KIAN'S ACT

Five

The dinner was taking place in a large and beautiful dining hall that looked fit for royals. The large rectangular table could fit what I was sure was a hundred people, and there was food covering almost every inch of it. Above the table was an assortment of beautiful, sparkly chandeliers. An orchestra was performing, and the room had only a little bit of chatter as I sat beside Samantha. “This is so beautiful…” I breathed out in awe as my eyes tried to take in everything that I was seeing. It felt exceptional being in this room right now. 

Everyone looked like they came from money, and I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb in this room of beautiful and outrageous gowns that I was sure was designer, with my sunflower yellow dress and sunflower crown. “I was telling my financial advisor the other day ‘don’t be outrageous, Simon, what am I supposed to do with only a million Rand allowance a month?’ I mean, really, what am I meant to do with that?” one of the other women was speaking. Her name was Elisabeth, and she had dirty blonde hair, blue eyes and a face that had the kind of surgery that Bella Hadid did. She looked very beautiful, and she was also young, about only a year older than me. 

I definitely felt out of depth with the conversations that were happening around me. I realised that I’d entered a space with individuals that were a part of the South African elite, since I’d greeted the First Lady of the country as I was entering the room. 

There were scoffs at her words as the other two girls next to her, nodding in sympathy, eyes sad and lips pouted, “That’s highly unfortunate. You know, I was experiencing a couple of issues myself, I think someone’s been stealing from my profits.” The other girl, by the name of Harriet spoke up. She had dark hair that was in a neat and well done bob, and she had dark brown eyes that almost looked black, and she had on a dark red lipstick and her face was straight, as if she showed no emotion. It was quite exceptional to witness. “I think it might be the accounting firm I have in charge of my finances, from the usual turnover of 12 million, I only had 10.7 million, so it is quite steep.” 

“That’s why I have two accounting firms handling my accounts, and why I have three private accountants who’ll review all of my finances on top of that. You can never be too secure,” the third girl spoke up. Her name was Olivia and she had platinum blonde hair and bright blue eyes, she was the snarkiest from all of them and I could tell that it was probably because she was the wealthiest. She had on a diamond necklace that looked heavy around her neck with a large diamond right in the centre and even I couldn’t help but marvel at how pretty the rock was. 

These girls were Samantha’s new friends, also the other bridesmaids. It was hard to see how Samantha might have gotten along with them, but it’s been years so I’m sure she’s changed. Besides, it looks like her husband is a part of the elite so it would only be natural for Samantha to hang out with the likes of them. “Oh, uh,” I began, since I hated feeling left out and it seemed the four of them were conversing about money, “the other day I tried to swipe my card for an extra R20 that I needed to pay, and my card declined,” I said with a laugh and my eyes connected with Samantha’s as she laughed as well. “And the other time when I spent R250 on a night out, I called the bank the next morning and reported that someone had hacked into my account, and I needed that money returned.” I couldn’t stop laughing and when I looked up from apple juice and met three pairs of unmoved eyes, my smile slowly fell off my face. I cleared my throat awkwardly but that seemed to make Samantha laugh even harder. 

“Cute,” Olivia stated as she brought her glass of expensive chardonnay to her lips, her eyes cutting into my own. “So, you and Samantha were friends in high school?” she asked me and I nodded my head. 

“Yeah, we were friends in high school,” I affirmed. 

The air in the room seemed to shift and my head was the first turn, looking to the direction of the door and seeing three men walk into the room. Kane was in the middle of the trio, and Kian was on his right, and on Kane’s left was another man that I didn’t know. My eyes immediately connected with a pair of forest green eyes, and I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand at their ends as my heart skipped a beat. Kian’s eyes were directly on mine with an intensity I had never experienced before. It felt like the world had fallen away and it was just us making eye contact. It was the strangest feeling– feeling your entire focus, zone in on just one person.