Hypnotiq

☾︎✯☽︎

"My turn. My name is Pranpriya. I'm the youngest of two siblings and I have four cats named Leo, Luca, Lily and Louis." Lisa said.

"The first one is definitely a lie," I replied.

"Well hate to break it to you, but that's actually the truth." She smiled smugly.

Lisa and I were seated on my bed while playing two truths and a lie and having some soju. Since we weren't sleeping anytime soon, Lisa proposed playing the game to "get to know each other better" until one of us got tired.

"Pranpriya was the name given to me at birth, but it was later changed to Lalisa after a fortune telling."

"I'll be honest, you look like a Mona Lisa," I said.

She laughed. "Sure, Bolin. Whatever you say."

I rolled my eyes. "Does the name Lalisa have a special meaning?"

"Yeah, it means "the one who is praised"," she said. "I guess my parents chose that name with high hopes of me achieving big things in my life." She took a swig from her bottle. "Your turn."

I hummed thoughtfully. "I'm an only child. I never went to college or university, and I have a golden retriever named Zorro."

Lisa narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "You don't have a dog."

I chuckled. "What makes you say that?"

"There's no way you'd be able to have the time to look after a dog when you don't even have time to look after your plants." She reasoned.

"You're right. That's why the dog lives with my dad back in Australia."

Her eyebrows flew up surprised, "You're serious?"

"Dead serious," I confirmed.

"So, which one of the three is the lie."

"The one about me being an only child."

"So, you have siblings?"

"Just one, but he's my half-brother. My mother had him with her new husband."

"Oh..." she replied slowly. "Did you ever meet him?"

I chuckled sardonically. "No. My mother kinda has not been a thing in my life since she remarried. I didn't know about my half-brother until I was thirteen and that was around the time he was born." I took a long swig from my bottle. "He's probably around seventeen years old by now."

"So, you've never met him or at least made contact with him?"

I shook my head and finished my bottle. "Mother dearest only made it known that he exists. There was no attempt let alone any intention for a relationship, so naturally, I assumed she didn't want me, or my dad involved." I laid on my back. "And I'll be surprised if the kid knows I exist."

I'm not one to talk about myself let alone about my estranged mother with anyone – not even with Christian and Chaerin. I mostly keep to myself and avoid giving too much information about myself to maintain my distance. But there I was openly talking about one of the few if not many things I avoid talking about with Lisa. Maybe it was because it just felt easy to open up to her or I was probably tipsy from the soju.

"Would you want to meet and build a relationship with your half-brother?" she asked.

I stared at my ceiling and was silent for a good moment. "Honestly, I'm better off pretending that I'm an only child than forcing a relationship with him."

I turned and saw Lisa frowning at me, which made me sigh. "I have nothing against him. I really don't. But my mother chose to put that distance between us and I'm just respecting that boundary. I'm not entitled to be in his life, and neither is he."

Lisa simply nodded and drummed her fingers against her bottle. The silence drooped over us, and the tension came along with it.

Way to kill the mood, dingus, I thought as I mentally kicked myself.

"But hey! At least I didn't let my mommy issues get the best of me and become the stereotypical bad boy. I went through high school and turned out just fine." I joked.

A smile made its way to her lips. It was a small one, but a smile, nonetheless. And that was more than enough. 

"Did you join the military after you finished high school?"

She laid down on her side next to me, using her right hand to prop her head.

"Yeah, I didn't have any dreams or aspirations for the future. So, I just settled for joining the military hoping that I'd find what I'm looking for."

"Did you?"

"Yeah. I used to read cocktail books and bartended from time to time back on base and loved it. Now, look where I am now."

We went quiet, but there was no tension in the air this time. She was smiling at me, showing off her slightly chubby cheeks, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. She looked happy – at least while she was with me – but I couldn't help but feel like something was bothering her.

"Lisa," I said, my voice becoming soft but serious all of a sudden.

"Mhm?" she replied.

"Why were you with that guy back in the VIP room?"

Her smile faltered a little. I watched her throat bob as she swallowed. "Why do you ask?"

"You looked uncomfortable and embarrassed," I pointed out.

The silence returned along with the suffocating tension. She didn't say anything. I didn't have anything to say.

"He's a regular," she finally spoke. "He usually comes by every once in a blue moon and asks for me to dance for him privately or just be his escort for the night."

"Why did you come?"

"I had to. He's pretty demanding and doesn't take "no" for an answer, so you can imagine the misfortune I had when he decided to come by on my week off."

I hummed. "But are you okay even after that?"

"I'm fine," she smiled. "I just wish you didn't have to see me like that."