For Our Mother's Sake

"Y-You're Belen's older sister, uh, Mabel, I believe?" Everest shockingly tilts his head sideways to meet Mabel's eyes.

She shyly yet firmly nods, "Yes, I remember you are her fiancé, right? I'm glad you remember me," she smiles.

He nervously strikes a smile, "y-yeah, umm, not to be rude. But is there something I can help you with?" he awkwardly scratches his head.

"Um, is Belen here?" she insecurely asks, glancing around to make sure no one has noticed them.

Everest feels the same because currently he's in the first-floor lounge, and as he was near the elevator, he quickly noticed Mabel waiting. He promptly went to ask her, before she could enter an elevator.

"Sorry, Belen is actually out in a meeting right now," he notices her shoulders suddenly slump in disappointment.

"Do you happen to know what time she'll be back? Or at least unoccupied?" she stares at him with hopeful eyes, but this only makes Everest even more awkward as he coughs.

"Well, Belen is very busy and has been going in and out of A Star with Noah, attending meetings. Uh, with December almost a corner away, Belen is busier this time of the year. Would you like to leave a message for her?"

Mabel silently contemplates, "hmm, do you think you can tell her to call me? Noah has my phone number. Hopefully, she can call me in time," her voice lowers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't get that last part."

"Oh!" she smiles, "can you please let Belen know I want to talk to her."

He simply nods, "okay, sure."

Right after reassuring Mabel that Everest will pass along her message, she immediately left A Star.

Everest deeply sighs, taking a glance at his clipboard, "that's the first time I've spoken with her older sister. I've spoken to her before at the event, but this time it was weird. She seemed urgent…"

An employee waves at him, "Good Afternoon, Everest!"

He shakes his head and happily greets the employee after walking into the elevator.

"I wonder, what does she want with Belen? So suddenly, it's been a day since she last came back from her vacation with Noah. The air between the two somehow got better."

Everest suddenly gets a chill making him twitch as he got off the elevator into the 7th floor, "it's weird, and I don't like it." He enters his office, astonished to see Noah sitting in front of his computer.

"Y-You're back? I mean! You two are back so fast?" Everest asks, flabbergasted.

Noah coldly glances at his shocked face, "yeah."

Everest slightly gets annoyed, "Then I'll go see Belen," he exits the office, but Noah catches up to him, "what do you think you're doing?"

"huh?" Everest stares at him, perplexed.

"She's very busy right now. If it's not important, leave it to me."

"It's about her sister," Everest reveals to see Noah's reaction. He guessed correctly.

Noah's eyes widened so large it nearly grossed Everest out, "what did you say? Her sister? Is it Mabel?"

Everest couldn't help but think that perhaps Noah really does like Belen's older sister and nods, "she asked me to pass a message to Belen."

Noah's eyes shrank back to normal, "I see, then go on." He turned back to the office, leaving Everest a bit confused.

Knock Knock

"Enter," Belen strictly replies, Everest sense irritation in her voice.

"I better be careful," he thinks to himself and inwardly gulps. "Madam," he respectfully bows, but as he lifted his head, his eyes twitched at the sight of her whole desk, sofa, and table scattered with paper. "It looks like the printer machine threw up or something," he whispers to himself when Belen chillingly asks, "What is the matter, Everest?"

"Ah! Oh, umm, right." He hesitates, intimidated by her sharp glowing eyes like that of a hungry predator, "your sister dropped by to see you."

Belen's movement froze upon hearing the word "sister" come out of Everests mouth, she quickly lift her head in surprise, "and?" she growls.

Everest inadvertently gulps, "uhh, she wanted me to pass you a message-"

Belen interrupts him with a wave of her hand, "I don't want to hear it," she continues with her work.

"Okay," he blankly replies, about to walk out of the office, but his conscience does not allow him. And froze at the touch of the door handle taking in a deep breath as he quickly shouted, "Mabel said she wishes to speak to you!"

After he said what he needed to say, Everest dashed out of the whole floor as fast as possible, he felt his heart anxiously beat against his chest as if he were a deer running from a wolf.

He didn't dare to look back and kept running down the stairs until he safely made it out into the second-floor exit.

"I-I," he heavily pants, trying to catch his breath, "I did it. I told her, at the cost of my life," he gulps, rubbing his neck.

"Now," he squats, feeling his sweat run down his forehead, "how am I going to avoid her?" he annoyingly clicks his tongue, "F*CK!!"

***

Later that night, Everest, fortunately, left without having to excuse himself from Belen.

