6 IT'S OKAY NOT TO BE OKAY

VIOLET'S POV

Darcy's minions quickly disperse as soon as they heard Vaughn Nikolai's voice but, Darcy Moore is unmoved.

She is the only child of the Moore Family, no one from Smithson Village could tell her what to do or say, nobody could boss her around, even if she breaks the rules.

She turned to face Vaughn, crossing her arms like protecting herself, in her bored face, "Oh, common! This party is boring and we have a mascot in her black dress. We should welcome her right? Can't you stop defending her? You do not know anything about her. She doesn't fit in this classy party!"

And her high pitch voice, starting to capture other guest's attention and gather around.

"That's enough Darcy!" Vaughn's annoyed voice makes Oswald quickly approached us and gives him instructions "Please make sure that Ms. Moore will return to their home safely."

"No, you are not doing this to me! I'll make sure Mr. Thompson will know about this!" she yelled furiously towards Vaughn, while Oswald took her arms, then glared her eyes towards me, "I will never forget this night, Violet! I promise you!" and her evil laugh echoes as she is escorted her way out of the party.

Then, her minions followed her out.

"What was that all about? Did I missed something?" Nicole asked in her confused look as she meets Darcy with the bodyguard on her way towards me.

"I'm so sorry about that Violet! I honestly, do not want her at the party. My uncle insisted and invited her to come with her friends." He brushed up his brown hair with his fingers and he hunched his shoulders.

"Nah I'm fine. Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. We are used to Darcy's character, it's not something new to us." I giggled like everything's gonna be alright and I know it's not! I heard clearly, Darcy threatened me but she never knew that I had my black belt in my Karate class, she couldn't push me around without a fight.

"You better tell me about it, Vi! But first, I'm already hungry!" then I saw his smiles looking at Nicole, holding her stomach, and she's acting like she's gonna faint, we end up laughing. Then, he ushered us back to our table.

Then music filled the air from an invited musician in his saxophone, it's very calming and soothing while enjoying our seafood dishes in different types of cuisines.

Vaughn shared our table while eating his meal.

Suddenly his other bodyguard named "Hunter" approached him and whispered in his ears, "Let them call back in 30 minutes, I'm still enjoying my dinner!" his annoyed voice makes Hunter scratched his head and left.

I could feel him, his eyes watching me the whole time while I'm eating the lobsters with my bare hands. I'm guessing that Vaughn would think that I'm weird and have no manners. But, I couldn't help myself from eating my favorite dish, the way that I would enjoy it. This is me, this is how I eat lobsters, crabs and shrimps, taking their shell with my bare hands.

[I do not need to explain myself! That's the real me.]

"How many times that I have told you to use your knife and fork when removing its shell?" the lines of my mom each time she's scolding me about the proper way of eating any seafood with shell and I always end up obeying her just to have a peaceful dinner but always feel not satiated every time.

"I think I need a drink!" Nicole excused herself and left us alone.

[Why does Nicole leave the table even if there's some waiter's around to get the drink?]

"Violet!" Vaughn called out and I lift my head, then his pointing his finger on his lips.

[What is he thinking?] My face turned red and he continued, "No, no, no.. I mean...let me" he took his table napkin and wiped my face, and said, "That's better!" he flashed his smile in his perfect white set of teeth.

"Uhm sorry about that.." I lowered my face, the awkward feeling starts to dive in.

Then I heard him saying, "I'm very happy that you came for my farewell party, I'll be leaving tomorrow morning. I wish I could stay longer to spend time with you" then he cleared his throat "Has anyone told you, you have a very beautiful face?"

[Did I heard it right? Who is he talking to?] I lifted my head feeling conscious, his eyes meet mine.

Those electric blue eyes brought me to a different dimension, into the cool waters of confusion and unthinkable sensations.

We are like being zoom in from the rest of the picture and I keep pinching my arms. [Stop this Violet! Stop being delusional! There's no way, he felt something for you, he's just being friendly that's all.]

This is the second time in my whole life that someone is very vocal about how they see me.

The first one was when I was 6 years old, I got lost inside the supermarket when my mom brought me grocery shopping.

I remembered that time, my mom was talking to the saleslady asking for something and I run myself following someone who is hugging a big teddy bear, I was very amazed by the huge toy that I keep following until he put the teddy bear on the TOY section.

My eyes grew wider that there are too many of them in just one portion then suddenly a little boy bumped on me with brown hair and blue eyes.

He smiled his cutest smile, he is wearing eyeglasses and showing his two missing front teeth and say, "Hi, pretty girl! You look like an angel. Do you like to play with me?"

And I nodded. He held out his hand, and I take it then, he started running until we're at the flower section.

He halted and took a huge red American Rose, he kissed them and handed it to me.

Then, I heard my name called over a loud announcement, "Need to go, bye!" I waved my little hand and approached a saleslady to find my mom.

