Chapter 62: GUILT TRIPPING

I stepped out of the shower, grabbing my towel from the rack and wrapping it around my body. The mirror was fogged up, and I wiped a small section to glance at my reflection. My hair was damp, clinging to my skin, and my face looked a little tired, probably from that weird nightmare. But whatever.

After drying off, and applying my makeup I walked into my closet, running my fingers along the neatly hung dresses before stopping at a black lantern sleeve ruched bust dress with a sweetheart neckline. It was simple, and fit for the activity of the day. I pulled it on, smoothing it over my body before reaching for my Louis Vuitton Nano Noé bag, tossing in my essentials. Sprayed, and straightened my hair.

Grabbing my phone and keys, I headed downstairs. The smell of breakfast filling the air, pancakes, eggs, coffee, probably Marilyn’s doing. It wasn’t often that the whole family sat together, and honestly, I couldn't even remember the last time it happened. I've been too busy to even notice.

As usual, Marilyn was the first to acknowledge my presence. "Good morning, Blakely," she greeted with her usual warm-but-somewhat-expectant smile.

Normally, I’d ignore her, but since I was in a semi-decent mood, I decided to cut her some slack. "Morning Auntue. How was your night?"

She blinked in surprise, she hadn’t expected me to say anything beyond the usual silence. "Uh…it–it was good," she stuttered, then added, "Why don’t you stay for breakfast?"

I shook my head. "I’ll grab something to eat on my way out. I’m going shopping with a friend for the trip."

She didn’t say anything else, just nodded, and I took that as my cue to leave. My stepfather wasn’t here—probably left early for work, which worked just fine for me, and my mother was going through a file at the table. I grabbed an apple from the fruit basket, gave a small, lazy wave, and turned to go.

Just as I reached the door, I heard footsteps behind me. Before I could turn, a hand grabbed my wrist, yanking me forward and dragging me halfway across the parking lot.

"What the hell—" I twisted out of the grip and looked sharply. Frankie. Of course.

I rolled my eyes, glancing down at my wrist. My bangle had dug into my skin from her grip. I rubbed the spot and shot her an irritated look. "Don’t ever drag me like that again," I snapped. "What do you want? I have somewhere to be."

She crossed her arms. "Where are you going?" she asked. "Your mom already made plans to take us shopping for the trip. She said it’s supposed to be ‘bonding time’ since she’s taking a break from work." She paused, then added, "I thought you knew that."

I grimaced. "And you dragged me out here for that?"

Sge sighed, shifting on her feet. "She asked me to tell you, okay? Don’t ruin this and make me look like a bad child for not telling you. I know you don’t care, but at least pretend for once. I have someone important to meet this afternoon and I'm grounded, your mom is my only way out."

I scoffed. "Oh, look who thinks I care a second about what she says." I let out a humorless chuckle, shaking my head. "You shouldn’t have bothered."

Her lips pressed together like she was holding back an argument. "Look, if this is about me ignoring you, then that’s between us," she said. "But don’t take it out on this, I have someone important to meet okay, kissing you was a mistake, and I'm trying to deal with it on my end."

I blinked, then let out a fake gasp. "She admits it," I said, poking her chest. "You caught feelings for your step-sister, then thought ignoring me would make it go away. You thought hurting my feelings would fix it. And you think I’m going to be some big baby, begging you to stop being a bitch?"

Her jaw tightened.

I let out a low laugh, shaking my head. "Okay, all this?" I gestured between us. "All this was me being nice. I thought you were cute. That’s it. So don’t mistake that for something else, and don’t take my kindness for granted. Because you are the one who’s going to end up hurting in the end."

I stepped back, meeting her gaze with one last look of disinterest. "Go find someone else to be a controlling, weird gay freak on," I finished, then turned on my heel and walked away.

I walked straight to my car, tossing my bag onto the passenger seat before sliding into the driver’s side. My wrist still stung a little where she had grabbed me, but I ignored it, throwing my bag and phone to the other seat before pressing the push-to-start button. The dashboard lit up, the soft sound of the engine covered up the silence.

Leaning back against the seat, I exhaled and said, “Bixby, call Xinmei.”

The phone’s assistant responded immediately, *“Calling Xinmei.”*

I put the car in reverse, one hand on the steering wheel as I backed out of my parking spot. The ringing echoed through the car’s speakers, once… twice…

On the third ring, Xinmei picked up. “So, are you cool now? Ready to shop?”

I shook my head even though she couldn’t see me. “No one calls someone so early in the morning”

“It was seven AM duh… were you having a wet dream? Anyway, whatever, are we doing this or not?”

“You got any place in mind?” I asked, stopping at the end of the driveway, my foot resting lightly on the brake.

“Gimme a second,” she said, followed by some background shuffling on her end. “I’ll share the location.”

Almost immediately, my phone pinged with a message. I glanced at the screen, and saw the map link pop up, and tapped it open. DeLuxe Plaza. It's a good place, she has taste, I’d give her that.