Right Into Place

Fifty-Six

Liar. I was pretty sure he was never interested in Taylor. If he was, they could be together by now.

"Next subject," I muttered. "I got a girlfriend, we broke up, let's move on."

"Alright then," Vienne said, drinking from her glass of wine again. What's strange is when I look at her, she doesn't even look like a mother, she was beautiful and I can't even believe she's my sister.

"Vienne," Grace, from the other side of the table asked so right then Vienne's attention was to them so I started talking with the five year-old Alexandra Styles, Quentin's daughter. Apparently, she's just as much addicted to marshmallows as Tori though Quentin told me not to give her too much because it makes her too hyper.

I don't recall the major changes in this family but it was different, it seemed like we get along well. Of course, they are the worst in family dinners, it sort of changed. That or I wasn't really observing these past few times.

By the end of dinner, it became a sudden disaster. Eight players for monopoly, half are kids and half are real-life businessmen. For the children, it's Alexandra, Vincent, Denny and Andrew. Two of them are William's so the chances of his bloodline winning are a bit better than the rest. For the adults are Grace, Franco, Darwin and Vienne.

It was unbelievable how we're all huddled up in circles, the eight playing all around the monopoly board and the rest are simply watching. I sat on the couch right behind Franco and Denny to see if either of them were cheating. Franco won't. I know he won't because he takes pride in being the best businessman. Though it's hard to convince him that monopoly isn't like the actual business. . .

"Hey, why did Auntie Grace get to turn again?" Denny whined.

"Because she got doubles, you dimwit," Darwin replied.

"Call my son dimwit again, dimwit," William warned but seemed to be joking.

Denny took his turn after Grace and so the game continued.

It was ages later when they started arguing because some of the adults refuse to pay the rent because they have their reasons like the kids forgot or the other player already rolled their dice. Whichever.

"Why in the bloody hell would I want to sell you my Get-out-of-jail-free card? Get your own," Franco muttered as Denny Styles kept whining on him to sell it to him.

"You can have my Liverpool station," Denny offered. Franco was about to reply when William coached his son not to sell it to Franco.

"Fine. Your loss," said Franco.

The game didn't end as most of us were desperate to just sleep. Franco decided to stay in whereas I wanted to really have a quiet night. I said goodbye to them all, promised more marshmallows, and promised to teach them how to fix toys next time. Then I drove home.

Weary and dead sleepy, I sunk on my bed and surprisingly slept exceedingly well. The next day was a Sunday so I got to wind down and walk around the streets of the city. I felt very contented about my life as I walked through the sidewalks. To think of it, my family's alright, pasts are fixed and I've got nothing else to look forward to in the future.

Pigeons ran out of the way when I walked pass them. After a fountain and a couple of preoccupied benches, my feet finally led me to the side of the fountain. Cars passed by, people did as well and I sat there, listening to the noises around me.

A coin is flipped over my head, making a few droplets splash on me and as if on instinct, my head glanced at the direction where the coin was from. . . just a girl, bit on the early twenties, probably.