At Your Service (Book Two)

Chapter 24: Into The Night

36 HOURS LATER

While her friends greeted each other playfully, shoulder-punching and laughing, Vicência was drowning in her thoughts. Her blank eyes were fixated on a barista, pressing down on a coffee maker and pouring a ravishing brown liquid that almost made her mouth water. Keep yourself together, Vicência. You already have a cup of warm tea in your hand.

The small café hummed with chatter while Vicência and her friends settled at a table next to the window. As they conversed, Vicência kept her balance of appearing calm and attending to her friends talking, despite the silent storm of reticence that raged within her as she kept recalling her unbelievable adventure a few days ago.

"So, Vic," One of Vicência's classmates, Julia, spoke up with a curious grin. "You wanna tell us where you disappeared to?" The concern on her friends' faces was evident, questioning her sudden disappearance during their trip to Rio. The sudden question snapped Vicência out of her daydream staring at the counter.

"Huh? What?" Vicência stuttered.

"Yeah," Another friend, Ella, spoke up, an air full of mystery surfacing at the five-person table. "Where'd you go back in Rio? You never mentioned anything about that."

Vicência tried her best to make her smile seem like a soft one instead of a nervous one, "You know me, always one for a little mystery."

Her friends looked at each other confusedly, before they confronted her again. "Come on, spill the beans."

"We were worried sick about you," Ella said.

"I'm fine, really," Vicência replied. "It's just that... something unexpected came up and I had to leave the fun for a while."

"More like the entirety of it," Noah, the ever-curious one, speaks, as he slowly stirs his cup of coffee. "What's the unexpected something?"

River, the observant friend in Vicência's circle, had their phone out. "Maybe something that involves... the circus?" They showed their phone to everyone else at the table. Displayed on their phone was footage filled with familiar details for Vicência.

She leaned in to examine River's phone a little closer, being shown a handheld video of her on the O Grande Retorno show stage, sporting her silver ballerina attire and exquisitely moving across the stage in her part, Riverie in Motion. Her figure was moving far away from the camera, making it impossible for anyone to recognize her face.

"Is that you?" Julia asked.

To that, Vicência couldn't say no. They've already known what she looked like, considering that they're big supporters of her being a ballerina.

"Yeah, that's me." Vicência smiled at the footage as if she was reminiscing happily about the event. "To confirm you, River: Yes, it was something involving the circus," She paused here and there to come up with vague yet honest details. "To put it simply, they needed me back on short notice. You know I wouldn't say no to that. So, I took the offer, and realized that it's happening right across the street, actually."

"And you didn't bother calling us?" Ella raises her eyebrow.

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Vicência said.

"Yeah, it sure is," River remarked. "Look at this." Their phone now shows a news article that read: 'Animal Breakout Sparks Shock & Terror!' "An animal rampage in the circus. What's this about?"

Vicência tried her best not to mention Swift or Tom, though their names kept going in and out of her mind, begging to exit her mouth. "Yeah, it's a stage malfunction, I guess. I was there, but I didn't know what caused it. Maybe a screw or two hung loose." She chuckled.