His Bitter Cupcake

Chapter seven

"I don't know what to do. I don't have the courage to face them yet."

No response.

"Why aren't you saying anything?!" I shouted and still didn't get any response.

"Well, what do you want me to say? It's time to face them? Or you go girl?" The person from the other line speaks.

"Fiona, this is a serious matter." I grumbled.

I can clearly imagine her shrugging her shoulders. "You have to do it. You said that you already met the groom, right? Time to meet the family."

I sighed and dropped in the bed, not bothering if my dress gets crinkled or hair ruins. "I did what Thomas would have done. I had it planned. This is not planned."

She stays silent for a few minutes. "There's something different about you..."

Is she ridiculous?

"There's something different in your voice. If I was here with you, I could have made it out. You are worried."

I felt that loneliness in me. My face slowly turned neutral as it originally was and I felt my voice going graver and colder. "I'm here only because Thomas couldn't attend it. I'm here to invest my heart in the wedding like I was told to. Don't think anything has changed, Fiona."

"Okay, fine. I shouldn't have said it. You have to walk into the room and have a conversation with them."

"Yes."

"Think of this as your one of the meetings. You concentrate on your aim and achieve it!" She exclaims.

It was useless to call her and ask for her advice. I should have listened to my mind.

"Thank you for your idea, Miss Gregory. I'll leave now."

"You're welcome Miss Thompson." She says and cuts the line.

I threw my phone in one corner of the bed and turned my head to the photograph in the nightstand.

"I need your help. It's going to be a flood. Flood of emotions in me."

My eyes trail from the photograph to the digital clock beside it.

I'm late!

I got out of the bed in haste and straightened my look. I applied my lip balm, grabbed my purse and ran out of the room.

My boots clicked on every step I took. Soon, I found myself standing in front of a door. The door was huge and had a combination of red and black. I couldn't hear anything from the inside, but I knew many people were there.

Go inside because Thomas needs you there. Go inside to be there while he can't.

I let out a shaky breath and opened the door.

The room was magnificent. There was a huge chandelier hanging with few portraits in four corners. People in uniform were scurrying here and there, carrying food and bottles of wine. In front of me, there was a huge dining table with people sitting in the chair.

My heart started beating wildly and my body shook in nervousness. People were busy eating and conversing with each other. That's when I caught the first person's attention.

She has the same pair of blue eyes like Eric. She gave me the softest smile and it felt a bit warm. She nodded her head for me to step forward and my legs did on their own. Was this lady already expecting me?

Then a few more heads turned to my direction. All of them were unfamiliar, maybe except the man who was laughing back at the party and the man who was dancing on the pole. Both of them had curiosity in their expressions. There were women sitting beside them. One of them was pregnant and the other one was glowing.

I couldn't make out the features of the pregnant lady as she was holding a glass, drinking water from it. Her eyes met mine and the glass slipped from her hands and fell on the floor with a loud crash.

The glass has broken and it has gained everybody's attention.

Her expression turned to pure shock and I finally recognized her.

Arianna Smith. Elizabeth's friend.

She is the least of my concerns right now. She had already left California way before the accident occurred. My eyes travel from her to the other people. They land on Mike. He is just staring at me. No shock or pain. Slowly they drifted to some small girl who was looking at me innocently. She also has the same pair of blue eyes like Eric and that lady so I guess they are related.

The table was huge, my eyes were travelling to a corner and that's when they stopped at them.

His parents.

Memories of my first meeting clouded over my mind and I couldn't take my eyes off them. I felt myself drowning in those exact pairs of grey eyes but they didn't belong to Thomas. Those eyes belonged to his father.

Thomas was a carbon copy of his father. He had inherited his father's every feature. This was one of the main reasons why I didn't want to meet him back there at the party.

He reminds me of him and it is painful.

His mother, Linda is a nice woman. She made me feel at home in an instant during our first meeting. Even though Thomas looked like his father, he had his mother's nature.

Right now, they look at me as if they have seen a ghost. Tears were brimming up in Linda's eyes and she was holding her husband's hand tightly.

I felt my own eyes brimming up.

I took a deep breath but it didn't work. My heart was already too heavy and my knees were going weak.

Not yet...there's still one more person left.

I felt a thumb brushing over my ring, exactly like he used to do. I didn't have the courage to look at it and see whether it was my own thumb or something else. Something which I craved to feel.

My lips twitched and I blinked, trying to push those tears away. A sob escaped from Linda's mouth and I had this sudden urge to wipe her tears away.

I had to take my eyes from them. I had to look at the main purpose of my stay here. I needed to face her, but I couldn't swim up from those hypnotic grey eyes of his father. They felt like they were giving comfort and it was soothing me.

I had craved for this.

I finally broke the contact. It was getting too much for my heart to handle. A tear finally slipped from my eye when I saw an empty chair right beside Linda. Somehow, I knew the reason for that empty chair.

I didn't understand their seating arrangement, but my eyes met with an older version of Eric, except he had a different set of eyes. He was staring at me intently as if trying to figure out who I actually am. The lady whispers something in his ears and his expression turns to something between pure shock and surprise.

There was an uneasy silence settled in the atmosphere. I knew where the soon to be married couple were sitting and it was time.

Time to face her. For Thomas.

I chanted this mantra in my mind and met with the pair of blue eyes which belonged to Eric. He wasn't shocked or surprised. I could see it in his face.

He was proud. Proud that I finally had the courage to face them even though I acted like a coward, running from my situation.

I let out a shaky breath. His hand was tightly wrapped around a small one. They were trembling. My mouth went dry when I looked at her in the eyes and broke down when I saw her already crying.

"H–Hi." I croaked out.

She emitted a small wail of cry, pushed herself out of the chair and ran towards me.

My knees trembled in anxiety and I found myself soothing her as she broke down in my arms. I felt my own tears and they were warm again.

Soon, I found myself engulfed in a hug, a family hug to be exact.

I felt his mother's comforting embrace and his father's care. I felt Elizabeth's pain.

And for the first time in two years, I felt him.