False Engagements

Chapter 11

Lila wasn't entirely sure she was looking forward to the call to her family. It had only been two days, but already it seemed like she had packed a whole week into the last 48 hours, and she was ready to spend all of Sunday doing nothing.

Nevertheless she steeled herself and waited for her mother's cell phone to pick up.

It was Sunday, it was ten in the morning, so her mother was probably doing nothing more than watching her favorite serial dramas. And she was right- it took only a few rings.

"Hi darling, it's been a while since you called." Her mother's voice, warm and soothing as always, came floating over the phone. Lila couldn't help smiling to herself.

"Yeah it's been a while. How's everything with you and dad?"

"Oh, it's the usual."

They fell into chatter for a while, as they usually did. But her mother could tell there was something weighing on her mind, and it didn't take much for her to mention Lila's distracted answers. Lila bit down on her lip. The moment of reckoning had come.

"I do have news..." she said carefully. "It's kind of major. Please don't freak out?"

"I think if you don't hurry and tell me what it is, I'm definitely freaking out in t-minus five seconds."

"Ugh, you're so dramatic, mum." But that brought a smile to her lips despite the tenseness. "I... I got engaged."

"What? Lala! You've never mentioned seeing anyone! This is so out of the blue!"

"I've been seeing him for six months... I didn't think it was going to go so fast, and he asked me to keep it a secret for a while."

She could hear her mother's disapproval immediately, and wondered if that had been the right thing to say.

"Why would he want to keep dating you a secret? And now you're suddenly engaged? Lala, surely you have to know how this sounds."

"I know, i know... It's just... My fiance is Blake Jung. Of the Jung Corporation."

"... What? The what corporation?"

Lila had known it was going to be difficult to tell her family any of this. But actually doing it in person seemed even harder than she had imagined it to be, and she exhaled gustily.

"You know, the media giant? Jung Corp? Blake is the second son of the family that owns it."

"How did you even get to meet such a man?" The astonishment in her mother's voice would have made her laugh if she wasn't so stressed about it. Quickly, she summarized the story that Blake and her had woven, while her mother listened on in utter silence. Even when she was done with her explanation, the silence stretched on from the other side of the phone.

"Mum...?" Lila ventured.

"I have... I don't know what to say. Who else have you told? Are you with Blake now? You're not even in the country anymore?"

"No, I guess I'm not. But it's a two hour flight, it's not like I flew halfway across the world. And Blake promised I could come back any time I liked." She flopped back down on her bed, suddenly feeling exhausted. "I guess I've told Bailey, but I haven't told anyone else yet."

"Good, because if you'd told everyone else before your old mum, I'd probably have to disown you."

"Muuum," Lila sighed, but was mildly amused anyway. "Anyway it's a long engagement. We're set for a year."

"That seems a bit long, but considering that you've only known him for six months maybe a long engagement isn't a bad idea. Well? When do we get to meet this mysterious fiance of yours?"

... Oh. Crap. How had she not thought that her family would definitely want to meet Blake? This was definitely something she had to talk to him about.

"Uhhh I don't know. Um it happened really fast, he asked me to move over, I said yes..."

Her mother snorted. "Now I'm even more curious to see what kind of man this is, to have so dazzled my daughter that she didn't even think to bring him home before agreeing to marry him! Don't worry, I won't make it difficult for him."

"I'm holding you to your word... I know you, mum."

"Cross my heart, I will be nice."

Suspicious. Not that Lila could argue any further. "Should I tell dad now too?"

"I think you'd better let me break the news to him first. I'll send you a message when he gets over the shock. Actually, I think I'll need the rest of the weekend to get over this shock myself. I still can't believe you've run off and gotten engaged out of nowhere! Thank the heavens you didn't elope, or your poor father might just collapse from the shock."

"If I did elope," Lila said dryly, "wouldn't you be shocked too?"

"I have a better constitution and a better poker face."

"Right."

They hung up not too long after, with Lila's mother promising to text her back with updates, and making her promise in return to update her more frequently with any new plans or changes.

All things considered, that actually didn't go as badly as she feared, Lila thought, as she tossed her phone back down onto the bed. Well, now that was settled... She had an hour to go before her lunch date with James.