SHOPPING

"Stop sighing already. You are also dragging my mood down."

"Sorry, mum."

Nicole took a glance at her son before she walked over to her husband, checking some ties for his son for the party.

Ares knew well what his mother said was true. He should stop sighing, but he couldn't help it. At first, he was shocked and happy that he was going to meet the actress again, but all those flashbacks and things he did during the past month, like snooping, made him feel guilty and unworthy.

If he was in her shoes, he would definitely don't want people, especially the people he had never met or known about, casually knowing his private matter. He already hated his father checking up on him 'secretly' with groups of bodyguards every now and then, and he knew she had a thousand times worse. He didn't want to make it worse than it already was.

So now, he didn't know what kind of face or act when he finally met her after a whole month. It wasn't like they were friends and had her contact, but he felt as if he knew her, both in knowledge and mind. Starting from the first time their eyes met in front of his university, hearing stories from Ronan only made him feel sure and stronger.

Although he knew it was disgusting and shouldn't feel that way towards a famous person with that he had only five minutes to talk with, he just couldn't get her off his mind, unlike anybody else.

Thinking about this, the boy sighed again, but he immediately ended halfway when he felt a sharp glare from his mother from the other side of the shop. He quickly sat down on the white sofa provided in front of the fitting room to hide from his mother's sight.

He couldn't blame his mother for giving him an angry look. Ever since he got into the car, immediately after breakfast, he had been sighing non-stop to the point that even his no-idea father asked what was wrong.

And after they reached the tailor shop and when Nicole got out of the car, the father asked him if it was a good idea to meet Eirene Queen, the first ever crush of the son.

At that time, Ares said that he was okay and thanked Cristian for letting him join too, but that was only half the truth.

"Which colour do you want?" Ares was blankly staring into his reflection in the mirror directly in front of him when his mother came and asked out of the blue.

"Huh?" The boy looked up at his mother, confused.

Nicole almost rolled her eyes but replied, "I asked, which colour do you want for your suit." She pointed at a colour chart with the example material underneath each colour.

"Uhh," Ares skimmed through the chart. He always chose black, which made his eyes stand out, but somehow, tonight, he wanted something else. "Maybe this."

"Maybe?"

The boy hurriedly corrected himself. "I meant this. One and only." His mother didn't like the words 'maybe' or 'I think' or any words that weren't certain.

Nicole received the colour chart from her son and checked out what he pointed at, a dark red silk suit.

She paused for a moment before she said, "New look. We can give it a try." With that, she raised a finger, called one of the staff and asked them to bring the suit that would fit her son perfectly.

The staff looked up and down the boy seated before they rushed off to their restricted area and came back ten minutes later with the exact coloured suit they asked for along with matching ties, shirt, shoes and other jewellery to make it classy.

Nicole gestured for the staff to hand the clothing to Ares once she was done looking through them. "Wear them. I'll give you five minutes."

The boy nodded obediently and got into the nearest fitting room. When his mother said five minutes, she meant it. Every second counted. She was a strict person and hated being sloppy or being kind to one's self. It was sometimes hard to cope with, but he was glad she was like that. Thanks to her personality and morals, he became a responsible and understanding person.

Nicole was just about to check the time on her watch when her son opened the door open while breathing deeply as if he was from the Olympics. But that was not what caused her eyes to widen for a second.

Ares looked like Cristian on the day he proposed to her. The same troubled look and how the colours matched his features were as if the clothes and the colours were meant for him. And the same eye colour that she had swooned over secretly since the day one of meeting her husband was perfectly inherited by their son.

"How is it fitting you?" She asked as she approached him. She checked the space around his neck using her fingers along with aligning the crooked tie and taming the messy, curly hair.

She was tall for a woman, about one-seventy centimetres, but when she stood in front of Ares, she was still short. Her eyes were at the same level as his nose, and for the first time in a long time, she could examine her son's features.

Surely, he grew up to be a handsome young fellow, getting the perfect balanced DNA from both sides and rejecting the bad ones. If the three of them stood side by side, one could easily tell that they were a family and not even relatives. The resemblance was something that couldn't be missed.

"Around the neck is a little tight and the trousers are a bit short. Other than that, it's fine." The son answered as he also checked the space around his neck uncomfortably.

To hide what she was feeling, Nicole cleared her throat and then continued. "Then we should get a bigger size for the shirt and the trouser."

"That would work." Ares eyed the staff standing nervously.

Although the staff had many chances to meet with celebrities from all over the world, she had never encountered someone as intimidating as Nicole Queen. Also known as Lady Justice. She handled more than seven hundred cases and never lost in any of them.

"Yes, sir... Ma'am..." The staff bowed slightly and hastily ran away from the spot to bring a bigger size and to get air into her shrunk lungs.

While the staff was away, Cristian approached the two with his own suit. "What do you think of this, Nicole?"

The wife frowned and her expression darkened once she saw the suit her husband excitedly showed off. Out of all the colours, he picked a navy tie and a black suit. Even the worker behind him looked like he wanted to say something, but he couldn't.

Nicole knew the worker had tried to convince Cristian in changing the colours but was unsuccessful.

When the father couldn't get an answer from his wife, he turned to his son, who also didn't have a nice expression. "What do you think?" The way he was acting must have been passed on to Ares as it was exactly the same.

After having a deep sigh, Nicole snatched the suit from her husband's hands, "I knew I shouldn't have let you pick the colours. This combination is pure abomination." With that, she dragged Cristian by an invisible leash and together, they began looking for another suit.

Ares looked at his parents and thought how the heck they were working out. They were the complete opposite. He had previously been told by his grandmother, Scarlet, that his parents were polar opposite long before their marriage, and she wasn't wrong. His mother was very mature and precise while his father was also precise, he still had a heart of a teenager.

Since he was much more similar to his father, mentally and emotionally, he wondered if his future partner was going to be someone like his mother.

When he imagined holding his partner in his arms, a picture of a woman suddenly flashed before his eyes, making him blush hard and his knees weak.

What was he thinking?!

He weakly squatted on the floor, ignoring the curious gazes from his family and staff in the shop.

That was disgusting!! Why did he imagine a smiling Eirene Queen in his arms?

-----

"I have enough dresses."

"Yes, you do. And no, you don't have enough."

"That doesn't make sense, Jaxon." The actress frowned ever so lightly and crossed her arms over her chest.

They were on their way to one of the shops that were famous for good colouring and high-quality material. Jaxon was taking Eirene there to get her a new dress for the party tonight.

When they reached there, the manager let the actress off the car first and came back in two minutes after parking the car in the parking lot.

"Heyyy..." He wanted to say a light joke but stopped when he realised something was off with her. She was looking in his direction but not exactly him. She was looking directly past him.

Jaxon curiously followed her line of sight and saw a car coming out of the parking lot, where he was just a couple of seconds ago.

He was just about to tell the actress that it wasn't good to stare at people when he had the chance to clearly recognise the people inside the black car from the rolled-down window. The bartender boy from the hotel.

As the car passed by in front of them, the two heard the boy ask "Can I not wear a tie?" To whoever was sitting in front of him.

"Don't be ridiculous." A woman replied. Hearing that, the boy leaned back into his seat with a visible slight pout.

They were frozen on the spot and watched the car drive away as the completely tinted window rolled up, slowly drawing Ares's face into the dark.