Alex kept on walking across the room, completely ignoring all the heads turned towards him. Lily followed him closely behind, trying very hard to contain herself. She felt quite devastated that they were actually the centre of attention now, and Alex did not feel anything about it. Earlier before, she had hoped to walk in quietly behind him and avoid making eye contact with anyone. She was sure she could pretend to not exist. But alas, she forgot to put Alex into the scenario. With him around, it’s like walking with a gigantic ‘Look, I’m here!’ sign.
Lily noticed that they were walking towards a group of men discussing by the corner of the room. There were three of them, all finely suited. They conversed casually among each other with lowered tones, separating themselves from the crowd. Two of them were facing their way, while the other one had his backs towards them. Lily could see that they were fine looking young men. Those must be his friends, she thought.
As they approached the group, the two men who had noticed Alex gave him a great big smile. One of them called out his name. Alex smiled back and greeted them, advancing to shake their hands. Lily stood a few steps back. Her eyes fixed on his friends, and stopped at the last one who had been having his back towards them a while ago. He had turned towards them just as soon as the other one called out Alex’s name. She looked at him as he took Alex’s hands and exchanged a few words. He smiled towards Alex as they began to pick up where they left off. Lily felt her heart stop - completely.
Everything around her suddenly felt like a blur. Alex came back to her and took her by the waist. He grinned towards his friend, and said “This is my girlfriend, Lily Stephans. Lily, meet my best friend and the host for tonight, Danial Miles. He just came back from Australia a few days ago.” Lily felt a knot tied in her throat. She looked towards Danial, and he looked towards her. She was sure that they had the same thing in mind. Four years couldn’t have been too long to take away a memory about someone. Lily desperately tried to think of something to say, but she couldn’t make out any. Her emotions were starting to fall apart, but she couldn’t let that happen in front of Alex.
“Oh, so this is the girlfriend you’ve been talking about? Hello, it’s nice to meet you, Lily.”
Fortunately, Danial managed to say out something before Lily could decide to turn around and run for her sorry self. He gave her a warm and welcoming smile, looking straight into her eyes. Lily had no choice but to force out a smile as well, and replied his greeting. Danial immediately shifted his glance to Alex again, acting as if he had never met Lily. She tried hard to do the same, but something inside her was breaking. After four years, this should be the right time to be reunited with your first love that never happened? Lily felt like hating herself so much.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?” Alex’s voice nudged her back into reality. She had not realized that the group had started parting into another room. Alex stared towards her with a frown; referring to the blank stare she gave the floor just now. Lily quickly fumbled for words.
“I err, nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.” She only managed to say. Alex did not question further.
They walked out of the room and out of the house into the backyard of the bungalow. At the middle was a big swimming pool surrounded by off-white tiling, while at the far left side was a green view connecting to the garden from the front of the house. Tables were arranged around the pool for the party, and a buffet table with all the food Lily had ever seen was set just on her right near the porch of the house. A lot of people were already digging their way into the food. Everything looked splendid.
“Is this a pool party?” Lily innocently asked out of her amazement. Hearing those, Alex gave out a chuckle.
“Of course not, silly. They don’t make pool parties this grand. It’s a welcoming party for my friend, of course.”
Lily looked towards Danial walking not really far ahead of them. He seemed very calm - very undisturbed. He might not have remembered her at all, now that she came to think of it. But the way he looked at her when Alex introduced her to him just now, she knew it too well to assume that he did not remember her.
After a while, they were seated around a table at one side of the pool. Lily dreaded this moment, because she knew they would be sitting facing each other on one table, and Danial chose the seat directly opposite of her on that round table for six. The next hour was spent indulging into food and chatting about each other’s account. Lily did not feel like she belonged in the group. It was already very awkward coming to the party in the first place with someone she utterly hated and acting as his girlfriend, and now she was sitting right in front of someone she had never thought of seeing again. Despite the tempting appearance of the dinner in front of her, she just could not bring herself to swallow even a bite.
“Excuse me, I think I need to go to the toilet.” She said as she abruptly stood up to go back inside. However, before she could advance a step, Alex quickly grabbed onto her wrist. She turned her head and looked at him as he stared towards her face.
“Do you even know where the toilet is?” he asked. Lily did not immediately answer because the answer was obvious. She didn’t.
“Err, I’ll show you if you’d…” Danial started but Lily quickly cut him off. “No, I can find my way around.” She assured them and quickly walked away. Alex watched her with complete puzzlement, but then decided that she really had to go do her business. He continued chatting where they last dropped off, not noticing the queer look on Danial’s face as he watched Lily walk into the house. However, when Alex threw him a question, the expression quickly disappeared and he wore his usual calm and undisturbed face once again.
To Be Continued...
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