"No." Mikayla answers with a straight face, glaring at her mother.
"What?" Theresa looks up at her daughter in confusion as she walks towards the stares in slight frustration.
"I'm not going to be a gold digger, Mama."
"Mikayla, that is not-", Mikayla does not let her mother finish. "Money is what you want, right? It's all that you want.", she cuts Theresa off as she continues to dash to the stairs.
"Mika, I just want you to find a man to take care of you-"
"I'm not a child!", her voice storms across the room as she stands still on the first level of the stairs, glaring at her mother once again.
"Mikayla, come back here and talk to your mother in a more peaceful manner, please." Arthur pleads, standing behind his wife, though being confused of what is happening.
Mikayla Lin is a 20-year-old university student who has never experienced being in a relationship or even being on a date until her parents, Theresa and Arthur Lin, introduced her to a rich and handsome young man her age named Andre Huang. They decided to go on a date as Theresa suggested, but it didn't go as planned and looked forward to by Mikayla. The man seemed too talkative and arrogant for her who was always isolated around people from outside her family.
"Look, Ma—I don't like him, and I don't want to marry him. Please understan-" This time, Theresa cuts Mikayla's sentence shorter. "Then who do you want to marry? Huh, Mikayla-", she says in deceive.
"It's Liam Wu!"
"Who is that?" Theresa asks in confusion as she creases her eyebrows.
Mikayla is getting nervous—she doesn't know what to say. She didn't mean to mention any names. In fact, she wasn't even supposed to think of anyone else at this moment. She was just trying to point out that she is not going to marry anyone as of now, since her first date didn't go well enough for a first impression.
Being reticent as of the moment, Mika decides to continue walking further up the stairs and to her bedroom, locking herself up.
"I want to meet this Liam Wu, Mikayla. You understand me?" Theresa says from the ground floor, loud enough to make sure her daughter heard her.
"Honestly, this is ridiculous! Andre is the perfect man for her and for this family!" Mika hears her parents argue with each other. "Theresa, do you understand that you're forcing your daughter to become something she's not?"
Mikayla shuts the door and stands with it in her back, as if to stop it from opening in case someone tries to. Right now, she doesn't even know if she just doesn't want to say anything more, or if she just doesn't know what to say anymore—She just told a lie to her parents!
Liam Wu is actually Mika's best friend since high school. He made the withdrawn and introverted Mikayla feel comfortable around him, and he made her feel a way nobody else ever did. He was always there for his best friend, no matter what occured to them.
Also, Liam was another handsome young man. In fact, he's way more handsome than any guy Mikayla had ever seen.
"Yes?" A man's voice sounds from Mikayla's phone—she is on the phone with somebody as she lies down on her bed with her legs and arms spread, occupying the entire bed.
"Are you free right now? Coffee?" She asks.
"Um, let me check.. Yes! Yes, yes, I've got a clean schedule today, Mika. Why, what's up? Anything wrong?"
"No, I.. Nothing, I'm just bored. I need someone to talk to."
"Alright, well Mika, if there's something bothering you, you can tell me there. Alright?"
Mika rolls onto one side of the bed, now laying to her side.
"Mm."
"Wait, aren't you out of town?" He asks.
That's right. Mikayla travelled two hours from her dormitory to her parents' house two days ago, which then brought her into this mess either her or her mother made.
"Yes. I'll be back there in a week."
"I- Well then, how are we going to meet?"
"Meet me in two hours, I guess."
The man lets out a sigh. "Alright. Kokoffi, is that good?"
"Mm, Kokoffi." Mika ends the call and puts her phone facing down the bed. She goes back to laying flat on the bed and staring into the ceiling. Minutes later, she finally moves and takes her car, still wearing the dress she wore to her date with Andre that morning, except this time she puts on a denim jacket on top of it.
At Kokoffi, two and more than a half hours later...
Mika goes to give her friend a hug, a greeting after not meeting for days. They let go of each other after a second. "Mika, are you alright?" The man asks.
"Just tired from driving, Liam."
The two chuckle, and they walk inside the café together to find a table.
Once they found a table, they sat across each other before they ordered off the menu, and started talking to each other.
"So, tell me—How was going back to your parents?" Liam asks.
"I'm not going back to my parents, Liam. I'm more of just visiting them." Mikayla answers in defense.
"Well, I got to meet my older sister and my younger brother again after a couple months, and my parents introduced me to this dude called Andre, and we went on a date just earlier today.", she added.
