"Lilian, I…..." Mrs Gilbert paused before she continued to speak sniffling the second time.
"Lilian, are you really going to ignore my request? Please just this time?" Mrs Gilbert pleading to Mrs Perlman to listen to her. It seems there's a long story behind this request which made Mrs Perlman shake her head in negative response at the other side of the phone.
"Yes, I've made my decision." Mrs Perlman smiled slightly.
"You're so stubborn." Mrs Gilbert blurted loudly before ending the call suddenly, slamming her phone on the desk in a frown. "You both never listen to me." She muttered staring at the picture frame.
Mrs Perlman dropped the phone from her ear slowly as she stared at the screen.
She clicked some applications on her phone for a while before retiring to the bed to rest.
While the morning became more clearer with the sun shining brightly, Riley was woken up by the door banging noise outside her room. She quickly stood up from the bed grabbing her phone along. She strode towards the door pushing it open in a rush.
"What's going on?" Riley muttered stepping out of the room only to see Aunt Mia sitting on the couch with her legs crossed as she continues to spin the key on her finger. Zoey banged the door of her room continuously without caring about the people sleeping.
"Do you think you can outsmart me? You're not going anywhere." Mia scolded loudly.
"Mom, please open the door. I have to go for my class." Zoey pleaded while banging the door.
Shortly after, Mia noticed someone standing watching them from a corner.
"What are you looking at?" Mia screamed at Riley suddenly.
Riley raised an eyebrow before strolling towards her mother's room.
"And why the noise early in the morning?" She muttered and folded her arms after.
She opened the door gently while trying to peep at her mother only to be greeted by the sight of her mother sitting on the task chair and working on her desk. Mrs Perlman had a pair of glasses on her eyes as she watched research videos on her tablet.
"Mom? Why aren't you sleeping?" Riley asked with her two hands on her waist.
"Rye?" Mrs Perlman widened her eyes while looking through the glasses.
"I thought you came back this morning. You should be on your bed having a good rest." Riley walked towards her mother and removed the glasses on her eyes. She placed them gently on her desk before sitting on the bed.
"Rye, I'm fine. I just needed to review some things." Mrs Perlman stood up from the task chair and sat beside her daughter on the bed.
Ignoring the noise outside Mrs Perlman's room, Riley and her mother sighed before they continued their conversation.
"Did you receive the documents I sent to you?" Mrs Perlman stared at her directly.
"You sent me a document on my phone? I haven't checked it yet." Riley quickly checked her phone to see if she received any mail. And it's indeed true. Mrs Perlman sent her a file through her email.
She tapped on the file and read the documents. On the first page of the document, a picture of a man in black tuxedo was attached to it.
"He…" Riley muttered as her head tilt to the side while staring at the picture.
"Do you know him?" Mrs Perlman asked with a smile while staring at her.
"Not really, I just feel like I've met him somewhere before." Riley stared at the picture again before scrolling down to see other information about him.
Mrs Perlman sent a documented file to her daughter containing information about her soon to be husband.
"He's the Ceo of FX architects?" Riley gasped and screamed loudly before covering her mouth with her eyes wide opened.
She quickly turned to her mother and point to the phone on her lap. "I'm getting married to… him? My soon to be boss?" Riley asked with her eyes wide opened.
"What's wrong? You don't like him already?" Mrs Perlman chuckled.
"Mom, this is not funny. He…. I can't do this." Riley whined to her mother. "What if he's cold to me? What if he won't like me?" Riley batting her eyelids continuously.
"How do you know he'll be cold to you? Why don't you meet him first before complaining he won't like you?" Mrs Perlman pinched her nose.
"But…. I'm scared. What if he doesn't give me attention? This is an arranged marriage, it won't be easy to fall in love with someone you don't know." Riley muttered.
"Do you trust me?" Mrs Perlman asked while patting her head.
Riley nodded. "Then it's good. I'm sure you'll have a good relationship with him." Mrs Perlman assured. Next second, she stood up and grabbed her bag handing Riley her card.
"Here, make sure you get a beautiful dress for yourself. Remember you'll be going on a date soon? And I want you to look your best." Mrs Perlman smiled softly.
"Yes mom, I remember." Just then she mumbled and sighed.
"When is your interview?"
"Tomorrow morning." Riley pouted.
"Okay, I'll send your number to him so he can call you later about the date." Mrs Perlman announced while typing on her phone.
Riley heard her mother well and her heart beat increased. She swallowed her saliva and then placed a palm on her chest to massaged it gently. "Riley it's just a call not a death note." She muttered to herself before strolling out to her room.
Towards noon time, Riley dress up to meet her friends in a cozy restaurant nearby the school premises. They decided to meet there since Veda will be rounding up her practice session and the restaurant is one of the favorites spots for students.
Riley was the first to arrive at the spot and reserved the seat for her friends.
"Why are you both so late? I've been waiting for hours." Riley waved immediately she saw her friends.
"What do you mean for hours? We know you always exaggerate when it comes to time. So, you only spent few minutes here." Veda replied while dragging the chair out to sit.
"That's true. Our punctual friend."Ruby chuckled.
"It's not funny. I was eager to see you both." Riley mumbled.
They continued to chat as laughter filled the hall completely. Ruby even went on to hit the table as her laughter grew louder. Riley and Veda had to shush her up to reduce the noise as eyes were already glaring at them.
"Ruby, you need to reduce the volume of your laughter." Riley whispered.
"I think she has a speaker in her throat." Veda chimed before sipping her juice.
The other two laughed out immediately Veda finished her statement causing Ruby to hit Riley's shoulder hard.