Almost, Always

13. Confusion

We arrived at the place where Li Fei will do her book signing, the place where I saw her for the second time, the art exhibit. The Art of Painting by Li Fei was written on a banner near the entrance. There was a noticeable queue outside the building. There are a lot of people waiting for her, from different walks of life. Most of them are young professionals and students.

I went straight to the end of the queue, Milko and Alyssa followed me.

"Emi, what are you doing?" Milko asked me.

"Uhm, falling in line?" I answered.

"Uh, yeah, we don't do that here. We're VIPs. Let's go inside." he said.

Right. One of the perks of being rich.

"Right," I said while following the two of them.

We went in front of the line and as soon as we did, a staff approached us.

"Excuse me, there's a line over there. Please go to the end of the queue." the staff seriously said. Alyssa and I stared confusingly at each other

"Uhm, excuse me, miss. We are VIPs here. Here's our proof. " Milko said as he handed her the piece of paper.

"Uh, sorry to say, but this is for the wrong date. This is for yesterday. This isn't applicable anymore." she strictly said.

"What!? What do you mean by that? Uh, don't you-" Milko's sentence was cut off as Alyssa drag him to the side.

"Thank you. Please excuse us," Alyssa said. I followed the two of them and listened to what Alyssa was about to say.

"Iko, what do you think you're doing? You can't make a scene here. People might recognize us. What will you say to them? Let's just go in line. C'mon." she said. Milko calmed down and nodded. We walked back to the end of the line. Milko didn't say anything anymore.

He really listens to Alyssa.

"I'm sorry guys. I didn't know that the VIP pass I got was only good for yesterday. I should have checked." Milko softly said. Alyssa just shook her head and looked at Milko with a smile on her face.

"It's okay, Iko. Right, Emi?" she said, looking at me for assurance. I smiled and said of course.

It's nice to see this side of Milko and Alyssa, that Milko could be serious at times and Alyssa could be gentle and soft.

The line finally started moving. The crowd cheering up from the excitement. It started to get noisy as the people chat with each other. I can hear people ask others about their favorite part, how they learned a lot from the book, and how excited they are to finally meet Li Fei.

The three of us are the sixth in the line, Milko is in front of me and Alyssa is at the back.

"My God! I'm so excited to get my book signed!" Milko said out loud in excitement.

Milko, you're not the only one excited to see her, but why? Why do I look forward to seeing her? Ever since I found out that the artist Li Fei is the same person called Elizabeth, who Anthony is currently dating, it gives me this feeling that I couldn't explain nor understand.

"Are you okay, Emi? You're okay with all of this? We can still back out you know?" Alyssa said.

"Thanks for the concern, Alyssa, but I really want to do this. I want to see her up close." I answered looking back at her.

"That's so brave of you. I don't think I could ever face the person that my ex replaced me with." Milko said looking back, as he stares at Alyssa.

That's odd. Milko and Alyssa both never talk about love or relationships in general, it's weird for me to hear Milko commenting on it. Did he say that just because? Or is he speaking from experience and what he feels? And why is he staring at Alyssa? He stares as if there's a meaning behind it. Is Alyssa the one experiencing it right now? What is happening with my friend's life? How come I didn't know about this?

Emi, chill. You're just reading too much into it. He probably doesn't mean anything about it.

Alyssa didn't say anything and there was an awkward silence in between. I felt a growing tension, but I don't know if it was just in my head.

Maybe I'm just stressed out and exhausted from everything.

After waiting for a while in line, we were finally able to sit down. Lucky for us, there were three spots left somewhere in the middle. The host went in front of the stage hinting that the book signing will start. They called in Li Fei to come on the stage.

Elizabeth went on stage looking as beautiful as ever. She's wearing a white multicolored, pressed flower, v-neck chiffon dress that shows effortless elegance, and her brown wavy hair tied beautifully.

What a beauty. Even a goddess would be jealous.

The host then opened the floor for the Q&A about Li Fei's book.

I didn't think of this. What could I possibly ask her? If that's the case then that would be the first time I'll ever be speaking to her.

People started asking questions, from basic to personal ones.

I was trying to think what to say. Oh, I know. How about I ask her when she will publish her next book about art? Yeah, that's perfect!

Someone next to Milko asked the exact question I wanted to ask. Shit. I thought to myself.

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