"Uhh..."
It was awkward.
So awkward.
"Sorry for the sudden intrusion. I didn’t know you had a visitor..." Selina pressed her lips together. Even she could feel the awkwardness around them.
"It’s fine, Sister Selina! I missed you alreadyyy!"
Only Lily could smile so widely at the dining table. She was oblivious to her surroundings. For her, she was just happy to see her Sister Mara, and her Sister Selina.
It has been years since she last saw Mara and days for Selina.
"Sister Mara, you should tell me everything that you’ve been doing for years! You didn’t even visit me once!" Lily leaned forward, her eyes sparkling with curiosity as she clasped Mara’s hands.
"Alright, alright, I’ll tell you everything but I don’t think it will be interesting for you," Mara laughed, shaking her head. In her mind, she knew she had no choice, especially since she knew Lily’s personality.
"Still! I want to know!" Lily insisted for a moment before she turned to the side, shifting her gaze now toward Selina. "Sister Selina, you too! I missed playing with you!" She pouted and showed a sad face.
Selina’s lips curved into a gentle smile. She nodded and let out a soft laugh. "I missed you, too, Lily. I was just busy these past few days, that’s why I couldn’t visit you."
"Really?"
"Yes."
Selina’s arrival at their condo wasn’t exactly planned. She just decided to drop by Gray’s condo that morning, thinking it would be nice to have breakfast together with them. Aside from that, it had also been days since she had visited Lily.
She had to admit that she missed the young girl, especially her energy. For Selina, she had already considered Lily as a close younger sister. She doted on her a lot that she even brought food from a restaurant just downstairs.
Selina knew that Lily liked food. Most importantly, good food.
However, what she didn’t expect was that they weren’t alone.
Beside her, Mara was sitting with a slight stiffness to her posture. She wasn’t used to feeling this self-conscious, but the situation was different. Selina was perfectly dressed in the morning. She was elegant as ever, while she wasn’t.
Mara still felt the aftereffects of last night’s drinking. Her hair was barely tamed. Her head was aching so badly, and she could feel the lingering heaviness in her body.
To make it worse, Mara knew Selina’s reputation well. In the business world, Selina’s name carried weight. She was considered an important figure in the industry, which only added to Mara’s quiet embarrassment.
Still, Selina’s warm demeanor helped ease some of the tension she was feeling.
Selina seemed not to mind her presence too. She was kind and would smile at her from time to time, even if she looked like a mess right now.
Thankfully, Lily’s unfiltered excitement helped. Her unceasing talking made the awkwardness between them less noticeable.
The two women answered her questions and laughed at her jokes while Gray sat at the table, watching them go back and forth.
He couldn’t join their talk, because it was Lily who was leading the talk. However, after a while, he had gotten tired and hungry.
Eventually, he cleared his throat.
"Maybe we should eat before the food gets cold," he said, breaking through their chatter.
The three women turned their heads toward Gray at the same time.
For a moment, there was silence between them. Then all of a sudden, the three chuckled. They chuckled as if realizing together how they’d been talking for minutes and were ignoring Gray and the food.
"Right, breakfast first," Mara said with a small smile on her face.
"Yeah. I guess we can talk after we eat," Selina agreed.
They settled down properly, and the clinking of cutlery replaced Lily’s endless stream of chatter.
"Good."
As they started eating, Gray reached for the serving spoon and began placing food on Lily’s plate. It was just a habit that he had grown accustomed to after doing it for years.
"Thank you! That’s so nice of you, brother!" Lily, who seemed to be in a good mood, grinned brightly. Her loud words made him shake his head with a faint smile.
When it was Gray’s turn to serve himself, Selina and Mara both moved at the same time.
"You should try this, Gray—" Selina began.
"This is good, you should—" Mara followed.
The two said those words at the same time. When they realized it, the two froze. Their spoons were already halfway to his plate when they turned to look at each other.
There was a brief pause for them... and then suddenly they both burst into laughter.
"Guess we had the same idea," Mara said with a shrug.
"Looks like it," Selina replied, still smiling.
It was awkward, but they found it hilarious. Because of their laughter, the lingering tension between them seemed to dissolve after that. The two smiled at each other and they simply went ahead and served him together, piling a mix of dishes onto his plate.
"Thanks... you two," Gray said, accepting the food.
Mara and Selina exchanged a few more small smiles before they also served their plate some food. After minutes, they also started their own conversation.
Their talk started simply.
Selina initiated the conversation. She asked how long Mara had been back in the city. Mara returned the question by asking about Selina’s recent projects.
Their voices were polite and almost careful. It was obvious that they weren’t close, but you could also see that they were both making an effort to bridge the earlier awkwardness.
Lily, with her personality, would occasionally jump in with random comments. It helped the two more.
Eventually, the table settled into the sounds of eating. With their forks scraping plates, and the faint clink of glasses being set down.
Gray, however, just sat there chewing. His eyes were glancing between them.
’What an awkward breakfast,’ he thought as they kept on eating.