Alluring Masquerade

          Awkward silence engulfed the garden. Even the flowers seemed to be watching them.

          Zach was, of course, was the first to break that silence. He smiled at his childhood friend. "Hey, man, we were just..."

          Kael looked away and then back, and then Hira. His eyes were masqueraded by shadows and his dark hair and his hands turned into fists. "I don't need to know what you do in your private life, Zach," he interrupted, his voice low. He was trying not to raise his voice. And he was confused as to why exactly he was feeling this way. Why am I reacting in this way? he asked. When I saw them so close together, happy, and they looked as if ... as if ...

          "Kael, listen, it's not her fault," Zach advised. "I was at fault."

          "I told you I don't need to know!" Kael snapped. His was unaware that his own had eyes flashed in jealousy. Why is he standing up for her? Is he more than a friend to her? After all I've just been through with mother, just for her, she goes after Zach?

          He thought back to just about ten minutes before he saw Hira running out of the study-room and his mother's shrill voice followed behind her;

          He was feeling quite worried and upset by the loud voices I had started to hear from the other side of the doors. Getting up, he leaned his hear against the door and they suddenly opened. Tears. Hira was crying when she walked past him, not even giving him a single look and ignored his questions.

          "Mother, what happened in here?" he asked from the hallway, and he watched her walk back to her desk, sitting down with contempt. She was looking content with the way she had handled the situation, but he wasn't. Nevertheless, he had predicted something like this to happen, and yet ... it was not what he expected. It made him really upset unknowingly to see Hira crying and running away from him.

          "I offered her a deal," his mother announced, not smiling.

          He walked through the open doors and closed them after him loudly. "What did you say to her?" he asked. "Why was she so distressed when she left? Honestly, mother, if you did something to upset her ... well ... I ..." His speech slowed down gradually and he ran a hand through his hair. The mental picture of her watering eyes and sad expression just haunted him. He felt responsible for her. And in a way, maybe he was.

          His mother shook her head, her small and thin eye-brows raised expectantly, as she gestured with her hands. "Anything else you'd like to add in?" she asked. "I've got to return to my guests, Kael."

          He looked at her. "I know I was the one who wanted her to meet you," he stated, trying not to raise his voice even though he wasn't successful, "and I wanted you to like her..." For the sake of the deal I made with her, he added silently. But ... "...But what did you say to her that she had to run out like that? If you won't tell me then I will ask her instead." He turned around swiftly to go.

          "I told her to leave you, forget you forever and to never return into our lives!" she said calmly.

          He stopped in his tracks.

          "She's a gold-digger, Kael, can't you see?" she demanded suddenly, raising her hands in the air aggravatingly. "She wants to infiltrate our family and take all the money she can! She and her are under hundreds and hundreds, maybe thousands, of pounds in debt. Did you know that? No, see?!" She stood up from behind her desk, laughing. "That poor, silly girl, think she could betray you into deceiving us. She doesn't love you, son! And–"