"Hello there, Miss." A male voice called a few feet away from Ava. "You look absolutely gorgeous tonight. Would you care for a drink with me?"
It was a masked man who looked to be in his mid twenties. There was a polite smile plastered on his face but the way his eyes scanned Ava would make anyone shiver in disgust.
Kiera quickly laced her fingers with Ava's own and gave the man a piercing glare. "Can't you see she's with me?"
The man's eyes dropped to where their fingers were intertwined and his smile dropped a little. "Oh, I see… that's a bit of a shame." He said then smirked lightly at Ava. "But if you do change your mind, come find me."
"What a gross dude." Kiera spat irritatingly after he left.
Ava could only press her lips together to suppress her laughter at her friend's harsh words.
Just then, the earpiece in her ear crackled to life and a male voice came through.
"If you can hear me, tilt your head to the side a little." Vince said and they all did as he instructed. "Good… our mission and the reason for our attendance here… is to gather information."
Ava looked shocked. 'Just that?'
"The mission's simple. Move around, talk and take note of everything that's important." Vince ordered. "We'll meet after the party to sort things out."
Kiera and Ava exchanged looks and it looked like they shared the same thought. Was there more to this "simple" mission that they didn't know about?
"Ahem." Kiera cleared her throat with a lopsided grin. "Hey, it's pretty good, isn't it? At least we don't have to kill anyone."
Ava pursed her lips and nodded. "Yeah".
She was definitely relieved at that fact. Still, she didn't feel good about the mission, not one bit.
'What kind of information are we supposed to gather? He didn't even give us the details…'
"We should go our Separate ways now." Walter voiced, obviously anxious to get away from them as fast as possible. "We'll meet back at the meeting point when we're done."
Kiera nodded her head at him as he left and rubbed Ava's lower back soothingly. "Good luck, Cookie."
Ava forced a smile. "Yeah, you too." She said, as she watched Kiera walk over to a group of giggling women.
She scanned the party and the bustling people around her, not sure where to begin. After a moment, her stomach let out a low growl and she quickly placed a hand on it as if to keep it quiet.
Her lips twitched. 'Well… looks like I know where I'm going first…'
She was clearly hungry after that scary situation earlier, so she decided she might as well go to the snack table.
'What… what are all of these…?' Ava thought in shock, wide-eyed as she stared at the table in front of her.
Nothing looked familiar… nothing.
Of course, she had been to a quite a number of parties but at least she saw a few dishes she was familiar with, something she could eat without looking out of place…
Well, they weren't rich people parties… just regular ones. The only people in her group who attended these kinds of parties often were Vince and Coyle.
The rest of them were always in the shadows.
'Oh… Oh my God…' Ava thought as she unconsciously covered her mouth. 'I'm doomed… I can't eat any of this… but I'm so hungry…'
Was this what rich people were like?
She started to back away from the table one small step at a time. 'Maybe I'll just drink something instead… Urgh… are those… fish eggs? Caviar… right… It looks gross. They eat that? Unbelievable… rich people are weird.'
"Are you allergic?" A hoarse male voice suddenly sounded from right behind her.
Ava turned her head around sharply in surprise to meet a pair of beautiful emerald green eyes staring down at her. His raven black hair was combed clean and he was ridiculously tall and pale.
"Oh…" Ava exclaimed in a small voice. He was the man she saw when she was trying to kill Evie Alrosa. What… was his name again? Eitan?
'He looks even better up close…'
Eitan raised a brow at her curiously and Ava quickly came back to her senses.
"Oh… Hello." She said, tucking a few strands of loose hair behind her ear and thinking for a moment. "...A–allergic to what?"
Eitan gestured with his chin. "To the caviar, I mean."
Ava followed his gaze briefly before she turned back to face him. "Oh, yes!" She responded instantly, her eyes darted to the side to avoid meeting his gaze. "I'm… I'm quite allergic to everything here you see…"
Eitan's lips twitched slightly and he frowned. "I don't think that's possible."
'He almost laughed just now, didn't he?' Ava thought suspiciously, a little offended and a little surprised too. His features looked so cold, like someone who wasn't capable of smiling in years…
Ava pursed her lips. "Well, I'm telling you, aren't I?"
'In a way I'm speaking the truth.' She said inwardly. 'I literally can't eat anything here… I just might puke.'
Eitan studied her for a bit before he put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "I see…"
Ava wanted to crawl into a hole and hide. 'There's no way he bought that…'
"Hmm… you must be a nouveau riche then." He concluded.
'Huh?! What's that?' Ava couldn't help but ask herself. She felt incredibly stupid and at this rate she was going to be caught.
Her eyes darted around. "Umm…"
Eitan tilted his head slightly to the side. "It means you're new money."
"Oh." Ava blushed, a bit embarrassed. "Yes… yes I am." She lied. "Quite obvious, isn't it?"
Eitan nodded and walked around her to the other side of the long table. "You must not have tasted many of these since you're new to it." He said scanning the snacks on the table before pointing at a plate filled with a desert that looked like coloured sandwich cookies.
"Why don't you try these?" He asked.
Ava seemed doubtful. "They sure look… okay… but are they any good?"
Eitan shoved his hands into his pockets and tilted his head. "I wouldn't recommend them to you if they weren't."
'Well, rich people have weird tastes!' Ava yelled inwardly before she hesitantly picked up one of the snacks and took a small bite out of it.
It was crisp and chewy. "It's sweet!" Ava exclaimed happily, she was so overjoyed that she could cry. "Ah… finally something I can eat! I was so hungry…"
Hah...
Ava froze. "Did you just... sigh?"
"I didn't." Eitan answered simply with a fist to his mouth. "You must have misheard."
Ava stared up at him. 'There's no way I misheard. He definitely sighed... did I do something odd?'
Eitan watched her carefully. "You're... quite different from the rest of the people at this party. It's probably because you look lively."
Ava blinked, surprised. He had said that with such an indifferent face and voice but it was the most genuine thing a total stranger had ever said to her.
He seemed so nice though. To think she had almost murdered a friend of his earlier.