Noah stayed behind to help Belen because usually around this time of the year, her desk's swamp with documents, contract renewals, revenues, and more. Especially with the confirmation of A Star opening in New York next year, she has a lot to do. Being the perfect organizer she is, Belen hates procrastinating and prefers to get everything done within her schedule.

Noah decided to go home with Belen today and stayed behind, organizing the scattered files. He kept peeking at her any time he can observe any change of attitude or expression.

He didn't want to bother and force Belen into calling Mabel because he knew that just the mention of her sisters distract and anger her a lot more than he expected.

But he, too, wondered, "this is the first time Mabel asked to speak to Belen. What could it be about?"

***

The next day, Belen, Noah, and Everest arrived at A Star in the same car, the two suddenly halted in their steps. When Belen turned to see why they stopped, she too froze.

"Hey Belen," Mabel nervously appears in front of them, wearing comfortable sweat pants and a sweater as if she were on a jog.

The two behind Belen couldn't help but gulp at the same time, not knowing what to do and somewhat afraid of what Belen might commit.

Belen lowly growled like a wild boar huffing as she glared at Mabel, "What are you doing here?"

"I really need to tell you something, Belen" she slowly closes the distance between themselves.

Belen annoyingly furrows her brows at the sight of Mabel and slights turns her head to Noah and Everest, "you two leave."

Everest and Noah internally gasped, "w-what!?"

"B-Belen!"

She glares at the two, "L.E.A.V.E," she angrily mouths, making the two swallow in fear, "okay."

"Very well," the two reluctantly walk past Mabel, ignoring her existence for Belen's sake, and disappeared into the elevator.

Now that the two were left alone in the private parking lot of A Star, Belen felt safe to speak to Mabel.

"What are you doing here, Mabel!" she lowly sneers crossing her arms.

"Belen, I came because I wanted to wish you a happy late birthday," she spreads her arms, but Belen slaps them away as she took a step back, "DON'T TOUCH ME!"

Mabel felt a bit hurt but wasn't surprised when she bravely stared at her, "sorry, actually Belen, you do know what tomorrow is, right?"

She arrogantly scoffs, looking at her golden wristwatch, "how could I forget that narcissist's birthday," her grin disappears, "that b*tch claims to be my mother."

"Don't say that!" Mabel lost her composure for a second, "she's our mom!"

Belen sarcastically huffs, "whatever. Seems to me there is nothing to talk about," she confidently walks past Mabel.

"BELEN!" her voice echoes throughout the lot. She hurriedly ran to catch up to her, but Belen angrily snapped away from her grasp as she touched her wrist.

"We're having a birthday party for her tomorrow. This was going to be a surprise, but," Mabel heavily pants, "we are going to celebrate Iris, yours, and my mom's birthday tomorrow. I was hoping you'd come. Noah has my address and phone number. OH! You can bring the two along!"

"What makes you think I'll go?" Belen haughtily stares down at the weak, trembling Mabel.

"Please, Belen, all my mom wants for her birthday is just a dinner with all of us there! Think about my mom for once. If you'd like, you can just show up for 10 minutes and leave if you must."

As she finished speaking, Mabel did not hear anything and looked up to see if perhaps she managed to convince her. She wasn't prepared to see Belen's watery eyes and a frown plastered on her face, "you obviously don't care about me at all, Mabel. You think just because you're a mom now, you know how "rough" it must've been for her?"

Mabel was bewildered to see Belen's hurt expression, "that's not what I meant. It's just. She's our mom. Can't you put your feelings of hatred aside for the sake of our mom? Can't you pretend to love her for just one day?"

"Why should I?" Belen says, coldly softening her eyes, "you three are all the same. Nothing but failures that continue to cling to my success." She passively walks into the elevator, making a fist to keep her trembling body under control. Belen felt like pouring her bottle-up feelings onto Mabel, but she kept herself under control because she knew very well that even she wouldn't understand or bother to care.

Belen is always made out to be the antagonist of her family. She turned to face Mabel with a tear escaping her eye, "I won't be there, so don't bother waiting for a miracle."

Mabel's eyes widened upon seeing Belen cry. It was probably the first time she ever saw her cry. Did she really cause that? Mabel left the lot speechless, but it wasn't until her phone rang that she snapped back into reality.

"Hello?" she casually answers.

"Did something happen with Belen?" Noah cautiously asks.

Mabel forces her voice to sound cheerful, "o-oh, yeah, it was nothing."

"May I ask, what did the two of you speak of?" he sighs, "or never mind."

