Stepping out of comfort

“Okay, sure. What time and where?” she asks him after pondering for a while, her heart racing with anticipation because agreeing to meet up with someone that she just started talking to is way out of character for her.

“10 pm at ‘The Beat’ club. I’ll leave your name at the door,” Caleb replies.

Melanie nods to herself, even though she knows that he can’t see her but she is feeling a thrill of excitement at the prospect of meeting Caleb later in the day so she quickly gets up from her bed and rushes to Kalinin’s matrimonial room with excitement radiating from her face.

“Kali, Kali! You won’t believe what just happened!” Melanie exclaims, barely containing her enthusiasm and forgetting to acknowledge Kali’s husband’s presence.

“I will just excuse myself,” Martins takes the initiative and excuses him from the room without making the situation awkward.

“What’s going on? You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Kalinin looks up from her book curious

“I matched with someone on the site, and we are meeting up tonight at his club!” she informs her sister and her jaw drops.

“I need your help Kali; I have no idea what to wear and how to get to the club,” Melanie speaks up after taking a deep breath and a huge grin spreads across Kali’s face

“Is this a joke?” Kal asks, refusing to believe her ears.

“Nooo,” Mel answers.

“I know that I used our mom to threaten you and I gave you an ultimatum but everything that I said was because I wanted you to take the dating app seriously and you understood the assignment,” Kalinin says as she pulls Melanie’s cheeks.

“Oh my God, Mel!… This is amazing! Tell me everything” she urges.

“His name is Caleb, and I suspect that he is a musician because of his bio and he invited me to his club ‘The Beat’ tonight at 10 pm but I have no idea what to wear or how to get there. Can you help me?” Melanie sits down on Kalinin’s matrimonial bed as she narrates

“Of course, sis! I will get you looking like a snack and make sure that you get to the club,” Kalinin nods, already mentally planning Melanie’s outfit and route to the club.

“Come on, let’s go back to your room and find you something amazing to wear,” Kalinin jumps from her bed and grabs Melanie’s hand.

Melanie follows Kalinin to her room, where Kalinin begins to rummage through the open boxes from Pearl Coast.

“We need to find something that will make you shine tonight!”

“This is it! This will look perfect on you.” Kalinin holds up a stunning black dress after a few minutes of searching.

“Wow, I had completely forgotten about this dress” Melanie’s eyes widen as she takes the dress from Kalinin

Kalinin starts helping Melanie get ready and two-year-old Kionna wanders into the room, Curiosity sparkling in her eyes.

“Aunty Mel, where are you going?” Kionna asks, tugging on Melanie’s dress.

“Auntie’s just going out for a little bit, sweetie. She will be back soon,” Melanie hesitates, unsure of how much to reveal to a two-year-old.

“Auntie’s up to something!” she exclaims as if she knows a secret.

“Kionna you are too smart for your good!” Kalinin chuckles.

“Auntie is just going to meet some friends, okay?” Melanie laughs, trying to deflect Kionna’s curiosity.

“I want to come too,” Kionna nods but her eyes still spark with suspicion.

“Not tonight, baby…Aunty needs some grown-up time but I can promise you that we will have our fun soon, okay?” Kalinin says as she scoops up Kionna.

As Kalinin distracts Kionna, Melanie finishes getting ready, feeling a mix of excitement and nerves. She knows Kionna is way too young to understand what is going on, but she couldn’t help but wonder what the night ahead held.

“I want to go with Aunty Mel! I don’t want to stay here” Kionna crosses her arms, pouting and before Kalinin could react, she jumps down from her arms and starts throwing a tantrum.

“Kionna, auntie needs some grown-up time and it is not suitable for you to go with her because she will go out by 10 pm and be back really late, more so it is way past your bedtime as it is,” Kalinin tries to reason with her daughter.

“I want to go! Wahhhhh!” Kionna insists.

Kalinin sighs, trying to calm her down but Kionna is not having any of it.

“I’m going to call Daddy!”

“Kionna, wait!” Kalinin tries to reason with Kionna but she runs out of the room.

Melanie gives her sister a knowing look but she waves it with the look that assures her not to worry about it and Kalinin helps Melanie touch up her really simple but elegant makeup.

A few minutes later, Kionna’s father and Kalinin’s husband, Marcus, appear in the doorway.

“What’s going on here?” he inquires and after Kalinin explains the situation to him, he raises an eyebrow.

“Twenty-four hours ago, you didn’t have any friends in Orion. What is going on Mel?” he asks Melanie, picking an impatient Kionna from the ground and cradling her in his arms.

“I just met someone online, and we are meeting up tonight.” Melanie shifts uncomfortably as she explains the situation.

“You finally told her about the dating site?” Marcus asks as he looks at Kalinin.

“I didn’t just tell her about it, I even helped her get ready” Kalinin nods as she answers.

“I’ll talk to you about this later…Kionna, come here and say goodbye to Auntie Mel.” Martins tells his wife as he raises Kionna’s little arms and waves goodbye to Melanie.

“Since Auntie Mel is done getting ready, she will be on her way now,” Kalinin says as she pulls Melanie out of the room

“I need to say goodbye to my favorite girl,” she says as she quickly retracts her hand from Kalinin’s hands and rushes towards both Marcus and Kionna.

“I still want to go with you,” Kionna hugs Mel as soon as Mel gets to her.

“We will have fun together my darling but you need to have fun with mommy and daddy tonight” Melanie smiles and hugs Kionna back as she proceeds to leave the room with her sister.

As Melanie and Kalinin exited the room, Mel could feel the father and daughter's eyes on her, probably wondering what she was getting herself into.

On getting out of the house, Kalinin books Melanie an Uber after which she explains how she is going to navigate her way around the city with the aid of Orion’s city map and as Melanie steps into the Uber, she can’t help but wonder if she was making the right decision by leaving her house at 8 pm for a meet up that is scheduled for 10 pm. and she can only hope and pray that she doesn’t regret it.