Chapter 9 - Separation

Anna hugged her mother tightly before they separated. Yes, his family must return to Ohio.

"Look after yourself," Lane advised while gently stroking her daughter's back. Separation never felt good, especially with family. However, they couldn't live in Los Angeles forever. Her husband had a job in Ohio, and her other daughters had a class the next day. While she needed to return to her role. Become a housewife.

She had thought back to work after her daughter was an adult. But Hugh prevented her and told her to be a writer as it was her hobby. So, she did it in the last ten years.

And the ability, it seemed, descended to Anna. Anna learned about literature and dreamed of becoming a screenwriter. Although, reality did not give an easy path to her. Anna must be a celebrity assistant while looking for connections to her dreams.

It was pathetic, right?

But that was how the world worked. It was so cruel.

"Yes, Mom. You, too, take care of yourself."

They hugged for a few seconds before releasing it. Next, it was her father's turn. "Thanks for coming, Dad."

"Yeah, sure." Short answers like his personality.

And finally, Sidney.

"Won't you hug me?" Anna asked when she saw Sidney just standing in her place. They were eight years apart, and Sidney was in her third year at the university. That was a university where her father worked.

"You left me yesterday morning."

Her reply immediately made Anna's eyes widen. "Gosh, Sid. Are you angry because of that?" She showed her frustration over her absurd sentence. How came? She had said about that the night before and left notes in the morning. Weren't those enough?

"Of course-" Sidney deliberately hung her sentence and changed her expression, "-not. You are my best sister." Then she approached Anna and hugged her. "Thank you for accommodating me. I hope you don't regret and accept me back in the future," she joked.

Anna laughed. "You must bring something when visiting me," she replied with another joke.

"What? Macaroons?"

Anna let go of her arms and looked at her sharply. That was clearly ridicule for her. Yeah, Anna had told of the incident with macaroon and Jeff at the party. And Sidney laughed at her because she thought more about macaroon than a handsome man like Jeff.

"I won't let you come to my apartment if you don't carry one hundred macaroons." Calm down. She wasn't serious about that. Who could eat one hundred macaroons in a few days? If Sidney really brought her those, she would tell her to come back after successfully selling those all.

"I'm calling Matt."

"Hey, don't bother a happy couple."

"I won't. I'm just asking him to persuade you to accept me."

Damned Sidney! Sidney knew well how to beat her. She almost always said yes when his persuasion came with his rationality.

Unfortunately, the excitement did not last long. They must immediately check-in.

"Are you sure you don't want to come back with us?" Matt confirmed this after Anna refused his offer home together.

"Yes. Besides, I drove my own car," she answered. It would give an absolute reason for her rejection.

Matt reacted awkwardly as if he just remembered that even though they departed together from the hotel. "I forget."

A chuckled out of her lips. It was funny every time Matt offered good but forgot something important. So that made his kindness useless.

"Go home. Bec might wait for you."

Rebecca was not there. She accompanied her parents for a walk.

"Okay. See you, Ann."

"Bye."

Anna watched his back leave her and disappear into the crowd. Then, she took out her phone to call someone.

But then she heard a very close ring. So, she turned around and almost jumped in shock when the person she called was apparently behind her. "You surprised me!"

Dave smiled at her while shortening their distance. He kept his phone back in his pocket. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that."

"Why don't you say you're here?"

He shrugged and said, "I don't want to ruin your moment."

Her eyes narrowed to hear that. "Since when are you here?"

"I see you hugging them."

That meant about ten minutes ago. Did Dave also hear their conversation, considering Dave waited very close to her?

"Was he the man you told me?"

"Huh?" Her response was poor. She could not catch him quickly. Clearly, who he meant was Matt. "Oh, you mean Matt?" she asked after realizing that.

Dave nodded. Actually, he did not know his name. Dave only knew she loved her best friend, as she said that night. However, he could guess if it was the same man he saw just leaving the airport. And when she mentioned a name, his guess was correct.

"Yes, he's that man," Anna said with an awkward smile. It was strange to open this secret.

Suddenly Dave moved forward and hugged her. It was a warm hug she needed after so many things happened this weekend and drained her energy a lot. So, she responded by wrapping her arms around his body and hiding her face for a moment.

"You have me now. Tell me, and I'll hear everything."

His words felt soothing. And Anna thought she finally had someone to lean on.

"Thank you," she said while tightening her arms a little. She was not usually like this. Despite having Matt and Rebecca, she rarely showed her weaknesses, especially since they were together. Although they assured her there was no change in their friendship, it still created a transparent wall between them. Besides, she knew how to behave. Too deep entering their relationship would threaten her position. She never wanted to destroy someone's relationship.

She hid her face deeper. "Are all rich men like this?" She whispered to him.

"What?"

"You're very kind."

And Dave giggled hearing that. It made his body move irregularly and forced Anna to release her arms because her comfort disappeared as the laughter continued.

"It's not funny," she grumbled with pursed lips. Was she that funny that she continued to cause Dave to laugh?

He reduced his laughter, and it ended with an amused smile. "Your question is like someone just met their savior."

Anna just took out an annoyed snort. It was a pleasant situation, but he destroyed that. Or was she doing that?

"Forget it. Think that I've never asked that." She was still upset. Whoever the culprit was, his laughter was annoying.

Dave laughed again. This time, it was a peal of stifled laughter. "You know there're good and bad people, right?" He began to say. After getting a nod, he continued, "That also applies to the rich. There are good, rich people. But there're also many bad, rich people."

Actually, she already knew the answer. She even had a lot of experience with bad, rich people. She was foolish by asking for something like that. It must be due to her mouth arbitrarily speaking.

"Then thank you for being the kind one for me." She tried to divert the topic to cover her shame.

But Dave reacted by staring straight into her eyes. It was a sharp gaze as if investigating her. "You're not seducing me, right?"

Her words immediately returned her frustration. Her lips pursed with a killing gaze at Dave. While Dave laughed hard, again. He never cared that someone wanted to kick him hard.