Chapter 86

Liliana's pov :
After being a night owl for two weeks, I needed to sleep badly so I had already snoozed my alarm two times to sleep for a while longer. The exams made me feel so much exhausted, and more than the exams, my little monster annoyed me with his tantrums.
Who says sorry at 1 am?
The day I came back from Singapore, it was already night and he couldn't wait for the morning to apologize so he banged my door at 1 am.
That was not enough, he started calling me princess. Every day he irritated me by saying "good morning, princess! Good night, princess!" That too, with a smile on his face instead of a frown.
Two days before exams, he crawled into my room and tried to put some chocolates but I caught him and threw the chocolates on his face. Perhaps he didn't deserve that much of my anger but I couldn't help it because he called me selfish when I was trying to help him.
Anyhow, I gave proper attention to my studies besides the cute and cheesy messages from Jason. My lips stretched out into a big smile after reading his messages but it was a distraction in the exam time so we agreed to 'no calls, no message until the exam ends!'
I missed him so much but the incident in Singapore wasn't leaving my brain completely. That boy had too much control over my heart than I could allow him.
Turning off my alarm eventually, I woke up from the sweet sleep and yawned loudly. Throwing the blanket away from my body, I rubbed my eyes.
Slowly, I made my way to the bathroom and started the faucet. After washing my face, I took the toothpaste and spread it on the toothbrush. As I looked in the mirror, brushing my teeth, my brain began tossing some thoughts.
Why wasn't I ready to forgive Richard? He didn't hurt me that much and he had always treated me like that though he never apologized and when he was saying sorry, wasn't I being too rude to him?
Jay hurt me so much, I was almost broken that day still, I forgave him without taking too much time. Wasn't it already proved that I was loving that guy more than I could somebody else?
Jason Casano wasn't just my lover, he was my weakness and craving at the same time and he didn't even know it because I was expressing as if I was a hard rock since we came back to L.A.
I wanted to take every next step gradually because our story was going way too fast that we couldn't understand what we wanted from each other!.
Perhaps saying I love you to each other was too early when we didn't even know the proper meaning of those heavy words but I wasn't regretting it because no matter how much he hurt me, I never stopped loving him.
Quickly, taking a hot shower, I sauntered to my cupboard and took out a plain yellow collared t-shirt and straight denim. To give him a clear note about my choice, I was again wearing t-shirts and shirts only for the last two and half weeks.
"Will you please forgive me?" He snapped open my room and hurled his face in my room.
"On one condition only!"
He rolled his eyes and welcomed his full body into my room himself. "Say!"
"You are gonna promise that you'll never play any prank on me and never annoy me." I looked in the mirror to meet his gaze, brushing my hair.
He sighed and sat on the couch, "alright! I promise. I'm turning seventeen next week, will you please help me in getting convinced of our mom before my birthday because I want to spend it with my boyfriend, out of town?"
"What the fuck! Boyfriend? How are you so sure that I will help you?" I crossed my arms and surprise was a small word for that, maybe heart attack was better.
"Of course, you'll help me! You are my dear sister and I know that you are so kind." He flickered his eyes cutely.
I smirked and shook my head. "What are you using? Butter or cheese?"
"Both! You'll be convinced after a bit of buttering about you and some cheesy lines about your boyfriend. That's it!" He shrugged and winked as if he was a genius and knew everything.
The thing you don't want to talk or think about will be the thing that would slap you on your face all the time.
"Oh, Richard! He wasn't my boyfriend anymore, we are just friends now." I wanted to tell him that but I knew he would make fun of it. He would ask if we were friends with benefits or just friends for real!? And that too, with a smirk and wink. He was the boy who would never forget to smirk or wink whenever he poked fun.
I sighed and rolled my eyes at my thoughts. "Anyways, it's time for melodrama. Let's go!" I headed to the Queen's room. To my surprise, without asking anything, he followed me. Perhaps he was too afraid to mock or argue with me. After all, it was a big issue.
"Hey, Lily! I was coming to see you." My mom plastered high-class expressions on her face. Soft eyes, perfect smile, and sugar voice!
"Why?" I didn't realize when I asked in reality, I was asking it in my mind, right? Richard pinched my back to remind me that I had asked. "Ouch!" I muttered under my breath and looked at my mom who was staring at me in disbelief.