"Handsome?"
"A little."
"Rich?"
"Yes."
Liam's mouth forms a slight o. "Talkative? Arrogant?"
"Very."
"Oh."
"I know."
The two continue talking as they receive their orders, and the conversation eventually shifts towards an unspoken subject.
"Would you date me?" Mikayla asks all of a sudden, leaving Liam pausing in shock as they stare at each other for seconds.
"W-what brought this up?" Liam asks in confusion, trying to make eye contact with his best friend. Mikayla only smiles before looking back at him.
"I was wondering if you would go out with.. someone straight." Mika clarifies, her expression softening when she sees that he's taken aback by her interrogation. She really didn't mean to scare or upset him, though.
"I'm gay, Mika. I really am. I only like men." He laughs slightly, quite uncomfortable with the topic.
"And I'm not planning to change that.", he added.
"Even for, like, roleplaying?"
"Mika, where are these things coming from? Plus, why do you seem so desperate?"
"Nothing, Liam. I was just really curious, sorry."
Minutes passed and the two have finished their drinks and their chatting, so Mika decided she wants to go back home already. However, Liam insists he wants to meet Mikayla's family, so she decided to drive home with Liam.
More hours later, Mikayla and Liam arrive at her parent's house. The drive was longer than usual and it's almost 7:30 pm now, but they had to take a detour because of the traffic on the way from their hometown. They park in front of the house and head inside.
The first thing Liam notices when he walks into the house is Mika's brother. He sees him sitting on the couch watching tv with his plate filled with chicken curry. Mika's brother notices the two as they take their shoes off, and quickly gets up in shock as his older sister just brought a man into the house.
"Mika!"
"Calm down, Michael. He's my friend." Mikayla responds to her brother Michael in defense to what he said.
"Liam." Liam introduces himself as he slightly raises his hand as an act of waving to Michael.
Hearing this, Michael's lips open wide to form an o. Truth is, he's heard this name just earlier today.
"Liam Wu, right?" He points at the tall, handsome man as if he's clarifying the man behind his older sister is the one who thinks he is. Liam nods slowly and slightly. He is quite confused of what is going on inside his friend's brother's head, and all he knows is that Michael does, indeed, look pretty good looking.
"Michael, what is going on? Why are you being so loud?" Theresa calls out as she dashes down the staircases, making everybody look at her with her husband Arthur walking just behind her. Soon, they both pause at the last few steps of the stairway, and they look at the two people standing near the doorway.
"Mikayla, what is this? Who is that?" Theresa asks calmly as she walks closer to the two.
"Liam, Madam—Liam Wu." Liam makes himself known, as he bows slightly to Mikayla's parents with a smile.
"It's him, Ma!" Michael's voice echoes in the room as he shouts in excitement.
"W-what- Who's him-" Theresa interrupts Liam: "You're my daughter's boyfriend." She clarifies, that she now knows who this man is, standing beside her daughter.
"B-boyfriend? I-"
"Yes. Now, give us a break, please, we've been tired driving for hours." Mikayla finally speaks up. She grabs Liam by the hand as he follows her up the stairs and to her room. She tells him to calm down and sit on the bed, while she locks the door and makes sure nobody is going to walk in for the next few seconds before she sat on the bed with Liam and started explaining everything to him.
"Liam, I.. I didn't plan all this, I'm sorry. I-"
"Explain, Mika."
"I will, I will, I.."
Mika lets out a sigh. Actually, she didn't expect that Michael would know about Liam. She planned to just introduce him with a different name, but Michael may have ruined that opportunity for her. Now, she doesn't know how to explain things to Liam in a way he would understand, especially after she just told her parents she's in a relationship with her gay best friend.
After a couple jumbling of words, Mikayla finally made her point to her best friend. She tried really hard to explain everything clearly because in the end, neither of them wanted this to happen. Besides, the two have way too different worlds. No, they're two opposite worlds.
"Liam, I promise to make it up to you. I promise to find a way to get you out of this, so please, just.. Please help me with this one." She pleads to him as Liam stares into her eyes. Her big brown eyes were filled with despair. Truth be told, she doesn't know how to get themselves out of this mess soon.
Right now, she thinks the best thing to do is to play boyfriend and girlfriend with each other for some time, and then just "break up" with each other, and Mika just figures out the rest. She just wants to get Liam out of the story as soon as possible, given that Liam was unwantedly dragged upon this, after all.
