As evening came around, Nina couldn't believe what she was doing. Standing in the guest bathroom on the bottom floor, the woman had sent Faye upstairs to gather a few of her belongs. Coming back with her make up and outfits, the woman thanked her little girl before putting a movie on for her in the living room.
With Faye occupied, Nina breathed as she applied the smallest amount of make up to her face. Not going all out, she did the most neutral look she could muster as she put on an outfit that she would normally wear on a "lazy day".
She was certainly not showing up to impress.
Putting on sweats and and a shirt, she smiled happy enough with her efforts. She wasn't going to give in to these men.
As she checked the time on the clock, she gasped seeing it was nearing seven already. She hadn't even noticed she lost so much time. After her nap with Faye, the two of them spent much of the afternoon playing games and watching movies together. But as her precious time slipped away Nina cursed herself.
Putting her hands up against the bathroom counter, she stared ahead, looking back at herself. "What have you done, Wasklin?" She asked herself before hanging her head.
Taking deep breathes, Nina tried to calm her anxious nerves down. Shaking her head she looked back up startled as she saw Kaila tiredly standing in the doorway with a pacifier in her mouth. Jumping in place, Nina nearly tripped over herself.
"What're you doing sweet pea? You scared me."
Holding her arms open, the little girl just waited for the woman to lift her up. Laying her head against Nina's shoulder, Kaila sighed peacefully as the woman began to bounce her. "Did you just wake up from a nap?"
Nodding, Kaila felt her eyes beginning to flutter shut again.
Seeing her eyes closing through the vanity mirror in the room, Nina bounced Kaila more. "No baby, you've got to wake up for mama. If you take a nap again I'm not going to be able to put you to sleep when I come back."
"Where going?" Her little girl lazily asked as the pacifier bobbed between her lips.
"Dinner. Mama's going out to dinner."
Feeling herself waking up to the mention of food, Kaila looked up at the woman. "I come?" She pointed to her chest as she asked.
"No, Kaila. I need you to stay here."
"But I wanna go."
"Well mama's asking you to stay here tonight. Mommy and I will take you to dinner another day."
"Mommy going?"
"Uh-" Scratching the back of her neck the woman didn't even know how to respond to that. Apart of her both hoped her wife did and did not show.
She hoped Lain attended the dinner with her as a way of sealing the deal and ensuring they never had to see the faces of those creepy brothers again.
And yet at the same time she didn't want to put her wife through that mental challenge. She would rather deal with her mess herself, leaving everyone she cared about out of it.
She felt conflicted.
"I don't know honey." She admitted as she began rubbing circles on the back of her little girl.
"Sissy's going?" Kaila asked rubbing her tired eyes.
Smirking as she held onto the small girl tighter, Nina shook her head. "No. They're staying home as well."
"Grammy?"
Chuckling to herself now, Nina just sat down on her bed as she cradled Kaila in her arms. "No pretty girl. Mama's going alone tonight."
"Why?" Kaila yawned.
"Because mama needs to talk with some people about some important things."
Just nodding as she didn't entirely care what it was about, Kaila curled into the woman's loving touch.
But before Nina knew it, her grace period had run up. With only half an hour to waste, she stood up with Kaila. "Let's go see what sissy's watching in the living room."
Seeing Faye happily watching her film outside, Nina asked. "Can Kaila join you, honey?"
Nodding happily as she patted the spot besides her, Nina sat Kaila down besides Faye. "You girls be good for mommy and Grammy tonight. Mama will be back to give you girls kisses before bed time."
After an exchange of hugs the girls let the woman go so they could return to their movie.
Walking over to the bottom of the stairs Nina inhaled deeply as she shouted up. "I'll...I'll be back." As she turned away to leave, Nina could hear footsteps approaching the stairs.
Thinking it was Lauren coming to tell her goodbye, the woman paused in her tracks turning around as she looked up shocked when the person behind the footsteps came into view. "Lain?"
"What?" Her wife crossed her arms as she walked down in nearly the same attire. Sweats and a sweater.
"I...I'm uh. Going now, for the dinner. I'll-I'll uh be back soon."
"I'm coming too." She pointed out in a monotone voice raising an eyebrow.
"Oh...I just thought that with the outfit and all..."
"What, that I wasn't going to go?"
"Well yeah."
"You're dressed like this." Lain pointed out as she aimed her finger up and down her wife's body.
"Well cause I'm not going to dress up for this occasion."
"Then we're on the same page. That'll be the first for today. Now hurry up. I want to get this over with as fast as we can." Lain stormed off leaving Nina in shock. "Are you coming?" Her wife asked as she turned around tapping her feet.
Catching up Nina got into her car as she nervously buckled in. "I-" she tried to apologize before she met with the hand.
"Don't. I'm just doing this for our girls. If what you said is true, and they'll leave us alone after this, then it better be worth it." Lain said before she slouched in her seat zoning into her phone to avoid talking to her wife.
