Five O'clock Sky (Nueva Caceres#1)

CHAPTER 8

"Here. This is the gown that I want." I pointed the color nude vintage ball gown I found on the brochure. It's a sleeveless off-shoulder gown with a low neckline. The top part of the gown was filled with embroidered flowers while the down part is in balloon style in which ang parteng likod lang ang sumasayad sa lupa at ang bandang harap naman ay eksakto lang sa ankle. It'll show off the heels I will wear.

"Hmm... will certainly suit you best, Miss Lucy." Pagsang-ayon ng katabi kong designer na si Pauline Rechéta. "That gown has been made. Nasa botique ko na, but we still need to get your measurements just in case we need to do some necessary adjustments to the gown."

Tumango ako at tumayo. Sinukatan ako ng kanyang mga staff. Kuya Vides, my brothers and Dad are done. Madali lang silang nakapili ng damit.

Dad was on an important call in his study room. Si Adam nama'y agad umalis dahil may mahalagang aasikasuhin sa factory while Hobie's on the ranch. Si Kuya Vides ay nasa hardin ng mansion.

Kami ni mom, the designer and her staffs ang naiwan sa living room dahil matagal kaming nakapili despite the fact that the gowns were all beautiful, but perhaps, iyon ang rason kung bakit matagal kaming nakapili.

Mom wants to add more details sa vintage gown na napili niya and she's currently discussing it to the designer. The only special requirement for people who want to attend the Maschera is to wear a vintage gown. This is one of the reasons to why I love this occasion. Seeing everyone wearing vintage dresses while dancing waltz brought back the 90's feels.

Pauline's staff was taking measurements on the line of my shoulder when Vides appeared on the door from the garden. There was a set of living furnitures there at don siya umupo. When I was done, he signaled me to come near to him.

"Thank you." Pasalamat ko sa babaeng nagsukat sa'kin at nagtatakang nilapitan si Vides.

"Why?" I asked. Hindi siya sumagot ngunit hinarap niya sa'kin ang kanyang cellphone. Saglit akong nagulat sa nakitang litrato. It was the image of me and Calvin scandalously dancing. It was the part where he's holding my butt and I'm placing my lips near his ear to warn him not to touch me in places. But it appeared that we were almost making out on the camera angle.

Nang makabawi'y nagkibit ako ng balikat. "I left that man on the dance floor after giving him a hard slap." Tumabi ako ng upo sa kanya.

"Binastos ka ba niya?" Matiim niyang tanong.

"Aside from touching me there, wala naman na siyang iba pang ginawa because I didn't let him to." Casual kong paliwanag, "And I think he's not really a pervert... it's just that, he thought I'm a girl whom he can easily take to bed kasi ganon siguro ang kadalasang nakakasalamuha niyang babae. Poor him."

"You cannot justify his act of touching you inappropriately, Luzeda." He said dangerously.

"I'm not justifying what he did, Kuya!" I defensed, "I was just being logical. Perhaps that Calvin guy always encounter women with easy virtues so much that he thought I was one of them." I scoffed upon remembering that he only took me for a joke when I warned him not to touch me. I'm certain that he was thinking I'm just playing hard to get.

"He disrespected you not because he thought you as one of the women with easy virtues, Lucy, but because it's that son of a bitch who doesn't have virtues himself."

Saglit akong napaisip. "You're right, Kuya." Banayad kong pagsang-ayon, "Maybe that Calvin is really just a total jerk, but enough with that man..." I said dismissively, "Anyway, who sent that picture to you? Sila Kuya naka-tanggap din ba?" Squint of worry on my last question.

"I received this early in the morning. Kung pati sina Adam at Hobie nakatanggap, that son of a bitch you danced with last night should be dead by this moment." He joked.