Chapter 2

Cercei smoothed down the knee length gown she was wearing, and adjusted the strap of the dress for the third time. Her legs bounced repeatedly on her seat, and she heard a sigh beside her. "Stop doing that. You're making it obvious that you're uncomfortable."

She turned to the girl driving and folded her arms. "That's because I am. Ugh, why did I agree to your suggestion?" She made to pull the dress down again, but the girl reached out a hand and stopped her.

"Don't start again, Cercei. You're the one that wanted to go somewhere, besides this will help you forget about that no good ex of yours," the girl promised, and Cercei sighed in response as she turned to stare out the window.

Her best friend, Mirabel, was right. She had spent weeks brooding over the fact that her ex boyfriend had cheated on her, only to learn that he and roommate were now staying together at her old room. Apparently, it hadn't even been up to twenty four hours after she confronted her roommate and moved out that he entered, and now they were flaunting their new relationship around the school. Cercei felt like crying again, but she blinked her eyes and smiled at her friend.

"I hope it does," she said and was about to ask what the party was for before the venue came into view and she looked with wonder. It was a large wide open hall with cars distributed across the open space in front, and an array of bulky men standing at the front. Mirabel parked her car and got out of it, with Cercei hesitantly following behind. She checked her reflection in the glass and smoothed down her hair before she fell into step with her best friend, just as the girl handed over a white card embossed with gold embellishments to one of the men. He nodded and the both of them stepped inside.

The first thing Cercei noticed was how the place was decorated in whites. White tables, white chairs, white flower vases, even most of the attendees were clothed in white, and she felt awkward in her navy blue gown. She wanted to chide Mirabel for not telling her what to wear, but when she looked at the yellow jumpsuit she was wearing, she closed her mouth and turned her attention to the hall again.

A lot of people were huddled together, whispering animatedly amongst themselves, and she inched closer to her best friend, who was already waving at a guy at the far end of the hall. Cercei recognized him from pictures as the guy her friend had been dating for some months, and soon he walked over to them and kissed Mirabel full on the lips.

"Welcome, baby girl," he cooed at her and made some odd noises at her before he turned to Cercei and extended a hand. "You must be Cercei, my sweetheart's best friend. Well, I'm Tommy, and it's nice to officially meet you. Welcome to my sister's engagement party." She took his hand and smiled at him, finally clear on what the event was all about.

Tommy led them to a table at the front, with three empty seats and Cercei plopped into a chair first, subtly running her ankles underneath the table. Mirabel had forced her to wear the four inch heels, convincing her that it would do well for her look and maybe even help hermeet s few guys. At that point, she had wanted to ask if that was how she met her current boyfriend, but she decided against it. After all, her best friend was just trying to pull her out of sadness.

As the lovebirds started talking to each other, she looked away from them and focused on the scenery again. Just a few feet away from them was the stage where a man and woman were softly singing a love song. Cercei listened to them for some seconds, trying to browse through her song filled brain for the words but she couldn't decipher the song so she shook her head and moved on. Most likely, it was a new one or maybe in another language, since she couldn't hear half of what they were saying.

Her eyes focused on the crowd again, curious on why most people were huddled together and talking in hushed whispers. It felt like something was up, and she turned to Tommy and asked, "Umm...where is your sister and her fiance?"

The guy stuttered and his face reddened for a second, before he covered it up with a smile and shrugged as he glanced around the hall once. "She's here, somewhere. With her fiance. I think they're getting ready to have a dance," he explained, and she nodded just as Mirabel engaged him in another conversation.

She looked at the both of them for some minutes, visibly lost in each other as they discussed things she couldn't make head or tail of. At a point, Cercei tried to engage them in a topicand the three of them conversed for a while before they subconsciously shut her out of it. At that point, she made a mental note never to follow Mirabel to anywhere her boyfriend was going to be at.

Frustrated, she took out her phone and started to look at her i*******m stories but that was quickly interrupted by a picture of her ex-boyfriend and her roommate kissing on one side of her former room. She squinted her eyes at the picture and frowned. That was her side, and they were on her bed.

She quickly sniffed and stood up from the table, asking Tommy for the bathroom. He pointed it out to her and Mirabel asked if she was fine, but she just nodded and walked away from them, moving slowly to avoid falling and embarrassing herself even as her eyes started to water. Because of the way she was walking, it was easy for her to hear what the other guests were saying and by the time she reached the bathroom, she had the full gist on what was really going on.

Apparently, the would-be bride had broken off her engagement some minutes into the party, and had run off with some other guy while her fiance left the venue looking dejected. According to the people, this had happened over thirty minutes ago, before they arrived and Cercei wondered if Tommy was aware of it and just trying to save face. Most likely, since he was a member of the family.

She opened the bathroom door and immediately went to look at herself in the mirror. A bead of tears had gathered on both of her eyes, and she quickly grabbed a tissue and dabbed them. She wasn't going to spoil the eye makeup that Mirabel had perfected for hours just on that flea bag, and if she had to bet, the cheats would not even last two months before they broke up. She believed in karma, and was sure it would do its work.

She put them out of her mind and entered into an empty stall to do her business, after which she touched up her face and rubbed her ankles for some seconds. Cercei desperately wished she had brought a pair of slippers, because it was quite obvious that there was no 'alpha male' to impress. All the men that had been invited as guests were middle aged, and each one of them had a woman possessively beside them.

After a while, she took in a deep breath and expelled it, moving out of the bathroom. She started the slow walk back towards Mirabel and her boyfriend when someone suddenly moved in front of her. She recoiled and started to scream, but the sound died in her throat when she looked up at the face. It was the guy she had kissed in her college cafeteria few weeks back. Her assaultee, if that was a word.

Her eyes bulged open in shock as she looked at him, still looking calm and bored as ever. Once again, the both of them stared at each other for what seemed like a long time, partly because Cercei was debating whether to walk away or try to aplogize again. She looked around her and nearly walked away, suddenly afraid for her safety. Who knew if the guy had brought the police to arrest her, or some guys to beat her up? He didn't look like the type, but one could never be sure.

However, at the last moment, she stood her ground and stayed to apologize. Just as she put her hands together and started to speak, she saw the guy cast a glance behind her furtively and she trailed off, about to look at what was behind her before he grabbed her face and put his lips on hers.

The first thing that entered Cercei's mind was how payback came so fast, and so exact, but that thought didn't last long as someone instantly screamed behind her.