After some time of taking his best friend's story into consideration, he decides to say yes, but in one condition: "You can't fall for me."
Judging by this, it could be hard for Mikayla for a little while. Actually, Liam always acts like a man. He speaks like a man with his quite deep but real voice, and his intelligence and movements are like that of a man. The only thing that shows that he is different from other guys is that he is not attracted to women, but men.
The two finish making their promises to each other, and they finally step out the bedroom, preparing themselves. They make their way downstairs, watching the butler and the maids prepare dinner, as Mikayla's parents are already about to take their seat around the dining table.
The acting lovebirds sit beside each other, while Theresa is seated in front of Mikayla, making the two of them closest to Arthur who is seated as the host. Soon, Michael walks down the stairs as well as their oldest sister Melody.
"Ah." Melody glances at Liam as she quickly, but carefully, walks down the stairs after Michael as everybody at the dinner table focuses on her. As she finishes and steps on the floor: "Liam Wu, is that right?"
"Yes, Ma'am." He answers.
"Melody—Oldest sister." She introduces herself to the visitor, as she and Michael walk towards their seat at the dinner table. Now, Melody is seated beside her mother, while Michael is set down beside Liam.
Minutes passed and nobody has yet dared to break the silence, since everyone is focused on their meal. No, they are all nervous about Mikayla's relationship with Liam, and they don't really understand what to say.
"So you're together?" Finally, Michael asks first as if to clarify things. Everyone turns to look at him. As of now, Mikayla is thinking of what to say. She doesn't want to say something Liam won't approve of, and she doesn't want to make the whole problem worse.
"Yes." Liam answers even before Mikayla could speak. Acting confident, he soon adds: "Actually, we've been dating for around a year and a half. Is that right, Mika?" He glances at her.
"Ah, y-yes. Um.."
"Liam. Something to ask of you." Arthur interrupts.
"Yes, Sir?"
"How much do you love our daughter?"
Getting more and more nervous by now, Mikayla turns and looks at Liam. What is he going to say? How is he even going to react to that, given that none of this is of reality?
"Very." He sighs as he looks down. It takes him a short while before looking back up to Arthur and adds, "Much more than I do to myself, Sir."
Mika is lost by Liam's words. She didn't know he could say something like that while looking sincere. She stares into his eyes while he is just making eye contact with her father. His eyes seem so.. something that when you stare into his eyes yourself, you would think that he is deeply in love.
Her thoughts immediately start to swirl about the possible reasons why her best friend would be able to say such a thing... And why it suddenly made her feel so happy. That happiness quickly vanishes once she realizes that this is all an act—an act everyone is supposed to believe, and an act she's meant to deceive.
Everyone stares at the determined-looking Liam Wu. No one knows exactly what he's about to say but it is clear that something is on his mind. He starts to talk, his voice deep and serious but as calm as ever. "If you would let me, I will do as I can to take care of her."
Arthur looks at Liam for a while before he says, "Very well.".
Truth is, Liam feels very bad for Mikayla's family for even trying to get their trust to make them believe their lies. He wants this to end soon but right now, he just wants to play along for his best friend, as he plans on relying to Mika to do the rest for the both of them.
Minutes later the family, including Liam, finishes their meals after a few more conversations made. Liam was saying his goodbyes to the family as he was about to leave, but Mikayla's family insisted that he stays for the night since it already had gotten very dark outside, and Liam did not bring a car. They let Liam sleep in Mika's room, but Theresa did not forget to warn the two that she didn't want any grandchildren yet, and it's important to wait until marriage, she said.
"Thank you." Mikayla says to Michael while she lies flat on her bed with her closed eyes, whilst Liam changes into the clothes Michael had lent him.
"And I'm sorry.", she adds. She reflects on how much she'd been dragging her friend into her problems way too much. Little does she know, Liam is totally fine with everything, since he knows Mika did neither expect or want any of this to happen. Liam lets out a sigh. Soon, they both fall asleep with Mika on the bed, while Liam sleeps on the couch located right in front of the window.
The next day, Mika wakes up without Liam in her room. After brushing her teeth and washing her face, she finds him with her brother in the living room, playing chess together on the couch. She watches them from the second floor through the indoor balcony. Soon, her older sister Melody walks towards her from behind, and they both watch the two young men from above.
"Liam Wu.." Melody speaks up.
"He's gay, isn't he?"
Mikayla's eyes widen in shock before she slowly turns to look at her sister. 'How does she know?', she thought to herself. Does she know about everything?