0.3

~ Flashback~~

' I want you to stay away from Will.'

I blink at her, not sure if I heard right.

' Mam?'

' I want you to stay away from my son, Milla. This, whatever it is that is between you two, it must end, today.'

' I don't understand.' I shake my head.

' Okay.' She breathes out, before continuing, ' Look, my Will is a good boy, with good manners and is very friendly with everyone, but it doesn't mean that everyone must grow too familiar with him now. '

All I can do is silently look at her as I try to understand what she is trying to say here.

Does she have a problem with me and Will hanging out?

Or is she implying that I am a bad influence in his life?

' This friendship, if you'd like to call it that, needs to end today. I wish to not see you around my home anymore.'

' Did I do something wrong, mam?' I ask, feeling really bad now.

I am pretty sure that I never bothered the family, I've never asked for anything and rarely set my foot at the Myer household.

Will and I have seen most of each other, either by coincidence or at the local library, since that's where we both found our similarity in things we liked.

Instead of giving me a straight answer, she rises to her feet, taking her purse.

" Anyway, not that you need to know, but I'll tell you anyway. Will is leaving soon."

" Leaving?" I blink up at her, feeling taken a back by her change in topic.

" Yes, he is not coming back."

" He's not?"

" Not anytime soon anyway. " She let's out a sigh yet again. " Milla, I do hope we understand each other here and now. You and my son don't have to see each other ever again, after today."

She walks past me but I stop her.

" Mrs Myer, wait!"

I jump to my feet and turn to her.

" Liam and I were never friends.' I say.

A part of me feels like I've just lied to myself. Either way, I've said what I said.

' Whatever it was, it's over now. Oh, and you asked what wrong you did? I think the most important thing to acknowledge here, is that you got too close to the wrong person." She says over her shoulder, before walking away.

As I take a seat on the couch, trying to digest the conversation I've just had with Mrs Myers, I can't deny a certain emotion from building up within me, and that is hurt.

I am actually hurt by all of this.

~~ Flashback~~

She is still the same attractive, elegant and out of our league lady, in which sat at the same seat as years ago. Her intention was clear then, she meant to push me away from her son.

Well she succeeded, because that is what happened.

' You're lying to yourself again.' My consciousness reminds me, making me even more nervous and overwhelmed to be in the same room as her.

" What I meant to say is, I don't think it would be a good idea." I say, breaking eye contact.

' Please leave now.'

" I know why you are saying this." My head snaps to her.

" W-what?"

She knows?

No, she couldn't possibly know.

He made a promise to me.

" The conversation we had the last time."

" You were pretty clear about everything." I remind her.

" Yes, I was, and that was because I didn't know any better."

I frown at her words.

" Sit down dear." She gestures for me to take a seat.

I do, after a minute of hesitation.

" I didn't understand your friendship with my son then."

" Why, because he was a boy and I, a girl?"

Her, looking away, sums up everything I've said and not said.

I feel the urge to also point out the big elephant in the room, our social differences.

" Like I said before Mam, your son and I weren't as close as everyone thought. We were still getting to know each other, besides the fact that both of our families know each other."

" And that can still happen."

I shake my head. " I doubt that. "

" Milla...."

" I'm sorry to say this mam, but we can't just pick up where we left off."

I realise through the silence that my words may come off wrong in her ears.

" I mean, we aren't kids anymore. "

" I understand that."

"Then that also means you know people can change, as the years go by."

" Understandably so, but memories remain and the fact that he still wonders about you."

" What?"

" Look, Milla, my way of thinking then, is far different to now, I can guarantee you that. I now realize that my interference then, played a huge role in how things ended. I thought I was doing what's best for my son. I was simply being a parent."

I watch her dig into her bag. Her eyes meet mine once she pulls whatever it is, out.

"As I said before, he's coming back. I do think it would make all the difference if you attended." She says, pushing something forward.

I take it and let my eyes run over it.

It's an invitation card to his welcome home party.

My attendance won't do any good.

" I was wrong before, Milla, I admit to that."

I have no time to react much to what she's said, because of the sudden sound of something loud clashing with the floor.

My guess would be that this conversation is not as private as I thought.

" My actions towards you were unfair. I let myself see something that wasnt there....." She trails off, making me frown.

" What do you -----"

" You were young and I should have known better than to interfere."

I hear her but I'm still stuck on what she said earlier.

What could those words mean?"

" Milla?" I look to the doorway, at the call of my mother.

" Mrs Myers came all the way here to set things right with you. She has taken this step, don't you think you should take another?"

Oh mom, she has always wanted to make things right with everyone.

" I will give you time to think about this conversation, and of course, this." She gestures to the invitation, that's still in hand.

