17 17. Unfamiliar Environment

The clamor and the chatter that was in the hallway has now slowly died down and people who were walking along with us have now come to a slow stop. Their heads are now turned towards us and a different sort of hushed murmur starts up among them,

Quite the spectacle to them, I guess. Two guys hugging happily.

The person who is stuck on Elian moves back but from my angle, it looks more like Elian plucked him off of him.

"You're late." I hear him comment and boy, do I like his raspy low voice.

I take a few steps forward, back to where I was standing before I was pushed off. I take my place beside Elian who gives a cordial smile. Too cordial, almost affectionate. If people were to see us, they would assume that we were a happily married couple.

If only they knew.

"Don't be dramatic, Vincent." Elian speaks heavily and quietly, his eyes darting around the hallway.

So this is Vincent.

Vincent rolls his eyes and then it falls on me, meeting my eyes. I see his face shift and paste on a social smile on my own,

"Good evening."

"Adian. I see you are not in a sour mood today."

I smile robotically because I don't have an answer for that.

Vincent is a guy who is best described as striking, with long glossy blond hair falling at his shoulders. He has sharp long features that would leave long impressions on people who looked at him and he possesses an air about him that was laden with suffocating confidence. I look around us awkwardly, at the curious stares that still haven't gone away or lessen in any way. Men just blatantly staring at us and women, in lavish gowns, darting their eyes up and down from behind the cover of their handheld fans. And they were not looking at Elian, or towards me but at Vincent who doesn't seem much affected by the attention around him.

I slowly turn my eyes back to Vincent's face and find him staring at me with a shimmering glint in his eyes.

"Don't mind them." He drawls lazily in a low assured tone, and his eyes drop down to my lips. I gulp involuntarily as his voice slithers into my ear, "Idle people like to stare at anything."

It seems as though he just grew up right now, feeling him glower over me.

Then he breaks into a slow but widening smile,

"Come on, come on. This is an exciting day." He thunders and takes a firm grip around Elian's arms. He pulls at it, and they walk off, falling into step next to each other. I look around again, the people now have gone back to their own matters, as though nothing happened. I guess Vincent is right though, idle people do stare but I wouldn't take it to heart.

Realizing that they're slowly getting far, I start off and walk towards them in rapid, hurried steps. When I reach the sides of Elian, I slow down and warily slip my hand around his right arm. I couldn't afford to lose him in this huge place. But Elian either doesn't mind or he simply doesn't notice, his face turned away listening to Vincent's ramblings.

"...hunting grounds. You should have been there, the thrill of that…" Vincent's voice carries over to my side and I lean over ahead, trying to catch a glimpse of the conversation. I push away this weird sense that I might be the extra limb here.

Vincent's eyes, which were staring at Elian, moves over to me and we make eye contact. He gives me a closed wide smile, his eyes squinting almost to a close at the action. Then he turns back to Elian, whispering;

"It's been a while. We missed you."

I sigh, straightening up. Just boring friend talk.

Raising my other hand, I tap it on Elian's arm and he looks at me with a small startle. I give him a dead look saying: yes, I am still here and he smartens up in attention, taking in a deep audible breath.

"Vincent," Elian starts and stops in his tracks, "You should go ahead. Quite a lot of guests around, I see."

"Oh pshh." Vincent waves his hand in dismissal, flicking a stray strand of hair away, "Vance can handle the greetings. There's two of us, you should know."

Elian looks over at me for a moment and I raise my eyebrow back at him, tilting my head subtly towards the end of the hallway. As much as I was new here, I wasn't about to spend the night all alone. I guess you could call me selfish. He turns back to Vincent with conviction,

"Well, we shall go and take a look around. Adian hasn't eaten all afternoon. He must be famished."

I feel the pressure of Elian's palm on my back and I nod vigorously in agreement.

"That's right." I add awkwardly in an elevated voice, hoping to seem not 'crude' as Elian labeled me. If all is lost, imitate Frank. He sounds quite fancy.

"Then." Elian smiles and gives a firm nod in dismissal.

I give Vincent a wide smile, the kind where my eyes squint before Elian pulls me away.

···

When we reach the real entrance to the party hall, I realize that the hallway is pretty but actually really really unnecessary. Simply a ruse for people to walk and maybe show off. We walk into the door and two butlers immediately pop out of thin air, grabbing our evening cloaks by the shoulders.

"Ah, thank you." I say gratefully, and quickly unhook the fastening around my neck to help the man.

I watch the man take my cloak away, walking away in hurry again into thin air. They just disappear, don't they?

Elian is already waiting for me to take his hand when I turn back. And he looks...different. I won't elaborate but that navy blue coat is well made.

Okay, okay. I can't deny it.

He really does clean up well, and hey, dark blue looks good on him. The slim stitch gives him an illusion of a greater height and on closer look, I can see that the embellishments on his coat are quite similar to mine. He quickly runs his other hand on the surface of his styled hair, as if making sure that it was still in place. The place is bustling and I put my hand back in his, somehow feeling calm in this unfamiliar environment when he grips it.

"The dinner table."

"Lord Elian!" A random lady exclaims and grabs him as we are about to head towards the dinner table. She slowly glances at me, closing the pink hand fan, and eyes me like a specimen,

"How lovely! I hope you newlyweds are well." She continues in the same chirpy tone.

Elian chuckles, a deep low rumble coming from his chest in good humor, "Please, Your Grace. The wedding ended over six months ago."

"Dear," Elian turns to me and I widen my eyes in pure shock, "This is Duchess Theresa."

"Your Grace." I say, mimicking what Elian said previously and give a small bow. The older lady giggles youthfully, putting her hand out. Seeing the cue, I bend over to give a chaste kiss on it.

"Lord Elian. You!" She turns back to him in glee and points a teasing finger at him, "Don't be such a rogue! Locking your husband away in your dark dreary castle. I don't ever see him around!"

"Don't use such deceptive words, Your Grace. People may assume the wrong situation."

"Why? Isn't that the truth?" She falls into another one of her giggles, covering her mouth with the retracted fan.

I glance at Elian, by now having a slight knowledge of his tolerance. Sure enough, he is still smiling politely but on a closer look, you could see that it is slightly strained.

"It's been an honor meeting you." I blurt out, in an effort to create an exit for us.

"Oh." The Duchess wriggles her eyebrows at me, "My pleasure."

Elian nods and kisses her hand in farewell. She gives me one last look of appraisal before swishing away in her large blue gown.

"Well, that was not so bad." I whisper as soon as she is out of earshot.

"You…" Elian pushes me from my back, leading me to where the round dinner tables are, "Seat yourself and don't talk for the rest of the evening."

He pulls the chair out and I give him an 'are you serious?' look. He sternly nods his head and taps his hand on the drawn chair as a signal. I give in, rolling my eyes and sitting down.

"Elian." That familiar raspy voice again.

I look back as soon as I can, straining my neck and yes, Vincent is back in his signature red coat. That really is a fashion statement. There are hardly any bright colors around.

Vincent leans in, whispering something unintelligible to Elian. I drum my fingers lightly on the flat surface of the table as they whisper heatedly but I could not quite catch it even with all the frustrations in it.

"Adian." Elian calls out, bending down to the level of my ear, "I will be back in a moment."

"Wha–" I make an effort to stand up but his hand grabs my shoulder, pushing me down.

"Just matters to attend to."

And with that, he is gone.

I stare at his back as it got smaller and disappeared among a sea of humans. So much for not losing him.

When I turn my neck back finally, I realize the dinner table is not empty and there are two, three, four, five people staring at me just like that Duchess did.

Well.

This is not so bad.