Maybe it was the time when my fate decided to wonder why I was still standing in one piece and not going through any kind of emotional turmoil. Because I think my nightmare had just started the moment when I saw six people with bright colorful hair making an entrance into the gigantic hall.

"Oh, look, it's Akashi's friends," A girl beside me whispered in awe to her friend. They started squealing. "Generation of Miracles!"

I subtly ducked my head a little so that I could avoid their gaze which seemed to roam around the room, looking for their crimson haired captain probably. They were looking like celebrities in this room filled with elegantly dressed people.

And my ex husband appeared soon, with his lovely girlfriend by his side.

I saw Aomine with his midnight blue hair which looked a bit shorter than I last saw him- which was years ago -wearing a black shirt with dark blue jeans. He didn't have his usual bored, annoyed look on his face, which was a good thing.
Momoi was beside him, with all smiles, as lovely as she always had been, wearing a magenta V necked dress and heels, making her look a bit taller than she actually was.
Murasakibara looked bored to death as always as he stood the tallest among the tall basketball players. I smiled slightly when I didn't saw any kind of food with him, especially pokey. Must be hard for him. He wore a light purple shirt with black jeans.
I saw Midorima, pushed his usual square shaped glasses up his nose bridge as he looked around himself emotionless. He wore a olive green striped shirt under his black formal blazer.
And then there was Kise, wearing a blue and yellow striped sweater under his white jacket, and like the high profile model he was, he stood out the most with his casual yet fashionable choice of clothes and well... loud whining.

I couldn't hear them from where I stood. I just observed all of them silently with no emotion in my eyes. It's not like I had never thought of them after I left Akashi, because they were my friends too, really good friends, but seeing them in person, stirred up so many feelings and memories inside me that I blanked out for a moment there.

Like how we all used to hang out after the Winter Cup ended. How all of them came to our wedding. How all of them used to come to the Akashi's Mansion whenever Akashi summoned them.

I saw Akashi converse with them with a smile on his face and after a moment of staring at him, I realized that, he was truly smiling unlike the time through out the party.

And seeing him smile, I smiled unconsciously too. Just like before.

"Are they your friends too?" A familiar voice beside me asked.

"Was." I answered without looking, knowing that it was Shu.

"Why don't you go talk to them?" Shu said monotonous.

"And practically earn the title of the most awkward queen of the century, and not to mention, divorced too? No thanks." I said sweetly smiling, my voice dripping with sarcasm.

Shu just smiled and raised his hands playfully.

"Are you feeling nostalgic, Ena-san?" A voice behind us said suddenly.

It was so out of the blue and the voice was so eerily familiar, I jumped. Shu looked behind surprisingly.

And we met with a pair of teal blue emotionless eyes.

"Kuroko! You surprised me!" I exclaimed as I wrapped my arms around him.

"Why? Did you think I wouldn't accompany them?" He embraced me back without any hesitation. His embrace was warm and it was comforting in this cold night.

"I wasn't sure."

"I would go anywhere if I know you'd be there." He stared staring into my eyes.

I barked out a hearty laughter. "Am I hearing it right? Kuroko is being flirty!"

"Kuroko is just being honest." He shrugged then smiled at me a little.

I hugged him again. And he hugged me back again.

"Ena-san. How have you been?"

"Good." I released him and looked at him.

His mop of light blue hair was brushed nicely and he wore a sky blue colored formal shirt with a pair of brown pants. Even after all this years, he still looked young.

Kuroko turned to Shu who stared back at him with equal lack of emotion in their eyes. I sighed.

"Kuroko, this is Shu Denver. A colleague and a... friend of mine. And Shu, this is Kuroko Tetsuya. One of my closest friend." I introduced them to each other, a bit nervous about my relationship with Shu. But he looked cool with whatever I said.

Kuroko bowed politely. "Hello. Nice to meet you, Shu-san."

"Nice to meet you too."

Then we stood there in complete silence for some time.

Shu, then looked at me and Kuroko. "I will give you two old friends some alone time." After that, he promptly left us to get himself another drink.

Kuroko turned to me after that. "Aren't you gonna meet them?" He gestured at the Generation of Miracles who were still talking with Akashi and occasionally with Aihana.

I barked out a dry laugh. "No, thanks, Kuroko."

"Why not?"

"I don't want to make things awkward." I answered genuinely, unlike my previous sarcastic answer to Shu's question.

I never understood why I always had been so honest with Kuroko. I felt like I could trust him with my darkest secrets and deepest feelings. Back then, even Akashi envied him because of this.

"You won't be making things awkward." Kuroko sighed. "And they would be happy to meet you too."

"But I won't be." I said sternly making Kuroko widen his eyes.

My voice and eyes softened. "It will make me... remember things, I don't want to remember..."

Kuroko stared into my eyes and I smiled painfully at him. It physically hurt me to even think about those days, it physically hurt me. My heads started ringing with a sudden wave of nausea hits me with full force. I probably won't be able to take the pressure.

Also, I didn't want to puke at a party.

"It is whatever you want, Ena-san." Then he smiled and softly held my hand.

_

I had one of the most exquisite dinner tonight in a long time. Shu enjoyed it too, I think, though I couldn't really tell for sure from his expression.

