Chapter 11 Chapter 10:
Anna Lere:
I stare at the TV screen without blinking, curling my fist in anger. Did I just imagine all of that? I can’t, because I had just finished watching the interview of Devon Brookes and his new girlfriend, which surprise! Is Arya fucking Morris.
My face is paling, I am trying my best to blink away the tears, how could this be? How does Arya and Devon know each other? For fuck’s sake, a pauper and a billionaire don’t just cross paths. This is bad, real bad for me, I have spent all my life trying to take everything away from Arya, including Kevin, but now. Arya has a billionaire boyfriend, she's freaking rich now.
And, I am living with my douchebag husband, Kevin.
The door of our two bedroom flat opens and an angry looking Kevin saunters in, we were just back from the party when he left, now he’s back, his tie is loose around his neck, and gosh, he reeks of alcohol.
“Were you just out drinking?” I ask, my voice a hint of disgust, “What are you doing, Kevin? You have to control your drinking habits, especially for after our baby is born,” I place a hand on my flat stomach.
Plot twist, I am not even pregnant. Kevin’s family has been down our necks for a baby, so I just lied, and bought a fake ultrasound scan in the black market. Of course, they are all fools to believe me.
After a few months, I will just lie that I had a miscarriage and lost the baby, see? Everything will be fine.
“I lost my job,” He grits out, slumping on the chair.
“What?” I ask dumbfounded, jumping out of the sofa, how could this be? My husband, Kevin works in Brookes Technology as a manager, how could he just be fired...unless, oh gosh.
“It’s Arya!” I shriek, “She made her new boyfriend, Devon, fire you.”
Kevin’s eyes snap over to me, he’s trying to piece two and two together. “You are right, why is she so jealous of us that she wants to destroy our lives, why can’t she just accept the fact that I married you?”
I nod my head, “Yes, yes. You are right. Head to her office and confront her, ask her why she’s hell-bent on destroying our lives.” I say, keeping in my smile. “She doesn’t want to let you go, I met her in the grocery store and she told me that I should leave you.”
“She what?” As expected, Kevin yells. “That ungrateful bitch, she should be glad I left her for you.”
I keep nodding, before sitting down next to him. “She also told me that she will destroy our lives, I can’t believe she will step so low to seduce Devon Brookes, she’s an evil woman, Kevin!” I cry out.
“I will confront her about it.” He keeps shaking his head, and I am already picturing it bit by bit. Just you wait, Arya, I will destroy you myself.
\--
Arya:
As I step into the designer house, everyone keeps on staring at me as I walk to my office; a steaming paper cup of pumpkin spice latte from Mrs. Winters coffee shop rests in my hand, some people that I don’t even know their name greets me with a smile.
How very fortunate that everyone now knows me. The moment I step inside the cubicle room, Wanda's angry face is what I see first.
“What the hell, girl? Devon fucking Brookes? Seriously?” She explodes in rage, Wendy is the first person that I am talking to about Devon Brookes, Devon hired a babysitter and made the woman sign an NDA contract not to reveal anything to the press about Vera, and he adjusted his working schedules, he is going to be home by six to spend time with Vera.
My family and my friends are still left in ignorance about Devon and I. I place my purse on the chair and massage my forehead. Axel's cubicle chair is empty, so I am guessing he’s getting coffee downtown.
This is my chance to tell Wendy everything, “Okay, fun fact, but you have to promise not to tell anybody, Devon is Vera’s father, he only just found out like a week ago before we went to his office, and well. Since the media caught our photos, we are pretending to date so no one knows about Vera.”
“What. The. Fuck?” She stares astonished, “the man you met on the cruise ship was Devon? I was not expecting that.” Neither am I.
“So, what are you going to do? Do your family and friends know?”
“No, I am meeting my friends during my lunch break.” The good news is that Clara hasn’t called me to her office yet to discuss, gosh, I am secretly dreading that moment. I glance at the glass wall of Clara’s window and she’s discussing with two women which I recognize as her sisters.
Clara’s a triplet, her other sisters Chloe and Charlotte Hilton are the rave in the city, with their striking caramel blonde hair and attractive aqua blue eyes. They are identical, sometimes it’s hard to tell them apart, only their personalities are different.
Now, all I can wish for is to work without any disruption.
\--
During my lunch break, Emily, Nicole, Emma and I are at Imperial restaurant. It's difficult to book a reservation here and their branches are literally everywhere in the world but considering that the restaurant belongs to Emma's family, we can dine here anytime we want.
“That’s it?” Emma says after I finish explaining everything to her, “You guys are dating?”
“Fake-dating.” Nicole corrects with a straight face, “They are doing it for the media.”
“When does it end?” Emily asks excitedly. Emma and Emily seem really interested in my private life, but Nicole seems to disagree with them. For some reason, she doesn’t seem to like Devon. Judging from her personality, she doesn’t like anybody.
Nicole’s a really hard nut to crack, she really doesn’t let her heart out, but when she does, she loves wholeheartedly.
“I don’t know, I am telling my family tonight.” I cringe.
