When the morning came, the girls met again at River's place for breakfast. Only this time Lessin wasn't there. They'd all set their schedules straight just so they could spend more time with their grieving friend. That day the plan was breakfast followed by a movie marathon. Lunch followed by a movie marathon and finally dinner followed by a movie marathon. In short, nobody was going to leave anytime soon.
As fate had planned, Zydal and Helzeny were on tea duty, meaning they were the only ones in the kitchen.
"You haven't told me how it went yesterday.", Zydal commenced, very animated.
"It was … okay. We talked.", Helzeny responded, on the contrary, not at all thrilled.
"Are you going to see him again?",
"No. I told him that.",
Okay. So, promises were made with Zydal swearing not to force her friend on matters of the heart. Alright. But hearing that Helzeny quickly put off the fire that was warming Scully's internals, it meant Scully was currently suffering a broken heart. There was a level of understanding she had towards Helzeny and her likes, but she also loved her brother. The fact that her brother just got turned down by a girl was kind of … what should I say? Vulgar. To her.
"Did he say something that made you question his sincerity?", Zydal asked, not as excited as the first time.
"No. He said nothing wrong. It's just that our goals don't align.", Helzeny answered.
"What goals?",
Helzeny stopped stirring the tea. She felt the mood switch, "Your brother is a matured man who seeks a mature relationship with someone.",
"I thought you wanted the same thing.",
"I just don't want to spend my twenties cooped up with one guy, performing wife duties when I'm barely a girlfriend material.",
"I don't get it.",
"What Helzeny is trying to say is _", Ylle interrupted. She had come to the kitchen for a bottle of water, "Your brother isn't her type.", she concluded.
"Isn't he handsome for you?", Zydal asked again,
And truthfully, the questions were beginning to tire Helzeny. Somehow, she started to regret her decision to meet him in the first place.
"I hope you're not offended.", she told her, "I agreed to meet your brother because you asked me to. I don't think we owe each other anything.",
"I don't know. You just make him sound desperate or something.",
"That's definitely not what I meant. Your brother is handsome, and driven, but as Ylle said, he's just not my type.",
"I see.", she heaved a sharp exhale, "Goodluck dating momma's boys.",
Even Ylle sensed the disdain in Zydal's tone. Last thing she wanted was to be looped into their drama. She left the kitchen as soon as she got her room temperature bottle of water.
Back in the living room, Cora had misplaced her phone somewhere. It was driving her crazy since she couldn't exist without it. Everyone else was paying attention to the TV screen as they surfed for the first movie to watch. Her palms itched. She needed to click something, usually her phone, but it was nowhere to be seen.
"Okay, which one of you sluts stole my phone?", she asked out loud.
"I'm sure it's in here somewhere.", Winslow replied,
"Where?",
"I don't know. Try calling it. Here. Use my phone.",
Winslow handed her phone to Cora and returned her gaze back to the TV screen.
"What's the passcode?", asked Cora,
"8516.",
"Thanks.",
Cora entered the numbers and the phone unlocked. She directly went to the contact list to find her number and call her phone. She successfully scrolled to letter C, and there she found only two contacts. Her name was the second. On top of it was a very familiar, very impactful name; Christopher Vanguard.
She only knew one Christopher Vanguard and undoubtedly, he was the same Vanguard saved in that number up there. Cora threw her contempt gaze upon Winslow, who was now fully engaged in that movie finding task.
How dare she?
Although Cora, Freya and Winslow had continued their friendship even after that incident, Cora hadn't completely moved on from it. Christopher Vanguard was something more to her. They shared a slow-burning connection, and she knew there was more. What Winslow did was an unfair interruption. She'd have let it go if all 3 of them moved on from him. So why was she still in contact with him? Why, after what happened, was she the one still enjoying the perks?
From the day they left Lemanga Stone to that day right there, an apology never came out of Winslow's lips, an apology she knew she very much deserved. And so, she immediately made up her mind.
Revenge.
If Winslow wasn't going to apologize, she was going to make her. Before Cora called her phone, she sent Vanguard's number to herself as a text, then erased all the traces of it. Game on.
***