Silently Falling

Chapter 9

Rose

Honestly, I couldn't even believe myself on how I always managed to get myself into these kinds of situations.

My face had started to hurt from smiling too much and my eyes were desperately scanning the area to spot a single slightly familiar face so that I could excuse myself and get out from this terribly awkward situation.

"So how's your mom doing, dear?"

I fumbled with my phone debating whether I should try to call Victoria again and hope that she'd pick up my call this time. I heard someone clear their throat and looked up to find all eyes on me. By their looks, I assumed that someone had directed a question towards me whilst I wasn't paying attention.

"I'm sorry I got a bit distracted; did I miss something?" I asked feeling a bit guilty on the inside.

"It's okay Rose, aunty Jane here just asked you about how your mom was doing." Ivan replied giving me a sympathetic look.

As the only person who hadn't ditched me in this crazy birthday party was the birthday boy himself, multiple people would come to talk with Ivan and hade me unwillingly involved in their talks. I was introduced to almost a dozen of new faces that I'd never seen before, all of them being Ivan's friends and family. Also, me being introduced and compelled to talk to his people was not the main problem here. Nope.

"Oh, she is doing well aunty Jane. She talks about wanting to catch up with you soon and I'm sure she'll visit you once she's in Melbourne." Aunty Jane practically beamed hearing my words.

Ivan's aunt knew my mom through work. She and my mom had worked together on a big project two years back and even though their work was already done with, they still kept in touch and remained friends.

"I hope she will and I'm looking forward to it!" She exclaimed excitedly.

Everyone joined in the laugh and Ivan politely excused us from the group of his relatives.

"Please enjoy the party everyone." Ivan smiled as he leaned towards me to whisper in my ear.

"Are you okay? Sorry, you must've been bored to death already. These birthday parties can sure be tiring."

"It's fine, don't worry about it." I mouthed and turned around to see one of Ivan's aunts giving us an approving look. I internally groaned and wanted the ground to swallow me up whole.

"I'll try calling Alex for you."

"No, it's okay Ivan. Alex must be busy with the last-minute preparations and I don't want to bother him. I'm having a perfectly good time interacting with your people." I lied straight through my teeth.

I mean don't get me wrong, Ivan was a dear friend and a super nice guy. He had stubbornly refused to leave me alone till we found someone I knew or someone he could "trust" enough to leave me with, so that Alex doesn't kill him later on.

With that, we'd been trying to contact and find my friends since Victoria had left me promising that she'll right back and Amber had vanished to god knows where.

As thankful I was for him for not leaving me alone, Ivan being Ivan, he hadn't been noticing the questioning looks we'd been getting when he introduces me to his people on HIS birthday. I'd been trying to ignore the sly looks thinking it was all in my head until one of his cousins decided to go head on and ask us if we were actually dating.

"Oh I wish, but no." Ivan laughed jokingly and I denied it with an awkward laugh as well. Lisa nodded her head in understanding but the girl didn't look one bit convinced.