The royalish dinner - IV

"Hey," she bumped her shoulders with Aoife when she did not reply. "What do you mean by that? Why are they talking about me?"

"I know right," Aoife winced. "I mean, you are not that interesting or anything. So why would they be talking about you?"

Just like numerous times before, Joyce felt like smacking her sister so hard that she would fall back to Ireland.

"Aoife," she gritted out, barely keeping her anger in check. "Do you know something about what they are talking about there? If yes, tell me please."

She sighed, "Hmm, I just heard your name being taken earlier this afternoon. That's it."

That's it?! Anyone could have taken her name because she was the only one that was not inside the house. She was in the university meaning, her father had to call her to make sure that she would be home on time. Which meant, this was for nothing.

"Aoife, you—" controlling herself in the nick of time just as she found her mother coming out of the kitchen, Joyce got up and walked out of the dining room but not before kissing her mother on the cheek.

Brianna stiffened at the contact, making Joyce frowned at her. "Are you okay?"

"Yes," Brianna whispered hurriedly, "why, what is wrong?"

"Nothing," Joyce said while staring at her mother. "I'm just going to go to my room."

"Don't please," Brianna turned to her and smiled, yet it was easy to tell that the smile was not reaching her eyes. "I need your help with something. Do you think you can whip up your custard pudding?"

"The bread one?" Joyce confirmed. "If you are planning to serve it with cream, that would not be possible. It needs resting time."

Brianna shook her head. "Oh, no. You don't need to worry about resting time. There will be plenty. Just hurry up and start it, okay?"

"Okay," Joyce muttered, something was fishy about this.

When her mother waved her off with her hands, having her into the kitchen Joyce did exactly as she was told just so she could have enough time to talk to George In the night.

At this rate, they were going to make her break up with him.

She used two stoves, one for the bread and custard and the other for the caramel. The next 30 minutes were spent cooking it on the stove and after that, she let it rest underneath the kitchen fan before moving out of the kitchen.

Her mother was on the dining table, with her irish whiskey out. That just added to her suspicions more, because her mother was someone who did not drink unless it was an occasion that called for it or she was stressed.

"Can I go now?" Joyce asked, standing two seats away from her. "The pudding is cooling down."

"Yeah," Brianna murmured, her eyes looking down at her glass and did not once look at her daughter. "Good night."

And a good night it was. She was in the middle of talking to George when she heard Adrian's car leaving.

Watching as his car left the grounds of the estate, she heard George talk to the phone. Somehow, even though he was gone, the weight on her chest did not go away.

It was like her anxiety was flaring up. Okay maybe not her anxiety, but something was telling her that something bad was about to happen.