Deadline

2 / it's kai

♡
second
chapter
_______
: charity function
a/n:
i can't think of a better title soz
x

I find myself staring straight into the face of an Asian girl wearing an aquamarine minidress.
She stares back at me, expressionless.

This is awkward beyond measure.
I never should've let my parents talk me into following them to this charity function.
Never.

Mrs Lee, a pretty Asian lady, beams at the both of us, showing off really straight white teeth. "Cassia, meet my daughter, Kai. Kai, Cassia."

She's gorgeous and slim, with glossy jet black hair that's pulled into an intentionally messy chignon, and skin that's golden brown and flawless.

I try for a polite smile, but Kai just purses her lips and looks away. I quit smiling and divert my gaze too.

Friendly.

I let my eyes roam the ballroom, taking in the magnificent chandelier that dangles from the middle of the ceiling, the rich tapestries that cloak the walls and the shinyshinyshiny reflective granite floors. You could probably catch a good number of up-skirts just by watching the gigantic mirror of a floor.

I cross one of my legs in front of the other.

"Kai, darling, why don't you go introduce Cassia to the other girls, hmm?" Mrs Lee suggests, squeezing her daughter's shoulder before looking straight at me. I want nothing more than to make myself scarce but I give her a polite grin all the same.

Kai opens her mouth to say something, and I don't miss the pointed look Mrs Lee shoots her. She snaps her mouth shut and doesn't say anything. Regardless, her icy expression says it all. She looks like she'd rather shoot herself in the foot than talk to me, much less introduce me to her friends.

Mrs Lee smiles at me before turning back to continue her conversation with my mum, who tips her chin at me, a universal go on.

Kai chews on her lip.
I drum my fingers against my thigh.

I must say, I don't feel too hot about the move. Being uprooted and dragged away from the only place you've ever known as home is scary enough on its own. Having to make new friends, with people who don't seem too keen on it, is a whole new level of horrifying.

"Come on, I guess." She finally says, turning around with a quiet sigh. I walk beside her silently, taking a deep breath, distracting myself by taking in the beautifully decorated ballroom. We pass by a few tables and I spot a bunch of girls in dresses standing in a tight little circle just by the stage, which is probably where we're headed.

I notice the way they laugh and chat animatedly, exploding in giggles every now and again.
They remind me of my friends back home.

Reality smacks me in the face for the millionth time this week when I think of my friends. We were close and happy and contented, and then I got dragged off to this foreign town in which I know no one at all.

I find myself getting prickly about how she's treating me so coldly. She makes it seem as if I were some monstrous burden she was tasked to carry.

Then again, I pretty much am one, aren't I?

If I was with a bunch of my friends back home, and somebody forced me to take in a stranger, just because she was new, and spoon-feed her a social life, I'd have been reluctant too. I suddenly understand and just like that, the prickliness dissipates.
I actually feel sorry for her now.

"Look." I suddenly say out of nowhere, halting in my tracks. We stop right next to a potted plant and a little table with a tray on it, about twenty paces away from the group of girls. "You honestly don't have to introduce me to anyone. I get it, it's annoying to have some new girl shoved at you, especially when you don't even know what kind of person she is, and then forced to show her around."

Startled, Kai stares at me, perfectly shaped brows quirking and lips parting. "It's not..." She looks like she wants to say something, but then she clamps her mouth shut.

"No, I mean it." I give her what I hope is a reassuring look. "I can manage on my own. You don't have to babysit me."
Bottom line, it would obviously suck to manage on my own, but I can definitely handle that because I'm not a baby.

She rolls her lips into her mouth and breathes out slowly, as if she has the world on her shoulders. "You've got it all wrong. Though that's undoubtedly my fault."

I arch an eyebrow at her, confused.

"Come on, let's get out of here." She mutters, shaking her head.

She whirls us both around, too quickly, and we smash into a waitress, who's carrying a bottle of champagne.

Some splashes out onto the waitress' white uniform shirt. She immediately starts to apologise and I stare at her incredulously. It spilt on her, not us. If anyone should apologise it should be me and Kai.

And apologise Kai does.

"Oh shit!" Kai puts on a strange voice. It's one octave higher and a lot more hyper. "I'm so sorry! Here let me take that, you should go get yourself cleaned up!"

The waitress seems to be at a loss. "Oh hell, my manager will kill me."

"We're so sorry..." I grimace, rummaging my purse for a pack of tissues. She takes it gratefully, mumbling a word of thanks and hurrying off.

Kai turns to me, clutching the neck of the bottle, a hint of a smirk playing on her lips.
"Thirsty?"

x
mm i actually don't like alcohol