[IC] 𝑺𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒑𝒊𝒕𝒚

“Romance is the glamour which turns the dust of everyday life into a golden haze.”
― Elinor Glyn

[Hero]

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Bzz. Bzz. Bzzzzz. Bzz. Bzz. Bzzzzz.

The buzzing continued for about five seconds but went entirely unnoticed until a more audible chime came from the phone. The small sound startled Nadia as she jolted awake, green eyes wide as she looked around. Her light blanket had been wrapped around tightly around her arms with an impressive death grip, the limo's lights dimmed at her request. She could see some of the passing streetlights outside the window, the buildings indistinguishable from one another until she blinked a few times. As she stretched her arms above her head, her back ached in protest, and as she dropped her arms she looked out the window again. She was so used to the New York buildings covering most of the view of the sky that the smaller buildings in Palm Beach didn't actually surprised her for a few seconds.

She slumped back in her seat, nearly drifting off again until her phone chimed at her a second time. She usually wasn't the kind of person to ignore her phone, but after multiple car rides and a long flight, the only thing she wanted to do was sleep. That wasn't too much to ask for, was it? Forcing herself to sit up, she rubbed whatever sleep was left out of her eyes and sat properly, checking her phone. Her mother had apparently sent her multiple messages, further killing her drive for responding.

The limo came to a stop, and she let out a sigh of relief. Finally! Her celebration was premature, however, as once she stepped out she was greeted by the sight of many, many cars all parked along the house she used to call her home. She barely contained her groan, though she let her head drop. So much for going straight to sleep.

"I'll take your bags in, Miss Aurelios," The chauffeur said as he closed the car door behind her.

"Thank you," She tried to psyche herself up as she walked to the door, looking at the positives. She had been dying to see Lucas and Victoire, Sebastian was sure to be happy to see her, and at least the weather wasn't terrible. On the other hand, her mother was there, she was tired, her mother was there, her back hurt a little from the trip, and oh, her mother was there. At least it looked like there were a few others, so maybe she could go in, say hi, mention how long the trip was, then escape and sleep for the next twelve hours.

Happy with her plan, she cleared her throat after she rang the bell. She took a second to brush her hair off her shoulder as the door opened, her face immediately splitting into a grin as a tall, dark, and moody young woman opened the door, an eyebrow arched at her. Despite the lack of a returned smile, Nadia could tell she was happy with her arrival, more unamused with the fact that the redhead immediately pulled her into a hug.

"Could you not?" Victoire muttered, pulling herself away.

"I can't help it! I missed you!" She bounced in place, taking a second to look at the girl. Well, woman, really, she looked so much more mature despite the two being the same age. She managed to mute her excitement as she lowered her voice. "So, um, what's going on? Who's here?"

Victoire rolled her eyes, beckoning Nadia to follow her. "The entire living room is packed, too many names to list," She said, waiting for Nadia to hang her coat in the closet before continuing. "Dad has some big announcement, I think he got a promotion or something."

Nadia bit her lip, stealing a peek into the room as Victoire strolled in. A majority of them were familiar faces at the very least, all happily chatting away. Some of them she hadn't seen since she left for New York, others she knew still living in Palm Beach so she had seen them whenever she visited, but she didn't get a chance to properly look around before being grabbed from behind, letting out a shriek as she felt like she was being crushed.

"You made it!!!" Lucas squealed, his hug so tight she felt like he was trying to squeeze the air out of his lungs. He put her down long enough to take her arm and drag her with him, not giving her a chance to properly greet anyone. She did spot her mother sitting next to Sebastian, dressed to the nines as always. She found herself practically pushed into her seat and promptly smushed as Lucas threw himself down.

---

[mickilennial]

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James Martin Wang, Jr.—or Jun, as his friends and family had taken to calling him, wasn’t really known for schmoozing, or at least, not typically.

However, Jun’s father was quite used to it. As a hotshot defense attorney in charge of his own law firm, it kind of came with the territory. There were always clients to please, partners to placate, and new alliances to be made. With a marriage to one of the most successful plastic surgeons in the state, it almost felt like a game of chess where his opponent had half the pieces. This gathering, whatever it was, was clearly the result of Jun’s father’s connections with a man that Jun had never met before. The eighteen-year-old high school senior had mentally shrugged it off when he arrived, carrying his usual irreverent demeanor as he tried to wait out the biggest waste of a Sunday afternoon in his life. That is, until he recognized a few people his own age.

