The dinner is going good so far and I manage to escape Jeff but not my mom. She's been going around the entire area introducing me to everyone she knew. It almost feels like I'm an illegitimate child but I guess mom can't help it, this is the first time her friends and future relatives have known that she has a daughter.
"Excuse me for a while ladies." Mom says to her friends before heading towards the direction of Pierre. I smile at the women and answer their questions. I am a public relations and communications student so this should be good practice. Suddenly someone taps me in the shoulder making me turn around before being engulf in a hug.
"I'm so sorry Clarice that I got here late." The person says to me and I try to squirm my way out of the hug but she let go. "Oh. You're not Clarice." She says, her eyes widening when she realizes she just hugged some stranger. "I'm so sorry. I thought you were Clarice since you're talking to her friends and you have the same hair although I could have seen yours is longer than Clarice's." She blushes with her shy smile.
"It's okay. People make mistakes especially with me and mom." I tell her and she seems to have relax. "If you're looking for mom, she's with Pierre." I point to the direction and she smiles her thanks before heading to that direction. I excuse myself from mom's friends and head to the kitchen. Despite being new to the house, the kitchen is easy to locate considering you can see it from the living room. I smile at the staff working hard to prepare everything for dinner and ask one of them for a bottle of water. I stay in the kitchen contented in sipping my water while watching the chaotic scene in the living room. I see the woman that hugged me loop her arm on Jeff's and that's when I knew she was my big bro's girlfriend. My mom and Pierre announces that dinner will be held at the backyard and I watch the people file out before taking my leave as well. I don't want mom to make Jeff look for me. I get to the backyard and see the entire place is packed with people. Mom sees me and signals me over to get to where they are, Jeff and Kate are present at the table.
"Destiny, I want you to meet Kate." Mom says gesturing to Kate who smiles at me.
"So you're Destiny. Clarice talked a lot about you. Again I'm so sorry I hugged you earlier. I really thought you were your mom." Kate comes up to me and hugs me lightly which I reciprocate.
"Oh you two met already?" Mom asks.
"Yeah....I may have hugged her without knowing she wasn't you." Kate explains with a giggle. Mom looks at me expectantly.
"It's nice to meet you Kate and don't worry about what happened earlier. It was an honest mistake." I tell Kate with a smile before mom ushers us to sit down.
The dinner goes by smoothly with laughter and gossip here and there. People congratulating my mom and asking her the details about the wedding. The wedding is set a month from now but everyone is excited about it since mom is quite famous in her line of work. I try to remember the names of the people I met but with the amount of people here now, it would be difficult.
"Hey. You seem bored." Kate's face pops in front of me. "Mind if I hang with you for a while. Kinda tired of talking to all of them." She didn't wait for my reply and takes a seat on my right. "You don't like socializing?" She asks looking at me expectantly.
"Not really. I'm not a hermit or anything but I don't know these people so I don't really feel like talking to them." I shrug.
"That's understandable." She stares at me making me feel a bit uneasy. "How come Jeff never mentioned he has a sister?" She asks.
"He likes to pretend he's the only child." I explain in a flat tone. "So I don't think he wants to let people know I exist." I add. She ponders on it before looking to Jeff who was talking to some of Pierre's relatives.
"Clarice never stopped talking about you." She tells me. "I was surprised when she said she has a daughter since I thought Jeff was her only child. She's been talking non stop about you since you said you'll come here. I've never seen her so excited over something." She turns her gaze on me. "I hope you know your mom loves you so much." She says to me before standing up and going to where Jeff is. I wanted to tell her she doesn't know anything about my family but for some reason her words had sunk into me. I do know my mom loves me, how can I miss it when she tries to show it to me every chance she gets. I look at my mom who seems to have a glow in her as she talks about her upcoming wedding before looking back at Kate who smiles contentedly with her arm loop around Jeff's. My mind goes to my dad who is in Japan wondering what he's doing at this hour. I tell myself to call him as soon as this dinner is over to check on him.