นับเวลาสามสิบวัน ฉันจะเป็นอิสระ

Laura combed her bright red hair and tied it up into a high ponytail. It had been a very long time since she went out to have fun. She felt like jumping around as she got ready, from how she was excited to go. After living with Rachel over the past five years, she barely went out, as her friend's introverted nature influenced her.

Seeing that she now looked good, she picked up her things and went to the living room where Rachel was waiting for her. Laura looked at her friend's outfit and sighed in her heart. She understood why she wore such modest clothes, but whenever she saw them, she couldn't help but think that it was too unfortunate.

"You are ready, right? Nancy told me they have been waiting for the past fifteen minutes," Rachel said to her, resisting the urge to lecture her friend.

"I'm done," Laura said and smiled guiltily.

"Let's go then. You looked fine before. Why did you have to change your clothes again?" Rachel said as she gathered her things, ready to go.

"Ah! Wait! I forgot to pack my swimsuit," Laura said and ran back to her room. Rachel looked at the door that slammed shut behind Laura and grit her teeth in annoyance.

"Then you can come downstairs yourself," Rachel said and left the hotel room. She mumbled in annoyance the whole way down. Everyone ended up waiting for another fifteen minutes before Laura went downstairs.

When the three other girls saw that she had finally appeared, they were all visibly relieved. When Laura got in the car and started excitedly telling everyone how happy she was about seeing them again, Rachel asked David who was driving them to go first. She didn't know when Laura will say she had forgotten something and insisted on going back to the hotel.

They had all been invited to their friend's boyfriend's birthday, and he was generous enough to find someone to drive them there and accommodate them overnight. They were all excited and nervous about who was going to be there. It was obvious that the most excited person was Laura. It had been so long since she had looked forward to doing anything or meeting anyone, so it was inevitable.

She had also heard that her friend Jen's boyfriend's brothers were also going to be attending the event. Seeing how handsome and attractive the boyfriend was, she was looking forward to seeing his brothers. Even if they were a bit less attractive, she was certain that they wouldn't be ugly.

Nancy, who had been talkative the last time they met, was not as talkative today and the girls in the back observed how she would keep glancing at the man who was driving the car. Laura finally took notice of him because of this.

She looked at him through the rearview mirror and almost couldn't contain the surprise she was feeling. Who has such a handsome man as a driver? Sir, do you want to change your life? I can help you become a popular model, she thought to herself unabashedly.

She looked at Nancy and the way she was currently staring at him in a daze and felt a bit bad for this new friend she had just met. It looked like she was already interested in him, but he hadn't said a word since they got in the car.

As they all chatted about everything and nothing, Nancy, who was still staring at David, was startled out of her daze when her phone rang. David was also not expecting her phone to ring, so he turned to look in her direction before keeping his eyes on the road. The people in the back silently watched their interaction with amusement, but the people involved were completely unaware.

"Hello?" Nancy said into her phone without even checking who it was that called her.

"Hi! Have you all arrived already?" Jen, who was on the other side, asked. She had gone to have lunch with her boyfriend and his family for his birthday and it looked like they had just finished.

"No, we've been on the road for ninety minutes," Nancy said after checking the time and putting the call on speaker so everyone could hear what was going on.

"They should have arrived then," a male voice said from the other side.

"Is that our brother-in-law? Happy birthday!" Laura said from the back seat and everyone joined in on the fun, with the exception of the driver.

"Hehehe, thank you," Lucas responded and became silent.

"We aren't there yet because Laura took forever to get ready," Nancy said with some annoyance. Laura did not argue because she knew that she was the reason they were going to be late in the first place.

"It's no issue, we'll probably arrive at around the same time," Jen said with a laugh.

"Okay, then we'll see you later," Nancy said, and all the girls said goodbye before the call ended.

"Why do I feel like since Jen is dating, she doesn't want the surrounding people to be single?" Laura asked seriously as she pointedly looked at Nancy, who was still stealing looks at their driver.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Rachel mumbled to herself. She did not take her friend's words seriously at all. Relationships? She had no time or energy to invest in such a useless thing!

"I think so too," Leanna said as she stared outside the window. With these comments, silence gradually spread in the car.

Laura pulled her phone out of her purse and went through her social media. As a popular model, she always had to pay attention to what was happening online. Although she was signed to work with Rachel's company, she still managed to gather a large crowd of fans, and her popularity was much higher than other models who were busy working with other brands. She had to admit that she was only so popular because of her looks, and she did not feel bad about it.

"Oh? Looks like we've arrived," Nancy said from the front seat, drawing the girls' attention. Laura could feel her mouth drop, but she couldn't bring herself to close it. When they went through the large gate, she saw that there were some villas built in the area. There was quite some distance between them and they all looked quite luxurious.

What stood out the most, however, was the large castle-like mansion in front of them. She knew that her friend managed to get herself a billionaire boyfriend. The house in front of them showed just how much money the owner had.

"This is where the party will be held," David said, startling the girls. It was the first time he spoke beside from when he greeted them when they were getting in the car.

"I thought it was a hotel," Nancy said as she too was also in awe of what was in front of them.

"No, we built it," David said, referring to himself and his group of friends. The excitement in the car suddenly turned into silence. Laura took another look at David. It looked like the 'driver' wasn't really a driver.