𝐇𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐇𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐱 | 𝟣𝟪+

|28| 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉'𝓈 𝒶 𝒷ℯ𝒶𝓊𝓉𝒾𝒻𝓊𝓁 𝓃𝒶𝓂ℯ

I nod and pretend I don't plan on
sneaking out. He nods and the people outside of the doors open them for us.

We walk inside and I see a very tall
archway that's the entrance to the main room, filled with random tables, groups
of people, and a small stage for
the band who's playing classical music.

There are flowers along the railing
of both staircases; the
bottom and top have a small table
with an old-looking lamp.

The rugs are all dark red with
dark-colored flowers in the corners,
but all the walls are made out of a
light stone, and the floors
look very similar but more marble.

The house is near a large light
blue lake so they have
a lot of windows to show it off.

I look at the top of the staircase
and my whole body goes still,
I didn't think I would see them
so soon, I thought I was mentally
prepared but this is insane.

It's making me realize how stupid
I am for coming here, but
I can't turn around now. Celeste
is walking up to him, swaying
hips and laughing with Izabella

Aleksander is standing with
a group of men, ones that
I don't know but with the look on
their faces I don't want too

But what really catches my eye is him
standing with Marco and Gabriel,
the most abusive men in my life; I'm
not surprised but disappointed, I don't
even know why, they all tried to kill me.

On the bright side, none of them
succeeded, which makes me happy
again, not for being alive but for
knowing I beat them in something.

She grabs his arm and smiles.

Celeste touches his arm and smiles
like an idiot, like how she smiles when someone compliments her or flirts.

They're together, they probably walked
in together, and plan on ending
the night together, and I'm an idiot for
not thinking of this sooner.

She whispers something in his ear while
all of the men watch, I don't pay any attention to the people looking at us.

I only look away when Ethan taps the
back of my hand and says "Play along"

I paste a smile on my face, hoping
to convince everyone
that I care about him, and what he
dreams of, even
though that's the last of my priorities.

For some reason I convinced myself
that I've already been in too much
pain to feel anything else,
that I would be numb to everything
so there would be no problem tonight.

If I would've known the pain I'm
experiencing now I would've
ran away when I had the chance

It's embarrassing and I want it to stop

I'm not scared, my heart beats
slower, and my mind is foggy,
I feel tears trying to build in my
eyes but I force them away,
everyone needs to buy this act.

This is beyond stupid, I would have
waited to face him if I knew
she was going to be with him.

I know I shouldn't care, I don't want to;
the last thing I want is to feel anything
besides hatred for that man.

I make sure to keep my eyes on Ethan,
which is harder than it seems,
one because I don't like him; and two,
when Aleksander and Celeste are
standing so close it's hard not to look.