"Pass her the dish, Carys." Ashley had a homely vibe to her. Her hair fell effortlessly on her shoulders, long and blonde.
"It is okay," Mia said and picked up the dish, avoiding Carys. It was heavy, probably by the stuffed mac and cheese in it.
She was having a hard time balancing the dish with her one hand. A hand supported her by holding the dish from the other side.
"You are too weak." Carys had a textured voice. It was something that she had always noticed about him. His voice would travel from Mia's ear to her body in no time.
"Really?" Mia whispered to Carys when she was done taking some mac and cheese out of that dish. A thick glop of the mac and cheese now sat on her plate.
"Yeah," Carys whispered back, inclining towards Mia. There was little to no distance left between the two of them.
Ashley must have noticed the conversation between them, or she must have noticed how maroon Mia's cheeks went when Carys whispered something in her ear. She cleared her throat. "So Mia, tell us about yourself."
Carys slowly went back to his position with eyes still on Mia. Mia, on the other hand, didn't have the right mind to even look at Carys right now.
She just looked straight at Ashley before answering, "Just a regular business student."
"Come on, don't be modest, we know that you are definitely not a normal business student." Mark had little respect for Mia. It was evident by his tone.
Mia gave a small smile to him. "Trust me, I am."
"You fought an armed robber and you are saying that this is what normal business students do? I doubt that theory of yours." Mark gave out a little chuckle and went back to his food.
Mia couldn't help but gave out a little laugh.
"You laughed?" Carys was visibly shocked to see Mia's smile for the first time.
Mia just elbowed him and returned to keeping a straight face.
"You tease her too much, Carys. Stop doing that. She is a very nice girl. Be friends with her." Ashley narrowed her eyebrows at Carys and then shook her head to show her annoyance at him.
Carys just shrugged. "I am her friend."
"I am right?" Carys then faced Mia. "Tell her that I am your friend, Bracelet Girl."
"What is this nickname, Carys? Bracelet Girl?" Mark was intrigued by the unique name that his son has awarded Mia.
"Oh. It happened-"
Mia instantly faced Carys and put up her hand on his mouth to deter him from spilling all about the embarrassing incident to his father. She had her hand tightly covering Carys' mouth. Her eyes grew wider, and she looked at him with all the pleading she could.
Carys was bewildered when his mouth was met by Mia's soft hand unexpectedly. He couldn't comprehend the scenario. Mia was so quick, as always.
Then he remembered the reason for Mia's actions. She clearly didn't want him to tell his parents about the bracelet incident.
"Is it something personal?" Ashley said, surpassing her laughter. She took a glance at her husband, also sitting at the table with a slight smile on his face.
"No. No." Mia retrieved her hand from Carys' mouth. She knew that this was all she need to do to stop Carys from spilling the beans to Mark and Ashley.
"Yeah, she used to sell bracelets." Carys cleared her throat, recovering from the shock of the incident. He could still inhale the fragrance of Mia's hand cream. It was flowery and rich, almost as if she was picking up flowers from a garden before coming to his house.
Mia couldn't help but give out a shaky affirmation. "Yes."
"Was it for charity?" Ashley was still cracking a smile. She obviously knew that this was not the true story behind the nickname.
"Yeah." Mia just nodded her head with a small, embarrassed smile.
"You are definitely a wonderful person," Mark stated by pointing his fork at Mia.
"Totally." Carys bite down his smile. It was cute how Mia reacted when she thought that he was going to tell his parents about their encounter.
She had fear in her eyes. It was an exquisite sight for Carys. He had never seen Mia pleading with her eyes. She looked like a lost puppy.
It was after a good ten minutes when there was a sound from Mia's phone. It was the same sound that was set by Samantha to indicate that the work was finally done. The security cameras were now hacked.
"You can take that," Carys said to Mia and gestured to her pocket.
"It is fine." Mia quickly covered her pocket with her hand. Carys shrugged and continued eating his food.
There was silence on the table. Nobody spoke. Then Mia felt it, the longing of her heart. She looked up from her plate and observed the atmosphere of Carys' house.
Asley and Mark sat quietly, eating their food. She then glanced at Carys, who was also busy with his food, mostly playing with it. Just the beautiful sound of utensils hitting the glass plates echoed in the house.
It was the calm that Mia had never felt before. It was the nothingness that Mia yearned for. Even when nobody spoke, it felt like the perfect merry family.
"We do not usually talk while eating." Ashley noticed Mia wandering her eyes at them.
Mia shook her head. "I actually prefer that."
"We talk way too much anyway, so we tend to keep to ourselves while eating." Ashley justified the silence in the room.
"Do your parents talk a lot while eating? Do you have a lot of siblings?" Mark bombarded the girl with a lot of questions at once.
Before Mia could open her mouth to answer any of that, Carys had already taken her stand. "Dad, that is personal information."
"I am sorry, Mia." Ashley might have understood what Carys wanted to convey to them. "My husband is a little nosey." She nudged her husband.
"I am sorry. I should not have asked that." Mark politely apologized after seeing the outrageous reaction of his son and wife.
"It is fine, really. My parents died when I was very young and I also don't have any siblings." Mia shook her head and answered with a smile.
"I am so sorry, Mia." Ashley couldn't help but sympathise with the girl. She didn't know what else to say to an orphan. She was someone who had always been near her family.
"They must be really proud of you." Mark had a small speech. He was bad at comforting people.
"It was great lunch." Mia thanked Carys after saying her goodbyes to his parents. They were back at the pathway, which had been Mia's favourite spot at Carys' house.
The trees were now swinging a little too fast.
"Thank you for coming. I never thought you will come." Carys chuckled a little and glance at Mia walking right next to him.
She looked small to him. The white cardigan that she wore pulled her into her body, constraining her. Her hair danced with the winds, just like the trees.
"As I said, I did it for your parents. They are very nice." Mia had no answer for Carys. She could never tell him the real reason why she was here, walking with him in his house.
"Mia, I am sorry. You had to tell my parents about your parents. I mean, it is very careless of them to just ask you these questions." Carys had been a little embarrassed ever since his parents had asked Mia about her parents.
Mia had noticed Carys getting flushed when she had to come clean to Ashley and Mark about her parents' death. He was sorry on their behalf, but the thing is Mia didn't really care about telling the whole wide world that she was an orphan.
"It is okay. It was just a question. They wanted to know more about me." She replied, then rested her hands in front of her chest. It was chilly, she felt it in her bones.
"I didn't know that you were an orphan. I mean, I knew about your father, but not your mother." Carys was pushing his luck, and he knew that. He was aware that Mia could shut off at any point now.
"She died when I was 4-5. I don't really know when exactly, but I know that it was very early in my life." Mia spoke reminiscing about her past, the few moments that she spent with her mother.
"I remember her accent, that's all." She then looked back at Carys, who was staring at her, drinking her in, just like he always did.
"My cab is here." Mia cleared her throat to break the powerful eye contact that they made for a hot second.
"You sure about not wanting to have my driver drop you?" Carys then gulped and tried to sound casual.
"Yea." Mia breathed out, feeling a little nauseous.