Cherries and Wine

|| 02 ||

Curiosity is such a human trait. Even more so for her; she always felt inquisitive in life. Her nervousness had always nipped it in the bud for the most part. That was until she got her first taste of satisfaction for the first time in a long time.

Donald Na had spurred that out of her. Maybe her mother was right about one thing: him being an influence. She took this curious moment and sunk her teeth in, now finding herself in front of a door in a vaguely familiar neighbourhood.

Of course, it was familiar. This case of curiosity was related to Chance. But why this? Satiating curiosity was never a smooth process. She felt herself get jittery.

This was residential. She should've bought a small gift, especially since she was dropping by without warning for this petty investigation-if you could even call it that!

As she wiped her palms on her skirt, she glanced to the side. She could leave right now. She hadn't knocked or anything! But what if they by chance looked out and saw her there? What if someone else saw her there? And then for her to leave without doing anything? That would look weird and shady!

Her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to steady her breathing and her hand raised. A few rasps on the doors did it. Not as soft as she wanted them to be (an excuse for no one on the other side to hear them), but not loud.

Unfortunately or fortunately- she had no idea at this point, she was regretting this decision- the door opened the moment she was going to step away. A woman answered, looking as if she had finished work shortly beforehand.

"Hello?" She greeted, looking as bewildered as Lotus was.

"Oh, um, hi!" Lotus returned, flustered. She looked anywhere but the woman, fingers picking at her skirt. Her stance turned even meeker despite her attempt at straightening and appearing confident.

Good thing this didn't alarm the woman. She had furrowed her brows in confusion before coming to a conclusion.

"Are you here to see Jake?"

That name rang some bells. Before she could think on it more the woman continued, "He should be getting back soon. Would you like to come in?"

She slowly blinked before giving an unsure nod. "...Sure, yes, ma'am."

The woman gave a smile and nod of her head, moving to the side to allow her entrance. She did so, stiffly taking off her shoes as the lady shut the door. It was nice...clean inside. That was a sign that there either weren't a lot of people there or they were competent, not as reckless as her brothers.

The TV was on, she could see and hear it. It was some show-nothing important. Nothing violent or shady. She didn't know if anyone else was there, not with the stand blocking her view of where the sofa would be.

"You can wait in the living room. Would you like a drink?" The woman asked.

What was she supposed to say? She was too nervous to drink. Besides, it felt wrong to come to some stranger's place and then take their refreshments. But would it be too disrespectful to refuse? She was more used to socialization outside and it being fleeting, not something this personal.

"No, but thank you." She answered despite her frantic mind.

The woman nodded in understanding and took her leave down the hall across the room. Lotus stood fully, keeping her arms close to her body. She took a step forward, it being enough to unearth the view of the couch. And-

-Unbelievable. Truly, this was the last thing she expected to see. Well, she wasn't sure what she was expecting, but definitely not this!

She took another, and another before stopping again, fully unearthing the view.