Chapter 17
Smile walks out of the company alongside Derrick. Derick forgot something and went back to collect it while she stood outside, waiting for him.
“Here comes the lover girl” Smiles heard the familiar voice of her friend. The mockery in her tone was something she couldn’t ignore.
“Xena! hi!” Smiles said in a cheerful tone.
“I am sure life is dealing with you!” Xena glanced at her from head to toe, silently judging her.
“not at all… I am doing perfectly fine, more than I ever was” Smiles flashes her an assuring smile. pretending not to get the mockery in her voice.
“nice… thank God I saw you here… here is an invitation to my wedding with Mark next week” Xena pulled out an envelope in her bag and handed it to her.
“You know how the Warrens’ families are, they don’t accept absence when invited,” She said and waved Smiles goodbye, not allowing her to accept or decline. Smiles stare at her back, with so much pain. No matter what happened, Xena was still her friend but hearing from her that her wedding was around the corner, just worsened it.
This only means they have been playing her for a fool and she was too blind to have noticed.
She clenches her hands, her nails dig into her palms and blood drips down to the ground. The pain in her heart was more than the physical pain.
“I am… god, you are bleeding!” Derrick exclaims and rushes to her side the moment he sees her bleeding hands. Smiles stood there, silently watching him try to stop the blood from coming out.
Derrick uses his white handkerchief to tie it in the meantime.
“What happened?” Derrick asked concerned.
“nothing” Her reply was bland.
“Are you ok?” he asks again.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
“yes… can we please?” She turns to him pleadingly. The look on her face was unlike the one he’d ever seen. Without any further questioning, he drives her home.
In no time, they were in front of the big white mansion, Smiles’s ghost mansion. She steps out of the car and immediately walks in in haste. Derrick followed behind with the same pace.
“Come on, talk to me” Derrick urges, not liking the fact that she isn’t ok and he knows not what is disturbing her.
“I said I am fine… stop pestering me, please” She begs to make her way up the stairs.
“What about your injured hand?” His voice was loud. He stares at her leaving.
“I am ok, thanks,” She tells him. Derrick stood there with hands on his waist staring at the now empty stairs before him. He takes in a deep breath before he turns and leaves.
Smiles push on her bedroom door and run to her bedside. Her heart was aching. How was she supported to take it? How was she supposed to feel about it? What did she feel?
when her best friend and Boyfriend have decided to be a thorn in her life.
The worse she was invited, how will she face them?
She falls to her bed, sobbing. She thought moving on was an easy thing to do but only now she realizes it is the hardest decision she’s ever made. There was nothing more she could do, it was either she accepted Mark and remained the fool she had always been or rejected him and suffered a day of pain and a night of hallow.
What more would she wish for? if not to get away from those two betrayals. Her whole night was immersed in self-pity and sobbing.
She got up to a bright and wonderful morning. Stretching her hands, she mistakenly hits her injured hand on the headboard causing her to cry in pain. Only now she had a cut and unattended want at that.
It hurts like never before. With great difficulties, she takes her bath and dresses up for work. She was welcomed by Derrick in the dining room, patiently waiting for her.
“You are here,” she said and walked to the side where she took her seat.
“how are you!” Derrick asked with so much concern. It was like he couldn’t wait for her, deep down he was feeling frustrated.
“I am good… um, sorry about yesterday” Smiles and apologizes for feeling bad for her actions.
“it’s ok, I am used to you like that anyway” He brushed it off. All he wanted was to comfort her and not add to her problems.
“Thanks” She smiles at him. In an attempt to pick up her cutlery, his eyes caught sight of her injured hand.
“You haven’t attended to your wound, haven’t you?” He asked. Smiles, she drinks and looks down at the wound as if now she was realizing it.
“Get me the first aid kit, please,” He said to the butler who was standing by the side.
He goes and takes a seat by her side, ever so gently, he carefully treats her wound and wraps a bandage around it. Smiles were starving. As soon as he was done, she dived into her plate of food, eating like there was no tomorrow. She didn’t eat last time and that only got her seriously extremely hungry. Like a lion that is ready to feed on a thousand prey in one minute.
“You didn’t eat last night, didn’t you?” he asked. She just blinked at him in response.
“as expected of you” He shakes his head tirelessly as he watches her eat hungrily.
“Why are you all dressed?” He asked. She frowns in confusion.
“work of course, what else?” She replies in annoyance. why would he ask her such a question when he will fully know the answer?
“There’s no work today,” he informs me. the lines on her forehead increase.
“Why?” she asked.
“’cause it’s the weekend,” he tells her.
Her mouth opens on an oh!
“I didn’t realize it,” She said in a defeated tone.
“For someone in your shoes, it’s normal ” He jokes. Smiles didn’t find his words funny, she glared at him hard. He fakes a couch, pretending to have choked.
The deadly glares on Smiles’s face were immediately replaced with concern. she rushes to his side to help him out…