CHAPTER SIX

Lacey stood to the side as Adi made a mess of her wardrobe. Not really a mess, but clothes were flying left and right, while Adi made occasional commentary like, ‘Nope’ or ‘Why the hell do you have this?’

As a smart choice, Lacey refrained from revealing that most of her clothes were stuff Thomas liked or bought for her. Really, she’d never had any reason or thought of impressing any man but him. As for dressing up for herself, it wasn’t something Lacey took great interest in. 

Her fashion taste was limited to throwing on a simple outfit of jeans and tee, and carrying on with her day. But according to Adi, that wasn’t going to cut it anymore. 

“Seriously.” Adi let out a fully-loaded sigh, shooting a glare at Lacey. “There’s nothing to wear.”

That could be said to be a half-truth. Sure, there were tons of clothes, but a lot of the fancy ones were bought by Thomas, and if she had to wear a dress bought by him to what was meant to be a party to forget him, then Lacey would rather stay at home. 

“Should we just order one right now?” Maddy poked her head through the door, not fully inside the room. “Or I could lend Lacey one of mine,” she offered. 

Adi looked like he couldn’t believe what he just heard. “Absolutely not! We’re not sending Lacey to a rebound party…”

“It’s not a rebound party.”

“... in one of your dresses, Mads. She has to wear her own clothes; that’s the rule.” 

Grumbling something about what a silly rule that was, Maddy disappeared. Left alone again with Adi, Lacey watched him flop onto her bed. “Should we order something online?”

The disgruntled look on Adi’s face as he tapped through his phone made a smile cross Lacey’s face. Without thinking about it, Lacey threw her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “I love you so much.” In the few minutes Adi spent looking through her closet, Lacey was thoroughly entertained. She saw how much Adi was trying to make it good for her, and didn’t take that for granted. 

“Well, duh,” was Adi’s response, but he leaned into her hug. 

After pulling away, Lacey sat on the ground, legs folded and facing Adi. Maybe it was the need to feel ‘grounded’, but the floor had become the place she settled on. “This party…Do we really have to dress up all fancy? I understand you wanting me to be the belle of the party, but I would rather not wear a dress, okay? Having fun in casual clothes sounds like a lot of fun right now.”

The kinds of parties Adi went to differed a lot, so it was hard to tell what flew and what didn’t. 

“Maybe the guy I’ll meet doesn’t like women in dresses.” Lacey said that as a joke, but Adi looked like he was seriously considering it. 

“Hmm.” Adi gave it some thought, and reached a conclusion that Lacey was onto something. “Fine, but I still get to choose your clothes.” Seeing Adi eye her from head to toe, Lacey laughed. “Seriously, Lace. You’re a fashion criminal.”

“Have we decided on something?” Maddy was back. 

At 10:55 p.m., the three of them tumbled out of Lacey’s house, and were on their way to the party in Lacey’s car, but with Adi driving. Lacey was in a crocheted dress that she ordered on a whim a few years back but had never worn. How Adi managed to find it in the depth of her closet, she wasn’t sure. 

Twenty-seven minutes later—Due to uneasiness, Lacey kept count of the time passing—they arrived at the party location. It was more than Lacey was expecting. 

Suddenly Lacey felt underdressed, regretting that she asked them to go casual. If only Adi mentioned the party was going to be at a freaking mansion, she would have worn something fancy. No, scratch that. If Lacey had known that party was being held at such a fancy mansion-esque house, she would never have come. 

“You’re not getting cold shoulders, are you?” Adi’s voice came from close to her ears. “Trust me not to bring you to an uncomfortable place. Plus, if at any point, you’re no longer having fun, then, we’ll leave.”

“Right.” With that assurance, Maddy came from the side, and hooked her arm with Laceys’.

Inside was nothing like Lacey expected. Not the interior, which was exactly what you would expect a mansion to look like. But it was the guests that surprised Lacey. For some reason, what she expected to see was a pretentious group of people just lounging about with drinks in their hands, judging one another silently, but the reality couldn’t be more far off. 

With only about twenty people present, it was easy to tell by their interaction that they knew each other and liked each other. 

It was the piano that held Lacey’s attention. Particularly, the man who was playing a soft rendition of the happy birthday song. 

“Do you play?” The sudden deep voice by her left side gave Lacey a start. All the while, she thought Maddy was next to her, but upon further inspection, she found her best friend was already at the table arranged with food. Thankfully, Adi was still beside her. 

With a laugh, Adi introduced the strange man, who had a roguish smile on his face. His distinctive features place him as Asian. 

“Lacey, this is Ian Jung, the birthday boy. Don’t let that face deceive you. He turns thirty today.”

“Adi, come on, don’t scare her off like that,” Ian joked. “Nice to meet you, Lacey. Are you into crochet? My younger sister thinks everyone who likes crochet is cool. And I agree with her.” Ian directed a nod at her dress. “I hope you have a good time. Don’t fade into the background, alright?”And with that, Ian left to greet other guests. 

“I’m going to say hi to a few friends. I saw you eyeing the piano earlier; go for it.” With a wink, Adi was gone.

It’d been a while since Lacey played, so the thought was tempting, but wouldn’t it be weird to walk up to a total stranger and ask them to move aside for her? Lacey thought so. Still, she moved closer to the front of the piano, where the man was still playing softly. 

Up till then, Lacey only had a view of his back. Noticing someone was watching him, the man raised his head, his stunning, piercing grey eyes meeting Lacey’s gaze. Now gifted with a view of this beautiful face, it was hard to look away. All the while, his fingers still gently strummed the keys of the piano.