Sisters

8.

NICOLE

"Good evening, miss."

"Good evening."

"Your name, please?"

"Nicole Bennett" I answer by handing the guy in the blue suit a gilded invitation to the charity party that took place tonight.

I was invited to this evening a few months ago, although I did not like events like this, I had to come because it was maintained by a very important man for my job. A man to whom it is almost impossible to say no, and also my former boss.

The boy at the entrance returned my invitation and wished me a pleasant evening, I thanked him briefly and went forward where two guards opened the door of the great hall for me.

I enter slowly placing an invitation in a small black purse I "stole" from Stephanie. A young blonde approached me, which reminded me of my sister.

"Can I take your coat?"

"Of course, thank you." I answer and smile at her.

I am wearing a long elegant red dress, with a V neckline, no back and a large neckline chosen by Stephanie. With my bare back and a half-thigh cut, I attract the eyes of men nearby. Like any woman, I enjoyed the desired looks of men who could only have me in their imagination. Otherwise men didn't interest me, I turned my life on to a career and my sister. Men in my life had neither time nor space.

The hall was huge, large stairs covered with red carpet descending to the podium where the round tables were arranged randomly. On the sides, right next to the wall, there were long tables full of all kinds of food and drinks, something for everyone's taste. So much food, so much unnecessary decorations including huge ice sculptures were the biggest irony of such events. Charity dinners that cost the entire fortune of the person who organized them. If that money had been donated to charity, it would have been almost equal to and perhaps even higher than the amount they will raise tonight. In other words, charity dinners like this were anything but charity. No one here was interested in helping anyone, since they were there because they wanted to be seen at events like this and in posh society.

At the end of the hall was a large dance floor and behind it a huge balcony overlooking the beautiful garden. I immediately headed to the first bar, took a drink, and then headed for the balcony. Although the autumn nights in New York were very cold, I preferred to enjoy the fresh breeze rather than the false kindness of those present. Along the way, I greeted people I knew and received greetings from many I didn't even remember where I knew from. I was trying not to get involved in long conversations and skillfully avoiding certain topics as well as certain people.

The hall was full of elegantly dressed men who took with them even more elegant and expensively dressed women. Some of them are there with their wives hiding behind a fake smile and skillfully pretending to be a happy marriage, even though it was clear to everyone that they were far from it. Many of them are here looking for the rich daughter of a great man in order to secure a future for themselves, and individuals have opted for the most painless variant, an escort lady.

I read people very well and I enjoyed events like this because here I would have a unique opportunity to stand aside and observe those present. Read what lies behind their fake smiles and those fake touches of tenderness. I watched them and learned what life should not look like. I felt sorry for them and admired them on the one hand. Millions of people would like to be here tonight, right in this hall, right in their place. Many girls dreamed of expensive dresses and posh dinners, so many of them were there tonight as ladies for a miserable night. They were not happy and never will be. The "happier" ones are accompanied by a husband who is everything but what they have been dreaming about for years. A false relationship, a false happiness, a false marriage and a void in the soul that no dress and no aesthetic surgeon in this world can fill. People would be surprised if they could realize how miserable and miserable the lives of elite people in this and any other city are. Happier than them tonight are the homeless who roam New York looking for shelter and a bite of food to survive the night.