All Strings Attached

Chapter Thirteen

"And the first one?" I press, enjoying the educational lesson.

"Skin tint," she says. "It's a moisturiser, but also a base for makeup."

"Oh," I accept, pretending I understand. What is a base of makeup?

Sita tilts her head slightly. "Do you have any questions?" She enquires, kindly.

"What is a makeup base?" I ask her, comforted by her willingness to answer my questions.

She continues to giggle. "Why the sudden curiosity? You clearly didn't bother before now. You didn't know what a hair straightener was."

I shrug, without a specific answer. "I've not seen anyone do it before." I can't remember Sita having giggle ever, before this moment.

"Hm," she accepts my answer. "It's okay, I can teach you. I can be your personal influencer," she offers generously, her grin growing on her face despite holding her lower lip captive.

"I don't mind," I take her up, getting comfortable on the dresser table.

"So this is a mascara," she explains, turning to look at me through the mirror. "It's from Lancome, it's supposed to make my eyelashes look thicker and longer."

"I think you have pretty eyelashes without it," I tell her. Her eyelashes touch her cheeks when her eyes are closed. How much longer do they have to be?

"You're my audience," she says, sternly. "Just watch, no talking."

I chuckle at how she deflects the compliment, and make a show of zipping my lips, which prompts Sita to continue.

"This is a blush stick from Milk," she explains, "it's supposed to make my blush look natural and sort of like it's coming from within."

She dots the blush across her cheeks and dabs a dot on her nose and then continues to dab it into her skin, making her cheeks look a flushed pink.

"Now, this is a highlighter, it's from—" she looks at the side of the matte plastic tube to tell me— "Rare Beauty. Oh, I didn't know I had a Rare Beauty highlighter," she mutters more to herself than me, and then shrugs. "Anyway," she moves on, "I'm going to place it on the high points of my face— my cheekbones, the tip of my nose, and a little bit on my forehead and chin."

I watch closely as she uses a brush to blend it in, making her high cheekbones shimmer, complementing the blush. I notice through the mirror that her eyes look a lighter brown, and her face looks brighter— whether it's because of the makeup or not, I can't tell.

"The lipstick is from YSL," she says, pulling my attention back to her. "It's called Nude Avant-Garde—" Sita attempts a French accent but exaggerates it slightly, cringing at herself— "I tried," she shrugs, and carefully applies the lipstick within the natural contours of her lips, highlighting the dip in her upper lip. In the time it takes Sita to apply the lipstick, my mind backtracks to last night. What are the chances we might be in that position again?

What are the chances she still suspects I would cheat on her?

The thought quickly deflates my imagination, causing my mood to sink instantly. How would we be able to build this relationship if she thinks I would cheat on her?

Does she still think I would cheat on her?

"Reddy," Sita calls out to me, snapping me out of my thoughts. "What are you thinking about?"

"Nothing," I shrug off the thoughts, assuring myself I would talk to her about it later. Now is not the time. "Did you put on earrings?" I ask her, noticing the diamond earrings that hang from her ears.