Storm's Over

2. The Disastrous Ball

Oh no, how many of those bloody chauvinists are there ?

One, two, three, four , five ...

Ugh! My eyes hurt !

There were a sea of heads out there ! It's impossible to count, let alone torture them one by one.

Ugh ! Blast ! Blast them all ! You may as well stuck your heads up in your butt !

I scanned through the crowds again and I caught glimpses of some familiar faces and surprisingly my friends !

Thank God I can have some company.

"Gentlemen. Thank you for coming today. May I present you with the presence of Miss Lillian Linton here, her dear sisters, Mr.Brank and Mrs.Brank. Lets commence our ball. "

Lady Metcalf introduced us to all of the guests tonight really shocked me because she never did. Of course I didn't miss her hatred that had laced in her voice when she said my name, but she's really good at faking at the point that no one had noticed except me.

I stole a glance at Lady Metcalf. She's still plastering her fakest smile that I have ever seen.

I stole another glance to Aunt Brank and surprisingly she's smiling too, not the scowl that she's been wearing every time she's attending a ball, probably because she's bracing herself to force me to dance with someone rich.

But for once I'm really happy for her that she's feeling happy, as much as I hated to admit, I care for her. For as long as I remembered, she's never been that happy before because Uncle Bufford never really got out of his study. However, today he is here, with her, for me.

I don't want to make her sad but I really can't oblige to this, not now, not ever.

I slid another glance her way and I found out that her smile was replaced by a scowl, her eyes glaring at me, threatening me that I needed to behave and acted exactly the way she had told me over and over again during the ride here.

Fine, maybe I had missed the fact that she's still Aunt Brank and there's not a single chance for her to not force me into marrying a rich man. She's still her. Ugh, that wicked woman !

I mustered all my strength and finally my lips curled upward, my smile was even faker than Lady Metcalf.

I did a curtsy and Lady Metcalf led me towards the dance floor with my family close behind me.

"Miss.Linton, I don't know if you know, but I really did a huge favour for you, so don't mess this up or else I won't be inviting you and your sisters anymore to my balls. Not even when your aunt beg for me like she always did."

"Well that actually sounds tempting." I commented snarkily at what Lady Metcalf just whispered to me.

She raised a finger to me and whispered, "You girl ! Don't you dare to cross my line. I can cancel this ball right this instant if you hadn't noticed."

Oh! Good! That will help me in the quickest and easiest way. Why haven't I thought of this before?

"As you wish."

That got her all riled up but she didn't do anything. She's just trying to keep calm and led me to the middle of the dance floor.