Strictly Professional

Chapter 4: Objectively, Dinner with the girls is worse

A/N I'll answer comments tomorrow sorry I'm super busy rn

Dawn was going through her kimonos. They were her clothing type of choice, even though it greatly contrasted everyone else in the family. Still, they were elegant and beautiful. When she was younger there was some sort of family drama about the incident, and she was sent to Japan for a while. It was lovely there, and she didn't ever want to come back. Sadly, her family had dragged her back home.

She flicked her hand to weave her hair into a simple braid. That was one of the many benefits of having hair made out of pure light magic; you didn't have to brush it. She grabbed a pair of Geta and exited her room. Outer was waiting patiently outside; awkwardly fiddling with his suit. Dawn had got him one that was customized for his birthday. As cool as wearing a suit with stars on it was, he missed his hoodie.

"The others are waiting for us outside in the vehicle. Shall I assume this means you're ready?"

Dawn rolled her eyes and sighed, nodding and following behind Outer. It was a bachelorette party, so as her bodyguard poor outer would be the only guy there. Given, he was used to working in such situations. The main issue is that the girls were all her family.

She desperately wished Ccino could come, but he insisted that it wouldn't end well. He knew very well that tonight was going to be tense with her family, and having an outsider that was unnecessary would just add to said tension.

Walking out to the car dejectedly, Dawn felt the need to punch someone. Instead of everyone driving their own car, they had rented a limo. Yes, they were going to a rich person place; meaning this was certainly not a flex. She groaned. They were doing this so everyone would be in one vehicle.

Which basically meant she would have no solace from them all of today. She was sure they would spend today nagging about the dangers of marrying a stranger, how she should wait for love, and how it was reckless to leave the safety of her home. Slowly walking up to the limo door, she felt like she was going to cry. No, she wouldn't; now was the time to stay strong.

Outer opened it for her, and she took a seat in the back row. Outer sat down next to her, eying her with pity as he closed the door behind them. It was an intimidating sight for sure; because it wasn't just her sisters and their bodyguards. It was also her aunts. She hadn't seen them in over a year at this point.

She knew why; they were scared to trigger her. Still, it was actually worse to be ignored. The accident hadn't been any of their faults; how would they know that would happen? There were absolutely no telling signs; Dawn knew because she'd imagine any possible way it would have gone differently. Mother would have died no matter what, alongside her other siblings. She'd come to peace with that; but she hated that everyone pitied her for being there so much.

The car started, and everyone sat in silence as everyone stared at each other. Tsunami opened her mouth, only to be slapped across the knee by Shadow. It wouldn't be right for either of them to be the first to speak, and that was just the way it is. Tsunami looked to Eight for validation, but the other just shook their head sadly.

The rest of the car ride was like that; which was only about five minutes. Still, that felt like an eternity in silence. They pulled up to a restaurant that they liked to use; a safe haven from any paparazzi or such. It was beautiful; for someone who wasn't dreading going in. The driver stopped and everyone awkwardly shuffled out, avoiding each other. Shadow checked them into their reservation, and they headed upstairs to sit in one of the rooms.

Unsurprisingly, the one across from theirs was booked. Dawn wished she could be in any other place than the stifling room she was about to enter. Alas, her wish wouldn't be coming true anytime soon. Her very broken family finally all took a seat around the table; and one of her aunts broke the silence.