🌺~Chapter one🌺~
"Yesss!"
"Finally!"
"About time!"
I force a laugh, though i feel pains around my neck like someone having sour throat and unable to swallow something too large,sweat rises up my neck, settling on my cheeks and I already feel their expectations pressing in from every direction.
"Easy," someone says. "Pick your boyfriend."
A few people nod, there is no suprise reactions on their faces ..already bored. This is probably because everyone here knows us and how long we've been together;I love and choose him even when it cost me something worth my life.I glance at him uncontrollably, waiting for our eyes to meet.
He's leaning back against the couch, one arm draped casually over the backrest, laughing at something his friend whispers. He doesn't look worried but looks certain.
I'll certainly choose him I said in my mind and the bottle sparkles under the light, directed at me like as if accusing me.
"Dare," the group chants and my pulse rises as the rules are repeated, this time louder and impossible to ignore.
"Seven minutes in heaven game !"
"Opposite sex!"
"Upstairs!"
Someone whistles and few phones out like a flash to life waiting for reactions. I sit there smiling and my fingers twisting in my lap.
This is nothing, I tell myself,a silly game and a harmless moment.
But that moment I feel my chest tight but couldn't explain such feeling and I suddenly feel like I'm standing at the edge of something I can't see the bottom of ,my eyes widen with my mouth open;that feeling when you wander without permission, looking over familiar faces,friends, classmates, literally people I've known for years , they land somewhere I least expected.
The corner and the darkest part of the room, where light barely reaches.
He's sitting alone and moody .No drink and not paying attention to the bottle like everyone else.
He looks older than the rest of us but not in a way that feels out of place.
I wonder why he's even here..the thought running in my mind and immediately he lifts his head and our eyes meet , my heart beats so fast at the moment but the contact is brief and barely a second but something in my stomach flips. His gaze isn't playful like the others.
If anytime he looks cautious,I'm almost concerned but this time around he looks away first, shifting slightly, as if the moment never happened but it did,the chant grows louder.
"Choose! Choose! Choose!"
The bottle slows as though it knows exactly what it's doing.
At first, it spins wildly, blurring faces into streaks of colour and laughter. Music pulses through the living room, vibrating the floor beneath my bare feet, mixing with soda, perfume, and something sharp I can't identify.Few person screams too loudly, vibing with the music.
Then the bottle hesitates,the room leans forward as one.My breath catches when the glass finally stops, its narrow neck pointing directly at me clear and impossible to misunderstand and for a split second, everything freezes and then the noise crashes back.
I should stand and walk the three steps to my boyfriend. smile, roll my eyes, make a joke of it....hmmm, because that's what everyone expects and that's what I always do, keep things smooth and easy but instead my body moves before my mind catches up.
I stand ,the room quiets slightly, sensing something off and I take one step forward .
Then another Gasps ripple through the crowd when I don't turn toward the couch and I hear my name echoed in whispers ,I hear laughter falter, confusion slipping in where certainty lives.
My boyfriend straightens, his smile fading slightly.
"Hey," he says, laughing. "Wrong direction."
I don't look at him.I keep walking and each step feels heavier than the last, as though the floor itself resists me.
My heart pounds so hard it's almost painful, but I don't stop until I'm standing directly in front of the man from the corner.
Up close, the age difference is more noticeable but not uncomfortable. He smells faintly of cologne and something clean. His expression is unreadable and his eyes steady as they search my face.
The room has gone silent now . Someone whispers his name barely audible while Someone else lets out a nervous laugh.
"That's my uncle," my boyfriend says from behind me, disbelieving his voice.
"You're kidding, right?"I hear him stands and I feel his presence like pressure against my back .The man in front of me exhales slowly,"Are you sure?" he asks quietly, voice calm, low enough that it doesn't carry across the room.
There's no judgment in his tone nor amusement, Just a question that gives me an opening to stop, to turn around and pretend this was all a mistake.
For a heartbeat, I consider it,then I think of the way my boyfriend didn't look at me earlier.The way certainty can feel like being taken for granted and the way I suddenly feel invisible in a room full of people who claim to know me.
I nod once.
The reaction is immediate,a chorus of shocked voices echoes but Someone swears under their breath, friend covers her mouth and eyes widen.
My boyfriend says my name again, sharper this time but the game has rules and I've made my choice.
The stairs creak beneath our feet as we move away from the noise, music fading with every step. The hallway upstairs is dimmer, quieter, heavy with the weight of what everyone thinks is about to happen.
Nothing dramatic does.No touching nor crossed lines.We sit on opposite sides of the room, seven minutes ticking by in thick silence.
He asks if I'm okay.
I say yes, even though I'm not sure what that means anymore.
When the door opens and we return downstairs, the party resumes like a forced laugh ,too loud, quick and desperate to cover the crack running through it.
My boyfriend won't look at me ,his friends avoid my eyes and his uncle doesn't come back down at all.
Later that night, lying in bed with echoes of laughter still ringing in my ears, I told myself it was nothing,Just a dare. A game and a stupid moment , moments that mean nothing doesn't count.
They don't weigh on your chest nor change the way silence feels somewhere deep inside. But I'm still thinking about it.
The bottle stopped at me but still felt like I chose.