Chapter 19

It was then the front door was open and the loud noise of two young women arguing reached them.

"No, you were supposed to look both ways. It's your fault. If you were to pay attention instead of going off into la-la land like you always do," Soriya said firmly, "you wouldn't have crashed our car into his!"

"Me? la-la land?" Dara snapped back in outrage. "You're the one who's always in la-la land. If you must know, dear sister, I was looking both ways! That bastard came out of nowhere, and he blamed me—me! I'm a perfect driver. I've never had any accident since I started learning how to drive. Then he came along and—" She released a frustrated growl.

Inside the living room, Chan smiled apologetically.

Alex chuckled. She could totally understand.

"Siblings, huh?" she asked, as she knew these arguments were a sign of love. She and her sister, Emma, had always argued, even now, though less since the two had hardly seen each other since Alex moved away to live in America.

The two sisters came strutting into the open-plan living area, bags of groceries in their hands. Just as they walked through the doorway, they saw Alex and had to do a double take.

"Hey, girls." Alex waved at the sisters, who looked more than a little shocked at the sight of her.

Dara gained her composure first. "Hey, Alex," she said, coming into the room. "I'm just going to put these away first, okay?" With Alex's nod, she headed off toward the kitchen.

"Don't worry about her," Soriya said. "She crashed into a super-hot silver Ferrari."

"I did not!" Dara snapped from behind the counter. She gave her sister a daggered stare as she dumped the food items on the countertop. "He crashed into me." She proceeded to take stuff out: a bottle of milk, a tray of eggs, vegetables, etc.

Soriya shook her head. "There's no changing her mind once she's decided on something, and she decided she didn't crash into that car. And it held an even hotter guy."

"He is not hot!" Dara said. "He is rude and arrogant and full of himself and full of shit."

"I bet he's full of money, too," Soriya said, chuckling away enthusiastically.

Alex laughed and winked at Chan.

Chan simply grinned and kept quiet because she knew it was better not to get involved when the two sisters started their arguments. Soon, the debate would stop and the sisters would be the best of friends once again.

Soriya, after dumping the plastic bags on the countertop, ditched her sister and came to sit beside Alex.

"Why are you laughing, Alex?" Dara asked, rather annoyed Alex found her situation humorous. "Now I have to call the insurance company. Our premium is so going to go up, and I have to pay excess to fix that small dent on that stupid expensive Ferrari." Then she turned her attention to Soriya and voiced her query. "And what are you doing there, Soriya? Come and help me with these." She pointed to the bags of groceries on the countertop.

"They can stay there for a while," Soriya said, waving her hand, ignoring her sister.

Chan knew there was no helping it. Soriya, as the baby of the house, was always a bit on the lazy side where housework was concerned. It was better she help and get things over and done with.

"I'm coming to help."

Being the baby of the family, Soriya could afford to ignore Dara's fuming glare without too much trouble. She turned back to Alex and said, "Where's that adorable Andy? I want to see him. I want to kiss him."

Alex laughed. "He's with his nanny at the moment. I wanted to come and see you guys, and bringing him with me now wasn't a good idea."

"And your hot hubby?" Soriya asked.

"Work. He's having a meeting with his friend," Alex said. "That's why I've managed to sneak out." Without getting too lost, she could add, since she was notoriously bad with maps and directions, especially in a city she'd never been to before. That was why bringing little Andy along wasn't a good idea.

"Men," Soriya said. "They always work, even on Saturday. But I can't wait until tonight. We get to dress up, go out to eat with Nikki, Ruby, Isa, and Georgie in one of the hottest restaurants in town, and then go dancing. It's going to be awesome."

Dara laughed loudly and sarcastically. "You make it sound like they're your friends."

"Of course they are," Soriya said. "Any friend of Chan's is a friend of mine." She turned to Alex. "Isn't that right?"

Alex laughed. "Yes. That's right. By the way, you guys want to officially meet Andy?"

"Yes!" all three sisters shouted out in unison.

"And would you all like to come and get dressed at the hotel?"

"Oh my God! Yes! Yes! Yes, a thousand times," Soriya said. "I'll go and get my makeup bag and dress."

"Don't forget your shoes," Dara said, rushing out the door as well, their fight forgotten.

Alex smiled and then turned to Chan. "And you?"

Chan said, "Thanks."

"Oh, by the way, we're meeting with Georgie for lunch, too."

"Yeah. Sure. I'm so glad she could make it."

"Yeah," Alex said. "Come on. We'll get your things together."