Amanita: Poison Shot

Chapter 114: The Benefit - Pearls Scattered On The Floor

With a stern face and hurt look in his eyes, Eros still seemed overwhelmed by the poison from Sigi's last comment, when a loud voice demanded our attention:

"Ladies and gentlemen!" the clone host of that event for the filthy rich clamoured from the double-winged stage. His voice was fit for a radio soap opera, and he would make an outstanding male leading role with that deep, velvety voice. "Before dinner is served and Mrs Nevermore proceeds with her speech, it's time to get your groove on! With... the Broken Vases!"

Eros and I got startled by the clones yelling like a horde of fangirls while the members of the most popular boy band in the whole world made their way onto the stage, waving at all of us. Their cheerful music started to play and they danced in perfect synch as if they were born to do it.

Many clones started dancing on the improvised dancefloor, on a large lawn in front of the left wing of the stage. Some waiters were getting the dinner tables ready on the right. Cian and Gabi were among them.

Out of the blue, Mirela appeared with a female partner, joyfully rushing from the restrooms and onto the dancefloor. She was oblivious of my presence, thank God.

"Shall we dance?" Eros asked me with a broad smile. "Let's get all this angst away, Daphne."

I nodded and smiled back at him. I was glad to see he wished to break the nasty spell cast on his mood. We danced to the rhythm of a cheesy pop song.

Our chaste dancing caught the attention of the clones around us. My moves weren't as skilled as Eros', but I didn't care. He said something, but the music was too loud to hear him. I didn't think it mattered. He was smiling.

When the pop song was over, a punk one took its place. We didn't feel like dancing to that song, to be honest. We went to the back, close to the bar.

"Nice moves both of you got on the dancefloor, honeysuckle," Kono said all of a sudden right behind me. They were drinking an appletini.

"Kono! You've arrived!" I exclaimed. They winked at me with a broad smile and hugged me.

"Sorry, Daphne," Kono said, and then they finished their drink in one go. "I'm needed somewhere else. Besides, I don't like being a third wheel."

"You're not a thir- wait, what?!"

I could smell the eau de prankster mastermind from a mile away!

"Oh, wait. I get it," I added with mild tiredness when I had put two and two together.

"I'm needed by the electronic irrigation system," they replied with a mischievous smirk but pretending to be serious about the excuse they were telling us. "Apparently, the sprinklers have got an awful need to release the water in the pipes, you know. Too much pressure isn't good for them! And it can't wait, I'm afraid. Precisely now that Mirela is having so much fun, right? It's not like she's begging to be pranked, or anything."

"But Kono!" My complaint fell on deaf ears. Kono was already smirking.

They just went away to mess with the sprinklers, leaving the words unsaid in my mouth.

A few seconds later, the sprinklers went off and the dancing clones shrieked when the cold water hit them unexpectedly. The Broken Vases went on singing and dancing. They must have been convinced that it was part of the show, probably.

While many clones rejoiced and went on dancing, I watched Mirela yell some profanities, pushing away her fling when she offered help. Something about her priceless dress was amiss, or so I heard. She was too far away from me to hear everything she said. She left in a hurry to the restrooms or God knows where with a murderous look on her face.