Chapter 84 Wedding Card

Chapter 84 Wedding Card
The sun dipped into the horizon, throwing blinding shadows on the quilly bar room. Lance and the lady were cuddled up, duvet over their bodies as their bodies.
The lady stretched, slowly opening her eyes. The sun blinded her, and she had to use her palm to shadow herself. She rubbed her temple feeling a splitting headache, and her nose caught the scent of the room. Different room with the scent of intimacy thick in the air.
Lance stirred, and yawned, slowly lifting his lids. The lady's hand fell from her face, and at the same time Lance opened his eyes.
They lay face-to-face with each other. First they stayed silent in cold recognition, then their eyes widened in shock.
"Lance!"
"Sienna!"
They screamed at the same time, both sat up using the duvet to cover their bodies.
"What are you doing here!?" They asked at the same time. The amount of shock on their faces could win the shock of the year award.
Sienna's grip went strong against the hem of the duvet. "How did you get in here?"
Lance stayed quiet, replaying yesterday's events. How he had asked Lalissa to see him, the proposal, the bar, the stripper, and—
"You're a stripper?"
"What I do with my life isn't your business!?" She snapped coldly. "Tell me how we both got into this mess?"
Lance smoothed his hair backward. "Shouting isn't going to help us in any way. I had no idea it was you."
Sienna shut her eyes, flashes of last night reoccurring in her memory. How she caught Ace, the cruel words he said to her, how she was sad and found herself in that bar. Her heart hurt so much that even the alcohol couldn't drown the pain she felt. The only thing that came into her mind was to strip away her sorrow, and the man she focused on had to be her—
"This is screwed up. You could have stopped me. I wasn't in my right frame of mind!"
"And you think I was okay as well!" Lance snapped, voice thick with frustration. "You think I fancy how I got drunk in a cheap bar, and ended up with my best friend turned stripper!"
Sienna glared at him. "You have no right to judge me when you didn't know what happened! I didn't plan to end up in bed with you. I... I thought you were Ace!"
"I also thought you were Lalissa!" Lance confessed.
A cold breeze of silence blew in the room as Sienna stared at him with shock-filled eyes. "Lissa? You thought...why...do you feel something for her?..."
"I'm not ready for this conversation." He threw the side of his duvet, and his feet touched the floor.
Picking up his scattered clothes, he went into the bathroom.
Sienna stared into space, before focusing her eyes on the bathroom door.
Lance mistook her for Lalissa? What the hell is going on?
The door swung open, and Lance walked out. Hair slicked back with water, clothes covering his body. He looked like he washed on his face since she didn't hear the sound of the shower.
His brow etched when he saw her still in bed. He didn't say a word as he went to the drawer where his phone lay.
"Won't you explain why you mistook me for Lalissa?"
"What didn't you understand?" He held the side button.
"The Lalissa stuff. Why would you think I'm Lalissa? What has she got to do with you losing yourself to alcohol yesterday?"
"Don't talk as if you are innocent. If you were, you wouldn't be here."
"The hell is wrong with you! I fucking told you—Ace and I flashed. How else was I supposed to take my mind away from it?"
"I asked Lalissa out, and she turned me down. Happy?"
Sienna's eyes widened in shock. "Lali...you are in love with Lalissa?"
"It was obvious. You were blind to notice." He made his way to the door.
"Lance!" Sienna flung the duvet, hurriedly grabbed her clothes and threw them on herself with her underwear.
Lance didn't look back not even once as he tried to leave the room but Sienna held his hand and shut the door.
"It's not possible. You never showed it."
"I don't have to go around broadcasting it for you to know."
Sienna breathed. "Can you stop with this rude reply? I ain't the one who caused the rejection. Don't act as if you're the only one who's hurt. I'm also hurt as well!"
"Every question you've asked, I've answered all of them! Let go of my hand, I have somewhere to be."
Sienna slowly released his hand, and he twisted the door handle.
"It'll be best for you to kill every feeling you have for Lissa. S...she won't date you."
Lance's grip around the handle, veins bulging in his hand.
"What makes you think we won't date? We are perfect for each other."
"Even when she's in love with somebody else?"
Lance chuckled, finally opening the door. "Having known Lalissa for a long time, I know there isn't any man in her life except..." he paused, chest bubbling up. "I was in her life way before any man got it. At our final party, she gave me her first kiss—she marked herself as mine."
