Chapter 24
Leighden is currently distributing Pershey's invitation card. 2 cards left to distribute.
"Did you know where he is?" she asked Pershey.
Pershey nodded and replied, "I haven't seen him since this morning."
They went for a walk first when they met Draek. They both stopped.
"Excuse me, where is Neil?" Leighden asked.
"Oh, my queen," Draek called to her, smiling as he stared at her.
"W-w-wha-"
"My queen, finally, you're here."
She frowned at what Draek was saying so they were about to walk straight but they stopped when a memory returned to Leighden's mind.
"Y-you called me 'My Queen'?"
"You forgot about me right away?" he asked.
"A-are you m-my partner?"
Draek nodded while not removing the wide smile. Leighden also smiled as they both stared at each other.
Pershey just watched them.
"Card," Pershey said softly.
"Oh- I forgot. Well, this is invitation card," she said. She handed the card to Draek. "Give it to Neil as well. We can't see him," she added.
"Pershey's 18th birthday?"
"Yeah."
"Mmm ... I don't know where he is but I will give it to him."
They still stared as they both smiled as if they didn't notice Pershey.
"The ice cream is melting," she whispered. Leighden focused her attention on her for a moment.
"We have to go, Draek," she let out, Draek nodded.
"Goodbye, my Queen."
Pershey pulled her away. Leighden wouldn’t have left yet because they both couldn’t take their eyes off each other.
"You're in love," she said.
"Who?"
Pershey looked at her, she replied, "Guess who?"
Leighden was about to answer when Iries approached them.
"A bee bitch," Leighden whispered.
"Pershey," she called cheerfully as she approached them. "Glad you're here," she added. "Am I invited?" she asked.
Leighden and Pershey still looked at each other. Leighden nodded.
"Oh, so you really have no intention of inviting me?" she asked again.
"You can attend if you want," Pershey replied quickly.
"I want an invitation card, Pershey. My name must be included in your invitation card."
Leighden had already pulled Pershey away so Pershey couldn't answer yet.
Iries just let them go. She was left standing while looking at them.
They stopped walking.
"Is her name on the lists?" Pershey asked. "You made the invitations, did you include her name?" she asked again.
"I forgot, you didn't say anything," she would reason.
"You made the invitation card," Iries said during their conversation. She was behind Leighden and Pershey.
"Are you following us?" Leighden asked. Iries just smiled broadly and didn't answer her.
“I’m going to attend with my boyfriend,” she said. "Do you already have a make-up artist so that I can recommend my make-up artist friend to you."
"Yes, I have," she answered quickly.
"Oh, really?"
"I'm her make-up artist," Leighden replied.
"Really? You can make her beautiful? You can make her the most prettiest woman?"
Leighden didn't say a word and just smiled at her in response.
Pershey frowned as she watched the two of them.
"Is Neil invited?"
She pulled Pershey away again so she couldn't answer right away.
Iries followed them until they reached El Lavish Restaurant.
They stopped when they noticed that Iries had followed them.
"Are you a dog? You're following us, you dog?"
Pershey blushed at Leighden's question to Iries.
Iries frowned but she replaced it with a smile, a wide smile mixed with annoyance at what she had asked.
"No, I'm not a dog, but you are," she replied and smiled even wider.
"Leave her alone," she commanded. Pershey did not say a word in their conversation. She was just watching and trying to find out if they had an argument.
Iries stepped closer to her, looked straight at her, smiled and replied, "I'll be her guardian slash her kind enemy but soon to be her bestfriend," she stopped, parting her hair behind her ear. "... forever," she continued. She entered inside the Restaurant.
She had intended to follow Iries but Pershey grabbed her arm.
"Don't you have anything to tell me, Leighden?" she asked.
"Nothing," she replied quickly.
"I'll ask you again later."
They entered together, looking for a vacant seat.
In the end, Iries was there, eating alone while looking at them. Iries even smiled when their eyes met.
"A bee bitch," Leighden whispered disgustedly.
They sat down in the vacant seat. Leighden picked up the menu, she opened it.
A few minutes passed as she held the menu. She doesn't say a word or remove the menu from her face.
