5. Little Sophia

"I'm not her kid." Zia crossed her arms.

"She's keeping a kid in her house who is not her child?!" The man gasped, all the more surprised.

"I'm her..." She stared hard at the floor as if searching for the answers on it. "Niece, yeah, I'm her niece...uhh...her father's cousin's wife's niece's father's mother's son's daughter." She smiled awkwardly.

"She's babysitting a distant relative's child?!" He gasped again with hands still covering his mouth.

"Tell me, what should I say so you'll stop getting surprised?"

"Oh, sorry." He chuckled and crouched down to level with her. "What's your name, darling?"

"I'm Zi--"  She was shocked how she almost blew her cover.

"Zi?"

"No! Phia, my name is Sophia."

He curved up a smile. "That is one beautiful name."

"Y-yeah, my father gave me that name." She swayed her body from side to side, forcing herself to act cute.

"That's a very beautiful name, darling."

"And you're Gray's friend, Jona, right? The one who owns a salon?"

"Yeah." His forehead wrinkled for a second, flustered on how the little girl knows him well. "It's actually Jonathan McGrath but I prefer being called Jona, sounds like a sophisticated lady." He giggled.

"So what brings you here, Jona?"

"Oh, right, where's Gray?" He stood up. "I sent her a text but she didn't respond so I gave her a call but she didn't pick up either. Is she here?" He glanced around, trying to look for any sign of Gray's presence.

"Yeah, that woman barely touches her phone," she mumbled to herself, shaking her head.

"What's that?" He looked down at her.

"Uhhmm..uhh...Auntie's at work right now. You can wait here if you want. She'll be home soon, I think." She ushered him towards the living room and gestured for him to sit on the sofa. "Would you like coffee or juice?"

"Hmm? Are you playing a restaurant thing by yourself, darling?" He tried to humor her. "Then I'd like some juice."

She scanned his face. "No, you're a guest so it's common courtesy to offer you refreshments."

His jaw dropped from her answer. "W-what's t-that?"

"I-I m-mean--" She finally realized that she is a little girl in his eyes and she just used advanced words. "I heard auntie Gray say it before but I don't know what that means." She laughed nervously.

"Aww," He lightly pinched her cheek. "You are a very smart and adorable girl."

***

"So why were you looking for Gray again?" Zia asked as she flung her legs in the air, sitting on Jonathan's lap who was having fun braiding her long golden hair.

"Hmm, I don't think I should be saying this to a kid though." He hesitated.

"I'm a smart kid, I can understand everything." She secretly rolled her eyes to her own silly lie.

"Let's see." His hands stopped as he looked above him, as if trying to find words that are comprehensible for a child. "It's a place where adult people can have a party, drink adult juice, dance to loud music, and basically do adult stuff, and only adults are allowed there. The owner of that place is my friend and tonight is the opening. I wanted to invite Gray to come over and unwind."

So a nightclub, huh? she thought to herself. This is bad though, just the idea of an invitation would rub salt into Gray's healing wound.

"I don't know about adult things, but I heard Auntie Gray doesn't like bars," she said, continuing to swing her legs acting like a child.

"I think all adults love bars and nightclubs, baby Sophia," he sneered as he tied her hair, finishing her waterfall braid. "There, all done." He held her waist and moved her beside him.

What happened to your censorship of not telling a kid the word 'nightclub', huh? she thought to herself.

Right then, the door clicked open and revealed Gray with dead fish eyes.

"Aunt Gray, Jona's here." Zia hopped down the sofa.

However, unresponsive to her call, Gray dropped her suitcase by the door and dragged her feet towards the kitchen, past the living room. She grabbed a glass from the wall hanging cupboard and a pitcher of cold water from the refrigerator. She poured the water on the glass and chugged it down then emitted a long, deep audible breath. She slammed the glass on the countertop and poured herself another one while she sat on the stool.

While she did that repetitively like a drunkard, Jonathan and Zia just watched her in puzzlement.

