Me After Meeting You

My goodness, those words sounded particularly savage due to the contrast of how calm Ian’s tone was.

Ian’s grandmother was greatly shocked, and she was even momentarily unable to breathe. But Amber, who was sitting by Ian’s side, didn’t seem to be shocked at all. She instead asked in a somewhat interested tone, “How?”

Ian looked at Amber and then glanced at his grandmother, who was still clutching her chest lightly behind them before saying, “I’ll listen to you.”

He had purposefully altered his words because his grandmother was here. Amber wrung her wrists, thinking that his wariness was still too strong as she joked, “We’d surely fail if you listened to me, I’m not smart enough.”

Ian’s lips curled up slightly. “You understand yourself quite well.”

Despite the disdainful “compliment”, Amber didn’t get mad. “That’s also a virtue.”

Ian glared at her, and Amber smiled in response. When Ian’s grandmother saw these two behave like this, she became a bit flummoxed again. Sighing, she went outside to call her husband.

Amber had already changed topics to Ian leaving the hospital. “The doctor said that tomorrow’s fine?”

Ian seemed like he wasn’t too happy about it, casually responding with a grunt.

‘Did he not want to leave?’ Amber put her chin in her palm as she smiled and said, “What a coincidence, the day after is Trysta’s birthday.”

Ian didn’t understand what the coincidence was, and shot a confused glance at her.

“That day will be very lively.”

For Trysta’s final birthday in her twenties, Frank wanted to host a grand birthday banquet for her. He had invited their families for the day celebrations and Trysta’s close friends for the night festivities, a huge, themed party.

Everyone in her classmates’ group chat had been posting about this for the past couple of days. Silvia was even asking her day and night, “Do I look good in this outfit?”

Her classmates had participated in many activities together, but this was the first themed party they would ever attend.

Amber wasn’t particularly interested in this sort of event, but she felt that Ian, who had been living a more and more secluded life ever since he had been admitted into the hospital, very much needed to go to such a lively place. So, she asked, “We can bring family members to the party. Do you want to be my plus one?”Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.

Out of habit, Amber had used the words that Trysta had used to invite them, not realizing that ‘family’ had inexplicably given Ian a warm feeling inside. He nonchalantly nodded his head as he responded, “That’s acceptable.”

“Alright, then it’s settled. The event’s at night, so you have the afternoon to rest when you get home. The theme is ‘holy angel.’ What you wear and how you wear it is all up to you, so feel free to explore and be creative.”

***

The next day passed by in the blink of an eye, and then it was Friday. Amber had something to do in the morning, but she was free in the afternoon. Earlier in the morning, Silvia had asked, “Have you decided what you’re going to wear?”

“Yes.”

“What?”

“A doctor’s costume, don’t they say that all say doctors are angels in white?”

And then Silvia bashed her. “Scram! With such a half-hearted outfit, it’s no wonder you couldn’t steal my male idol away despite your temperament and looks!”

Silvia’s male idol was none other than Calvin. Trysta had at least kept her lips sealed and never revealed Amber and Calvin’s relationship, so Silvia still thought of them as sisters in hardship.

Naturally, she had to share the newest hot gossip that she had just heard. “He’s engaged now, apparently to a rich heir. My goodness, I’m also a rich self-made woman. Why didn’t he choose me?”

Amber was slightly dazed by the news, and bitter feelings slowly seeped out from her heart.

Silvia continued gossiping. “I never expected that we would be the last ones left. Honestly, I can’t accept this situation!”

Amber laughed. “Don’t you have a boyfriend?”

“We broke up. He hates going out, so he should just stay home single his entire life. What’s he even doing, trying to find a girlfriend?!”

Silvia’s tone was very relaxed, and it didn’t sound like she had been hurt at all by the breakup, so Amber only comforted her superficially.

“Hng, I’m not upset at all. As long as you’re still with me, I’ll be reassured!” And then she happily planned out what they would do at the party. “What if the two of us go as a couple together? Based on our looks alone, I bet that we’ll get lots of attention.”

So all her earlier talk had been leading up to these last few sentences. Amber almost couldn’t bear to tell her that she had already found a male partner. But conveniently, when Ian got out of the hospital, Billy had come along with him, so Amber had extended an invite to him on Silvia’s behalf.

Yes, at that time, she had purely been trying to help Silvia find a suitable partner for the party, with no other thoughts at all.

Upon hearing her offer, Billy accepted at once. “Ian’s going? Then I have to go too!”

She just didn’t expect that Silvia would actually get outfits for the both of them, a set piece with a white angel and a black demon costumes. As soon as Amber arrived, Silvia was dragging her doctor’s outfit off and insisting that she change into the angel dress.

Trysta and the others were standing to the side and enjoying the excitement, but none of them responded to Amber’s pleas for help.

In the end, Amber could only plead, “I already have a male partner, and I even found you one too. Can I not change?”

Amber could tell, even without wearing the clothes that Silvia had found, that they were far too risque for her tastes, Silvia’s black dress exposed a large part of her bare back that her demon wings didn’t cover.

She really couldn’t go out dressed like that, alright?

She wanted Trysta to testify that she had indeed brought two other people, because her doing so had to be approved by Trysta beforehand. But Trysta was very dissatisfied with Amber’s doctor outfit. It was just too different from everyone else’s! So, she lied and said, “Really? I didn’t know that.”