"Noah, I'm throwing my mom a dinner party at my apartment. You, Belen, and her fiancé, Everest are more than welcome to come," her voice lowers, "I hope."

"Tomorrow?" Noah questions.

"Yeah, tomorrow is my mom's birthday. Haha, I guess Belen hasn't mentioned it to you. I was planning on celebrating the three's birthdays tomorrow. But I don't think Belen will make it."

"I-I see," Noah awkwardly stutters, "I will try to make it then."

"mm, I hope you do. Then I have to let you go. I have to pick up the cakes."

"ah, okay, bye" Noah oddly hangs up, feeling a bit weird but quickly shrugs it off once Belen boldly walked out of the elevator.

"Let's go," she coldly says, making the two following behind.

***

Later the next day, Noah continued looking at his phone as if waiting for an important call.

After her conversation with Mabel yesterday, Noah has noticed that Belen did not bring up the topic of her mother's birthday throughout the entire day. Later that night, Noah wanted to speak to her about it, but he kept it to himself because he saw how exhausted she's been since they came back from their vacation.

He didn't want to bother Belen any further, but today is her mother's birthday, and Mabel invited him.

This was an excellent opportunity to better get to know Mabel, Iris, and their mom. Maybe, they'd reveal something important about Belen that he's never known.

His objective is clear. Noah wants to know the past between Belen and her family so he can hopefully bring them together. Mabel invited Everest, Noah kept that to himself because Everest had other things to do that night and left A Star early.

Now it was only him and Belen in the office, "what do you want?" she sharply asks, making Noah cringe on the spot as he sat on the sofa.

He nervously chuckles, "what makes you ask, Belen?"

She stops what she's doing to glare at him, "I know she most likely told you to stop by, so stop wasting your time idling around like an idiot and go."

He cautiously responds, "Mabel did invite me, but are you going to come as well? We can go together from here-"

"There is someone I must meet," she continues looking over some files on her desk.

Noah steps closer and worriedly ask, "who?"

She sternly lifts her head to meet his eyes, "the man who decided on my marriage. I wasn't planning on attending in the first place. So," she sighs, relaxing back on her chair, "just go. I don't like repeating myself. It's tiring."

Noah simply nods because he does not want to start anything. But as he was about to leave the office, he overhears her say, "Smirnoff's."

"Did you say something?" Noah immediately turns to Belen only to see her calmly working when she says, "…they like to drink Smirnoff's."

Noah covers the lower half of his face to prevent her from seeing the corner of his lips rise.

"Thank you," he mutters gently.

***

Once Noah left, Belen kept staring at her phone, most accurately glaring at it for some time until she finally sighed, relaxing her shoulders, "I don't want to!" she softly whines.

A few seconds later, she reluctantly picks up the phone to call someone until it's interrupted by another call.

"Hmm," a smirk appears on her face as she answered, clearing her throat, "interesting, I was just about to call you, Dad."

"I want to talk to you, Belen, if you have time."

"I'm on my way to your house," she coldly states, making her dad's voice quiver, "right now?" he coughs, "good, the sooner, the better. Leah isn't here, so you shouldn't feel too bothered."

She snorts, "Bye." As she hung up, Belen tiredly sighed while staring out the window, "tonight is going to be a looong night," she shrugs, exiting her office.

***

Ding dong!

"Someone is at the door, Mabel! Go check! It could be Belen!" Ernestina excitedly shouts in high hopes.

As Mabel opened the door, her eyes widen in surprise but immediately shrink into a smile, "Noah! It's only you, come in."

He softly smiles, "thank you for inviting me, and here," he passes a black bag to Mabel, making her confused, "it's heavy, what is it?"

They make their way to the living room as he explains, "it's a gift, sort of," he laughs to hide his embarrassment.

At that moment, Ernestina hurriedly sways to see who it is, "Oh! Noah. I'm glad you came, we're just about to eat. Take a seat!" she does her best to hide her sad smile.

Noah instead asks, "uh, actually, can I wash my hands first?"

Mabel nods, "yeah, it's down the hall to your left."

Ernestina finally slumped her shoulders back while serving the food, "so Belen did not come with him."

Mabel inwardly sighs, pulling the heavy thing out of the black bag, "ma, these are!"

Ernestina takes a closer look, amazed to see, "Smirnoff's!" her jaw drops.

"How did he know?" Mabel whispers to herself.

"Do you like my little gift?" Noah asks, coming closer to them.

"Noah, how did you know?"

He chuckles, "Belen was the one who advised me to buy them," he smiles, amused by their reaction.

"T-These are our favorite!" Ernestina claims.