"Is that vodka?" he whispered, standing beside Zia, facing Gray.

"Nope, just plain water," she answered with arms crossed and eyes on Gray.

"Why is she acting like she's drinking alcohol?"

"She does that when she has problems."

"Why won't she just drink alcohol?"

"I told you she doesn't go to bars, much less drink alcohol. Stirs some bitter memories from the past."

He peered down at Zia with furrowed brows. "What did you just say?"

Her eyes widened as she realized she had forgotten that she was currently trapped inside a child's body, and just acted as she always did. "I-i just repeat what I hear from adults though, I don't understand what I am saying." She fumblingly retreated back to the sofa in nervousness and fiddled with her phone.

He just brushed off the weird sense he felt and approached Gray in the kitchen. "What's wrong, Gray?" He sat on the stool beside her.

Gray stared at the water in the wine glass with emotionless eyes. "Long story short, one of the bridesmaids had an irritation with her face during the ceremony. She was complaining so much that they sent her to the hospital. Turned out she was allergic to the concealer I used on her which contained phenoxyethanol. They demanded I compensate for the treatment or they'll sue me and have my makeup license revoked."

"Oh." He gasped. "That's terrible. So what did you do?"

She chugged another glass and slammed it down the counter before speaking. "I talked to the woman and she ended up apologizing because it's her fault she never told me beforehand about her allergy, and they wired to my account the full payment as discussed."

His forehead wrinkled. "Wait, so it turned out well? Then why are you drinking like you've just lost hope in humanity?"

She tightly gripped the glass and glared at the table as she recalled the previous events. "When she made a scene at the reception, the ring bearer kicked my shin saying it's my fault, and I couldn't kick him back because all their attention was on me."

"Oh, I see." He laughed awkwardly. "So you really do hate kids that much."

She glanced at him. "Jona? Why are you here?"

"Wha--you just noticed me now?" He pointed to himself. "Anyway, I wanted to invite you to a nightclub opening my friend owns. You're still mad at the kid, right? You can blow off steam there and unwind, and I can assure you you won't find a single kid there. How's that?"

"I don't go to clubs," she immediately responded, sipping her glass of water in a calm manner.

"B-but why?"

"I just don't, Jona," there was coldness in her voice but also a firm one.

"O-okay. Well then, I'm off. Ring me up when you need something, okay?" He went back to the living room.

"Will you be okay? Your auntie looks like she'll swallow you whole once you say a single word to her," he whispered to Zia.

"Don't worry, I got my magic wand that can repel all negative forces," Zia whispered back and the two of them giggled.

As soon as he went out the door, Zia approached Gray at the kitchen and climbed up on the stool beside her. She studied Gray's expression who paid no attention to her and just stared into oblivion. She wanted to mention the password on the laptop but she knew it was not a good topic after the atmosphere went cold when Jonathan mentioned the club.

She leaned her arm on the counter and rested her chin on her palm, and looked at Gray with teasing stares. "I bet you seduced that woman to shut her mouth, eh, Casanova?"

"What are you talking about?" Gray scoffed.

"I bet you slammed her on the wall, lifted up her chin and said 'you're still beautiful with red skin, ah, this is bad, I might be allergic to love, my heart aches every time I see you frown'," Zia said while she gestured what she imagined with a smug look on her face.

"N-no," Gray's voice cracked as she was holding in her laughter seeing her cringe acting. "I didn't do that, idiot."

"Pray tell, maestro. What did you do then?"

"I just...," Gray stared at the water inside her glass wine, embarrassed to meet Zia's teasing eyes. "I just apologized to her in private..and..maybe said that I didn't notice the redness because she looked good in the makeup."

"So you did smoothen her up!" Zia slammed the table looking excited.

"Well, duh, I can't afford to have my license revoked and I need every penny I can get." Gray scoffed.

The two enjoyed a boisterous conversation and Zia felt relieved she successfully refreshed Gray's mood before she drowned herself in the past again.