"Just.suck.it.in" My mother said to me as she used all her strength to tighten my corset. The event starts in 56 minutes and that's 45 minutes on the road so that leaves us with 11 minutes to get out of the house. Because the event requires a high level of elegance , I decided to wear a full length corset gown with silver jewelry and my hair packed in a tight bun .

"It's okay. It's getting a little bit too tight " I said, starting to feel a little bit uncomfortable

"Okay ,that's good . Get your purse and meet me outside " my mom said in a hurry .I wish I looked like her It barely took her 20 minutes to get ready. she doesn't need a corset because her waist is basically non-existent,her skin is as smooth as glass, it's perfect canvas to lay her foundation on , and most importantly she doesn't need an hour to put her hair in a slik bun .

"Eleanor!are you coming or what!?" My mom screamed from downstairs snapping me out of my envious thoughts.

In exactly 45 minutes later we arrived at our destination and it did not disappoint. The chen's mansion was by far bigger than the one I had in my home country. There were luxury cars littered everywhere and the guests looked as equally luxurious.

"Okay El remember to keep your chin up,smile ,and don't eat anything messy " my mom said as we enter the ball room . I rolled my eyes at her reminder . This is my first time attending an event like this . We walked in then stood still for few seconds getting ready to socialize when my mom recognized someone she knew.

"Mei Manu is that you? Wow it's been such a long time. Oh my goodness, is this your daughter? " the strange woman asked with an excitement that could easily be mistaken for a real one

"Mrs Kita ,how lovely to see you here and yes this is my daughter Eleanor. I've been thinking about reaching out for a year now" My mom said with an equally convincing smile. I looked at the woman annalising her with a smile trying to remember where I've heard her name from . Then it hit me , her son was sued a year ago for embezzlement and my mom was asked to represent him. According to my mother, her son was a dense fraud and his mother was even worse.

"Wow . Eleanor you're almost as pretty as your mother . In my 75 years of life I have learnt that beauty can only take you so far. You have to have both brains and beauty " she said in such a sophisticated manner that made it easy to ignore her irrelevant commentary. I put on my most elegant smile ready to reply her but I paused when I noticed that her face suddenly lit up staring at someone behind me.

"Oh Mr chen. What a lovely evening we are having. You definitely out did yourself this year. Who is that dashing young man next to you ? Is he you son?" Mrs Kits asked with more elegance and a fake... british accent?I turned around to see who she was talking to and I was met with a decent looking man with his hair slicked back and next to him was someone I didn't expect to see

"Haru!?" I exclaimed breaking my perfect elegant daughter facade. I starred at him for a while . He looked different. He was dressed in a black suit with a velvet green cravat that made him look stunning which was a huge contrast to his usual puppy look

"Oh you know my son?" Mr chen - Haru's father asked me. I quickly pulled myself from my initial shock and comported myself

"Yes sir . We go to the same school. We're actually friends " I said almost sweetly

"Oh really? I didn't know that my Haru has started making friends. He always has his nose in his books , I was almost afraid that he'll never make friends " Haru's dad said

"Oh yes , they are such good friends. My daughter Eleanor has told me so much about your son. He is such a sweet and charming young man . You did such a wonderful job raising him" My mom said lying through her teeth. I have never mentioned Haru to her befor before

"Well I try my best . After his mother passed away I was left with the responsibility to raise our only son alone. I cook for him and help him with his homework , I try my best to always make time for him. You know he's autistic so I had to put in extra of everything into raising him and now I'm so proud of the man he is becoming. " Mr Chen said proudly and lovingly. I looked at Haru expecting him to look at his father with adoration but instead he had a blank expression on his face.

"Wow , that is so beautiful. I aspire to be half the parent that you are " My mom said to him clearly trying to get on his good side

"Oh its not that hard. Hey since you kids know each other , why don't to you both run along and go do what kids your age do" Mr chen suggested . I looked at my mom trying to guage her reaction and she gave me the 'don't fuck this up for me 'look so I took that as a yes and allowed Haru to take my hand and take me to wherever he felt like

"Wow Haru I knew you were loaded but not this loaded " I say to him as we push through the crowd of people. I didn't know his family was this rich because he didn't act like most of the people I knew

"Well, you never asked" he replied with a smile that looked painful. I miss his puppy smile He led me through a long hallway, and then he suddenly stopped in front of a door

"Umm, Eleanor, do you want to come into my room?" I have something to give you, Haru asked me . When he saw that I made no move to protest, he opened the door and led me to the center of his room . He let my hand go the walked to the closet to get something. His room is bigger than mine ,it even has a balcony attached to it, but unlike mine, his room looks rather childish. There are messy crayon drawings on the wall, and children toys littered everywhere Haru still plays with toy trucks? I was looking around when I noticed something I recognized on his bed his sketchbook I opened it expecting to see the drawing of me completed but instead I saw only the drawings of my eyes. Even though it's just my eyes I was stunned because of how detailed it was .

"Why did you draw only my eyes?" I asked him as he came out of his closet holding a box and a bottle of...whiskey?

"Sorry,I was so fixated on your eyes that I forgot to memorize the rest of your face" Haru said casually. He looks a lot more relaxed now that we are in his room

"You drink? Aren't you underaged?" I asked looking at the drink in his hand

"Im not underaged, I'm 19. The legal age for drinking is 18" Haru said shrugging . That's new information. Where I come from the legal drinking age is 21

"So umm you said that you had something for me?" I asked

"Oh ,yeah,Here . I noticed that the last one got ruined so I got you a new one" Haru said handing me the box . I opened it and I was greeted with shoes that looked exactly like the ones that got ruined in the cafeteria when that girl poured juice all over me

"Wow this is.....I can't.......this ..I ....thank you " I said in awe . This was very unexpected

"It's Okay . Ummm Eleanor, do you want to spend time with me on the balcony?" Haru asked almost awkwardly as he gestured to the balcony doors. He looks so good but he doesn't look like he feels good

"Sure I don't mind " I said as I follow him to the balcony. what's wrong Haru?