"Are you going to order a food for us or will you just cover that in your face?"
She slightly raised her gaze to look at Pershey, then she lowered her gaze again to the menu.
"You seem mad at me. Did I say something you didn't like?" Pershey asked.
Explosively, she dropped the menu on the table which startled Pershey.
She did not know whether she would speak or not.
Pershey gently picked up the menu, opened it and handed it to the waitress. She opened her bag. She noticed the small bottle. She closed it then.
"Are you going to use that or throw that away?" Leighden asked.
"What do you mean?"
She pointed to her bag that was on the table.
"Are you going to use that po-"
"Shhhh," Pershey scolded her, she nodded afterwards.
"I think he's absent today," she commented.
"Wait, let me ask the staff," she winked before standing up.
She approached the counter, she waited for a staff to finish what she was doing, then she asked, "Where is your manager?"
"Sir Neil is in his office, Ma'am," replied a staff. She just nodded.
The phone rang, she picked it up and replied, "Ahh, yes, Sir, cleared. We're gonna prepare your juice," then she hung up the phone and promptly left.
"Wait, where are you going?" Pershey asked.
"I was assigned to make Sir Neil's juice, Ma'am," she replied, she left.
Pershey turned around, looking at Leighden who was also looking at her. She motioned for Leighden to come over and get her bag.
Leighden immediately understood what she meant, she approached with her bag. She gave it to Pershey.
"What will you do?" Leighden asked. Pershey just winked at her. She walked first, Leighden followed.
She followed the staff but the staff noticed them.
"You can't come in here, Ma'am. It's staff's room and kitchen room."
They both stared at each other as they thought of reasons to dismiss the staff.
"I need to pee," Leighden reasoned. Staff pointed the way to the Comfort Room.
"Ammm ..." Pershey hesitated to speak again. "Can I see how you make your special juice?" she asked even though she was still a little hesitant.
"For what, Ma'am?"
"For a project," she replied.
"Sure, Ma'am."
She followed into the kitchen room. No one was there because the staffs were already busy taking care of the costumers.
The staff prepared the ingredients to make Neil's juice.
Pershey just watched her from what she was doing until she finished.
She was looking for time to mix the potion with Neil's juice.
"I'll leave you here first, Ma'am, please be careful not to get flies. I'll just pee, just a minute."
The staff left immediately. She first followed the staff until she got out of the kitchen. She made sure no one was around.
She went back and examined the juice. Her smile widened, she took the potion and removed its lid.
She slowly sipped the potion into the juice but she didn’t know that the contents of the bottle she was holding were no longer the potion Ca Pety had given to her. Bria had already replaced its flesh.
The color of the juice mixed with the potion she had ingested. She hesitated so she immediately stirred it until the color of the juice returned.
A minute passed before the staff returned.
She took the juice to bring to Neil who was still in her office.
"For whom is that?" she asked.
"For Sir Neil," the staff replied. She smiled before saying goodbye.
She got out and went back to the chair where Leighden was waiting.
She noticed that the smile on Pershey's face could not be erased.
"Are you done?" she asked. Pershey nodded and laughed a little more. "Goodluck."
Pershey's mind floated, smiling broadly and glancing around.
"How many days before the potion takes effect?" she asked without looking at Leighden.
"Automatically. Once he's drunk, the potion will explode immediately. He'll definitely look for you."
"I can't wait to be his girlfriend."
Leighden smiled when she saw Pershey smiling widely, but, the smile gradually disappeared from her lips as she watched Pershey.
"Hold on to the knife," Leighden said suddenly as she recalled what Ca Pety had said.
"What?"
Leighden took her hands and held them tightly.
"Be ready for more pain," she smiled bitterly that troubled Pershey's mind.
"W-what do you mean?"
“You hold the sharpest knife, you can be injured at any time,” she replied. Pershey couldn't get what she meant so she just laughed before removing her hand.
“You’re hungry,” she said.
"I'm glad to see you happy, glad to hear you laughed today," she said smiling as she stared at her.
Pershey smiled back at her.
"I thank you, Leighden, thank you so much." She smiled.