Beyond Love and Lies

Chapter 18- Man-flu

    “Ladies, aren’t you ready yet?” Mickey asked as he knocked on the door of Andy’s bedroom.

    “Soon!” Charlene answered back. They were so busy dressing up for the party tonight.

    “Your brother must be excited to see you..”  Charlene said as she eyed herself in the mirror. She was wearing an A-line midnight blue dress that stopped on the floor partnered with four inches silver stiletto shoes. She was as tall as Andy now,

    “Yes,” Andy said as she put her contact lenses on. “Let's go before he knocked down that door.” She added before looking at herself in the mirror. Her smokey eye make-up was just perfect as she looked right now.

    Andy and Charlene opened the door wide and went out of the room. Mickey’s eyes gaped wide, seeing his sister in a floor-length gray mermaid dress. Andy looked stunningly beautiful.

    “Like what you're seeing?” Andy broke Mickey’s petrified stare.

    “I loved it, sissy,” Mickey replied. “And I love yours too,”  he said, looking at Charlene.

    “Do you think my hair is perfect?” Andy asked. She did her thick black hair in a waterfall-braid style, accessorizing it with silvery-blue pins to give an accent to her gown. Her make-up was neatly done, giving more emphasis on her eyes.

    “Andy, I loved your hair. How many times do I have to tell you it's perfect!” Charlene answered her questions.

    “Okay, I believe you, thank you,” Andy said, rolling her eyes at Charlene.

    “She’s right. It's so perfect for you!” Mickey added.

    “See? You looked stunning! I wish my hair were as dark as yours!” Charlene said.

    “It's natural, sweetie. I wish I can dye my hair like yours!” Andy said. She was eyeing Charlene’s natural blonde wavy hair styled in half up half down.

    “You are beautiful, ladies. Your hair doesn’t matter.” Mickey said, trying to lighten up the mood about hair issues. “Shall we?”

    “Yes, we shall,” Andy answered as they walked towards the door.

    The three drove away, enjoying their carpool karaoke.

    "Wow! You twins are really talented. Besides your looks, you have a great voice!" Charlene praised. 

    "We thanked mom for pushing us to be musically inclined. I used to hate our piano and guitar lesson before," Mickey said, remembering the times he had to hide from their teacher.

    "Yeah, I was the opposite. I loved it," Andy said.

    "Can't you be perfect enough?" 

    "We are not!" The twin said in unison before laughing.

    The trio continued chatting and talking. They spoke about Charlene's stuff and whatnot as they drove towards the venue.

    Mickey pulled over at the hotel’s entrance. He wasn’t joining the two as he had to make an evening shift at his work. He got out and opened the door for the two lovely ladies. There were loads of cars dropping off the invitees. Andy mentioned that the gala was prepared for around a thousand employees of the company coming from all over the city and states,

    “Thanks, Mickey!” Andy said as she got out of the car.

    “Thanks, handsome,” Charlene said,

    “Well, enjoy the night, guys. See you later,” Mickey said as he hugged and kissed Andy on the cheek. “Let me know what’s going on. I got to go. It looks like it's going to rain soon,” Mickey said as he noticed the lighting on dark clouds.

    “I will see you bye, be safe,” Andy replied as she and Charlene walked towards the hotel’s entrance. It was only seven in the evening, and the party will start in an hour or so.

    Andy and Charlene stood in front of the massive door where the party was holding—looking and gazing at the people wearing evening gowns and suits. They’re the hardworking employees of the Damien Davidson Group of companies.

    Both of them started socializing and mixing with the people they knew. People were friendly towards them as they knew who Charlene was. She was, for crying out loud, the CEO’s famous secretary who was able to withstand his temper and handsomeness. The flirting gaze and amusing gape of men at her didn’t escape Andy’s eyes. Some had tried to approach her, but Charlene was always at her side to rescue her.

     “Hi, Ms. Charlene!” said the brown-haired, brown-eyed guy at Charlene. Before smiling sweetly at Andy.

    Charlene scowled at the man, trying to remember who he was.

    “Oh, my bad, I kind of knew you had forgotten me. I’m Ray, Engineer from the construction company,” he said, reminding Charlene,

    Charlene’s eyes widen before looking at Andy. She remembered him as the guy who saved her ass from the almost accident two years ago when she and Damien went on the site for inspection. He protected her from the falling debris of the ongoing construction of one of Damien’s hotels. Not as bad as it sounded, but she was thankful at him though. If not for him, she would've lost a toenail.

    “Oh, yes! Ray! Hello! It's been a while!” Charlene said, “This is my friend Andrea, the overall accounting manager of D&D!” she added, introducing Andy to Ray.

    “Oh, the story was true. The new Manager is indeed stunning!” Ray held, smiling widely. He then offered his hand, “Ray is the name, maám,” he said, smugly grinning at her,

    Andy shook his hand, smiling, “Andrea, nice to meet you, and please don’t believe the story,” Andy answered. For some reason, she wasn’t feeling comfortable with how he was staring at her,

    Charlene felt Andy’s uneasiness, “Shall we go around, Andy?” she asked,

    “Sure! please excuse us, Ray, see you around.” Andy said, yanking Charlene’s arms to walk away.

    They didn’t wait for Ray to answer.

    “Creep,” Andy whispered,

    “I know, I’m sorry,” Charlene giggled, “I hope Mr. Davidson will show up tonight,”  she mumbled as they walked around.

    Andy scowled at Charlene. “What do you mean?”  she asked in curiosity,

    “Oh, Boss sent me a messaged a while ago, he wasn’t feeling well and thought he caught the flu, but his new vice-president may come here. I hadn’t seen him, though. I was just told that New VP would come and show up to introduce himself and represent Damien, but I will message Boss, we shall see,” Charlene stated as a fact, getting two glasses of wine from the waiter who was serving around.

    Andy couldn’t help but feel dismayed. She wanted to see Damien. It has been a while since they last talked and seen each other. She was not losing hope he would come to the party.

    “Come on, woman, let's start mingling with the rest of the humans here,”  Charlene sniggered. Andy giggled at Charlene’s remarked.

    After some time, Andy and Charlene decided to find their assigned seat.  Charlene made sure Andy was seated next to her.

    “Is the party going to start soon?” Andy asked as she sipped her wine, “I’m bored..” she bluntly added.

    “I know, but yes, we might see soon who’s going to welcome the party. Damien isn’t answering my message. The poor boss must be on his bed wallowing a man-flu,” Charlene kidded.

    Andy smiled. “Yes, of course, Nothing beats a man-flu. He must be dying on his death bed,” Andy snickered.  She knew how man-flu worked, mainly with Mickey. He almost handed his last will when he had it some time ago.

    “You knew it, of course!”

    “Yes, but I hope he’s fine and doing alright,” Andy said. She was hoping Damien will be just fine.