My Crazy Housemate: What Makes You Happy

Mia remained in one of the toilet cubicle where she had gone to relieve her bowel, wishing she could remain there throughout the night. Leo's family was so large and she could remember the nasty glares she received from a lot of the young ladies present there. She guessed they were either his cousins who didn't approve of her, or ladies he had had a thing with in the past or ladies who were crushing on him. 

So far, the only nice people had been his grandparents. Grandmother had told that after the party, the family was going to gather together and get to know her properly. This was just a 'of love' as grandmother had put it. Mia thought it was weird. Weren't they supposed to know her first before a party? What if they didn't approve of her afterwards? But Leo had said it was because his grandmother was so excited about her that she had done it without thinking logically, and naturally, every member of the King family was to obey since she was like the Empress. 

Breathe in, Breathe out. 

She repeated for a while. The anxiety was eating her up and she felt like throwing up. 

She hoped his grandparents wouldn't ask her too many questions. She was sure Chloe wouldn't since she rarely spoke and already knew about her, and Louis...

Remembering Louis, suddenly gave her shivers. Those piercing eyes of his. She could still remember how he had been looking at her like he was a Vampire. She had been a bit scared and kept moving closer to Leo until he asked,

"Still very nervous?" Leo assumed as he felt Mia coming really close until it seemed like she was about to merge their bodies together to form one. 

When Mia looked away from Louis and snapped and looked up at her boyfriend, she then realised how close they both really where at the moment. 

"I would have kissed you right now to make you feel better but a lot of people are watching." He said in a flirty tone which made her hit his arm playfully, and a bit relieved. 

"Stop saying things like that." She said with a flushed face before looking away from him while he chuckled at how adorable she looked. 

He had just let her hit him in front of hundreds of people yet, thought she was adorable. 

"Can you... ruffle your hair a little bit?" She had asked. She didn't like the fact that they were all looking almost like the same person except for Louis' blazer which made them look different. 

"Really? Why?" 

Mia looked at Louis' direction. He was no longer standing in that position but had taken a few steps away from there and was currently engrossed in a conversation with an elderly man, with a smile on his face.

Leo followed her eyes and noticed where she was looking at. 

"Are you worried you would get confused?" He asked with an amused smile but she didn't smile back. Her face looked serious so he looked at her seriously also.

"He is creepy. I don't like him." She confessed. If Louis was in talking terms with her while also giving her those creepy stares, she would have only thought him annoying. But since he usually didn't speak with her and gave her those stares, it made her uncomfortable because she didn't know what he was thinking.

"Wow! This is the first time someone prefers me to him and I am happy it is you." He said in amus.e.m.e.nt.

"I'll always prefer you to anyone else." She said seriously. 

He led his hand to his hair and ran his hand through it until he looked a bit like his usual self. 

"Happy now?" He asked her with a warm smile which Mia returned. 

"Happy now!" She said with a nod but Leo noticed she was still a but tensed.

"Maybe we should sneak out and go get some fresh air?" He offered but she quickly shook her head. "Everyone is going to notice. I'll just go use the restroom and be right back."

After more than 5 minutes, she still remained inside the restroom. She was at least thankful to grandmother for making it possible that the guests didn't say more than a 'Hi' to them. How would she have coped? 

*******

"There you are!" Amara said when she saw Chloe sitting in a hidden corner and not bothering to socialise like the rest. 

"You came." Chloe said dourly as she looked at her. 

"Yea, traffic was terrible. Been searching around for you since I got. Why are you alone here?" She asked as she took the seat beside Chloe and dr.a.p.ed her hand around her shoulder. 

"Wanted to be alone. Where is your brother?" Chloe asked curiously. 

"You weren't really expecting him to come here right? After everything." Amara asked as her eyes strayed towards Leo's direction. Mia wasn't beside him but he was speaking with Richard and had a really big smile on his face. 

"Leo seem really happy." She noted.

Chloe looked at his direction and nodded in agreement. He did look really happy. So happy that she was jealous. 

"What happened to you earlier today?" Amara asked, turning very serious now.

Chloe knew Amara was definitely going to ask so she sighed. "It's nothing." 

"Dont give me that. You didn't sound okay earlier and why did you turn off your phone when I was so damn worried about you?" She complained with obvious displeasure and worry on her face. 

"I just... wanted to be alon—"

"Your parents did something?" Amara whispered. She couldn't imagine anything else that was capable of making Chloe cry except that. 

"I really do not know what happened to me." Chloe confessed, looking really serious. "It just... happened."

Amara was quietly for a while as she simply looked at Chloe's face, waiting for her to say something. 

"I had a little chat with Jeremy today, he wanted me to fire him." She confessed, without looking at her friend. 

"What? Why?" Amara asked immediately. "He doesn't like his job? You aren't paying him well?" Amara asked as she tried to make sense of everything. She knew Jeremy liked Chloe, it was as obvious as day so why did he want her to fire him?

"He wasn't happy I went on a date and..."

"Aww... poor boy." Amara interrupted with a sad sigh. 

"Bet he couldn't handle that." She said thoughtfully before covering Chloe's hand which was on the table with hers. 

Chloe had been expecting Amara to ask her why she was sad because of that since she had been asking herself that question also. But surprisingly, Amara wasn't asking. 

"So what are you going to do? Fire him?" 

"I can't do that." 

"Why can't you?" Amara asked with her curious eyes on Chloe.

"I can't. I.. don't want to." Chloe said in a tight voice. "I like seeing him around." She confessed with her head down. 

"I know. He's an adorable kid."

"He isn't a kid." Choke snapped immediately. 

"Sorry," Amara chuckled a bit. "But he's too adorable, he reminds me of a cute little puppy."

"So seriously, you have to make up your mind." Amara suddenly turned serious. 

"Dude loves you. You can't keep him around you if you are never going to reciprocate. It would break him and although I do not really know much about him, I think it won't be good to see him looking depressed."

"What would you have me do?" Chloe asked with a 'there's nothing I can do about it' voice. 

"You either date him or fire him. He's smart, I tell you." Amara said with a smile. This wasn't the time to start teasing her friend since Chloe wasn't in a good mood, else she would have had fun doing so. 

"I can't do either of them. I can't date him, goodness!"

"Why can't you? You dated David before so why can't you risk it this time? And you obviously do like Jeremy."

"When I dated David, my mother wasn't already thinking of setting me up on a bind date, I was younger back then!— And why are you smiling?" Chloe asked in annoyance when Amara suddenly smiled impishly. 

"You know you didn't deny not liking Jeremy. And I won't blame you for it. If you didn't fall for his charms then I would have concluded you were possessed and required exorcism."

Chloe was a bit taken aback and fl.u.s.tered. "I... do not like him. That's absurd!" 

"Then tell me what you hate about him. His smile?" 

Chloe shook her head. He had a really pretty smile.

"His hair?" 

She shook her head again. She liked his hair, a lot.

"His body built?"

Of course not! Jeremy had a great body even though she hadn't seen him topless before. She hopes he never takes off his shirt  in front of her because she was a sucker for abs.

"His naivety?" 

"It's cute." Chloe answered with a smile before she could stop herself. 

Seeing a broad teasing smile on Amara's face, she realised her slip and her cheeks flushed. 

She quickly stood up and hurried away from her while Amara giggled. 

It was after Chloe ran away that Amara remembered she wanted to confirm if her blind date had really been Kelvin, when she called in the morning. Because she had seen a photo of the two of them sitting down in a fancy restaurant and heard from Benjamin that the picture was sent to one of their school's entertainment group chat.