My eyes narrowed slightly as my mind raced to come up with the right answer to his question. Was he trying to test me with his seemingly random question?
If I told him that the dress was comfortable, would he think that I like to overdress or that I was lying to him given that there was no way the dress that I was wearing could look comfortable to anyone. However, if I told him that it was uncomfortable, would he think that I didn’t have any endurance and perseverance to bear with something so insignificant?
What would Diana say in such a situation?
“My suit is so tight. It feels hard to move in and some parts here are making me itch. I don’t know why we have to overdress like this...” Anthony openly complained as he moved his arms up and down as if to show me how difficult it was to move in his outfit.
I wasn’t sure what was more surprising, his words or the fact that he was complaining with such a blank expression on his face. When his eyes returned to my face, I realized that I couldn’t stop staring at him and I haven’t figured out a reply to his question yet.
“My...dress feels a little uncomfortable too...” I replied softly.
“That’s what I thought,” he replied before grinning at me knowingly.
I had been taught that when we meet someone for the first time there is an invisible wall that we cannot see between us and in order to get to know that person better we need to tear that wall down. I never quite understood what that truly meant until that moment that Anthony grinned at me with a slightly mischievous look in his sparkling blue eyes. He made it feel like the invisible wall between us started to crack and then it completely shattered before falling down to the floor at our feet.
“Shall we take a seat?” I asked in a small voice as I found myself smiling a little at him.
“My apologies. I should have invited you to take a seat earlier...” he quickly apologized.
“Oh, no. It’s my fault...” I replied without thinking.
I cursed myself silently inside my head for making it sound like it was his fault for not inviting me to take a seat. Our first session together seemed to be starting off with a rough start despite his effort to strike up a conversation with me. As if to make up for his mistake, Anthony offered me his hand. I opened my mouth to tell him that I could walk to the sofa by myself before shutting it. With a sweet smile, I made sure to place my hand carefully into his outstretched one.
After leading me to the sofa, Anthony sat down next to me instead of in the seat opposite mine. The fact that he was sitting close to me made my heart race in my chest and I figured that I still felt extremely nervous.
“Are you feeling nervous?” he asked.
“I guess you can tell...” I replied as I started to feel shy.
“I’m nervous too. Can you tell?” he asked as he stared right into my eyes.
For the life of me...
“No, I can’t tell at all,” I replied honestly.
After a few seconds of just staring into each other’s eyes in silence, we both started laughing. As my laughter subsided a short while later, I realized that all my nervousness had also evaporated. From then on, talking to Anthony felt natural and our conversation started to flow. He told me a little about himself and I told him a little about Diana.
“You have a younger sister, right? Dahlia...” he asked with keen interest.
My heart skipped a beat in my chest at the mention of my name. I hadn’t counted on the conversation landing on me. I smiled as I nodded before replying to him.
“Yes. Dahlia is my younger twin sister,” I replied as I tried not to appear flustered.
He doesn’t know that I’m actually Dahlia...
“What is she like? You two seem close,” he asked.
Even though I thought that he was just asking about me to make conversation with Diana, I couldn’t help but stop to think seriously about how I should respond to him. I never thought that I would have to describe myself to Anthony before.
“You’re right. We are close. She’s a very dependable sister to me and I love her a lot. She’s nice...and cheerful,” I replied with the few things that I remembered Diana saying about me to other people.
Thankfully he didn’t ask any more details about me. Our conversation led to other random topics that felt quite natural yet unreal at the same time. I wouldn’t go as far as to say that we got along but he was surely easier to talk to than I had imagined. Compared to my parents and any of my cousins, I would say that he is a lot less stuck up.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door that caught both of our attention. I glanced over at Anthony who gave me a look that told me that he also hadn’t been expecting anyone.
“Come in,” Antony called out.
The door opened and a woman dressed in a formal maid uniform came in while carrying a tray. She approached us and began placing a tea set on the table along with some snacks and desserts. I watched the maid professional pour tea into two teacups for us while thinking that I would have preferred some juice rather than tea that didn’t come with sugar, but I kept that preference and thought to myself.
“I was asked to bring tea and refreshments,” she informed us politely before bowing to take her leave.
“Thank you. Is this from mother?” Anthony asked her.
“Yes...” she replied softly while averting her eyes as if she felt shy in his presence.
After the maid left us alone again, I caught Anthony staring at the tea set with an unreadable expression on his face. For a brief moment, I wondered if something was wrong but no matter how much I looked at the tea set, nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
--To be continued...