There will be a picture of the description of Anna's outfit below, and keep in mind that her hair is brown, unlike the one in the picture.

This chapter is dedicated to tiannaalovee
Thank you so much for reading, commenting and voting!! :) x

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"The three of you look stunning!" my mom exclaimed cheerfully at all of us as we all descended from the stairs before jokingly added: "Just like your mother."

My mom looked gorgeous with her hair tied to a bun and she wore natural make up, as always. The long black dress suits her body perfectly, and her eyes shone in pride as she saw Ashton, James and I going down.

Ashton and James looked neat with their hairs styled with gel, and they wore matching suits. While I, on the other hand, probably looked like a mess because I got ready on my own.

I let my hair down and curled them, and applied make up on my own. I probably look very caked right now with bold red lipstick.

As for the dress, after the fifth try yesterday, my mom and I settled on a long sleeved red dress that went to the my knees, and my mom lent me her red clutch and velvet red five inch platform heels, which made me stand out (literally), because none of my shoes matches the dress.

Nevertheless, I feel quite confident mostly about my height. Thanks to these heels, my height now is 5'11". I'm nearly as tall as my dad, he-he.

My mom clapped her hands excitedly, bringing me back to reality. "So, let's go!"

All of us went to the car and my dad started driving to the building where the party will be held in.

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"Well, here we are," Ashton mumbled as we got out of the car. "Hey, there's nothing stuck on my teeth or anything, right?"

I sighed as he showed me his teeth. "No, there's nothing stuck, and there's nothing wrong with you, physically."

"Good. I'm just making sure in case if I meet some hot ladies," he said as he winked at me.

I patted his back and said, "Well, good luck buddy," snickering silently because he didn't seem to find my latter answer wrong before leaving him and walked beside my dad.

My dad looked the kind of the same as always, except he's a bit neater than usual. He wore a suit with black tie, matching my mom's dress, and his dark blond hair was styled neatly.

His warm brown eyes looked at me softly with a smile as we walked into the huge, sophisticated building.

"How long we'll be in here, Dad?" I asked him as we entered the elevator, and I saw him pressed the number eighteen.

Even the elevator looks sophisticated. It's pure white, completely clean and spotless. It has a mirror in the middle of the elevator, which is really helpful if we need to quickly check ourselves out.

"Probably until midnight," my dad said, shrugging. "I'm not sure, actually. I'll tell you if we're going home."

I nodded at him with understanding. "Alright."

Soon, the elevator door dinged open, and I tried my best to look as graceful as possible while walking in these heels, which is nearly impossible.

Gosh, I need to take lessons from Michelle.

"Ah, Mr and Mrs Parker!" I heard an usher exclaimed quietly. He started walking and motioned us to follow him. "Please follow me to this way."

There was a table with five chairs that has a sign that wrote the label Parker Family written on top of the table.

As soon as we sat down, a waiter came and served us drinks. I heard her asking my parents if Ashton and I were underage before giving me a drink that looked like fruit punch.

I was so thirsty, but I don't see anyone drinking anything, so I decided to not drink until I see someone drinks.

This is so awkward, because all the adults know each other, and there are not much teens my age around, so here I am, sitting by myself, absent mindedly scrolling through my feeds in Instagram.

Both of my brothers were busy with their own gadgets. Ashton seemed to be busy chatting with someone (cue my smirk), while James was playing Minecraft.

I sat between my mom and James, so I couldn't see who Ashton was exactly chatting with, but I bet he's chatting with Katie.

I sighed as I slumped on my seat, hoping that the party will start soon.

It seemed like God has answered my wish because few minutes later, the lights were dimmed, and only the lights on the stage were bright.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen! I'm Jake Yang and I'm honoured to be your host tonight on The Anderson Cooperation's eleventh year anniversary," the host started cheerfully, and everyone started to clap their hands at him.

He has a big smile on his face as he waited for everyone to stop clapping their hands. He actually doesn't look too old. Maybe he's in his early 20s. He's quite good looking, to be honest.

He looked tall and has sharp oriental features. It looked like his jaw could stab me to death.

I slapped my face after realizing what I have just thought. Since when do I describe boys like that? I'm exaggerating just like Michelle.

