A few of them looked at me in confusion. “Are you constipated?”
No one but Nora was capable of making such a crass comment.
Rolling my eyes, I resumed my seat and replied, “I bumped into a friend that’s all.”
My reply seemed to have piqued her interests even more. “What friend? Is it a he or she?” Is he handsome?”
Oh dear…
Tessa’s gaze fell on me; her lips pursed with traces of disdain.
I lost my appetite after taking a few bites when Nora suggested a karaoke session on the second floor.
Everyone agreed to her suggestion. After all, they did promise themselves to play hard after returning home from Western Europe.
The second floor was full of private rooms for karaoke with a big pool hall in the middle. Customers who did not fancy singing karaoke could spend time playing pool out here. I regarded this to be a very thoughtful design.
I was terribly tone-deaf and could neither sing nor dance. Tessa seemed to view karaoke singing in the same light. But it could just be that she didn’t like it at all. For all that I knew, we both disliked the rowdy environment.
After spending some time in our private room, I excused myself to get some air.
But mostly because Nora kept shooting me looks to get out of her way so she could spend some private time with Armond.
Armond was usually distant and reserved. I couldn’t help but suspect something was wired wrongly for him tonight to subject himself to such discordant singings by a few girls.
Outside the karaoke rooms, the pool hall was now filled with a few men in groups and maybe two or three women in between. Pool was not a very popular sport in this area.
After searching for a while, I found a bench on the side and sat down with my chin rested on my hands, spacing out.
Before long, a figure took a seat next to me. It took me a few seconds to turn around and realized it was Tessa.
We had had very few exchanges throughout the night; thus I was a little taken by surprise when she sat down next to me.
“Did you know the man from just now?” she asked coldly.
I tilted my head in her direction and realized she wasn’t even looking at me. Her gaze was falling right ahead at those playing pool in front of us.
The man?
When it finally dawned on me which man she was referring to, I pursed my lips and hesitated for a brief moment before I answered her question, “What about it?”
Tessa was fiddling with her hands as she spoke, “I believe in letting go of grievances among people. I can get over whatever had happened between us in Venria. But you have to remember that you owe me one.”
I was a little bewildered by her statement but chose to remain silent.
“Now that we’re all back to our home country and are going to remain friends, it’s not in anyone’s benefit if our relationship remains as strained as it is. Since we hang out with the same group of people and are bound to gather every so often, we might as well set aside our differences and spend time as real friends.”
I looked at her with my eyebrow raised, still puzzled by her sudden change of mind.
She misinterpreted my silence as disagreement and retorted, “There’s no need to be arrogant, it’s fine by me if you wish to carry on like this.”
I thought for another moment and sighed. “Tessa, I think sometimes you’re trapped in your own pre-conceptions. I don’t see you as an enemy and I never have.”
“Great! That means we’re friends!” she exclaimed while holding out her hand. “Give me your phone.”
She took over my phone and did a few maneuvers before handing it back to me. “I’ve saved my phone number and added my WhatsApp to your phone. Let’s stay in touch.”
Honestly, I was still a little befuddled. But since she was the one to extend an olive branch, there was no reason to shoot her down.
I nodded and kept my phone.
At that moment, I felt a warm glare in my direction. I lifted my head and met with Ashton’s clear, dark eyes.
Was that a coincidence? Probably not so much, given we were dining in the same building.
Ashton seemed like he was here for business purposes. He was standing mere meters away, talking to a few middle-aged men.
The men followed the direction of his gaze and turned to me all at once when Ashton stopped short in their conversation.
They all appeared to be people of prominent status. Their stares started to make me feel uncomfortable and so I shifted my gaze from Ashton and looked elsewhere, pretending that we didn’t know each other.
Tessa, on the other hand, was visibly more excited than just moments earlier. “You guys really know each other?”
“Just barely,” I uttered, thinking we should probably head back.
“Regardless, we should just go say hi!” Tessa was almost pulling on me.
I wanted to gently push her away, but she was stockier and stronger than I was, making it difficult for me to pry open her firm grip around my arm.
