"All's well that ends well to end up with you"
Oscar Piastri had been chasing after the one girl who never seemed to stop running. Having been best friends with her since they were ten, Oscar was realising that he had more than friend feelings for a...
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FEBRUARY 2024 — OXFORDSHIRE, ENGLAND
Leilani Kahulia barely hesitated before diving back into the thick of her university coursework, pages of notes and assignments piling high around her like the walls of some paper-bound fortress.
It had become her shield against the stress and her escalating worries, her way of drowning out the voices of expectation, disappointment, and criticism that were far too familiar. Between study sessions and library marathons, she found little time to take care of herself, her own well-being drifting further and further down her list of priorities.
The fortress had many cracks and one of them came through in the form of her phone screen lighting up with a name she dreaded: David Watts. Her stomach sank as she hesitated, almost letting the call go to voicemail. She knew better. David's calls never went away that easily.
With a deep breath, she answered, pressing the phone to her ear.
"We're having a party for your grandmother's birthday," came David's low, commanding tone. "The family is expecting you there. You will be here. Six p.m. sharp. Tomorrow."
Leilani's fingers tightened around her phone.
"I expect you here for three days," he continued, listing each day like a warning. "Before the party, during the party, and after the party. Dress respectfully, none of those ridiculous cropped shirts you insist on wearing."
She clenched her jaw, resisting the urge to snap back. Every word he said seemed to bear the weight of a hundred more, ones he didn't bother speaking but implied perfectly well. The disappointed looks, the raised eyebrows, the quiet, scathing whispers from her aunts and uncles. that she received in their company.
David's voice ended in silence, but the order lingered. She knew better than to ignore it.
Later, seated in their modest kitchen, she barely touched her food, the announcement weighing too heavily for her to find an appetite. Her wet hair from shadowing only added to the mood, the young woman having little energy to worry about drying it or even brushing it through.
Across from her, Miya, her friend and flatmate, noticed her staring absently at her plate. She'd been ranting about her latest lover for the previous ten minutes, complaining that she didn't want a girlfriend or boyfriend, just a hook up. It was only when she received no reply that she realised Leilani wasn't listening.