"To start this event, let's welcome Mr William Anderson, the CEO of The Anderson Cooperation!" he exclaimed once again, and a well-suited man appeared on stage.

Mr Anderson doesn't age since the last time I saw him a few years ago. His hazel eyes shone as he took over the stage.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for sacrificing your time to come," he started. "I can't believe that The Anderson Cooperation could still stand until today.

"Eleven years ago I'd never think that this company would be like this now. I'd never even think that I'd be able to start a company. I'd like to thank everyone for your contribution to the company. Without your contribution, we won't be where we are now.

"Once again, from the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. Let's not think about work tonight and have fun!"

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About an hour passed and I'm so full that I feel that my stomach is going to burst open any second.

They served a four course meal with several choices to chose from each category, and the ones I chose consisted of spicy shrimp crostini as the passed canapé, roasted yellow pepper and tomato bisque with serrano cream as the first course.

Only on the second course, I'm seventy-five percent full, and the entree came, serving roast tenderloin with Gorgonzola brandy cream, and finally with banana split cheesecake as the dessert.

How can I not be very full?

The ballroom was quite noisy as the adults were having conversations with each other, and classical music was played on the background.

My parents were nowhere to be seen, and James went somewhere as soon as he saw his friend.

That just leaves Ashton and me. He was still busy on his phone, but suddenly looked up at me and he snorted.

"What's wrong?" I snapped as I frowned.

He started to chuckle at me. "You look constipated. What's wrong with you?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "I'm so full, and I'm getting sick."

A worried look replaced the usual grin on his face. "You okay?"

My heart warmed slightly at his expression and words. He may be the most annoying brother, but he is actually very protective if anything happens to me.

"I think so," I said, giving him a small smile. I moved my chair a bit as I stood up slowly. "I'm going to the balcony for fresh air for a while."

He gave me a small nod before saying, "All right. Just don't puke on a random person or something."

I rolled my eyes despite the smile on my lips and I mockingly saluted him before going to the nearest balcony in sight.

I stepped out to a white balcony. I wonder why is the owner of this building so obsessed with the color white.

The balcony was rather wide, but it looked small because the place was crowded with people socializing with each other.

I started making my way to the edge of the balcony, which was surprisingly empty.

As I was about to reach there, I bumped into someone. I wobbled as I struggled to not lose to gravity.

"Oh my, I'm sorry!" a voice of a woman exclaimed worriedly. "Are you alrigh-- Anna?"

I looked at the owner of the voice. I was very surprised to see her here. "It's alright, S-Sarah . . . ? I'm okay."

Her medium dark brown hair was let down until her shoulders. Her green eyes were filled with concern as she looked at me.

"Your parents work in this company too?" she asked me, perhaps also shocked by the fact that I'm here.

I nodded my head as I replied to her. "Yes. My dad works here."

"Oh, I see," she said in understanding. "Once again, I'm sorry for bumping into you, Anna. I'll see you soon. Enjoy the party!"

After thanking her, she left with no trace.

I just stood there, picking up the missing pieces of the puzzle. Sarah is James' friend, Logan's, mother. Logan has an older brother. Since all of the employee's children and spouses are also invited to this party, that means he is . . .

"What's your problem with my family?" a voice spoke, making me slightly jump in shock. I turned around to see the Mr Smirk himself, but instead of a smirk on his lips, he had an amused look on his face. "At first, you bumped to me, then my mom just now. Next who else, my dad?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. This is the first time he's ever spoke to me like this. It makes me feel a bit suspicious.

"Did you drink?" I blurted out, and he started to inspect the maroon colored drink that's on his hands.

He just shrugged at me.

"Aren't you like, under aged?" I asked, my eyes slightly widening. Did his parents just allow him to drink?

"You look red today," he said before chuckling to himself, ignoring my question. I looked at him with an eyebrow arched. "Get it? Because red and rad."

His laughter filled in my ears. This is my first time hearing him laugh like this, and is it weird that I do not find this annoying at all?

I face-palmed myself and sighed loudly. "You are drunk. Stop telling puns."

He suddenly smirked at me, "Why? You've got a problem?"