Mabel puts them in the fridge, "I used to drink these during my high school parties!"

Noah's eyes widen in shock, "h-high school?"

They giggle, "sorry, you were not supposed to hear that last part," Mabel shyly laughs, "and our favorite flavor too."

Noah went to the liquor to look for the drinks, he had no idea what he was doing and had to ask someone who was in the same aisle for help. Once he found out which ones Belen was referring to, it made him sigh in relief. But the next difficulty came with choosing the flavor. He only recalled Belen telling him about the drinks but not the flavor. Noah was left to contemplate between five different flavors quietly.

In actuality, he could've bought all of them if he really wanted too, but thought it'd be too much and simply took a wild guess.

Seeing how much Mabel and Ernestina continued to praise him only made him feel a bit shy and relieved to see them think it was Belen who thought of them. Especially since he coincidentally got their favorite flavor.

They hear the doorbell ring.

Noah's heart frantically beat, thinking if perhaps it could be Belen but then overhears Ernestina's comment, "it's most likely Iris."

Mabel rushes to open the door when Ernestina says, "we sent Iris out to buy some drinks before you came. We didn't expect you'd bring some, let alone our favorite," she kindly smiles.

He smiles back, "ah, it's no problem. I'm glad Belen helped me."

Ernestina's smile faintly disappears hearing him mention her name, "…Noah, where is Belen?" she lowly asks with sad eyes.

The gaze in her eyes looks exactly like Belen which only makes him shiver, "how can a mother and daughter look so alike yet, her eyes hold different sentiments from Belen's" he wonders to himself.

The two are interrupted by Iris and Mabel, "gosh, what took you so long, Iris?" Ernestina automatically strikes a smile.

"Man! It was packed! And you guys gave me a bunch of complicated alcohol brand names!" Iris grumbles, carrying the 6-packs of beers in both hands.

Noah rushes to help them carry it to the kitchen when Iris gasps, "NOAH!? Oh, snap! What are you doing here?"

"Mabel invited me," he politely smiles, making her blush as he took the heavy 6-pack of beers from her hands.

"Thank you! Wow, I never thought you'd be here, Noah! Welcome!" Iris excitedly hugs him while he is carrying the packs of beer with both hands.

His eyes widened in surprise. Usually, he never allows anyone to lay a finger on him. But seeing as how Iris charged for a hug, it paralyzed him on the spot—flustering Noah as he unknowingly felt her sincerity with that one single hug.

"Oh! I almost forgot, mom. Happy Birthday!" Iris released Noah and went on to hug her mom.

It struck Noah, "how could I forget!" he beats himself up for not saying anything to Ernestina initially.

It's too late. Noah thought it'd be too awkward to congratulate her right after Iris since it might make Ernestina feel as if he really did forget. He has to wait for the right timing to congratulate her.

"Ya esta la Comida! Come sit down," Ernestina strictly announces, making them all obey.

From afar, Ernestina kindly smiled seeing the three because, in her eyes, they looked like children. But her eyes trailed to one missing spot. It so happened to be an empty seat for Belen.

She couldn't help but feel disappointed yet a bit angry, but seeing and hearing the three over at the table casually talking to one another made her a bit happy. At least she has Mabel and Iris, Ernestina thought as she started serving their food.

Noah felt odd, to say the least, sitting together with the three women who Belen hates the most. It was strange because he didn't harbor anything against them. The only thing that bothered him was the fact that they didn't congratulate Belen on her birthday.

The things that Belen revealed to him over the past years did not manage to cloud his judgment. He couldn't tell if they treated him well because he was a guest but he felt comfortable.

Nothing seemed to faze him because the three of them seemed to accept him relatively quickly. Time seemed to pass by slowly, but he didn't complain. He wished the night never ended and tomorrow would take longer to arrive.

Ernestina blasted her favorite banda music on a speaker, but it didn't seem to bother any of them in the least. If anything, they spoke louder and over the music.

Noah couldn't help but feel foreign to their music and movements because when a fast beat song came on, he noticed Ernestina swaying her body to the song's rhythm. Iris would laugh and rock her shoulders.

What made Noah a bit flabbergasted was seeing Mabel finish a whole 6-pack of beers by herself. It was his third time seeing her bring out another pack onto the center of the table.

This is a party, alright, but Noah did not know what to do or react to the music. He understood the lyrics but couldn't comprehend its meaning, especially when a specific song, "La Vaca" exploded in their ears.

He flinched hearing Ernestina shouts, "this song, Mabel! This is our song!"

