Moira

14.

000d, 00h, 00m, 00s

"Tell me— Esmond," My mother began, swallowing her food and tapping the corners of her mouth with a napkin. She cleared her throat, eyes trained on the brunette next to me with a small smile on her lips. "My daughter was so awfully secretive about you." The rest of the table hummed in agreement, and a little laugh escaped her mouth as she nodded at her own words. "What do you do? Where do you live? Tell us a little bit about yourself, dear."

Exchanging a quick look with him, lowering the glass of wine in my hand onto the table as panic flared up in my eyes while his remained perfectly calm, he shot me a playful smirk before turning it into a polite smile. With a nod, he opened his mouth to speak.

Nothing good ever happened when he did that.

"Well, I'm a trained medical practitioner," He stated with a shrug. I tried my best to hide my surprise at the fact; after all, I was supposed to know this already.

"Oh, that is just wonderful," My mother beamed, excitement taking over the surprised look on her face as she nodded vigorously. "You work with The System, then?"

He seemed taken aback for a moment, his unbothered demeanour only cracking for a moment when his nose scrunched up at the mention of it. He laughed it off then, replacing the frown with a smile once more.

"You could say that."

Excitement growing, my mother clasped her hands together with a content sigh. "You must live pretty central, then—"

"I heard they give medical staff one of the best apartments in the city—" My head snapped over to my sister sitting at the opposite end of the table, her voice the last one I expected to hear tonight.

Her eyes were a little wider than usual, seeming almost starstruck at the thought alone. She did have a taste for the more...lavish things in life.

"Now, now, Aude," I tutted with a forced smile, shaking my head. "Let's not be too nosy, yeah?" A nervous laugh escaped my lips, and my eyes darted around the table to see if anyone shared my sentiments.

None of them seemed to do so.

"Ah, that's alright," Esmond laughed lowly. He looked at me from the corner of his eyes, a smirk on his lips. His brows raised in amusement when he noticed the panic flaring up in my eyes once more, and he let out another chuckle at it. "Actually, I live—"

They'd know something was up if he told them where he actually lived.

Nobody lived outside of Arcan City, not if they believed in The System.

Everyone felt honoured to be living here; living outside of their range was considered more than just shameful.

It was obvious to me he'd tell them the truth simply to make me suffer tonight. He made it clear enough that was his goal, the only reason he came in the first place.

I panicked. Nothing good ever happened when I panicked.

Though, this seemed like one of those situations where I had no other choice. So, I blurted out the first thing that came to my mind.

"—We're planning on moving in together, actually!" I interrupted; shrieked, almost, with how high pitched my voice sounded. A nervous smile plastered on my lips, I watched everyone's eyes widen while Esmond's furrowed. "We didn't want to break the news this early— but why wait, right?"

My eyes flickered over to the man next to me, giving him an apologetic look before faking a single giggle as I looked back at my family.

My mother was over the moon, of course—hand on her chest, a wide smile on her lips.

My sister was, too. I assumed merely for the fact she thought I'd be moving from an assistants- into a medical apartment.

Eniola and Aiden, though, weren't so easy to please. Though smiles on their faces, I could tell they were trying to figure out what was actually going on.

They knew I wasn't one for rash decisions; knew how picky I was when it came to the place I lived in.

Though, at least for now, they didn't say anything to make their suspicions obvious.

Leaning in towards my ear, his voice a low rasp as he whispered, "If you were that eager to spend more time with me, you could've just said so."

Rolling my eyes, I turned my head to look at him, only taken aback by how close his own face was to mine for a second. "I can't have you running around telling people where you actually live," I snapped back, my voice just as low as his.

"I wasn't going to, you know," He snorted humorously. "But now that you got us into this mess, you can get us back out, too."

"Oh." Perplexed, I tried to blink my confusion away before I asked, "What do you mean get us back out?"

"Well, we're not actually moving anywhere—"

"—Of course not."

"Right, then—" He was cut off by one arm wrapping around his shoulder while the other one wrapped around me, a content sigh escaping my mother's lips as she stuck her head between ours.

"This moment needs to be captured!" She exclaimed proudly, waving her phone around a little too close to my face. "It's one for the family collection; I'll tell you that," She laughed. "Come on, come on. And show your countdowns into the camera."

She let go of both of us, taking a few steps back to get the right angle.

Remembering the covered up countdown on his wrist, my eyes widened once more. Was this evening ever going to end? The sheer amount of times I panicked already were exhausting enough.

"No, I don't think—"

"Oh, don't be like that, Amidelle," My other huffed. "I know you're a little camera shy, but you'll thank me in the future— trust me."

I went to protest further — the last thing I needed them to see his bandaged wrist — when it was his voice that cut me off.

"It's alright, dear," He murmured, and I didn't miss the way the corner's of my mother's mouth curled up into a smile at the nickname he addressed me with.

I swallowed thickly, throwing him a confused glance as he rolled up his sleeve. I expected the worst, really.

Because this truly would make me suffer tonight.

Though I was met with his bare wrist, the 000d, 00h, 00m, 00s on it easily detectable and very much uncovered.

He snickered when he caught the confusion in my eyes, shaking his head as he nudged me to show my own wrist. "I'm not a complete idiot, you know," He muttered under his breath, diverting his eyes after to give my mother his most charming smile, waiting for her to take the picture.

I mirrored his action but had a hard time concentrating on anything but my racing mind.

I drank the next glass of wine a little quicker.