Best Defense

Disaster Coming's

Right now, we're relaxing after dinner at Taylor and Samantha's. I'm so happy to be here with people like them. It feels very peaceful and peaceful. This place is proof that happiness can come from small and simple things. I'm sure I've never been this calm sitting with anyone other than my family. The sound of a welcoming laughter never ceases to fill every room we sit in, and my heart calms even more when my charming husband never wants to be away from me. We are like two pieces of iron that are welded and can not be separated by anything.

I love Taylor and Sam's warm house. The rooms are not very spacious, low-rise with flat ceilings, gold paint carvings patterned with winding lines on the ceiling, and profiled frames.

Taylor chose one of Jonas Brother's albums to play while Maggie and I helped Sam serve him bowls of chocolate, nuts, biscuits, as well as cheesecakes and fruit salad that I brought on the wooden table.

After going through some 'special' counseling sessions with Sam, something flashed through my mind. Perhaps the recent spate of events has had more of an impact than I had previously thought. What if it's part of an invisible pattern that will take me further out of my consciousness? The more I considered, the more I was convinced that it was affecting my mentality in a worse direction.

Sometimes, I just want all my problems to pass. Just disappear when I try to find calm by doing things I like, at least my mind can be distracted. But it turns out I was wrong, without me realizing I was getting into trouble. The longer it feels like trying with all my might to climb a steep and deep cliff, moment by moment, but as I move, it makes me fall deeper and deeper. So exhausting and futile.

Slowly Taylor's inexhaustible chatter returned my thoughts to the living room where we had gathered. I looked one by one at a time at the humans before me with a feeling of calm and moved all at once. They're the best people I've ever met in my life. The most sincere and most able to adjust to the circumstances. Throwing each other satire but in the most subtle way, until everyone who hears just think of it as a joke.

When the time showed at nine o'clock in the evening, Matt exclaimed. "Guys, this isn't cool!" he muttered with bored looks. We all looked at him. Baffled. "Oh, come on. You know what I mean." Matt continued while lifting his body up to stand straight in front of the sofa with a demanding face.

Silence occurred but only two seconds. After that Taylor followed Matt's movements, more excited. "You're right, man..."

And, so it was until now that we were sitting in a pub in the middle of the city.

The situation inside was already quite crowded, and it would get even more crowded as the night grew late. In places like this in any part of the world, people always hold great hope. That is, you can relax for a moment while drinking with a friend. Although not all of them are, but most have almost the same goal.

"This is what is called life!" Matthew exclaimed at us overcame the abstruse noise that was blaring all over the pub.

From beside me, Sean jerked forward as Matt hit his back forcefully. Matt raised his triple blue slockey and emptied the contents in an instant then smirked at Sean. "Drunk all night, music, and girls." He spoke near Sean's face while patting him on the shoulder. Quite loud, because I can hear his words.

"Keep your hands off me, Matt. Or you won't be able to use it again for the rest of the night." - furious Sean, but I know he's not serious about the threat.

Sean took a step back, wrapped one of his hands around my waist while Matt laughed loudly while raising both his hands in a surrender manner, then sat leaning back on the sofa. "You're tense, calm down, we should have fun." he muttered confidently as if he was a single man. We just shook our heads looking at her 'brothers' behavior with Taylor. Urination.

I turned my gaze downstairs, looked at the crowd of people who filled the main room of this pub and found an exciting scene. Samantha, Maggie, and my little sister were dancing to the rhythm of techno music guided by a local disjockey, while at the bartender's desk, Taylor and Jason sat down drinking and watching them.

My head was back to Sean. He was sipping a mixture of rum and bourbon in his glass with his eyes staring at the phone screen. His brows suddenly clutched, and he looked furious. I just wanted to ask, but the phone rang. I read Dean's name on his screen.

"I came out for a while, it seems like it's important" he said as he looked at me.

I'm nodding. "Yes," Sean immediately stood up and stepped away from Matthew and me who were now just the two of them while the others were still downstairs.

While waiting for Sean to return, I wanted to go to the toilet for a while and galloped right away after telling Matt my purpose. The sound of blaring music filled my head all the way to the toilet. The smell of alcohol mixed in the air as well as the noise of laughter and the exclamations of the people who filled the pub room made my head throb.