Emma’s phone pings and she stares at the screen, her face pinched into a frown.
“What’s wrong?” Nicole asks.
“It’s my twin brother, Ethan. He’s coming back from Switzerland in a few days,” She says, still frowning. Out of us all, Emily perks up with a bright smile, she has like the biggest crush on him, but Ethan isn’t the type of person to do relationships.
He’s a playboy with his natural charisma, travels around for fun, models women always in his arms, though we keep urging her to tell him about her feelings for him. He’s like the only person who hasn’t caught her feelings, even though he’s the smart one, he could be really dumb when it comes to love.
“He says we should pick him up from the airport, oh and great, he’s staying at my place till his next trip. We are splitting the rent.” Emma rolls her eyes.
We chat for some time until my lunch break is over. When I reach the office, Clara has already summoned me. I know this is coming, but I didn’t expect it to be this soon.
Taking a deep breath, I step into her cold room, “Clara, you called for me?”
She places her hand on the table. “Please, sit down.” She says softly.
Clara’s a nice person, but she’s...gullible, I don’t know but it seems like Anna controls what she does, even in high school. Clara trails behind her and worships Arya like a god.
I just hope she sees Anna’s true colors fast. Sometimes, when you love someone so much, you will ignore their imperfections because you think they can’t do such a thing.
I sit down. “Anything the matter?”
“I happened to see the news, you are dating Devon?” I nod my head hurriedly and she stares at me suspiciously, I don’t blame her. “Will your relationship with him affect your business pitch to him?”
“Not at all.” I bite my lips, “Devon is someone that won’t mix business with pleasure.” He seems like that, especially when he rejected my team before we even started pitching.
“Alright,” Her lips pinch into a tiny smile, she keeps looking over her shoulder, peering through her glass wall. “I haven’t seen Axel at all today; did he come into the office today?” There’s a particular longing in her voice that I have never heard before.
I recall back to his empty cubicle and the numerous cat photos labeled in his wall, shaking my head, I say. “I don’t think he came in today, maybe he has a problem with his cat, I heard him saying Mr. Whiskers was sick?” I try to joke; Axel sure loves his cat pretty damn well that he wears a sweater with Mr. Whiskers face imprinted on it.
“Oh, okay then.” Clara nods, her voice laced with bitterness. I am no romantic but I know that when a woman obsesses this much disappointment over someone’s absence, there’s something more to it.
I don’t press further though, it’s not like Clara and I are in any way friends or something. Excusing myself, I go back to the office and spot Wendy glancing through her phone.
“You should check your phone; you have thousands of followers now.” She says, smiling brightly. I am so scared to check my phone and see the number of DMs. Slumping on the chair; I go back to work, browsing websites on designer clothes.
Thank goodness, tomorrow is the weekend and I don’t have to work. When it’s six, I grab my coat from the edge of my chair and wave Wendy goodbye, when I step outside, I see a scowling Kevin.
Oh, I am not expecting to see him here.
“Arya.” He says through gnashed teeth.
“Oh, hey Kevin, if you are waiting for Anna, she’s not here.” Bitterness churns my inside as I say, Anna mostly visits the plaza to have a nice chat with Clara.
I try my best not to stare at his middle finger, but I do. And, when I see the huge band, I feel that pang again. Resentment fills my veins, they planned to take my estate.
I keep my face calm.
“I am not looking for Anna.” He huffs out a heavy breath.
“Oh, okay.” I say, trying to step aside but he blocks the way. I don’t like the way his eyes are red rimmed or the way he’s frowning at me. “Step aside, Kevin.” I say calmly.
“I am here for you,” He says angrily, and I freeze. “How aren’t you shameless? Crawling into Devon Brookes’ bed just so he could fire me.”
“What?” I ask, dumfounded.
He sneers, “Oh don’t play coy, Arya. You are a shameless woman sleeping around, you are such a slut.”
My hands tremble slightly, but I try to calm myself down, “At least, I don’t go around sleeping with my fiancée’s friend.”
“How dare you?” He sputters angrily, his voice in a half-yell, I realize that we are the only people outside the plaza, fear grips me, never for once in our relationship has Kevin used violence, but I am not dropping my guard.
“I love Anna!” I don’t falter, but my heart pounds so heavily I want to faint.
And what about me? I want to ask. Did you ever for once love me?
“Since you are Devon’s little whore, why don’t you tell him to hire me back?”
“I am not his whore! Stop calling me that.” I half-yell, my cheeks going red.
“You are pathetic, you know that? You claim you aren’t a whore, but how did you give birth to Ver-” Before he can finish his sentence, I slap him hard across his face, my face blazing with fury.
“You don’t have a right to mention my daughter’s name.”
“You fucking bitch.” He grabs my wrist painfully, his nails scraping on my flesh, pain radiates through me.
“Hey, let go of me!” I yell, but he pins me harder with his hand.
“You heard her,” A cold deadly voice resounds from behind us, “Let her go, before you regret ever laying a finger on her, you have no idea the torture I can unleash on you."