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“I have, Mom,” Mason replied, rubbing his forehead.
“I doubt that. As your sister said, you have been gone for two days. Where have you been? Is everything all right?”
Mason glanced at Ella, frowned, and dug his hands into his pant pockets. “The house was too crowded. I needed to get some air.”
“There are more rooms and air conditioners in this place that can serve the whole city,” Ella blurted as she folded her arms and looked away.
“I doubt you have the slightest idea what I meant.”
“Neither do I care?”
“Enough.” A silence fell in the room, and Eve looked across her children. “You two will definitely be the death of me with your endless tirades.”
“Excuse me,” I whispered and began to move backward.
“Ella, follow her immediately and talk some sense into her.”
“What are you guys blabbering about?”
“She’s trying to refuse a gift I took great effort to buy for her.” Eve said, pointing toward my neck to show Mason the necklace. “How can she think of rejecting such jewelry?”
“I am so sorry, ma’am, I..”
“Eve,” Eve interjected, “please, call me Eve. Ma’am makes me feel old.”
Yes, sorry, Eve. Thank you very much for thinking of me and picking out such a lovely gift for me. I truly do not mean to offend you. The necklace is stunning, thank you very much. It’s just..”
“It’s just a gift, and I will not accept no for an answer. You are very welcome, and I am thrilled you like it.” Eve said as she placed a gentle kiss on my cheek.
I smiled and turned away from them, making it towards the door hastily, not waiting to hear what Mason or her mother has to say anymore.
I exited the room, walking hastily while I heard Ella’s footsteps behind me.
“Can you just wait up, please?” she shouted as I increased my pace, heading towards my room. “Just stop walking too fast. I am running out of breath trying to catch up with you right now.”
I entered my room, banged the door closed, and began to pace around the room furiously, just before Ella walked inside and closed the door again. “What is going on, girl?”
“You are asking me what’s going on? God, it feels like I am walking through some booby traps, waiting for the perfect hole to sink me in.”
Ella sighed and began to make her way towards me. “I have no idea what trap you mean, Lucy. You are safe here, perfectly safe.”
I looked at Ella with deep concern in my voice. “I feel like a fraud or something, Ella. This is your world, not mine. Between the dress and the necklace, it’s just too much. Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love them both, but holy shit. You guys throw these items around like they are nothing!”
Ella let out another deep sigh and sat down on the bed. “Lucy, the gift from Mom is stunning, and you deserve it. You work hard and never spend any money on yourself, and she absolutely loves to bring home gifts for people. She very much enjoys watching people open the gifts that she brings for them,” she continued.
I sat down on the bed beside Ella and turned toward her. “This whole thing makes me feel like a leach, an imposter, a freaking gold digger.”
“The necklace was just my mom’s way of appreciating you being my best friend.”
“What happened to a snack, a box of chocolate? Maybe pizza would be understandable but giving me a gift worth tens of thousands of dollars is wild to me.”
“God,” Ella groaned, covering her face as she moved towards the table and sat. “You are so fucking uptight it gets on my nerves sometimes.”
“I am not uptight, and you know it. The more I take the gifts, the more it makes me feel very less of myself, and I just can’t keep allowing it to go on.”
“It’s just a gift, a simple fucking gift.”
I frowned. “Worth tens of thousands of dollars.”
