The Warmest Winter✓

Forteen

When I return to the ground lounge my head is all over the place, garbled. Sam and Roshni are no longer to be seen at the counter. I look stunned for a second, until the bartender points his index to one of the booths—and it's where the girls are seated.

I give him a grateful nod before walking towards the girls, my mood a bit gloomy and dejected. It's somehow clear that those women upstairs with my fiancé and Malik are nothing for me to be alarmed, but why can't I stop feeling otherwise? Am I overreacting?

"Hey, took you long enough. Have you found what you've been looking for?" Sam asks as soon as I take a seat with them.

"Yeah. They are here." I reclaim my drink, but it's no longer cold. Ew! I toss it back immediately.

"They are here?" Roshni's eyes widen in stun.

"Yeah." Reclining back, I sigh heavily. Sam and Roshni still keep their eyes on me, waiting for more. "They're on the upper floor, having a good time I suppose. They have company, by the way." I smile at them, an indescribable kind of smile.

"Huh?" Sam squints her eyes quizzically. "Company? What do you mean?"

Some witch and some goddess, I guess. Ugh, why did I have to see them? Damn, my nosiness! I called it upon myself so I should face it like an adult.

"Some friends of theirs. Lady friends," I explain vaguely.

Friends my foot! The devil in me recoils sternly, eyes rolled while at it.

"Friends?" Sam snorts, wincing back as though it's an utterly nonsensical claim. Perhaps it is, because it totally sounds like it. "How come? You mean they invited their friends here? And it's ladies?" She starts chuckling.

"I don't know," I reply. "I didn't bother to ask all those questions." My head hurts a little but the leather cushion of the sofa helps my tense neck to relax a bit as I lay my head heavenward.

"Why didn't you stay? In fact, why don't we go there and see who those friends are. It's obvious you're pissed, Kiki, and it must be because of them!" Sam snaps, back into her legendary bitch mode.

How lovely.

I manage to laugh a bit. I'm still frustrated so I reach for that abandoned drink and finally graces it the attention it deserves. I gulp it all at once, wishing it was the whiskey I had a moment ago.

"Yes, I'm pissed. But I'm not going to act like a jealous fiancée who doesn't trust her man. No, I won't give anyone the satisfaction." I take a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves.

"Okay, madam, you don't need to bite me! Jeez!" Sam sips her cocktail with a chuckle. "And if that's the case, then why are you so riled up?" She loves tormenting me.

I say nothing, for whatever I'm thinking right now doesn't seem to make much sense. There's no way I've seen that brown-haired woman before, as my memory suggests—is there? I fail to shake this off my head.

"Um," Roshni utters cautiously, drawing our attention. "Can't we just leave now? I'm not sure if any of us wants to be here and . . . we're done, right?" She sounds indisposed.

"No, I don't. I think I'm ready to call it a day, too," I agree fast. Sam lifts an amused eyebrow. "Don't you?" I ask her.

"I agree, but only if we're going to have dinner. I'm not sleeping with an empty stomach just because you two are having a pang of jealousy," Sam states plainly. We give her a glare. "What? Isn't that the truth? Have you seen your faces, pretty girls?" She laughs heartily, downing the red drink in her glass.

"Just shut it." I know she's having fun at my expense and I can't blame her. "And yes, we're going to have dinner because only eating can lift my mood right now." I get up right away.