Moira

8.

000d, 00h, 00m, 00s

Panting, chest heaving as I gasped for air, I arrived back at my family home almost an hour later.

The space had filled up significantly. Whereas before it was just family mingling with each other; distant relatives, in-laws and close friends had arrived by now. Making it painfully obvious how late I was once more.

Most of them threw me cautious glances, though were too involved in other conversations to start asking questions. My sister seemed particularly displeased by my late arrival, snatching the box off the dining table mere seconds after I had placed it there before hurrying into the kitchen to prepare them on a platter.

"You can be glad I went to grab them in the first place, Aude," I muttered, my voice muffled as I followed her into the kitchen. Our mother right on our heels.

"Oh, yeah," She huffed, her attitude apparent. "I'll forever be in your debt, Amidelle. Thank you so much for taking almost three hours to pick up some—" Opening the box, she swallowed her last words in what could only be disbelief. "—and it's not even all of them?" She exclaimed, voice raising now despite our combined efforts to display a united front. "What? You couldn't help yourself?" She scoffed. "Mom—!"

"I'm already here; no need to shout," She sighed from behind us, Audelle turning around in surprise.

Eyes flickering back and forth between her two children, she sighed once more before stepping closer to the dessert and taking a closer look.

Attention fully on my mother, I hardly noticed the two figures following us into the kitchen and startled as soon as a warm gust of air tickled my neck. My hand flew up to my chest in surprise, hoping it would calm my fast-paced heartbeat as I turned around.

"This must be the first time I see you being late to anything," Eniola whispered, a wide grin plastered across her face as she took a step back, inevitably positioning herself next to Aiden again.

The ginger's grin matched his fiancé's. "Kind of exciting," He mocked. "Seeing her rebel around five years too late. I did tell you she'd go through that phase eventually—" Aiden muttered in amusement, eyes trained on Eniola beside him. The latter only laughed lowly.

"I'm not—" I interrupted myself with a groan, knowing they'd make fun of me no matter what I'd say. And the realisation of that spreading across my face only made it harder for the pair to suppress their laughter, eventually having my own lips twitch into a smile.

Though, it fell as soon as I registered my mother's voice asking, "Why on earth are two of them missing?"

Two?

My eyes widened in panic as I turned towards her, eyes darting around the kitchen to focus on anything but their piercing stares on me. I cleared my throat.

"Well, you see—" I took a deep breath, knowing I couldn't tell them what actually happened;

I met my soulmate in Wallflour's again, followed him all the way to his home outside of Arcan City because he refuses to talk to me. We had an argument in his kitchen where his roommate — I guessed — took one— well, according to you, took two of the muffins out of the box without asking. Then I hurried back as fast as I could because for a moment I forgot my own sister's sixteenth birthday.

Yeah, that didn't sound like something I should say. So, I opted for the next best option.

"I met— Harry," I had to stop myself from scrunching my nose up at the completely made-up name for him. "At Wallflour's, actually," I explained, forcing a smile on my lips.

Their stern looks softened immediately at my words. "And we... just got to talking— I forgot the time, I guess," I mumbled, though my story seemed to be working as I watched my mother nod with a smile on her face.

"—And then you offered him a muffin? That is so thoughtful of you, Amidelle," She beamed brightly, and I quickly stopped my brows from furrowing at the realisation of how easy lying was. "I hope you made sure to mention they were from all of us!" She added.

"Oh, of course." I tried my best not to show the relief I felt in my facial expression and simply gave her a warm smile. Even my sister's glance had softened. Though, she didn't seem to be as content with the story as our mother.

"It's really time for us to meet this guy. Don't you think, Amidelle?" She went on, and the smile on my face faded once more. Muffling a groan, I gave her a stern nod. "Have you two met him yet?"

Her eyes diverted off of me and onto my friends behind me, the two shaking their heads immediately as my gaze followed hers.

"Didn't even get a name out of her until two days later. Can you believe it?" Eniola gasped playfully as Aiden huffed in amusement at the horror displayed on her face.

"Unbelievable," My mother grinned, sending me a playfully scolding look before focusing on the pair again. "I guess we'll just have to take matters into our own hands, then. Right?"

My brows knitted together tightly, pulse picking up as I tried to decipher what that meant. She nodded to herself at the suggestion.

"Say, are you two busy on Wednesday evening?" My eyes darted back and forth between my mother and my friends, not quite sure how I could explain that they were busy without making it suspicious.

"Absolutely not—"

"—Harry always works up until late at night," I interrupted their scheming quickly, my voice a little higher than usual.

"Hard-working, of course," My mother nodded proudly. "Saturday evening it is, then."

"No—"

"—Perfect," It was Aiden interrupting me this time, brows raised at my sudden panicked outburst.

"Oh my, look at you. You're all flustered and nervous," My mother giggled while shaking her head. "That boy really must be one of a kind." And with that, she left the kitchen to join our guests once more.

Audelle continued to place the Cupcakes on a plate while Eniola and Aiden were helping her.

A sigh escaped my lips as I let my head fall back, looking up at the white ceiling in hopes it would clear my head.

It had to happen eventually. However, this gave me no more than a week to convince this man to meet my family and friends, when two hours ago, he didn't even want to speak to me.