Enemy Beloved

17 | the masked man

★

C L A I R E

"Okay, how's this? I think it would look fantastic on you."

Rose flaunts a red dress in front of me. It is a short dress with laces and a low-cut neckline, not something I would usually choose to wear.

"Nope." I shake my head and she pouts, disappointed.

Shopping with her is fun. The only other person I enjoy shopping with is Nina since she has a great fashion sense. But Rose has a good fashion sense too. A little different from mine but good enough to make her look presentable always. She is wearing a maroon blouse today paired with boyfriend jeans and knee-length boots, making a statement.

She drops the dress and picks up a blue one. Holding it in front of her body, she studies her appearance in the floor-length mirror.

We have been at the mall for two hours now, trying on different items and even checking out some of the new stores that opened up. I bought a jewelry set, a pair of ankle-high boots, and a new purse while Rose just bought herself a pair of earrings.

"Claire?" She turns to me suddenly when she sees me looking somewhere else and drops the dress. "Are you okay?"

I don't know how to answer that. The thing is — I am not at all okay. Vaughn hasn't spoken a word to me ever since our fight and he didn't even pick up my calls today. I worry that he might still be upset and I can't help but feel sad about that. I thought of apologizing to him several times but my ego always comes in the way.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I reply, throwing her a small smile.

She sighs and takes my hands in hers, squeezing softly. "Claire, about Vaughn..." She gives me a look of concern. "Don't mind him, please. Ever since Dad's death, he has been...distant. He has found a temper and gets angry often but you don't need to be scared. He will never hurt you. Not intentionally, at least."

I nod blankly. Rose has no idea that I am not worrying about Vaughn hurting me at all. I am worried that I might end up hurting him again. My lack of filter in my mouth gets me in trouble just as Vaughn said. But I will be careful not to hurt him again.

Not intentionally, at least.

"I understand, Rose." I squeeze her fingers back and she smiles.

"He'll come around," she assures me. "Give him some time. He loves you. He will come back and if he doesn't, then just let me know — I'll make sure to kick his ass." She laughs.

I feel sorry for lying to her. She has no idea that Vaughn and I are not even close to the word 'love'. I myself have no idea how to define our relationship — it is too chaotic, toxic, and harmful for the people around us. Our one lie has dragged our families into this mess and I am the one to be blamed.

"Thank you, Rose," I say softly and she nods.

"Now..." She goes back to pick up the dress she dropped before and twirls around, putting it in front of her body. "How does this look? Good enough to get free drinks at the bar?"

We giggle at that. The dress is indeed pretty and I can imagine her looking like an angel in it.

"Perfect," I answer and she smiles.

***

"Signal is weak due to the rain," Rose groans while we wait under a shelter for our driver. The parking lot was full so he had to park somewhere else. "Will you wait here for a minute?"

"Sure." I pull the shopping bags closer to my body so that they are covered by my umbrella.

We were about to head to the car when the rain came abruptly, leaving us to take shelter under a closed shop with an extended roof. Coincidentally, we also bought new umbrellas at the mall and were saved from getting wet.