The Traps of Black Swan

Before Megan could reach the ladies, a woman wearing a pink fascinator made a wild guess, "Could it be…" She created a second of mystery looking at all and continued, "...Madam Rivas also interested in Aarvi Evans? Who will say no to her handsome Princes?"

Another woman sighed dramatically, "My daughter saw President Rivas at the Mirage and she has been crazy over him and torturing her father since that day."

A lady chortled with her fingers covering her mouth, then she probed, "Why don't you ask Madam Rivas?"

"You should call her to meet Madam Rivas, you might not get a better chance." Another lady chimed in with her suggestion.

"Yeah, if not the elder, the young son is sweeter." The lady meant Shawn was sweeter because they saw him handsomely smile.

Megan really wanted to say, 'My sons will never look at your daughters.' But remembering her younger son was still single, she dropped her thoughts.

Megan had reached pretty close to them, thanking the manager for escorting her when she heard a lady say, "Only if your daughter could win on Aarvi Evans." She laughed, kind of looking down on the daughter of a lady.

The other lady rolled her eyes before smiling at Megan. Most of them greeted Megan in unison, "Madam Rivas!" 

About twenty ladies' eyes were surveying Megan from top to toe. A few gulped their gasps and wondered how expensive each piece of item was. The ones who felt they were in the expensive piece of clothes and ornaments, unknowingly felt inferior. Not just that, Megan's small face and flawless skin had the same attention.

Megan brushed her eyes around as she faintly smiled at all, "Hello… I guess I am late." And she was purposefully late.

A lady in a floral dress went closer to Megan and held her both hands' fingers, "We didn't know Madam Rivas would honor us today. Otherwise, we would have definitely waited."

"Madam Taylor." Megan returned the fake smile. Madam Taylor guided her to the group and remembered, "I guess, many of us here are meeting Madam Rivas for the first time. I will take the honor."

Megan was an audience to the exaggeration of many ladies. She managed to briefly shake their hands and flash them a smile hearing the compliments. She tried to be polite and praise back until they stopped at Maisie Burnett.

"Looking at you two, I feel like there is a beauty competition going on." Some said hiding the hint of insecurity.

Maisie behaved politely and smiled at the lady in the reservation, "Madam Stanley, you are too polite, how can I be compared to Madam Rivas?"

Megan's eyes stayed on Maisie. Maisie was natural, it was hard to know if she was acting unless you see her eyes that tell a different story. There was smugness and envy.

Maisie stood up and introduced herself as she gently shook Megan's hand. "Madam Rivas, It was a pleasure meeting you. I am Maisie Burnett, wife of Shane Kelly."

Everyone knew Megan, so she hadn't introduced herself for so long. Now, she made a little effort, "Doctor Megan Wilson, Senior dermatologist at Rivas Skincare."

Even though she sounded polite, the ladies snickered at Maisie. It was obvious Megan mentioned her own identity instead of showing pride in taking her husband's name.

Maisie clenched her teeth hard and forced a smile. She was entitled to holding a virtuous woman title so she wasn't ready to ruin it.

Megan pretended to be shocked, "Oh my!" She copied their exaggeration, "I was so enthralled in your beauty Madam Kelly, I didn't focus what I was saying." She flashed an apologetic smile at Maisie for making her feel insulted and gave another introduction, "Megan Rivas, wife of Karsen Rivas."

Maisie felt like it was on purpose but Megan had no reason to insult her so she believed Megan was envious of her superficial beauty.

Whereas a few ladies weren't dumb, the ones who knew Megan doesn't fancy tea parties or gossiping knew she had a reason behind her presence. They looked at each other slowly trying to think what might have happened for Kelly to clash with Rivas. Kelly was doomed to lose so they stayed low to know what was up.

Madam Taylor wanted to enjoy the show slowly so she shifted Megan's focus to other ladies. After a whole ten minutes, Megan took a seat with Madam Taylor, slightly away from Maisie.

A lady asked excitedly, "Madam Rivas, are you also interested to know about President Evans? We don't know much about her."

Megan took a sip of her tea, "Aarvi?" she purposefully took the first name of Aarvi, "She is my son… Shawn's best friend."

All gasped and started bombarding her with many questions. Megan didn't really hear them but had a faint smile. They were boring a hole to her eardrums.

As the questions built up, Maisie's back was stiff as a rock with two names ringing in her head. Dax Grant, Shawn Rivas. Both were Ava Kelly's best friends. She only knew Ava Kelly had two best friends and there was no other girl.

The beads of sweat started appearing on her forehead, afraid that her nightmare might come true. 'What if Aarvi Evans is that jinx? But that jinx is dead. It's not possible…' The fight in her mind was a mess.

Megan discreetly kept her focus on Maisie's reaction. All she heard was that Maisie and Shane Kelly blamed Aarvi when Vance Hays didn't go to the wedding and threw Aarvi out when she went home. 

Megan realized she knew nothing about how Aarvi was being treated by her parents. Why would they blame Aarvi for Vance's absence?

Megan cued her bodyguard who was standing at a good distance. She pretended to be brushing her hair while acting as 'call me.'

And within a few seconds, the questions ended due to the ringing of the mobile. Megan flashed an apologetic smile and pulled her mobile out from the clutch. Checking the screen, "Work call, please, excuse me." She stood up and went aside.

She was quick to end the call of her bodyguard and dial Shawn's number. 

Meanwhile, the ladies who maintained pin-drop silence till Megan went aside suddenly buzzed at the new information they got about Aarvi Evans.

Aarvi Evans and Shawn are best friends so Shawn, Aarvi, and Dax are best friends. Hence Aarvi is really young, might be aged twenty-four as the other two. Not just them, they dropped messages to their families. 

It started to spread like wildfire and soon news blogs, social media posts were started preparing, [Is President Evans really Twenty-Four?]

The more things linked to Ava Kelly, Maisie was losing her cool. Her hands were trembling when she messaged Shane Kelly as Dax and Shawn were friends of Aarvi Evans and they should stay away from Aarvi else Dax would fry them out in boiling oil.

Another hand, Shawn answered the call on the third ring, "Mom, I got your attention away from your GiggleMug." Shawn mused.

Anyway, Megan was serious, "Shawn, brief me everything about Gigglemug's mother in less than a minute." Karsen's assistant had given her the outlook of Maisie but not the real Maisie.

Shawn was shocked hearing his mother, he took a second to confirm he heard right. Then the time started, "Drunk and one-night stand. Parents forced them to marry. She wished nothing but the death of Little heart before the baby was born. She dreamed off to be a movie queen and blamed Little Heart for everything. There wasn't a single day she behaved like a mother. She beat, bruised, cursed, locked, starved Little Heart every other day. It was multiplied when she assumed Little Heart might become President of Kelly International." 

He took less than half a minute to brief the worst side of Maisie Burnett in a single breath. He slowly breathed trying to calm himself. Then he realized he didn't hear anything from the other end, "Mom… Mom… are you there? Mom…."