“Really? That’s good then.” Mother uttered, her hands carefully cutting a carrot on the cutting board into thin slices. Lily stood beside the dining table, biting her lips and trying hard to think of a suitable way to convey her story. Mother’s reaction just now when she told her about going out with a guy-friend to a party was really not what she had expected.
“He will come pick me up at half-past 5, something like that. It’s a formal party I guess, judging by the dress he sent me.” Lily continued. Mother nodded with a smile.
“Will I get to see him?” Mother added, shifting her glance towards her anxious-looking daughter. Lily thought her heart just stopped when she heard those words. She wants to see him??
“I, err… don’t know… hehe.” Lily chuckled nervously.
She didn’t know why mother shook her head and laughed. Probably she was being silly or something, but this didn’t seem to be going as she had planned. She assumed that Mother would be firing her with interrogative questions, not to forget the lectures about not coming home too late at night and avoiding dark alleyways. Mother was acting quite different this morning. She was less a worry-wart than she used to be.
“I’d be glad to get to know him better, you know. Who knows if he might be my future son-in-law?”
“No mother! He’s just a friend, nothing more!”
Daisy’s made-up coughing could be heard from the living room.
“I’ve never seen you having a serious relationship with anyone before. You’re not getting younger either, Lily. I think it’s about time you had someone special in your life.”
Mother moved into the kitchen and placed the chopped carrots into a bowl together with a few other vegetables. Lily followed her from behind, feeling a bit taken aback with what her mother just said.
“B… but, mother, I’m sure you’re not gonna like him. He’s abhorrent, snobbish and very selfish. I just agreed to go out with him because, err… because of a debt.” She said nervously. She wasn’t sure if Mother was going to buy it, but she told her anyway; a glimpse of the real situation.
“Then I’m sure there must be a piece of kindness in him that made you accept to go out with him. People usually hate someone before they grow fond of them.” Mother replied, positively pointing out her thoughts. She was actually trying to test Lily’s further reaction with her ironic words. Mother always knows best.
Lily, on the other hand, grew disgusted with the gruesome idea of her being with the snobbish moron. Not in this world, she thought to herself. Plus, she never believed that vague assumption as well. How can you like someone that you hate so much, when just by the sight of them, you feel like throwing up and all the horrible feelings you could ever feel? Even if someone else proved that remark to be true, it didn’t mean she would end up with the same experience either. At least that’s what she thought.
“Mother, I’m serious.”
“Yes, dear, I know you are. Help me fry some chicken will you? I feel like cooking something special for lunch today.” Mother simply ignored her. She seemed very busy with the vegetable soup on the stove. Lily couldn’t make up her mind whether her mother was purposely trying not to care about the point that she was trying to convey just because she liked the idea of her daughter finally going out with someone, or whether mother ignored her because she was actually busy making vegetable soup. The latter didn’t really seem to make sense, so she assumed that mother actually consented with her going out with a guy-friend tonight. Lily poured oil into the frying pan with a sigh. If only she could tell mother who the guy was.
Just then, the door bell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Daisy shouted from the living room as she rushed towards the door.
A few moments later, Daisy’s loud scream filled the air, and probably the whole apartment block. Lily nearly dropped the spatula she was holding and hurriedly started towards the front door, mother right behind her back, feeling slightly panicked.
The figure standing by the doorway caused Lily to stop dead on her spot, gaping with shock and disbelief. She could see that mother was just as shocked as her.
“Hi,” the person greeted them with his spontaneous grin, looking towards Lily’s family one after the other. This time, Lily actually dropped the spatula she was holding.
*
“Alex, what are you doing here?!” Lily asked the man standing by the doorway who turned out to be the last person she ever wanted to see in the world. Alex’s grin was still there, and she felt like punching him in the face for that. It was as if he was doing something pretty normal to be smiling like that.
“I thought it would be rude not to be meeting your parents before taking you out, so I thought I’d hang around for lunch.” He replied with his most charming smile that nearly caused Daisy to faint. Lily, as usual, became enraged with this sudden decision of his. She walked to the door, pushed him out into the hallway and closed the door behind her, smiling sheepishly to her mother as she did that before the door closed, separating her from inside. She then turned to face him.
“You can’t do this, Alex.”
“Do what?”
“This! Barging to my house like this! What do you think you’re doing?!”
“Barging? At least I pressed the door bell. I just wanted to meet your parent, that’s all.”
“You can’t. This is not right. We’re not like actually dating or anything!”
“Even so, you’ve agreed to become my girlfriend for a month. Therefore, throughout the whole month, we should act like one happy couple.”
Lily felt devastation falling upon her. She gritted her teeth and stared to his face, loss of words. She wanted to punch him so bad, but fortunately she didn’t let her mind get the best of her. His annoyingly calm and innocent expression enraged her even more.
“I hate you, you selfish, obnoxious, irritating moron!” Lily uttered through her gritted teeth and briskly opened the door behind her and went in. Alex followed behind her, still showing his guiltless face as Lily’s mother and sister came into view. He threw them one charming smile and introduced himself. Lily stood halfway between her mother and Alex, staring through the wooden floor of the room.
“Ah, so you’re the friend Lily mentioned about earlier! She didn’t tell me it was you, Mister Beddington.” Mother uttered, trying to be formal. His presence caught her with surprise. Alex, however, only smiled.
She welcomed Alex in, quickly taking him to the dining table as it was about time for lunch. Mother rushed to finish the meal that was still boiling and frying on the stove.
To Be Continued....
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