People who went to the same private school he did.

“Jun? What are you doing here?”

Mara Lubitsch. Not exactly the first person on his list to meet away from the grounds of King’s Academy, but Palm Springs always had a way of reminding people how close social circles connected. Especially when it came to the parents of said privileged teens that happened to go to the same exclusive academy.

Mara was someone Jun had known since elementary school, though even back then they didn’t run in the same circles. The only thing they really had in common was that they shared a friend in Soraya Labaki. It made the asian-american teenager wonder what connection her parents had with the homeowner. His dad was probably his long-standing attorney, so the most he could figure was her father was probably business partners or something or another. He still wasn’t exactly sure whose house they had been corralled to for their parents benefit. Jun may not have had the best grades at King's Academy, but he wasn't stupid. He was actually really good at catching things and figuring them out.

When he noticed Victoire Anderson out of the corner of his eye, he was already connecting the dots.

“Same reason everyone else is, right?”

“I'm just surprised you actually listened to your parents for once.” The blonde coldly remarked, before adding onto the insult, “I mean, since when are you actually responsible?”

Jun nearly rolled his eyes, feigning a false bravado instead as he noticed more people get settled around the living room while him and Mara had their little side conversation. “Someone's cranky.”

As Mara was ready to swipe back one of the adults next to them immediately told them to hush and a man who Jun assumed was the man of the hour—Victoire’s father—entered the room and began to gather the attention of the families involved. Already getting glared at by his father from the other side of the room, Jun cut his snark and shuffled his hands in his pockets, thinking it was best to shut up for the time being. It seemed Mara did the same, but then again Jun had never seen her talk out of turn when it came to situations like this. He wasn't surprised.

Jun still wasn't sure why he was here. He understood why his and Mara's parents were, but what was so important that their kids had to attend as well?

---

[Hero]

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As Nadia got comfortable in her seat, the light tapping of a fork against a champagne glass caught everyone's attention. Victoire and Lucas' father, Sebastian, stood in the middle of the room, a jubilant expression on his face. Once everyone's chatter dulled to silence, he freed his hands by placing everything down and took a look around the room. He chuckled to himself for a moment, as if he forgot something, and he gestured to her mother. The woman rose to her feet gracefully, and Nadia had to stop herself from rolling her eyes as she spotted the lovestruck expression on her face.

"Thank you all so much for coming," Sebastian spoke to the room as Elizabeth stood next to him. "It's not always easy to get the most important people all together--God knows our schedules just refuse to match--but really, this is just another sign for me that the time has come."

Nadia looked at Victoire, whose expression spelled out little more than complete confusion. Well, at least she wasn't the only one wondering what the heck he was talking about. She straightened up as he continued, "Three years ago, I had a meeting with a client that we had arranged at a Starbucks. She informed me that she would be sitting in the closest seat to the window and would wear a hat for attention. Taking that information for granted, when I had arrived, there was a woman sitting at the spot with a hat, so I sat myself down," He looked down at Elizabeth. "Do you remember what I said to you?"

"You said, 'I thought your hat would be fancier' with the biggest, most beautiful smile, and I burst out laughing," She said, shaking her head. "Considering you insulted my favorite sunhat, however, I informed you that you were mistaken."

"And I insisted I wasn't. Because instead of asking for a photo of the client, I went with my gut," He said, earning a few scattered laughs through the room. "We spoke for hours. I missed the appointment, but honestly, it was worth it."

"I don't like where this is going," Victoire muttered under her breath.

"What? Where is this going?" Nadia quietly asked.

"Three years later, and here we are. I decided that last night I would take Elizabeth to dinner and ask her something very important. She accepted, and going forward, we will tackle on life and all its ups and downs together."

Elizabeth proudly brandished her left hand, and honestly, Nadia isn't entirely sure how she managed to miss that huge rock on her left index finger--"Wait a minute..." Nadia blurted out, the realization slamming her as Sebastian put his arm around her mother.

"We'll be married in June!" She proudly announced.

What?!

Nadia's jaw dropped, shock taking over completely. Married? They were getting married?! The first thing that came to mind was that she was going to drown in wedding arrangements. Bridesmaid dresses, flowers, catering, music, dancing--and of course, her mother would want her opinion for some reason. She was deaf to the celebrations until she felt Lucas pull her to her feet, a champagne glass shoved into her hand before she snapped out of it.

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