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She pauses on a familiar envelope, then opens it carefully. Her eyes skim over the lines, and with every word she reads, they sparkle, turning glittery blue by the time she finishes.
Her lips fall open with a gasp. “Oh, my word.”
“Good news?” Sam asks when I remain quiet.
Partly because I read the letter over her shoulder.
“The best. I’ve been asked to play at an event organized by one of the arts foundation NGOs.”
“And you’ll do it? I thought charities were beneath your musical talent.”
She whips her head in my direction as if she just realized I’ve been there all along. The blasphemy of forgetting my existence. No one but this headache of a woman is able to do that.
Not only that, but she has the audacity to glare. “I never said that.”
“I thought it was a given with how snobbish you were about competitions.”
“You thought wrong. I’m lucky to be part of a cause. Besides, I only did the competitions to prove something.”
“Which is?”
“My ability to perform… Forget it. I don’t know why I’m talking to you about this.” She shrugs me away as she stands up,but her mood doesn’t seem dampened in the least. “I need to go practice and shop for a new dress! This is so exciting.”
She walks away with that gentle sway in her hips, then turns around. “Can I use the pink Mercedes? If you say no, I’ll use it anyway.”
“Since when do you ask for permission to use our cars?”
“Yourcars.”
“Our.”
“There is noour.”
“I beg to differ.”
She narrows her eyes, but, apparently, she has no intention of ruining her mood, because she shakes her head. “Thanks.”
“My, and here I thought you were incapable of gratefulness.”
“Don’t make me regret it.”
I press my lips together to stop myself from laughing, but a smile must escape, because Ava stares at me as if I’m a curious world wonder.
One that solely exists wherever she is.
It’s a ridiculously meticulous obsession at this point, and the worst part is that I have no intention of altering anything.
“The driver will wait in the car,” I say. “I also called you some company for shopping, but she can also join you while you practice or whatever you fancy.”
She blinks twice and I see the innocence that provoked this entirely foreign part of me.
The part that’s made it my mission to steal her, cage her, and allow her no way out.
“Who’s the company? Not Mama and Papa, I hope?”
“Considering your father still goes into phases where he loves to chase me away with a knife, I’ll say no to that.”
She tips her head back and laughs, the joyful sound echoing around us like her favorite Bach music.
