"Are you okay, dear?" Felicia asked Lizzy. "You look a little pale."

"I-I'll be fine," Lizzy assured with a wave of her hand. "Thank you for asking." However, she was turning a tiny bit pale after hearing that Felicia's ingredient that she was making in her tea was snake venom. Lizzy was silently grateful that the venom wasn't in the tea, but she was also concerned of what else was in that concoction.

"Ah I see," the woman replied, sipping her tea again. "Although you do look rather lovely in that shade of skin tone."

"Me being pale?"

"Why, yes! I find pale skin to be quite fair, though I haven't achieved it yet myself."

"Is that why you always use candles to avert from the sunlight?"

"Yes but also because I don't like turning on the ceiling lights or lamps here. I prefer using candles. It's lovely, isn't it?"

"Indeed!" Lizzy took another sip of tea, not too worried about what was in the tea because she was having a delightful conversation. "So do you have any siblings?"

"I do not," Felicia replied, drinking the rest of her tea and pouring hot water into her tea cup. "My dear Philip does, however. He has one brother. How about you?"

"I have two older brothers. They're cool to hang out with, but they are as weird as brothers can get."

"That makes sense. How about your parents?"

"They're doing awesome. Papa Ron is working at my home city and Mama Leilei is traveling right now."

"Traveling?" Felicia repeated, taking the chamomile tea bag and setting it in her tea cup. "What for, if I may ask?"

"Museum stuff?" Lizzy replied after drinking the rest of the tea in her cup. "She helps organize the different exhibits of museums all over the place, like a curator except a few steps higher than that because she oversees a few museums out there!"

"My, she must be quite busy then. Did both of your parents start this after you moved out?"

"No, it started when I got to high school. Papa was already in and out of deployment when I got to middle school, but Mama wanted to wait until I was old enough to be at home alone before she started traveling."

"Aw, you poor child. You must've been quite lonely there."

"Oh, I wasn't alone! My brothers were still around, even though they had college to deal with, and every so often Jaden comes to visit too!"

"I see," Felicia said with a soft smile. "Of course, you had your school friends to keep you company too."

"Yup!" Lizzy said with a giggle. "I'm really never alone. I got my buddies." The woman nodded as she sipped the chamomile tea.

"Hmm...this has quite a taste to it," Felicia commented after another sip. "You said that this was chamomile, correct?"

"Yeah! Is it good?"

"It's...interesting. What was the other drink that you brought for our little get together?"

"Oh, that's apple cider! It's not tea but I like drinking it on a cold day. Would you like some to try?"

"Of course. I would be happy to try this cider."

That's the end of the chapter part! Thanks for reading and look forward to the next part tomorrow. See you then! :)