Noah looked over at Iris only to see her smoke an e-cigarette in the corner near a window and quickly looked back as he felt someone tap his shoulder.

His eyes widened in surprise. It was Mabel, half-drunk, offering him another beer.

"Come on, Noah! Have another one!" she hands him one, lightly taps on the glass, "it's nice and cold," she smirks.

"T-Thanks," Noah hesitantly accepts, "but I still haven't finished."

Mabel stretches her arm to seize the beer bottle on his right, "It's empty," her eyes narrow, suspecting him, "Noah~! Are you lying? You already finished this!" she boldly presses the beer he was about to reject harder in his hand.

"Let loose, Noah~" she lets out a rooster shriek making Noah flinch so fast he felt his heart almost come out of his body in fright.

"M-Mabel?" he stutters, trying to calm her as she jumped down from the chair, landing safely on her wobbly feet.

Ernestina only smiled, "Leave her be, Noah~" he glanced at her flushed face, "a-are they all like this?" he wonders, looking around at Iris casually smoking, Mabel drinking non-stop, doing dangerous stunts. But what impressed Noah the most was seeing Ernestina's smile on her face, "does she like this?"

"By the way, Noah, where is Belen? what time is she coming?" Ernestina casually asks to distract him from Mabel.

"Uh, is she going to be okay?" he awkwardly laughs, referring to Mabel, who is suddenly dancing.

"She's always been like this," Ernestina pays no mind to it, "I'm glad she's able to let loose. It's better for her this way."

Noah sort of understood what Ernestina was talking about. She meant it served as a good distraction for Mabel to get her mind off of Emma.

Thinking about Emma, he suddenly asks, "then who is at the hosp-"

Ernestina winks at him to keep him from finishing his sentence and whispers, "Oscar is watching over her."

Noah looks down, "good," he stares at Mabel in amazement because it's his first time since Korea that he's forced to drink. Normally the company he'd work for would often have after parties and most of the times they invited him.

He was their slave during and even off work. Noah was always in charge of paying for everyone and was most of the time forced to drink heavily because of his boss. One of the main reasons he disliked that kind of culture is because it's imperative to respect those superior to yourself and your elders.

He despised it!

Noah lost in thought, somehow felt the silence odd except for the music in the background. He quickly glanced into the living room, anxiously looking for Mabel.

Iris and Mabel appear coming from the kitchen singing loudly, "Happy Birthday to you~!"

Noah quickly stood up and started clapping his hands to the beat, singing "Happy Birthday to you!"

Mabel clumsily placed the cake at the center of the table and snapped her fingers at something in mid-air. Noah blankly stared at her in confusion when she finally mumbles, "a lighter! Iris, I know your holding one!"

Iris lit the candles on the cake. Ernestina couldn't wipe away the smile off her face when Mabel said, "Iris get with my mom. We're celebrating your birthday too!"

After some time, Ernestina finally cut the cake, and the music resumed. Ernestina was parting the cake into slices and handing them out.

She gave Noah a specifically more significant larger piece than themselves. He is not a fan of sweets but knew it'd be rude of him to decline and chose to stay quiet while taking a few bites every then.

Mabel continued forcing Noah to drink. So far, he was six beers in, compared to Mabel, who was already at most ten beers in. He was speechless because each time he spoke. Suddenly there came Mabel sneaking in and handing him another drink.

He wanted to reject her so severely but found it extremely difficult to refuse and gulped them down for the sake of the bright ambiance.

His face cringed as he forced the beer down his throat glancing at Ernestina's smile fade away, "Do you all celebrate your birthdays together like this?" he curiously asks.

Ernestina nods, "mm, we do. Well, it's been a while. But in the past, I often bought one cake for Iris and Belen," her smile dissuades.

"And yours?" he asks.

"Yes, sometimes mine as well. But I remember Belen hated that she had to share a cake with us," she bitterly smiles, "that's just how she grew up, very spoiled."

Noah felt her words a little harsh and took a deep breath while looking down at his piece of cake, "I don't think that's it at all," he mutters to himself, "maybe she just wanted your attention for that day."

Ernestina didn't hear at all and instead got up to dance with Mabel. Iris was drinking as well on the other side of the living room.

Noah saw this spectacle and only felt deeply hurt for Belen. He recognized, "now I know why you don't like them, Belen. They can't see you as anything but a spoiled sister and daughter," he profoundly sighs as he shut his eyes tightly and chugged down a whole beer in one gulp.

He wipes away his saliva, "I want to change that," he firmly states with determination in his glistening eyes.