Swapped Fate

19: A Playmate?

Lea was not so thrilled to hear my account of the events at the coffeehouse. On the contrary, she was horrified.

“Oh, Mavis, how could you do that?” she cried. We were in my bedroom, on my bed.

“I am the aggrieved party here, Lea,” I insisted.

“But still, you did not have to resort to such drastic measures!” she whined. “There are better ways to deal with conflict.”

“My way, dear friend, is to fight fire with fire. When someone hits, I hit back and that too twice as hard. It is the only way people like Tristan Devereux can learn their lesson.”

“And pray tell, what is the lesson you were trying to teach him here?”

I scoffed. “If he didn’t get it then he is really an idiot.” I went on to unpack my dresses so I could show them to her. “Now, I want you to have a look at what I purchased. You’re a woman of style so I’d be honoured to be validated by you.”

I offered a grin, and her worried expression was distorted by a laugh. “You’re silly.”

I was excited to show Lea the dresses. I hadn’t really maintained friendships since I was always busy—much less formed a bond with women my age. I liked Lea a lot, and felt like this was my chance at having a sisterly friendship.

“Want me to dress up and put on a show for you?” I asked, reaching for the aqua dress. “I promise it won’t be a waste of time. I look good in all of them.”

“Mavis you...” Her hand reached for the dress, and just like that, worry befell her face yet again. “...you should not have bought this.”

I gave her a flat look. “You haven’t even seen it on me yet.”

“No, I mean you should not have bought something in this colour.”

Not this again.

“Strange,” I said. “Tristan gave me a similar warning.”

Lea gasped, her eyes as wide as saucers. “Are you saying Mr. Tristan told you specifically not to buy this but you went ahead anyway?”

I nodded. “That is exactly what happened.”

And once more, she cried, “Oh, Mavis, how could you do that?”

“You’re starting to sound like a nervous parent,” I pointed out.

“How can I not be nervous? You’re making me very nervous!”

I shrugged to appear nonchalant, but Lea’s overreaction made me more puzzled about the whole aqua affair. “It’s only a colour, Lea. Calm down.”

“I don’t think so,” she mumbled, her eyes raking over the dress with precariousness. “When I had just moved into Mr. Adrian’s bedroom, he saw my wardrobe and told me never to wear my aqua-coloured dresses because it would put me in bad books with Mr. Tristan.”

“Did he mention why?”

She shook her head. “But I cannot forget his grave tone and face. Whatever this colour means to Mr Tristan...it isn’t something good nor trivial. It’s serious.”

I mumbled, “Addy always looks and sounds like that, though.”

“Mavis.”

“I just think it’s illogical.” I groaned. “We see colours every day of our lives. Just because he hates one of them does not give him a right to dictate that we shouldn’t wear it. He doesn’t own colours and neither does he own me nor you for that matter.”