The lamps on the end tables cast a warm glow around the space.
“Take a seat,” I say.
She freezes, but quickly finds her bearings and slowly lowers herself to the edge of the sofa.
Her expression is blank when she meets my eyes.
“Did you know what the Sandoval dinner was about when you talked to me earlier this evening?”
“Yes,” she says, a pang of relief flashing through her voice.
It must’ve weighed heavily on her, the grotesque secrets growing around my very existence.
“Did you know the birthday party was a mere pretext for having this meeting?”
She softly nods.
“Yes.”
“Did they ask you to suggest a big party so I couldn’t say no to it, and also ease me into the idea that an important meeting needs to take place?”
“Yes, they did.”
A soft sigh falls from my lips as my gaze trails down.
“What else do you know?” I ask, shifting my attention back to her. “And please, no more lying through omission. You owe me that much. Besides, I won’t tell anyone about our conversation.”
She looks at me, skeptical.
“I know they can do bad things to you,” I say. “But they’re busy with me right now, so they won’t focus on you. It’s not like I can’t figure out these things for myself, but I want to hear them from someone else to know how far they went to ruin my life this time.”
Her eyes glisten as if a goblet of tears has spilled over them.
“It makes no difference,” she says quietly.
“Tell me.” My voice is hoarse. “What did they say?”
She looks down, a kernel of guilt moving across her face. She’s feeling bad for me again.
I’ve seen her draped in anguish too many times because of me, so maybe the fading of her clothes is not only about her life.
“They’re actively seeking a suitor for you,” she says, her face ashen.
“I gleaned that much,” I say, composed, still gauging how bad this is.
Her eyes look like broken glass in the soft light.
“Do they have a certain man in mind? A fixed timeline?”
She studies me for a few seconds.
“They need to do it as quickly as possible.”
A smile dripping with disbelief curls my lips.
“They need to? Why? What happened?”
“I can’t say more,” she says, rising, her answer rather abrupt.