" Milla?" She calls me again, on her way towards the door. " Just so you know, you didn't do any wrong then, my son got too close to the right person."

That's the thing Mrs Myers, I don't think so anymore.

****

I am dreading tonight. My mind has been attacked with countless thoughts and scenarios.

As I stare myself in the mirror, I no longer see myself in the mirror, but with company.

Him. The last image of him before I walked away.

'What would meeting him again be like? '

'What do I even say, because there's definetly a lot to say.'

' I wish my mother hadn't persuaded me to do this.'

Attending meant a step in the right direction, according to my mother of course.

She had no idea that she was basically setting me up.

This is one of those in which I felt sorry, for how naive my mother could be sometimes. It wasn't her fault, truly. In this case, I am to blame, since I have hidden so much from her.

Her health and well being comes first, always. Stressing her out is the last thing I want to do. I can't put her through all the burdens, when she's carried a load of them before.

Agreeing to attend was also influenced by the guilt within me for the lies, hidden from her. I didn't have it in me to protest much against tonight, when guilt was dominant.

A welcome home party.

This sounded familiar, because it was.

The Myers were not rookies when it came to hosting events, whether big or small. With their high status and good reputation, anything heard from them, meant travel worthy news.

William Myers, known around our small town of Blackwood Village, as the prince of the family. The news of his return had already reached most corners of our town, and of course mine was no exception.

I couldn't do it that day, I had no courage to even step foot near his home, in case we saw each other by chance.

'All of this feels too sudden.

He shouldn't have returned.

It's too soon.

Whatever he had planned, he should have let me know first.'

'You wouldn't have answered.' My consciousness reminds me.

I don't like surprises, especially such as these.

Fear grips every part of me, for what tonight may result to. Stepping into the Myers residence takes me back to years ago. I'm hit with a sense of nostalgia, the further I walk in, now approaching the mansion.

I'm fighting against myself right now.

I want to turn back and forget about all of this, to remain in hiding from him but it won't happen.

I'm here now.

The ideal vision is that we never cross paths but that already happened, and now I'm leading a life full of secrets.

' I can do this.' I nod to myself.

The little courage I am able to gather, pushes me to continue on, until I find myself entering the mansion.

Red has never been the colour I thought best suited me but Lia always disagreed. She has expressed so many times that red is the right colour to make a statement.

I couldn't see her view. In my eyes it felt quite bold for someone who is making a re-entry into this place, after so many years.

My view only fueled Lia's belief in my look, being the best to make a statement.

' And what kind of statement am I supposedly making, hmm?' I'd asked.

' Simple, you are making your presence felt, to remind everyone that looked the other way, especially the Myers', that you are not one to be ignored. There is no one like you.'

I'd rolled my eyes then, because she sounded way too dramatic at times. I didn't feel like I have anything to prove, especially to this family.

And in all honesty, I have no intention to meet them again after tonight.

I do have to admit though, that her words keep on repeating themselves as I walk past people. They are the same kind of people who make no effort to hide their curiosity.

There must be a few that have seen me or know me, while others dont and are simply curious.

I am well aware that I am the last person anyone would expect to show up here.

Ever grand and stylish, with the purpose of showing off in style, even in years passed, everything that this family presents to the witnesses, leaves people with something to say and I am one of them. Styles have changed and yet, their approach to the modern feel with a combination of youthfulness, because at the end of the day, the son of this family is a young adult.

As I remember it, the big crystal chandelier still hangs at the center of the room, but I notice the difference in both size and built of the chandelier.

' They must have upgraded it.'

At the center of the room, like I had found myself doing, it happens again, that my feet pull me to a stop right there. Nostalgia hits me hard, standing where I am standing and looking around this place.

.

I glance around, making a brief note of the kind of people I am surrounded by. It hits me then, that among the few times I felt someone looking at me, this time, I feel it the strongest.

It's a gaze so strong that it demands for me to return it.

My eyes take me there with no problems at all. I don't have to look too far or search too wide to know where such an intense gaze, is coming from. Above he stands, alone might I add and dangerously focused on me.

His gaze alone has captured my feet and made my body to freeze on the spot.

My breath hitches when he steps even closer to the banister, making it even more obvious as he keeps his eyes below, that he is focused on me.

Months it has been yet it feels just like yesterday, that we stood staring at each other like this. He still looks the same, the same William Myers.

Looking away seems like the best option, I don't want to stare at him for too long, but I can't help it, not now. Had he remained standing alone from above, for even a few minutes more, I am sure I would have looked away.

The will power would have been there, but at this very moment, I can't. More minutes pass and before I know it, it's no longer just us two but three.

He has company, beautiful company, matching company.

Piece after piece fits well together and I, so strongly this time, I feel like an an intruder, an outsider.