"Can't I come to your room to have a mother-daughter conversation with you?" She wiggled her fingers between us, perhaps she was hurt but that wasn't my intention.
Smiling, I made my mom sit on the couch. "It's not like that. Anyways, we can have that conversation here, right?"
She nodded and I sat beside her. Richard was hiding at the door of her room, such a coward! My mom and I never had any conversation in our entire lives, either it was an argument or an order from the Queen so I was curious to know what she wanted to talk about.
"How's everything going with Jason?"
Oh! So we were going to gossip about my love life. I could already feel a tight slap on my face though I was smiling instead of being furious. "That's a fake smile!" My subconscious reminded me and I frowned at it.
"Perfect!" I uttered in a honeyed voice, grinning a lot to ache my cheeks and jaw.
"I don't feel like that. You are again back to your nerdy looks and I'm a wise woman so you can't fool me. A girl changes her looks and hairstyle for only two reasons."
"And what are those reasons?"
"Either when she falls in love or when she breaks up with her boyfriend!"
She was indeed right but we didn't break up, okay! We were in friend mode and wanted to know each other more. There was no way I was going to tell her the truth because I was too exhausted to handle her questions and drama.
I knew her and her opinions better than herself. If she would get to know the truth, she'll still blame me for not changing myself for a perfect boy. In her dictionary, the definition of a perfect boy was a tall, handsome, and affluent guy. Fortunately or unfortunately, Jay was suitable for that vacancy.
"It's not like that-"
"Then why don't you invite him for dinner tonight?"
Was she waiting for my answer so she could toss her idea to me? Fuck! My mom was more clever than I expected.
"You know what, I can't wait forever so here I'm!" Richard was my savior. Thanking him in my heart for saving me from my mom, I looked at him. His amused and laughing face was turned into an apprehensive face. "Mom! Please, accept my sexuality! I'm gay and I'm not interested in girls at all."
"What are you saying, honey? Are you coming directly from a party? You are drunk, right?" My mom was trying to find excuses to ignore what he just declared!.
"Don't pretend, mom! Lily already knows." He pointed towards me.
I wanted to yell at this mother and son's duo, "for Pete's sake, don't call me Lily!"
My mom exhaled heavily and stood from the couch. "Get out of my room!"
"But mom, why does his sexuality affect your prestige that much? It's not just him and he has the right to live his life the way he wants." Finally, I spoke and earned a disgusting look from my mother.
"You also get out of my room, now!" She shouted and turned her face towards the wall as if the wall would help her calm down.
I went closer to her and made her look at me. "Mom, I know everything. And if you will kick him out of this home, I'll go with him. I won't leave him alone and that's a promise." I sincerely announced my intentions and walked off.
Richard didn't need a second warning from our mom so he also followed me. "We'll be kicked out of this mansion soon, Lily. Let's pack our bags and start searching for a good place! I guess mom will block our cards so I'm speculating about going to the bank and taking the cash from my card, will you join me? Because I don't want to live the life of a beggar, plus, my birthday is next week and I'm not in the mood to change my plans anyway."
We just fought with the Queen and he was blabbering as he had already thought about it and planned everything. I couldn't believe this guy, was he for real? All he could think of was his birthday, lifestyle, and money. I shot him a death glare and slapped his arm.
"Do you seriously want to move out? Don't lie and accept that you had already planned everything!"
He lowered his gaze and gave a short nod. "But I want to live my life on my own. And money is a need, a human need. Without it, nobody can survive."
I couldn't blame him, he was a carbon copy of Queen so obviously, he would think like her. "Fine! Do whatever you want but have some patience! I don't think that mom will kick you out because she loves you too much to do that. In the end, she'll accept you, and trust me, she'll help you with telling dad." I stated the matter of fact and shrugged.
"I don't think so because she had threatened me a lot not to like any guy but I can't deny that she loves me the most." He uttered proudly and suppressed his lips.
"Let's bet! If she'll accept you, you'll stop calling me Lily and if she won't accept you, I'll-"
"You'll pay my bills." He winked and raised his eyebrows to seal the deal. I nodded and we made a bet.