“Confronting the memories, the people we left behind is not easy.”
•E V E L Y N•
Letting out a long sigh, I made my way towards the house. It was a nice neighborhood, with houses thrice the size of my apartment in NY. The door was already opened and the guests were going in and out of the house. Bracing myself, I trudged forward into the house. The entrance led inside where almost fifty people had gathered in an adequately sized hall.
Thank God, everyone was dressed in clothes just like me. There were no children in the party, all sophisticated grownups who were talking among themselves, sipping wine from the glasses in their hands.
"Evelyn!" A familiar voice called me from behind and I turned around, and saw Carolina dressed in a red cocktail dress.
Making my way towards her, "Happiest birthday Carolina." I said as she enveloped me in her famous bear hug.
"How are you?" She asked, moving away a bit.
"I'm good and thanks for inviting me." I said to which she smiled. Before she could say anything, Chris called her and she excused herself.
The party continued just like that and I stood there observing my environment, watching as Xavier and Savannah stayed glued to each other's side. I didn't know she was coming too. My heart clenched every time they gripped each other's hand or he snaked his arm around her shoulder. I was staring at them when Matt Rogers walked towards me. There was something about this man that irked me and the way he smirked; it made my skin crawl. During the flight, he tried flirting with me and I rejected but he just couldn't take a hint.
"Drink?" He passed a glass filled with wine to me.
"No thanks, I'm fine without it." I replied.
"Oh, come on Evelyn." He rolled his eyes, leaning a little too close to me.
"I'll prefer it if you don't cross the professional line Mr. Rogers." I said with a straight face and his eyebrows furrowed at this.
"Loosen up sweetheart. We aren't in the office right now." He said and put his hand on my waist and I jerked myself away from him. In doing so, his other hand slipped and the juice in his hands landed on my new dress, wetting and as a consequence ruining it completely.
"Fuck." I muttered as Mr. Rogers picked up a handkerchief from a table and instead of passing it to me, started to wipe the juice off of my dress.
"I'm fine." I tried to pull myself away from him but he kept invading my personal space, acting as if he was helping me.
His action continued until an arm appeared out of nowhere in between Matt and me. "The lady said she's fine." The man said in a dry authority and stayed like that until Matt retreated completely. After muttering something under his breath, he walked away.
But I was rooted to my place right now. The man hadn't seen my face yet, if he had then he might have not helped me as I was showing my back to him right now.
"Hey Evelyn, have you met my fiancé?" Asked Carolina while she walked towards me and I was already regretting my decision to come here at all.
When he touched my shoulder, the familiar warmth flooded through my body but the shivers I was getting was because of the weight of guilt that I had been carrying for years.
Everything was happening on its own, Carolina was saying something to the man standing behind me, but the thing I was conscious about was the burning sensation his hand was giving me. When I didn't oblige and turn around, his grip hardened on my shoulder and in the span of a moment, I was facing him. His hands were on my shoulders, and when I looked into the hazel pair of eyes that glared into mine just looked as surprised as I was. But where there was guilt in mine, his were flashing with an unshed fury.
"Marc, this is Evelyn. Xavier's secretary." Carolina introduced me to him and I gulped nervously, and his grip hardened.
"I'm very well acquainted with the lady here." He said, without averting his gaze from me as his jaw ticked and rage flew through his eyes.
"You are?" Asked Carolina.
"Ma-Marc…I…" I mumbled in a barely audible tone and his jaw clenched unmistakably and the grip tightened on my shoulders.
"Ask everyone to leave." He spoke.
"What?" Asked Carolina.
"I'm not going to repeat that again!" He exclaimed in anger, making Carolina and I shiver.
Getting the hint from the dripping rage in his voice, she walked past us after sparing a longing look at us.
When I looked in Marcus' eyes, I saw the rage, the betrayal, the emptiness and at last the pain. Everything that I gave him and it was just a matter of time when he was going to explode.
Gathering every ounce of courage left in my body, I lifted my hand to touch his cheek while his eyes calculated my every move. As if my touch burned him, his grip left my shoulders with a jerk and he retreated some steps backward.
I saw guests leaving the party as Carolina went towards the place where Xavier and Savannah were standing, busy laughing at God knows what. Later Chris also joined them and a hint of tension could be seen on all three faces except Savannah as I knew she was going to enjoy it.
When Xavier looked around to see the source of tension, his eyes locked with mine then with Marcus' and I saw the color leaving his face.
Swallowing the ball of nerves in my throat, feeling bad that I just ruined their party with my presence and scared that what was going to happen next?
Because I just met my brother after five years and I have a lot of explaining to do.