He slammed the door shut behind him. Sienna couldn't feel her body. It felt as if her feet were glued to the floor, and the only ringing in her head was the way Lance sounded when making that final statement and his eyes—the side view she caught, his eyes, they didn't look like that of Lance, they—
She ran from that spot and checked the drawer for her phone.
"Where did—" she palmed her forehead. "Right. They had collected my phone before allowing me on stage."
"Lance," she mumbled, sitting down on the bed.
\--
Lance left the club in a hurried pace not bothering to reply to the workers who were cleaning the place.
He flagged down a taxi and at that same time, his phone chimed with a text notification.
Angel: I won't have breakfast without you.
He pocketed his phone with a soft sigh. "Make a U-turn."
The driver nodded and reversed the car.
\--
\[CASSIAN'S HOUSE\]
Lalissa and Sara were having breakfast together, again. This time, the table was silent just their cutleries clicking the plates. Lalissa was barely eating, her mind going haywire.
The sudden having breakfast with her mother was something she wasn't used to. She doesn't know if it's the China that messed with her mom's mind, but whatever it is, she's hoping it stops soon. The breakfast felt so suffocating and not being able to reach Cassian has been bothering her.
After her mother returned and he left, her mother took her phone with the excuse of mother and daughter spending the night together.
Lalissa dropped the fork. "I'm done. My phone."
"You aren't done sweetie," she cooed. "Look at your plate."
"But, I'm satisfied. I need my phone. It's really urgent."
"Why're you in a hurry?" She left her cutlery, and focused her gaze on Lalissa. "Are you missing your Dad?"
Lalissa furrowed her brow. "Isn't it normal to miss my Daddy?"
Sara shrugged, bringing the phone from under the table. "Here."
"You were with it?" Lalissa collected it, and held the turn on button.
"It was only for the night."
The phone had barely turned on when Bella's call flashed on the screen.
"This early morning?"
"Who's that?"
"A colleague and my friend at the office." Lalissa stood and went centimeters away before swiping the red button.
"I should have known you never considered me your friend the day you were kidnapped and I was the last to find out."
Quickly, Lalissa detected the strange distance, iciness and disappointment in her voice.
"Bella, what are you saying?"
"That you lied to me!"
"Calm down and explain to me. What did I do?" Lalissa replied softly. "I don't remember lying to you."
"Then let me refresh your memory. My boss, your boss, our boss didn't fire you despite deliveries coming late on your first day at work. Countless times, you broke the rules, yet, somehow, you were always able to bypass all of them."
"You didn't call me to talk about my first day at the office, Bella. You can confide in me."
"In that same manner you should have confided in me that Cassian and your mom are going to get married. He is going to be your stepfather!"
"What!" The word escaped Lalissa's lips before she could control it.
"Don't try to hide the truth. The favors you got that time, they all make—"
"How did you get the information? Aside from Lance and Sienna, nobody else."
"It's all over the news. The date has even been fixed! It's in three days time."
The phone almost slipped from Lalissa's hand if she didn't come back to her senses.
"Hello!"
"Lissa!"
"Why are you quiet?"
"Hang up. I'll call you later."
"La lis—."
Hanging up, she checked the latest news. Her eyes went wide when she saw the beautifully well designed and expensive invitation card being shared from one big television channel to another.
Having had enough of the news, she looked at Sara and Sara was looking at her as if she was expecting the call or reaction.
"You had the cards designed?"
"Haven't I mentioned the wedding is coming up in five days time?"
"I thought you were joking," Lalissa complained, saddened. "You can't fix a wedding date without talking to any of us. We are family. You had informed me you were going to get a new husband, then—"
"Is it because of the wedding card or is there something else tied to this strange reaction?"
Lalissa bit her tongue, hard. "I'm just worried at how you are handling everything so fast. We haven't asked for Cassian's opinion and the cards are ready."
"Cassian loves me. Do you think he'll have a problem?"
"I still think the wedding is being rushed. Cassian seems to be busy lately and—"
Sara's chuckle put Lalissa to a pause. "It's weird how you know my future husband more than I do."
"I should know him! Didn't you ask me to join his company so that we can know each other? I did it and—"
"Why does it feel like all these are mere excuses." Sara stood, walked to her, and grabbed her shoulder in a rough grip. Lalissa winced. "I feel like you don't want this marriage to happen, why!?"
"Let go of my arm mom!"
"Answer me!"
"Because I—"