I stayed with Shu most of the time. Though, Kuroko came to me without having anyone notice him, which was probably the easiest thing for him to do. Surprisingly, the time went faster than I thought.

I successfully avoided all the members of the Generation of Miracles who were surrounded by people most of the time, so, it was not really a hard task. Aihana declared that she had a important news to announce so, the guests were still waiting in apprehension. I wouldn't really care though, she could do whatever in the earth she wanted. I was just glad that I didn't have to spend anything on my dinner today which was a quite delicious one.

I looked at the gorgeously decorated stage where Aihana just ascended gracefully with Akashi beside her as I gulped down my red wine. I stood at the corner as I looked at my now empty glass.

'I need something stronger,' I thought.

"First of all, as the host, I'd like to thank everyone in the room who made it today and made my birthday much more brighter and enjoyable than I ever imagined." Aihana smiled at the guests who applauded gleefully.
"I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did hosting it," She looked at Akashi with pure adoration and Akashi smiled at her.
"As much as all of you know, Seijuro and I've been together for about a year already," She took a deep breathe as she looked at the guests with a dazzling smile on her face who looked back at her in apprehension.

"We have finally decided to get engaged this month."

And after that, the entire hall erupted into boisterous applause and hollering.

I took another glass of white wine from the waiter passing by and sipped on it silently.

Aihana smiled at everyone as if they were a highly anticipated celebrity couple, and seeing all the enthusiasm from people, maybe they were. Who knows.

Her emerald green eyes caught my gaze as she stared at me curiously, as if she was actually seeing my reaction.

My heart skipped a beat. 'Did she know? Why is she looking at me like that?'

No, maybe, she was just curious. I must play the dumb card until the end.

I stood silently on my spot and observing the reactions of the public while sipping on my drink. I caught Shu looking at me too.

Why was everyone looking for my reaction? Who was I? No one. At least no one in Akashi household in particular. I shouldn't feel anything and suppress every painful feeling that were threatening to resurface and flood my mind.

Just because I became unable to love anyone other than him, he shouldn't be like that too.

Then I caught his deep red eyes on me.

I pursed my lips tightly when I saw him looking at me with his usual calculating gaze as if he was observing every single tiniest emotion on my face which I was working hard to not to let it show.

I stared back at him, smiled at him a little and raised my glass at him gesturing a cheer.

As if I was okay.

He stared at me for some long while Aihana talked and people went up there to congratulate them.

Something relatively close to pain and sadness flashed in his crimson eyes, and when I thought I was pathetically wrong and blinked my eyes to see him more clearly from where I stood, he looked away. He, now, smiling at the guests amd held Aihana by his side.

The dry smile from my lips didn't fall as my vision turned a little blurry.

In a flash, I took out a tissue paper from my purse and dab my eyes lightly without making anyone notice.

_

It was the time to leave the party. Even though, I wanted it so badly, I couldn't leave it just because of my stupid feelings. Because that would be nothing but immature. Everyone who knew me would suspect and I couldn't really take another week of nagging.

I was not some high school girl. I would and could handle my issues in my own way.

Aihana came up to talk to me after the announcement of her engagement. Akashi didn't say a word while Aihana kept babbling. And I kept wondering how much obnoxious yet rich this girl really was to make Akashi date her and then actually take the decision to marry her.

Akashi didn't say a thing to me except throwing his occasional smiles at Aihana. His eyes caught mine and he didn't look away even when I did.

I avoided Akashi's gaze too. Maybe our things ended in a bitter term, but that didn't mean I was going to create any kind of problem among them.

Maybe this would be our last meeting.

Shu stood a little far away from me. He was not the kind of person who would stick with you wherever you went. He enjoyed the party in his way and I did it in my way. He didn't dance with anyone till the end and I stuffed every single food that was served till the end.

Kuroko was standing a few feet away from me, standing with the Generation of Miracles, and, yes, I avoided them the whole party. Maybe they did notice me and if Kuroko made them not to talk to me so that I don't feel uncomfortable, I was grateful to him.

My eyes met with Kuroko's teal blue ones and we nodded at each other with small smiles.

I waved to catch Shu's attention. It was time for us to go now. When he didn't see me I sighed. I decided to quickly stride towards him.

I was in the middle of the enormous ballroom when I heard a creaking noise around. I stopped in my tracks. I looked around myself. Then I heard it again. A scratchy, creaky noise as if something was being opened.

This time I knew where it came from. I quickly looked above and saw the huge grand chandelier above my head was coming near my face. Just a few milliseconds before it crashed on me.

Everything happened in a matter of few seconds.

"ENA MOVE!!"

Someone yelled on the top of their lungs.

Then everything went black.

_

A/N: Yes, it's freaking 2200+ words chapter update. 😇😇

I've come back from my long hiatus. I finally have some free time. Phew!

Many people missed this story. Many people asked me when I was gonna update and they would wait for me. Many people wished me luck for my exams. 😀
I, thank you, every single one of you, to stay with this story and believing me when I said that I would be back. 💜💜💜💜

By the way, can you guys comment the favorite scenarios from the whole story? 💟💟 I just love interacting with you guys. Comment down.

Don't forget to vote.

||By my leave||