THE UNINVITED GUEST

“Don’t you think such an announcement shouldn’t be made at my back?” this voice suddenly cut through the ambience, surprising the cheery people.

And the second everyone turned around and saw the man that just spoke, their expressions became sore and the huge smile displaying on their faces just now died out at once.

Michael especially, his face had grown into stone – coated with heavy frown lines while his stomach churned with disgust.

“I didn’t remember inviting you to this party, Nathan,” he squeezed the words out through angrily gritted teeth, his eyes filling with chilling anger.

“Oh, c’mon, man. Don’t be ridiculous,” Nathan waved at him dismissively while he amounted his footsteps closer to where they stood, “Whether or not I come to this party isn’t left for you to decide ‘cause you’re not the celebrant,” his shoulders squared and his chin high in pride as he spoke nonchalantly.

And immediately after his words, Michael left where he was standing and went to hurl his clenched fist onto Nathan’s face which immediately sent him to the floor like a parabola.

“Michael!” Mandy, Scott, and Joshua called out in horror simultaneously as they all rushed to get a hold of him but he’d jumped on Nathan and began punching his face over and over again; grunting with every blow he sent to his face.

By this time, the hall had gone into a dead silence and everyone’s attention was now concentrated on the scene exhibiting.

“I’ve fucking warned you to stay clear away from Mandy, didn’t I?” Michael grated, the veins around his forehead and fist kept popping out and red blood-shots could be seen gathered in the center of his pupils – glowing with blood.

“Michael, please stop, please,” Mandy whimpered, holding her mouth while Scott and Joshua struggled to grab his arms on both sides but it’s true that if a person became crazy, his energy would become extraordinarily large.

Michael ruthlessly grabbed Nathan’s shirt whose mouth has completely torn out with blood oozing out from his nose and mouth.

“You bastard! I purposely didn’t invite you because I didn’t want Mandy to ever set her eyes on you again but then you appeared here uninvited. You must be crazy!” He finished his words with another punch landing at Nathan’s jaw.

“Stop it now, Michael,” Mandy cried out, dropping to her knees in front of Michael. “Please stop it now. We’re in the middle of your mom’s party, remember?”

Bit by bit, Michael let go of Nathan’s shirt and gradually pushed to standing. He didn’t let Nathan go because of Mandy’s words actually, he only let him go because seeing the tears rolling down Mandy’s face felt like someone had just hurled a spare at his chest.

Scott and Joshua released a deep sigh of relief at the same time and secretly shook their heads and thought to themselves that this was truly the power of love, turning a person of high IQ into a fool.

They had never seen Michael act so recklessly before.

“What’s going on here?”

Michael was about to pull Mandy into his embrace when he suddenly heard his mother’s voice followed by the distinct clatter sound of her high-heeled shoes.

“Can we all go back to the party now? It’s all fine now as you can see,”

Mandy looked up and saw a man and woman getting closer to them and it didn’t take long before she recognized the sophisticatedly dressed woman as Michael’s mother while the man as his father.

 The woman looked classy and dignified in her velvet blue dress but the valuable and dazzling jewelry on her was even more eye-catching.

 Her blonde hair was done in a French twist and the moderate makeup done on her face made her look beautiful and would be appearing more gorgeous if she wasn’t looking angry at that moment.

“Can any of you tell me what just happened here?” The woman’s voice launched into a scolding as she accidentally met Mandy’s gaze who quickly hid behind Michael like a frightened quail and watched as Scott and Joshua went to lift up Nathan from the floor.

Groaning and wiping the liquid from his mouth, Nathan smiled so wide at the woman and revealed his bloodstained white teeth, “Happy Birthday to you, Aunt Louisa. Thanks for birthing Michael, my friend, even though he’d almost take my life because of a woman just now,”

“Can you please shut up now, Nathan? You got what you deserve,” Joshua eyed him, looking irritated.