Taking it as a sign Nina took off towards their meeting point. Coming along to a fancy restaurant with antique like brick walls and decor, the couple stared ahead of them. "I really wish I didn't dress so casual now. Nobody ever shows up here underdressed." Lain said in slight embarrassment as she looked at both her and her wife's attire.
"It doesn't matter what your wearing, we're not staying long anyways. Just order, eat, and then we can go home." Nina tried to comfort.
Building up the courage to walk out, the couple were met with a few staring eyes as they walked into the restaurant where a man with an apron over his waist stood behind a podium looking at the women with a cocky look on his face.
"Can I help you ladies?" He asked looking at them with displeasure.
"We're here to meet up with some people." Nina informed.
"The name?" He said flipping through the reservations list.
"Um-" Nina's mind went blank she didn't know what to say. She didn't know their names! Stuttering as she tried to think, she was interrupted by a loud cough coming from the side.
"They're with us." The women turned towards where the older brother stood in a white suit.
Nodding the man behind the podium handed over menus as the brother escorted the ladies to their table. "I'll say I was starting to think you chickened out." He smirked.
"Let's just hold conversation until we get to the table." Lain said not wanting to engage in any type of conversation with these men for as long as she could.
Holding his hands up the brother chuckled. "I see why you picked her, feisty." He told Nina before turning around walking the rest of the way to their table in the back corner of the room quietly.
As soon as they arrived at the table, the brother sat on one side of the booth while his brother sat on the other. Leaving only one space open on each side. Growling lowly to herself, Nina cringed as she slid into the seat besides the younger brother.
Her death glare grew even stronger the minute her wife sat in front of her, and besides the man cockily popping his collar. "Nice of you ladies to join us." The younger brother said in his grey suit.
"Did we have a choice?" Lain sassed under her breathe. "What are your names?" She built the courage to ask.
"Forgive me. That is my brother James. And my name is Mallix." The older brother said from besides Lain. Just as Nina was about to comment on their names, the man cleared his throat as he readied himself to wow the crowd.
"And you're Lain and Nina. Dated for about five years, were engaged for one, and married for almost another five. You got together while you were still in high school. You had your wedding, I'm assuming in secret, due to the lack of guests who attended. You are both financially stable, thanks to both of your backgrounds and parents. Nina, you've attended college and gathered two degrees. One relating to business and the other for fashion. And Lain, you've only gotten one degree in fashion but quit on getting your second. And now you live with three girls, and the only reason your here is to get us off your backs." He said leaving both women with their jaws dropped.
"How did-"
"I'm amazing at reading people." Mallix smirked as his brother rolled his eyes.
"What that means is that he's the one in charge of looking up the background information of our clients before we make any kind of sell to them. He was in charge of looking up both of your cases." James informed.
The matter of fact still left the women impressed. He described nearly their entire life to the tee, meanwhile, they barely knew his name.
"Where did you find all that information from? Nobody even knew about our wedding except for a few people." Nina asked needing to know as the accurate information was shocking.
"I have my sources." Was all he admitted.
"Well now that you've made your point Mallix, I think it's best we actually look for what we want to eat. I'm famished." His brother said.
"Right the food." Lifting his menu over his face, the man turned to the woman besides him. "Nice outfit." He smirked.
Rolling her eyes at him, Lain held her menu up covering her view of his face as she did so. Trying to focus more on the food than the conversation. She didn't want to know what else he knew about them.
From over top her menu she could see her wife, annoyingly trying to ignore the man talking besides her.
This was going to be a long evening.
After they ordered their food and the men proceeded to mainly argue with one another while the women sat besides them uninterested just sipping at their drinks, the main course finally arrived.
Digging into their meals, the women continued glancing at one another making sure that the other was alright. "Is your entire career just selling people?" Nina asked trying to get information out of them.
But seeing their faces light up in fear and shock was enough to satisfy her revengeful need. "Keep your voice down." James said from besides her.
While the women chuckled to themselves the brothers came down from their nervous attack. Clearing his throat, James fixed his tie. "Yes, we do alright. It's a business in high demand."
"But there's so many other, legal, things you both could be doing? Why settle with this?"
"James and I need quick cash. This works for us."
Before the woman had a chance to probe further, Mallix raised his eyebrow. "What about your secret wedding? What was that all about?"
Staring at each other as if waiting for the other to respond, Lain wiped her mouth as she cleared her throat. "Um—the size. We didn't want a big wedding so we only told a few people." She lied.
But accepting her answer the brothers and couple continued with their meals making small conversation.
After they finally paid for their meals the couple were getting ready to leave. "You'll leave us alone now, right?" Nina asked as she threw her bag over her shoulder.
"You have our word." James responded. "It was nice getting to have dinner."
Sharing a relived smile, the women thought their stressful night was finally over. But they were far from it.
"Hey girls. It's good to see you here." An older woman said as she approached the table.
Lain's eyes nearly fell out of her head as she chocked on her drink. "Mom?!"
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off