The night was finally here. As Damon navigated in a glamorous sea of custom-designed tailcoats and gowns, he smiled affably at the guests, representing the 1% of the 1%. For a minute, he wondered where would he be, if the woman to whom he dedicated the night hadn’t had taken mercy upon him all those years ago. The best option? Maybe working as a valet.
Yet, here he was. A Rutherford. As posh, obscenely rich and powerful as they came. Damon reached for the champagne flute passed in front of him, only noticing it post-factum that another hand tried to grab what turned out to be the last glass on the tray.
“Apologies. Please, take it” Damon passed the flute to the person standing next to him, “You have this one. I’ll grab another, I’m the host, after all.”
Admittedly, part of Yvonne was hesitant to approach Damon that evening. As happy as she should be, wanted to be for him for making such a touching and noble tribute to Cerys on his birthday, Yvonne couldn’t ignore how everything reminded her that they were a family before she and her mother came along. That they would rather keep it that way.
Worst part was Yvonne knew it was selfish, knew it had nothing to do with her. That didn’t make feeling excluded hurt any less, only invalidated.
Perhaps the only silver lining was the fact she only needed to pay respects to Damon, who had always been the kindest to her. Even if she would always pale in comparison to Gideon and Lara, Damon at least treated her as his sister. It made scraping whatever high spirits she had in her easier as she approached him.
“Uhm, even if it was your birthday, I still would have taken this, but thanks,” Yvonne said, exaggerating the snootiness in her tone as she took the last flute.
The act didn’t stick though and a second later she already broke into a smile. “Happy birthday, old person,” she greeted her brother more cheerfully. “I’m still having this though.” Raising her glass in their one-sided toast, Yvonne took a sip before hailing the nearby waiter with a fresh tray to their direction. “Enjoying your evening so far? Everyone I’ve come across had nothing but praises for you tonight.”