However, Louisa’s eyes had gone incredibly widened in disbelief after listening to what just happened and to think that her son was the reason a scene was created here a while ago made her run out of patience.

“What has gotten into you, Michael? Does this place look like a boxing ring to you? And what in the hell could your friend have ever done to offend you for you to ruin his mouth like this?” Louisa yelled silently, her brown orbs flaming as she looked at her son’s face pointedly.

The man that was telling the audience to leave earlier had successfully chased them away and heard his wife’s voice on his return.

“No, no, darling. You can’t do that here,” the man who looked a lot like Michael’s older version asserted in a loving tone while he took his wife’s hand and they both began heading to the exit direction, leaving the kids to follow them.

In the cold breeze outside, very close to the swimming pool. There stood all of them, Mandy, Michael, Nathan, Scott, Joshua and Michael’s parents with only one or two guests passing by occasionally around there.

“So, I’m listening,” Louisa spoke up first, her eyes holding her son’s face fiercely.

She was outside the hall with her husband, chatting with some of her old friends that she was so pleased to meet again when everywhere suddenly went silent only for them to rush into the hall and saw the mess their son had created.

Nathan groaned out, dabbing his mouth with a handkerchief and moving forward as if he wanted to say something. Fortunately, the blood had stopped but the cut on his lips was so deep.

 He grunted again and coughed softly. This time, everyone knew that he had something to say and Michael instantly pushed to stand beside him and gripped one of his arms aggressively.

 “You better keep your mouth to yourself and keep quiet if you don’t want to die by my hands,” Michael whispered in a hostile voice.

However, Nathan only gave a weak smile and began, “I’m sorry for causing you any trouble, Aunt. But I deserve every punch Michael had given me earlier, so please don’t reprimand him,”

Surprise took over everyone’s faces as soon as Nathan finished talking as it seemed no one was expecting those words that just came out from his mouth.

Michael, Mandy and others had thought he’d probably wanted to spew the whole ordeal while Louisa and her husband had thought that Nathan wanted to tell the truth, not an apology.

“Do you know how badly your lips have become, Nathan? What did you do? Tell me, I’ll rebuke Michael myself,” Louisa didn’t seem to be having what Nathan just said and she was preparing to scold her son ferociously.

However, her husband had inspected the expression on the children’s faces and as an intelligent man; he had comprehend what could have probably gone wrong.

 So, he wrapped his arm around his wife’s shoulder and said cogently, “Let’s leave the children now, darling. They’ll resolve the problem,”

Louisa’s eyes dilated, “What are you saying, Desmond? How can we leave them when they haven’t told us anything yet? I won’t be surprised if we come back again and find them fighting in the pool. So let’s deal with it now once and for all,”

“Mom, c’mon, listen to Dad, we are fighting no more,” Michael groused, his eyes pleading. He wanted Louisa to get away from there before she notices Mandy and he wouldn’t love that because he’d prepared a proper introduction in his mind.

“Will you shut up now, you silly man!” Louisa snapped softly, “You almost ruined my party, are you aware of that?”

“And who is this young lady?” she asked when her eyes came in contact with Mandy’s for the second time.

Mandy felt her heart suddenly stop working at that moment and for a moment, she couldn’t breathe properly and wished she could become invisible.

“Move away, Michael, let me see her face,” Louisa pronounced with interest as she signaled to Michael to move.

Michael ruffled his hair, “This isn’t not the way I’d planned it,” he said aloud with a big mess in his heart.

“Mom, can you just leave now with Dad? I’ll bring her to you myself later,” he tried to convince his mother but Louisa only shot him a glare and then sauntered forward to meet Mandy herself.

“Mandy?” she called out and Mandy instantly bowed her head slightly in greetings, her lips curving into a smile.

“Good evening, Aunt,” Mandy’s voice came out as nervous as she had become.

“Are you the cause of the fight between my son and his friend?” Louisa asked instead, her eyes lacking any warmth and her lips holding no smile.