I was in an old-fashioned toilet. In contrast to the view outside this room. The walls were covered in marble with Ming dynasty butterfly motifs, but of course it was just a clone. On one side there are three toilet rooms while on the other side there are two sinks complete with a large mirror.

I threw a friendly smile at a woman who had just come out of the room and immediately replaced her. Finishing the 'important' affair in the toilet room, I went out and found a familiar woman standing in front of the mirror.

I advanced until I stood on equal footing with the woman, pretending not to see her. I don't want to make myself look pretentious by addressing him first.

"Frandas?"

He smiled at me, put his wallet on the corner of the counter. "I didn't expect to see you here. You're with Danny?"

I cringe. "Danny?" I asked, I really don't know who he meant.

Ashley blinked, turned the faucet with one hand and then flushed her hand. "Yes, husband. I used his middle name as a nickname a long time ago." he said casually, as if the call was nothing.

For a moment I wondered how far my husband's past relationship with this woman really was, because his tone sounded like it was deliberately trying to pressure me. "Oh, yeah. I'm with my husband and his friends." I said as I watched the change in his countenance through the corner of my eye.

"His friends? Are they Taylor and the others?" His face looks enthusiastic.

I'm nodding.

"Well, this is surprising! I have to say hello after this. The last time I met them was when I accompanied Danny to get my name tattooed on his head."

I rounded my eyes, turning my head quickly until I actually looked at his face, not from the mirror reflection as before. "Tattoos? What do you mean, Ashley?"

He turned off the water and looked at me. There was no need to be a genius to know that he was enjoying the look of shock on my face. "Ah, you've never seen it? Geez. I'm sorry, I thought you already knew about the tattoo." He looked at me as if a horn had suddenly appeared in my head. "I really didn't mean to shock you, girl. I mean, you're married. So shouldn't you have known about that? Didn't he tell you that, Franda?"

I hurriedly blinked, realizing that Ashley was trying to provoke her with a sentence that somehow sounded like she was deliberately throwing. "I don't think I need to know about it." I said, trying to sound carefree. But damn, my voice was clearly shaking, and Ashley caught it. Then he rambled again to perfect his act of luring me.

"Of course you need to know, Franda. Danny's not the kind of guy who's going to hide something from his partner, and if he doesn't tell you the tattoo problem, there's definitely something he's trying to hide."

I could see the satisfaction on his face as he realized how his words affected me. Maybe his words weren't entirely wrong, but he would never understand the bond I felt with Sean wasn't in just a month.

With great difficulty, I forced my mouth to smile. Trying to hold something churning in my chest. "Thank you for your advice, Ashley. But I'm sure my husband doesn't want to hide the tattoo problem like you said, I think he's been erasing the tattoo so I haven't seen him in all this time." I said while observing Ashley's suddenly dark face after I finished my sentence.

He certainly didn't think I would be this calm even though I wasn't sure what I had just said. The truth is I was scared that Sean still had that tattoo and I should check it out after this.

I turned back to the sink and washed my hands while glancing at Ashley who looked still hit with my attack. I washed my hands as if nothing was bothering my mind until I finished it and placed both my hands under the hand dryer next to mine.

Just as I wanted to leave her alone, she said something that hit my heart. "Me and Danny have kids."

My body suddenly trembled. If Ashley's words hadn't hit me too much, different from this one. I felt my cheeks heat up and my blood as if it was piling up on my head.

I closed my mouth, gulped once before turning to look at her and I uttered the words that made Ashley suddenly appear to have a heart attack, until her expression was worse than mine. "I know, Ashley. But isn't that just the past between you. So, there's no need to bother provoking my anger with that reality." I don't believe in my own words. It was all that came to my head to stop his action before he went any further and I was further incited to hit him.

I pushed my head forward until my face was right near her ear. "I know my husband more than anyone." I muttered cynically then pulled back my head and looked at him. I smiled with satisfaction to see him tremble. His face was pale and both hands clenched at his sides. Yeah, I just managed to trample on one jackfruit caterpillar that teased me.

"Good night, Ashley" I said one last time, then stepped out leaving Ashley still frozen.

Once out of the toilet room, I found a view of the man who was the topic of discussion in the toilet was walking towards me. I wanted to welcome him, but Ashley's spate of attacks still bothered me. What came out of my mouth when the man was standing right in front of me was.

"I want to go home. Now." Now."