Chapter 69: The painful realization
1381words
I ran home in tears. I couldn't stay to watch those two humiliate me.
'Mother!" I screamed, dropping to my knees in the living room. It felt like my world had crumbled.
'Scarlett?" Mother rushed out of the kitchen. 'What happened to you? Why are you crying?" she asked, concern tinged in her tone.
'I'm losing my mind, Mother. I can't breathe," I sobbed with a hitched breath.
'Don't say that. Tell me what happened to you. Who hurt you?" she asked, holding me close to her chest.
'Juan… Juan is cheating on me," I cried.
'He did? How did you find out?" she asked, the concern diminishing from her tone.
'I caught them, Mother. You can't believe who I saw him with. I still don't think I saw clearly. He was with…" I tried to explain, but got choked.
'With Kristine," Mother completed, her hands leaving cold feelings on my shoulders as she stood up. I snapped my eyes at her towering figure in disbelief.
'You knew?" I still couldn't believe I was asking that. My mother can't possibly know that my silly younger sister is sleeping with my boyfriend.
'What were you thinking, Scarlett? Do you think a man would see a good-looking lady and go for the ugly one avoided by everyone else?" she said scornfully.
'Mother!" I yelled, jerking to my feet. 'Don't even dare tell me you knew about it. How could you know such a thing? Tell me, Mother. How could you know that your younger daughter is sleeping with her older sister's boyfriend? Tell me you don't know anything!" I demanded furiously.
'Let the lovebirds be, Scarlett. Don't even try to come between them. Forget you were ever in a relationship with Juan," she said and turned to leave. 'One more thing, if you dare try to touch my daughter, you will regret knowing me as your mother," she warned and disappeared into the kitchen.
My head was exploding. I couldn't comprehend anything anymore. My mind was befuddled.
'Argh!" I let out an ear-splitting scream and ran into my room, locking the door.
***
'You have to stop crying, sunshine. Juan doesn't deserve you, I've always told you this," Everleigh, my one and only childhood best friend, said.
She is the daughter of Mayor Dante, the mayor, and the chairman of Priceless Jewels. She is into modeling and has built a name for herself. She is everything beauty could define. From her flawless snow-white skin to her silky straight black hair to her raving light brown eyes and perfect pointy nose, she was the dream girl of every man and the dream daughter of every family. How we still manage to maintain our relationship remains a mystery to a lot of people because they believe that two people from two different worlds have nothing in common. Well, our secret isn't that deep; we value the presence of each other in our lives. Whereas Everleigh has offered to help me countless times, I was the opposing one. I have a goal of becoming successful without taking any help from anyone around me. She had to accept it, and we've lived in peace from then on.
'Does he have to cheat on me with my younger sister? Who the hell does that?" I sobbed in Everleigh's arms.
'I understand how you feel. Just don't overthink it, okay? Every cloud has a silver lining, remember?" she consoled while patting my shoulder.
'My heart is splitting, Eve. I'm losing my mind. It's choking me," I whimpered.
'You're going to be fine," she assured me.
A week later.
Since the incident, I have neither stepped out of the house nor gone to work. I decided to get some fresh air by taking a walk down the bustling street. The sun dipped behind the horizon, and everyone on the street appeared golden. Suddenly, I felt drizzle on my skin. I looked up to see the sun disappearing behind the gloomy clouds stretching over the velvet of the sky. I ignored the weather and continued ambling with an earbud plugged into my ear. Having gone about ten minutes away from home, a bucket of rain poured down upon me. Everyone scampered out of the rain. I wanted to seek shelter too, but the pain in my heart needed to be washed away, so I allowed it to drench me. Lightning cut through the cloudburst, and thunder rumbled, almost deafening me, but none of this raised my concern to go back home. I continued walking to God knows where. I still couldn't believe that Juan had been fooling me all this while. All the money I had been sending to him was actually for my sister. As if that wasn't enough, I learned the biggest truth of my life. I had been living in lies. The woman I knew all my life as my mother scornfully revealed to me that she was my stepmother, and Kristine was my half-sister. The realization shredded my heart into billions of pieces. It made me realize why she always defended and protected Kristine. It made me know why she always scolded, insulted, and diminished my self-esteem. How can the world be so wicked? How can people be so evil? If the ones I love with everything in me could betray me this much, then anything can happen in this world, and no one would care.
Just then, a Mercedes Benz car veered into my path, making me halt abruptly. The driver hurried out to me.
'Scarlett?" Mr. Nathan called, holding the umbrella over my head. 'What are you doing in the rain? What happened to you?" he questioned, his voice almost drowned out by the thunder.
'What do you care?" I snarled and walked past him. He hurried after me, blocking my way.
'Where are you going in the dark and under the heavy rain? Hop in, I will take you home," he offered.
'Stay millions of miles away from me, Mr. Nathan. I don't need your concern or your help," I declared and walked off.
'Scarlett, please." He followed me.
'Get the hell off my back! I'm going to hurt you right here if you don't stop following me!" I warned.
'Fine, I won't follow you. Just make sure to be at work tomorrow, or else I will send the police to search for you," he said and went into his car.
***
I stormed into the office the following day. I had no choice but to come. I hate the police on my tail. Besides, I had something to give.
'I knew you were going to come," Mr. Nathan said, feeling proud of himself.
'Here," I placed my resignation letter on his desk.
'What's this?" He picked up the letter.
'I'm resigning. I will cancel the contract I have with your mother, and I will return her base fee to her. Good day," I said and turned to leave.
'Stop right there, Scarlett!" He ordered in a tightened tone, walking up to me. 'What do you think you're doing? Who said you can walk in and out of my company anytime you want?" he asked.
'Which part of 'I quit' don't you understand? It's not like I stole anything; I'm going to return the base fee to the person who gave it to me. How hard is that to understand?" I made it clear.
'I don't care about any contract you have with my mother. No one can come into my office and leave without ending their duration. It's my rule, and everyone must abide by it. I'm not signing your resignation letter. You are stuck as my assistant for the remaining five months and two weeks. Go to your desk," he declared and went to his seat. I gritted my teeth and grunted for over a minute before walking to his desk and taking a seat opposite him. I laid my head to rest.
'And what do you think you're doing?" he asked.
'I want to sleep. If I don't perform my duty well, you're free to get me arrested, it doesn't matter," I declared without raising my head. Suddenly, I felt his fingers running through my hair, making me jerk my head up.
'What are you doing?" My voice trembled.
