watched Chloe's facial expressions.
"Nothing. It's all good. I need to study so I'll just..." She let her words trail off and quickly excused herself to her room.
She slumped on her bed and looked at the ceiling unhappily.
Why did people always think the rich lived without problems? She really wished money could solve everything and make her happy.
If only they would just let her live freely, she probably wasn't going to ever get married to any man.
She picked up her phone and tried to decide whether to call Leo but after thinking about it for a long time, she shook her head.
She wasn't sure he would want to talk to her right now.
She envied Leo so much. He was the only one who did as he pleased. She wished she could be like that. But she wasn't sure she would be able to do so.
One of the most dialed numbers saved in her call logs was Jeremy's number.
She remembered she had created a file for him to study with and placed a call across to him immediately.
She chewed her lower lip as she waited for the call to get connected and wondered why he was taking long before answering her call.
Just before the call ended, he answered it.
"Boss?" He asked skeptically.
She could guess why he sounded that way. She rarely called him after he dropped her off at home, except there was an information she had forgotten to pass across to him.
"I'm sending you a file. You should study it tonight." She said without beating around the bush.
"Really? Thanks." She heard the smile in his voice and frowned. Was he always happy at everything?
She didn't know what else to say since she was always used to giving instructions and ending the call so she just pressed the phone to her ear awkwardly and waited for him go say something.
It seemed he was also waiting for her to give him an instruction because he was also very quiet.
Her brows wrinkled a bit as she heard some sounds in his background.
"Where are you? Didn't you go home?" She asked in confusion.
"I'm outside. Ellie indirectly threw me out." He answered with a light chuckle.
"Ellie? Why?" She asked as she sat up on the bed.
"She was first pissed at me and then she saw my hair. She got jealous that I let someone else do it for me and got madder because it was better than hers so she said she didn't want to me for the next 2 hours. I'm supposed to reflect on my actions." He chuckled again and was surprised to hear her laugh.
The siblings were really something. How could a 22 years old boy let an 8 years old bully him like that and he didn't mind?
"You could have just locked yourself inside then.."
"Yea. Wanted to. But she was watching a cartoon in the living room. Had to give her space and come out here to watch the night. And it reminds me of you."
"Me? The night reminds you of me?" She asked in confusion. Was that an insult? Wasn't nights usually said to be a form of darkness whether literally or metaphorically? So did it mean he saw her as darkness?
"Yea.. it's... really pretty. Just like you." He said smoothly which took her aback.
She said nothing and he also remained quiet for a while before he said,
"Thank you."
"For... what?" She was confused once again.
"I don't know.. for just being you and always listening to the suggestions of someone like me... I guess...." He was quiet for a few seconds before adding..
"I miss you."
He closed his eyes tightly and waited for the yells to come. He had taken a huge risk saying that to his boss who was hot tempered but it was his nature to be forward about how he felt.
Keeping things all bottled up made him feel very uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, color had risen to Chloe's cheeks. What was with him tonight saying cheesy things?
She cleared her throat and opened her mouth to say something in her usual stern voice but nothing came out.
"Say.. hello to Ellie for me. Good night." She said quickly and ended the call before throwing the phone on the bed.
"That's weird." She said as she looked at her phone.
*******
Mia did something which she had never done before– by herself.
After crying for a long time inside her room, she had gone to the kitchen. She sat on the kitchen chair where she usually sat and placed three cans of beer in front of her.
The next day was school, yes. But she wanted to get wasted. From happiness? Sadness? She didn't know.
She was supposed to be very happy, wasn't she? But now, she was so sad because she kept remembering how she had been slaving away for the past 4 years just to make sure she paid a debt she hadn't taken by herself.
Funnily enough, Tara was sitting right there at the kitchen, staring at her. But Mia didn't even have the energy to run away from her and she could swear she saw the look of surprise in Tara's face.
She had only drank a half of the first can when she heard the front door open.
She stood up immediately and tried to find her balance as she realised that the drink was already affecting her.
She hoped it was Leo and not some robber. But why would Leo come now when he hadn't left for a long time?
She placed both hands on the wall and used it to support herself as she left the kitchen.
Leo's steps halted as he looked towards the kitchen where the light was on.
He was about to go in there when he saw Mia come out.
She looked disheveled. Her hair was almost in a tangled mess, her eyes were red and swollen, her face was wet from tears, her cheeks flushed from the beer. As usual, she wore her house top and short.
They both looked at each other quietly. Mia stood tall and looked at him with worry. She could tell something was wrong with him. Was that why he had returned earlier than she had expected.
"Mia.." He called her name in a faint voice before walking towards her.
Before she could react, he enveloped her in a hug with his face buried in the crook of her neck, and his eyes rightly shut.
He was down, broken, and needed solace. And he knew the only place to find solace was here, was with her, Mia Lucas.
Mia stood there stiffly and just let him hug her. She could tell something was wrong with him and was no longer worried about herself but was worried about him.
She reached for his back to pat him gently. "It's going to be okay." She assured him quietly.
She didn't know what was wrong but thought it was best to just comfort him until he was ready to tell her.
"I should be telling you that." He said as he also began to pat her back gently.
They both suddenly chuckled before pulling away from the hug.
"Beer?" She asked softly.
"Can see you are already into it. Let's just have it then." He said with a stiff smile as she took his hand and led him to the kitchen.