Two hours later, Diamond was taking a sip of orange juice as she listened to the beautiful young woman, who was older than her by a few years.
It was her first time seeing Raize Selena’s big sister who was completely different from Selena.
Selena was a bit shy, and clingy, and tended to be talkative when excited.
Selena was twenty-four years old whilst Diamond was twenty-five and yet Selena, when it comes to Diamond, always acted like a child and at times it becomes very difficult and confusing to really acknowledge her real age.
But now that Diamond was seeing Raize, who was twenty-eight years old, and four years older than Selena, Diamond finally started acknowledging that her clingy little sis was a grown-up.
" .... So that is the current situation right now!" after babbling for goodness how long, Raize finally concluded.
Talking about Raize’s unending narration, Diamond could only say that no wonder why Andrea insisted on telling her that she shouldn’t join the clubs that were mainly there to solve neighborhood conflicts.
How could people be so free like that?
"Raize!" Diamond sighed helplessly as she wiped her hands with a hankie and spoke, "After hearing everything you have said, honestly, I don’t want to lie. I wasn’t born for violence. I really don’t like involving myself in unnecessary conflicts."
"I wasn’t there when the two neighborhoods got into conflicts. Just because I am part of the neighborhood doesn’t mean that I must be part of whatever you have going on!"
"What I can promise you right now is that I will take a look at ZOOM first and if I like the vibes there, I will see if I can join. At least there, I can help solve the current issue. I recently bought that Cagda anyway, so I might have a place to show it off too."
"As for Gardenia, I am sorry, but I can’t join. I am too busy to be concerned about neighborhood wars!" Diamond apologetically said as she looked at Raize, who looked a bit gloomy from her rejection.
Raize closed her eyes as she took a deep breath, digesting everything that Diamond had just told her.
"Okay, I understand what you are saying. But are you really certain you aren’t interested?" she tried to convince Diamond one last time.
Diamond resolutely shook her head. "I am afraid that it can’t be done. Unless you have other clubs, I haven’t heard of. What I need is a club that can help me connect with others, have fun and, on top of it all, advance in life. I am not saying that Gardenia doesn’t have any future or something like that. But you are a clever person, Raize. Ask yourself what has the club been doing lately? If one day something goes haywire with whoever is sponsoring most of the kids, where do you see yourselves?"
Diamond had found a huge problem with the Gardenia Club. These kids, most of them, relied on their families. They were used to receiving allowances and trust funds and some of them don’t even work and yet they splurge money like crazy.
Such a club that didn’t encourage kids to work hard or at least do something for themselves to improve themselves and only thought of fighting. She wasn’t interested in it.
When Raize heard that, she felt as if someone was squeezing her heart. It truly hurt hearing those words from Diamond.
"If you are looking for such a club, have you ever thought of ANGEL CAPITAL?" Raize calmed herself down before suggesting.
It was already futile for her to push Diamond to agree to join a club she was biased against.
A person can force a donkey to the river but as for forcing it to drink, that would be another matter.
"Oh, you have connections?" Diamond’s interest was piqued.
Seeing her interest getting ignited, Raize finally started getting better.
"I have. If you are interested, how about you come for the next meeting?"
"Oh! When is that?" Diamond asked curiously.
"It’s early to mid-Feb. if you are interested, I will sort out an invitation card for you!" Raize responded with a smile, relieved to see that at least she would succeed in one.
"Okay, that one I can manage. Just make sure you keep one for me!"
"I will. I also have another club. I am not sure if you will be interested, though!" Raize said hesitatingly, her courage wavering, especially after Diamond had rejected to join Gardenia, one of her favorite clubs.
When she heard that, Diamond’s brows rose, wondering which club Raize was talking about now.
"Um. Explain it to me first. I won’t guarantee anything to you. Just so to be clear!" Diamond decided to give it to Raize straight.
She didn’t want to raise the other’s hope only to dash them. That was how people make enemies.
Raize wasn’t expecting much, but a glimmer of hope burned in her, so she decided to give it a try.
"It’s a secret club called LEGANTE’ and it is an all-women club. Its main purpose is for socialites, social media influencers and celebrities to gather together and form a bond to help each other."
"You know how tough life can be for women, especially in the entertainment industry. The club was formed to counter those problems and issues faced by women."
LEGANTE’ was a club which wasn’t only exclusive to Frin but Athary as a whole. The members didn’t meet in public as much as other people might think, but they were always there helping each other.
To become a member of LEGANTE’, an invitation from a current member was needed. And the invited candidate would need to have an online presence which falls under the three divisions of the kind of women they wanted.
And for someone like Diamond whose online presence came to be in a shady way but has many followers on Ioniq, to date, she was qualified.
But now comes the question, should she join it or should she wait?
Andrea was a pain in the ass sometimes!