Rich People Problems

vii | always wear red

KIMBERLY

I LOVE VIVIAN Liu with all my heart. Like, I would fight anyone who even dared to touch a precious strand of hair on her head. But, when she plays her stupid "meditation" sounds on our overhead speakers at eight in the morning, the urge to strangle her was overwhelming.

She knows I'm not a morning person, but she makes it her personal mission to make my mornings even more unbearable.

Although, my lack of sleep wasn't completely her fault this time.

After using my favorite two words on Jace last night, we had a very silent ride home—filled with an unbearable tension from the proximity, might I add—that ended with him telling me not to drink more before the press conference. His tone was annoyingly sincere and so was my reaction.

I flipped him my favorite finger and slammed the car door shut. I wanted nothing more than to rant to my best friend after entering the apartment, but that was shut down when I saw her bedroom lights off.

Begrudgingly, I made my way upstairs to my bedroom. Laying down in bed with Momo by my side, I stared at the engagement ring for a good two hours before finally closing my eyes. This proved to be futile; even with my eyes closed, our interactions ran through my head, torturing me.

I don't know why this man had such a powerful effect on me. I wasn't the type of person to let someone live in my head rent-free, but Jace put his flag down in my brain and was making no plans of leaving.

Just when I was closing my eyes for another wink of sleep, those god-awful sounds from our speakers interrupted my serenity.

"Vivian Liu," I called out to my best friend, storming out of the room. "If I have to hear two whales fucking this early in the morning, I will literally chop your hair off in your sleep."

Her hands immediately went to her long, black hair, too scared to accuse me of bluffing given the crazy glint in my eyes. "It's not 'whales fucking', it's 'Ocean Waves Crashing Into Rocks'." She acted like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well, keep it up and it's not gonna be the only thing crashing into rocks," I muttered, trudging to the coffee machine to pour myself a cup.

"You're especially violent today," she ignored my threat, taking a seat in one of the barstools at the kitchen island after turning down the speakers. "What's up? I'm assuming shit went well considering the ring."

Sipping on my coffee, I hopped up onto the island next to her. "It depends on your definition of 'well'."

With her mentioning the godforsaken ring, my eyes betrayed my strong will, glancing down at the object of my torture. The absolute beauty of the ring didn't help in calming down the angry wasps fighting in my stomach.

Vivian knew that I wasn't looking to be engaged anytime soon—honestly, never if you asked me—but God was having a real nice laugh after the situation I found myself in.

"Is he at least nice to you?" Vivian's voice softened slightly, sensing my frustration. I scoffed, taking another sip of my coffee. I didn't even need to respond because she already understood. "Well, what happened happened. All we can do now is make the best of the situation and take this one step at a time."

Vivian wasn't normally an optimistic person, but I could tell she was doing this for my sake. I had been a burden to her for long enough, so I decided to slap a smile onto my face and deal with it. "You're right. The press conference is this morning, so I'm gonna go get ready and head out."

I hopped off the island and placed a small kiss to the side of Vivi's head before walking to my room.

It was going to be a long day.