Before I could answer him, he started walking towards the edge of the balcony, the destination where I was actually about to head to.

"Follow me," he said, or more like commanded. "I don't want to be alone."

I hesitated for a while, worrying that God knows what'll he do to me. What if he's going to kill me because of our encounter? I know that sounds ridiculous, but hey, who knows, right?

I quietly prayed that he wouldn't do anything to me as I walked to the edge of the balcony, following him.

We stayed quiet for a while, but it wasn't surprisingly awkward. It was very calming, to be honest.

The stars shone very brightly above us, decorating the landscape of New York. Stars have always calmed me down, especially since a few years ago. Whenever I'm stressed out, I'd look at the stars, and they've never failed to calm me down.

"Aren't they beautiful?" I asked to no one in particular softly.

"The stars?" a deep voice replied.

"Yeah," I breathed out, for once tearing my eyes away from the stars to look at him.

I've never paid attention to him in this way. His bluish-green eyes never looked away from the stars. He wore a black formal shirt and pants with matching shoes, and to be honest, he looked good.

God, why am I saying these words?

Feeling that blood is rising to my cheeks, I looked at the sky once again. I noticed one looked like the Hydra constellation.

I continued to stare at it with a sad smile.

"So, my dad taught me different types of constellation last night," he said, grinning widely, showing his missing tooth. "I've decided to teach you too."

I smiled at him mirroring his grin. "Okay! I'll tell Mom and let's go to the backyard!"

He nodded his head and shut his window, and I did the same.

I ran down and told my mom that I'd be going outside for a while.

"Hi again!" I chirped as I lay down beside him of the freshly trimmed grass.

"It's starting to get cold," he said, hugging himself tightly.

Giggles escaped my mouth as I saw him hugging himself funnily. "You should've bought your jacket! It's in the middle of October," I scolded him lightly.

He gave me a sheepish smile. "I forgot. I'm lazy to go back in to take it."

I shook my head as I rolled my eyes.

He's often forgetful, and I'm the one who always reminded him things.

"Anyway, is that how you treat your teacher?" he asked, lowering his voice purposely, trying to sound like our math teacher, Mr Jones.

Laughter escaped my lips once again. I tried to stop my laughter, but I couldn't. The way he tried to impersonate Mr Jones was very funny to me.

Being eight at that time, I found that very amusing.

He patiently waited for me to finish my laughter session, and he began to teach me some constellations.

"This is a famous constellation, I think it's called the Orion," he said, pointing to some stars gathering together in a line.

"Oh," I said softly, being mesmerized by the stunning view. "The Orion."

"Yeah," he breathed out. "The next one was the easiest for me to remember."

He pointed out to some stars that are lined together, resembling some kind of snake.

"That is the Hydra constellation," he said, tracing the shape with his fingers. "This is easy for me to remember because I like learning about the Greek mythology."

I nodded at him. It was quite easy to remember. I, myself, like Greek mythology as well. I remember his dad telling us stories about the Greek gods, and we were both were very fascinated by it.

"I know," I said, giggling a little.

He turned to look at me, looking like he was about to speak.

"—Belle?" I froze as reality came back to me.

No one has called me that in a long time.

I turned my head to the side to see Luke looking at me emotionlessly.

"What did you just call me?" I asked, not believing what I've just heard.

"Your necklace," he simply said.

I absentmindedly touched my necklace. It was a very meaningful possession to me. "Why did you call me?"

"You looked sad, and," he shrugged, not completing his sentence.

I raised my eyebrow at him. He is out of his mind. If he were not drunk, he wouldn't talk to me or even ask me to join him.

"Are you okay?" he suddenly blurted out. "Did I say something wrong?"

I was taken back by his outburst.

He's drunk and probably won't remember anything that has happened tonight.

I shook my head as I spoke, "I'm going to go now. Good night . . . Luke."

With that, I left without waiting for his response.

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Hey! Be honest: is this chapter too short?

If it is, I'll try to make other chapters longer.. (this chapter has around 2600 words)

What do you think about this chapter? Who is she talking about in her short flashback? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡° )

Thank you so much for reading, commenting and voting!

See you soon in the next chapter!

Next update: not sure :/ next week.. Or two?