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As Reika was watching her ex and his new partner glide across the ballroom floor with practiced dance, she couldn’t help but smile.
A voice on her left spoke up, “Turns out he was into men after all, huh?”
Reika stopped sipping from her wine glass and glanced at the person standing next to her. A woman her age with dark, warm eyes and curly black hair in a flowy yellow gown. Reika’s own lavender frilly dress was no match, it seemed.
“Um– Yes, I suppose.” Reika admitted , albeit a bit stunned by the woman’s sudden presence.
After all, the biggest event of last year’s season had been the reveal of the romantic relationship of Lord Vladimir and Mr Wilko. It happened at a ball hosted by Count Roman, who happened to be Vladimir’s father.
For whatever reasons – be it this woman’s boldness or beauty – Reika was intrigued. And decided to tell something that only her family and close friends knew of. “I dated Lord Vladimir once.”
She did not dare to meet the woman’s eyes after such a confession, and instead looked at her from the corner of her eye to gauge a reaction.
“No way, me too!” the woman laughed.
Reika did a double take and turned to her fully. “What?” She put her empty glass of wine down in the windowsill behind her.
“I am serious. I dated Lord Vladimir for a short while right before he started seeing Wilko,” the woman spoke so freely about the matter that Reika thought there must be more to simply having dated Vladimir. A look of pride crossed the woman’s face. “In fact, I was the one who introduced them to each other.”
As much as Reika wanted to hear more, it was the reality she was hit with of how she had no idea of who this woman making conversation with her was. In no way, shape or form could Reika start a gossip session without knowing if this was some kind of royal from a foreign land who could have Reika banned for undignified behaviour. A reputation–ruining scandal waiting to happen, so to say.
“I’m sorry, but what did you say your name was?” An attempt at politeness was made.
“Oh, my apologies. Rhea’s the name.”
Reika glanced briefly at Vladimir and the other man gliding across the dance floor before looking back at the woman. “Mr Wilko’s sister?” she asked. “That would be correct.” Rhea replied.
The two women fell into a comfortable silence, content with each other’s presence while taking in the party from the sidelines. After a while, Rhea nodded her head to a man across the ballroom, who stared back at them. “Who is that man that keeps watching you?” she almost sounded bothered. Almost.
“That would be Mr. Kross. A persistent man, I’ll give him that, but a dreadful partner in conversation,”
Reika admitted . “But he is quite the dancer.”
“Really?”
“Mhm. He asked me a handful of times last season.”
The two women let their gaze drift back to the guests on the floor who waltzed to the classical tune performed by a small orchestra on the other side of the room.
Rhea briefly glanced down, building up courage to ask the beautiful lady next to her for a dance. Reika didn’t seem to notice her hesitance, looking at the flurry of the swishing gowns that passed by on the dance floor.
Finally, Rhea breathed out and turned to Reika, “Would you care to dance?”
Reika turned her face, studying Rhea’s face, seeking out the genuinity on her face. The small smile on Rhea sent her made Reika’s heart race like never before. She fumbled as she replied, “Um, sure.”
“Before we take to the dance floor, would the friendly lady be so kind as to reveal her name?”
Reika flushed with embarrassment. “Oh, right. How foolish of me. My name is Reika.”
“Well then, Miss Reika, would you make me the happiest woman and do me the honour of having this dance?”
Rhea held her hand out for Reika to take. Circumspectly, Reika slipped her in Rhea’s. “I will, though I must warn you. I am an awful dancer.”
Rhea snickered, “I am sure you’ll do wonderful.”
As they took to the dance floor a new song began to play. A folk dance both women had seen countless times before. It was festive, fast–paced and made the participants bounce around in circles as elegantly as possible. For a moment, Reika hesitated. Was she really about to dance with this lovely woman and embarrass herself at the same time? Time to rethink her decisions was not an option it seemed as Rhea gave her an encouraging squeeze of her hand before pulling Reika to the middle of the ballroom.
The speed at which Rhea and Reika swirled across the floor seemed to match the whirl-wind pace at which Reika’s thoughts were racing. She entertained herself with thoughts of spending the rest of the season with Rhea by her side. She was a good partner in conversation and her wit was something Reika was already getting used to. Her dancing was unmatched too. A smile broke onto Rhea’s face, she was sure she hadn’t felt this joyous in ages.
As they hopped around, circling around one another and stared into each other’s eyes, Rhea dared to dream of a future where every day she would share little moments of pure happiness like this with Reika.
When the dance ended, Reika was the one to grab onto Rhea’s hand and pull her aside. The place they found was next to a long window, illuminating them with light from the moon outside that shone down upon them.
The two women stood opposite each other. Not a word was said yet they understood. Ever so slowly Rhea reached forward. She caressed Reika’s cheek delicately with one hand as the other hand remained intertwined with Reika’s. The tension between them seemed to soar. Like the orchestra’s violins building up to the crescendo of a song. Rhea could hear her own heartbeat thump rapidly in her ear. That was, until she pressed her lips to Reika’s right cheek.
As quick as the lips brushed across the skin, so soon was Rhea to return to her original position of simply cradling Reika’s other cheek.
Reika blinked, confused for a second, before surging forward and enveloping Rhea in a searing kiss on the lips. When she pulled back after a few seconds, she held Rhea’s cheek the same way the woman did to Reika.
Letting slowly go of Rhea’s hand and face and taking a step back, Reika saw the look on Rhea’s face, who looked at her wide-eyed, still processing what just happened.
Seeing the woman’s gaze, panic set in. “I’m sorry!” Gone was the perfectly put-together girl her family was familiar with as she spiralled into a bumbling mess, trying to profusely apologise. “I– I am so sorry. I don’t know– I am not usually like this, I promise. You see, usually I am quite composed and a fair lady, please understand. Nothing I do is ever going to make this right, I know that. And I won’t ask for your forgiveness but please, please know I am terribly sorry…”
Her rant was interrupted by Rhea. She took hold of Reika’s hand and her eyes softened. “I wish for you to know that I do not want you to ask for forgiveness. Simply because there is nothing to forgive you for. I would, if you did something wrong. But to me, this is merely the clumsy start of a beautiful partnership I would be willing to proceed with if that is your desire as well?”
Reika gulped. “I… I would… That is what I wish for too.”
Rhea beamed. It made a new smile appear on Reika’s face. “Good. Because I cannot describe how much it would pain me to leave without confessing to such a pretty lady like yourself.”
Reika blushed furiously. Her cheeks painted crimson and a redness creeping up her neck.
“I look forward to seeing you at the next ball, Miss Reika.”
And with that, Rhea walked off, the feeling of Reika’s lips lingering on her own. At the same time, Reika hurried to open her fan to feign feeling hot.
Before leaving the ball, Rhea looked back one more time. She caught Reika’s eyes and blew her a hand-kiss from across the room. And once again, Reika was sent reeling, the colour of her pink fan matching her reddening face.