Complicated You; Sophisticated Me

Kipp looked around the hall, and that's when he spotted his friends. Five of them - Dennis, Earl, Lyndon, Brad and Mitch.

Dylan was nowhere to be found.

He whispered to Mika, who sat right next to him, "They're here."

Mika frantically searched around, but her gaze fell when she didn't see Dylan. "Why are they-"

"I don't know. Your father must be behind all this. Or Ember."

Mika clenched her fingers. She should have predicted all this. Her father would do anything to make her give in to his whims.

"Let's talk to them," he said urgently. "Come on."

They excused themselves politely from their parents and headed for their friends' table. Earl, Lyndon, and Brad jumped up from their seats.

Brad slung an arm around Mika casually, a wide grin on his face. "Little sister! You look beautiful!"

Lyndon, on the other hand, kissed her hand. "Such a beautiful looking mademoiselle."

Earl hit his head with the back of his hand. "You manwhore. Dylan's going to kill you."

Lyndon just winked.

"Anyway, you guys never told us you were engaged," Brad continued, in a serious tone. "Dylan was just here a while ago. We called him, but he said he didn't want to be bothered. He asked us to stay here and 'watch' whatever would happen."

Mika bit her lip. "I never knew about this engagement."

"I knew about it, but I didn't know it'd be with Mika," Kipp shrugged. Then he looked at Mitch. "Have any ideas where Dylan would be?"

"I don't think he's gone home though," Lyndon added. "He's probably sulking around. Somewhere near here."

"Dylan likes parks," Earl suggested. "Maybe we should look for him there?"

Mika glanced at her father, and then turned back to everyone. "I'll look for him," she volunteered herself. "I'd rather not be here."

"We'll help you look for him. It's dangerous at this time of the night," Brad said, holding a thumb up.

Mika smiled and shook her head. "My dad would find it suspicious if we all disappeared. If Kipp and I were to disappear though, while you guys are still here, he'd probably think we just ran off somewhere."

"So we wait," Mitch sighed. "While you guys run off - "

"While we search for Dylan," Kipp corrected, chuckling. "The nearest park here is Central. He's probably there, since I doubt he'll go too far from here."

Kip and Mika scurried out of the pavilion shortly after, leaving the grand party, and the guys, behind.

~

Dylan looked up at the night sky, sighing. Mika looked so beautiful...so out of reach. It was a side of her that he didn't know. Mika was an heiress. And she was engaged to his best friend.

How cliche, he chuckled bitterly to himself. I didn't think these kinds of situations happened in real life.

He looked at his phone, realized there had been ten missed calls from Mitch. What was happening back at the pavilion, he wondered.

He sighed again and pocketed his phone.

Dylan didn't know how to react, much less how to take it all in. He felt a great lump in his chest, like air couldn't come in and come out from it properly enough.

More than that, he felt incredibly hurt.

"What am I doing?" he muttered to himself, closing his eyes as he sat on a bench under the night sky.

"There you are."

He heard a familiar voice. Mika's? Impossible. She was at the pavilion, celebrating her grand engagement party. How could she be -

Something shadowed over him, and he looked up, saw Mika dressed in her black evening dress, her make-up still on, and her hair tied up.

His heart raced fast.

"Mika?"

Even more so when Mika smiled, which rarely happened, back at him. "Figured you'd be here. They told me you liked parks."

He couldn't utter a word, until he saw, coming up from behind Mika, Kipp. Kipp wore a tux that made him look totally un-Kippish. He didn't really hate him, no. In fact, he was happy Mika had been engaged to him. It stung, but it was all right.

At least he was absolutely sure that Mika wouldn't be sad with him on her side.

Dylan's eyes fell as he said, "Congrats." He meant it, but it didn't sound convincing enough. "I'm sorry I left."

"I escorted her here, Dyl," Kipp said with a kind smile. "Pardonnez moi," he said, excusing himself and started to leave. "Work it out, you two."

Dylan raised a brow. "Hey, what?"

Kipp looked back, winked, and said, "My job here is done."

Finally, he left, leaving Mika and Dylan in silence. Dylan looked up at Mika. Her hands were balled into fists, her face redder than her blush-on. Almost instantly, blood rushed to his face, painting his cheeks.

Slowly, Mika sat beside him, still tensed.

"So," Dylan figured he had to begin. "You're Mikayla Jaden Halloway of the Halloway Enterprises."

Mika nodded.

"That's a pretty big name."

"And a pretty lousy one too," Mika answered, sighing. "Trace was my mother's middle name. I thought I hid myself well from them. From my family, I mean."

"You ran away," he said matter-of-factly. "Why?"

Mika glanced heaven-ward, watching the stars twinkling from the distance. "I didn't want to be Mikayla Jaden Halloway, daughter of a business extraordinaire. I want to be Mikayla Jaden Trace, Lucillia Trace's free daughter. My mom, you know, she loved my dad very much. But she wasn't the kind of woman that could be tied down. She travelled a lot, even though she had a weak body. I woke up one day and found out she passed away."

"I'm sorry you had to - "

Mika shook her head reassuringly. "I'm all right now," she said. "I mean, Granny Cordelia took me in under her wing. Then, everyone made me feel like I was normal. I met you guys and suddenly, I don't feel so alone anymore."

Then her face flushed again, and she looked down.

"Meeting you was the best part of my life," Dylan said shortly. "I used to smile at everything, at anything. It started when Heather told me I was too blunt. That my bluntness hurt everyone around me. Ever since then, I did and said things out of politeness. Then you came and I just...felt that I needed to change. Every word I say to you...I mean them all."

He took off his coat and wrapped them around her bare shoulders, as tears fell off from Mika's eyes.

"I-I'm sorry," he apologized quickly as soon as he noticed her crying.

"It's not that, you idiot," she answered, chuckling and crying at the same time. "It's just that...I've never felt this way before. Not since mom left. I've never felt this happy."

Dylan's heart raced again. His fingers found their way to hers, interlacing together. They remained silent, sitting on that bench side by side, breathing the same air, with their hands warming them up.

They didn't need words.

And yet they both knew that it was love.