That's what mom always reminds me of if I'll get lost, approached an adult in uniform, or saleslady for help.

-------------------

"Oh, there you are... Vaughn Nikolai! Your mom is on the phone, you better take it! You knew her well, she doesn't like to wait!" A deep booming voice snapped my head out of my childhood memory that I always cherished.

"Violet, I want you to meet my Uncle Thomas Thompson. Uncle, this is my friend, Violet." He looks at me sternly while handing his hand for a shake and I quickly wiped my hands with the table napkin and extended mine to received it.

His facial expression is more of a shock than delighted.

I disengaged my hand and wiped my face thinking that there might be something on my face.

"Uncle? What's wrong?" Vaughn snapped him out, and he cleared his throat "Uhm... I'm so sorry about that. You just look familiar to me. Anyways, nice meeting you Violet!" he scratched his head and smiled.

Then, he turned to face Vaughn, who is standing beside him, he signaled his head saying "Get inside!"

"Please excuse me, Violet. I need to take the call. I'll be right back, okay?" I nodded in response.

Then, Niki returned to her seat with a wine glass, "You better tell me that's not a wine!" Niki laughed heartily.

"I knew you will react that way! Hey, relax... it's just a glass Vi! This will not make me intoxicated." She continued laughing and said, "You should try it! It tastes soooo good..." while taking a sip.

"Can't you just chill? The music is good, and as far as I could remember, we are already 19 and unable to taste this precious liquid called wine! Try it!" She handed her glass towards me for a sip, and I couldn't say no to her.

And it tastes good. Nicole called the waiter and ordered a glass of wine for me.

I look around and found the place so romantic.

The breeze from the lake brings cold air to the garden.

The tiny lights from the boats on the small port bring nostalgia inside me.

When I was younger, I always believe those are stars on the shoreline at night.

"Hey, Vi! I'll be..." Niki called out and pointing towards the guy, who approached her for a dance.

"Yes, go!" I make a thumbs-up sign and they left me behind.

"Excuse me, ma'am... Here's your glass of wine!" I took it and say, "thank you."

I enjoyed drinking the wine while looking at Niki and his partner, dancing in the melody of "All This Time" by Six Part Invention, sung by the guest singer.

Everything looks so magical when the lighting change to different colors of red, blue, and yellow.

The lyrics touched my soul.

I lie awake thinkin' of the days gone by

Wishing that you're still here with me, baby

I was wrong and now you're gone

And I'm crying. I wiped my tears with the facial tissue that I have brought inside my small purse.

I felt the sudden longing, our short happy memories with my mom just pop up in my head, like reminding me that she's gone forever.

I stood up with my glass of wine, walking towards the fence, watching the beautiful view of the lake, and breathed in.

Oh, why I'm getting so emotional? I guess it's the wine.

"Are you alright?" I heard him so near in my back, I shivered.

I replied "Yes" without turning to face him, to avoid being questioned.

Then, he moved forward, standing next to me, "This is the second reason, why I keep coming back to Smithson. The view at night is spectacular! I could find peace, solace, and freedom by enjoying the sight."

Then, he turned his head, facing me "Do you like the wine?" I nodded.

"I could feel your heavy heart, I know you're mourning right now. How I wish I could just snap and wiped those pain away. I feel you... just always remember that every time the sun sets and darkness set in, there's always a moon to shed light to guide you on your pathway."

My tears just poured down, I gulped down the wine, and a sob escaped from my throat that I have been holding since the music started.

He embraced me, took the wine glass from my hand, called the waiter to take it, then he whispered in my ears, "It's okay not to be okay. Just let it go."

I cried like no more tomorrow, and Vaughn was there patiently waited until I calm down and he gives me his hanky.

"I'm so sorry about that. I didn't mean to ruin your party."

"Nah you didn't! I'm just glad to unload some of those pain inside you." Then, a piece of new music from a saxophone filled the air.

He asked, "Can I have this dance with you?" I smiled and nodded.

And we are dancing our hearts like no other people around.

I could feel the sense of comfort and ease, holding his hand and shoulder in a slow dance, swaying in the lullaby of the melody.

After the song ended, Nicole rushed to my side and whispered, "Vi, it's already 11, we need to go.. or else Margaret will be here soon!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Vaughn, but we need to go... Thank you for inviting us. We enjoyed it!"

I flashed my sweetest smile of thank you.

"Hope I could see you tomorrow at 8 am in the Junction? You could join breakfast with me before I go?"

Then he called out as we walked past him, running our way out. I turned and said yes.

He is all smiles, and we waved goodbye.

"Good night, Violet!" He called out.

"Good night. See you, Vaughn Nikolai!" I muttered.

"What was that? I could see your eyes, Vi! It sparkles like electricity like it just hits you in the darkness. You surely have a lot of things to tell me huh?"