"Louisa, what are you doing?" Mrs. Miller asked seriously
"Sipping the red wine Mom," she said casually sipping her drink
"Louisa, why are you like this? Why haven't you dressed up in the lavender gown I have selected for you?"
"Mom as far as I remember there is no theme for the event tonight and in the Deltova Republic everyone has the freedom to dress the way they like," she said walking away from the bar
"Louisa look around and see how everyone is staring at you," said her Mom giving a forced smile to the people staring at them
Louisa looked around and passed a smile to the people who are staring at her wide agape. With sweatpants, glistening sneakers, and bright red hoodie with her hair tied in a half bun she looked everything but party-ready. She looked at her Mom who is forcing a smile while sweat beads started forming on her forehead
"Why are you, worried Mom? This is what you want right? I being the center of attraction, then why are you worried now?" Louisa asked wiping her Mom's sweat beads with her sleeve
"Are you trying to take revenge on me by dressing up like this when I clearly warned you to dress according to the occasion, I know that you hate me but you should have thought about your father's dignity" Sophia whisper yelled at her daughter
"Mom, Dad's dignity won't be measured on the way I am dressed but the way our company is doing and I am so sure that the results given by our team are making him beam with pride and don't forget that you are here flaunting your flashy smile only because of the way 'Lox Organizations' are working," she said smirking
All this while a pair of eyes followed her every move
"Lou, what are you wearing?" shrieked Elena
"Elena please help me child, please make your friend understand that it's not the timed to be rebellious," Sophia pleaded clutching Elena's hand
"Why should I change Mom? Ain't me looking enough sexy to woo the hotshot billionaires Mom?" she asked dramatically enough to irritate her mother
"Is this a way to behave with your Mom?" Sophia asked anger evident in her voice
"You are speaking about my treatment? Did you forget the past? I don't think that is an easy thing to be forgotten," she tried speaking angrily but her voice cracked at the end
"Lou, let's go from here and meet our friends," Elena said understanding the heat rising between the mother and daughter duo
"Yes Ell, let's go from here and give my mother some space to catch some breath," she spoke and walked away
"Lou, you should have dressed up," Elena said walking beside her friend
"Why Ell? Do you have a problem with me being like this? If you are ashamed to be called my friend, you are free to leave"
"Lou this is the problem with you, why do you think too much and speak before listening to others? You are my best friend I won't leave you at any cost. I have asked you as I don't want unnecessary headlines in tomorrow's newspaper doing your character assassination based on your clothing"
"Poor ell, do you think judgments are new to me? They became a daily routine to me and I will be surprised if a day passes without listening to others judgments on me"
Elena gave her friend a pitiful look
"Don't show me pity, you know I hate that" Lou said
"Ok Lou, I won't do that. Now give me a bright smile" Ell requested her friend
"Anything for you Ell, now we should go to the auditorium, the awards ceremony have started already," Lou said and both of them walked to the auditorium
Many eyes turned towards the girls when they walked inside
"Lou, look towards your left the Wong brothers are looking at us," squealed Elena
Louisa looked towards her left and found Kevin Wong and Liam Wong, the heirs of 'Wong Industries'
"Do you like them?", she asked Elena
"Yaa they look cute"
"Then why are you wasting time by just staring, go and speak to them"
"No Lou, I don't want to be the first one to make a move," Elena said stopping her friend
"There is no rule that men should be making the first move, you like them now it's you who should be speaking to them," saying that Lou dragged Elena towards the Wong brothers
"Hello, I am Louisa Miller and this is my best friend Elena Davis," Louisa introduced themselves
"Who don't know about you, one is a beauty queen ruling the Jazz fusion music industry while the other is another one is giving every tech industry a run for the money with the new innovations," Kevin Wong said and both brothers forwarded their hands towards the girls
Elena shook Kevin's hand excitedly while Lou pulled out her hand from Liam's grip within seconds
"Do you girls want to have some wine?" Liam asked them
"Yaa sure," Elena replied
"So when are we getting to hear your next album Miss?" Kevin asked Elena while Liam passed the wine
"You people carry on, I will get going" Louisa excused herself from there by saying that
"Hey, why are you leaving?" Liam asked following her
"I came to you only for Elena, now that she got the lead to speak with you my part of work is done," she said walking inside near to the place where everyone is seated listening to the inaugural speech of the awards
"Your friend and my brother left us alone so don't we think that we should have some talk," he said with a small smile
"What do you want to speak to me? I don't remember 'Lox organizations' signing any deal with 'Wong Industries' so what do we have to speak?"
"Ohh Ms. Miller we can speak about many things barring from work ranging from our likes to interests. We may get to know each other"
"No thanks, I need to listen to the speech," she said grabbing a chair in the corner away from the limelight
"You want to listen to this crappy speech? It's not important; it may take more than an hour for the award distribution, in meantime lets grab a drink," he asked her
"See there are many beautiful girls here and you are no less, so try your luck on them," Louisa said to him
"But I want to speak only to this beautiful girl," he said moving a little close to her
The eyes that have been following her at every step turned red and blood rushed to the fists witnessing that
"Stay away from me when I am warning you using my mouth if you don't do that you don't even know what follows," she warned her
"Why so serious Louisa? I am trying to have a sane conversation but you are being too rebellious," Liam whined
"I don't want to have this conversation and I have made that clear too and about being rebellious you have no right to say that go away," she warned him
He passed her a serious glare and walked away, she pulled another gum from her pockets and started chewing it
"Some things never change," the words with a husky voice left from the mouth of the person whose eyes are following her