Chapter 34 Ruining Image
I was working wholeheartedly, pouring my uttermost efforts into ensuring I won’t disappoint myself or Vince, to work extremely hard and reach the top.
During lunchtime, I was twirling my phone around my fingers, wondering if I should call Vince or not.
“Huff,”
A pout lingered on my features, his number was on my screen but uncertainty stopped me from sharing two talks with him.
“Dammit-”
Before I could complete my curse, my phone rang and to my delight, it was none other than Vince.
Subsequently, my fingers hastily attended the call, “Hello?”
"Alyssa?" He questioned, noticing my beaming resonance.
Regaining my composure, I cleared my throat, responding softly, "Yes?"
"Nothing,” He shrugged it off, “Let’s have dinner outside to discuss what we want to tell the world,"
"We could have avoided this if you had spoken the truth,"
"But, I didn’t. Now let's deal with it." He continued nonchalantly.
Forming my lips in a thin line, I mumbled, "Why do I feel like you are enjoying this, Vince?"
"Why not? Not everyday you find yourself as a hot topic," He let out a suppressed chuckle.
Certainly indulging in this while my headache was enhancing by each passing second due to my miserable condition.
My jaw clenched, hating how casually he accepted those gut-wrenching rumors that stirred my mind.
"What you call a hot topic is called being notorious. How fun is that?" I hissed, trying to knock some senses in him.
"Matter of perspective," But to no avail, he just wanted to play along.
"Of course, when I have been ill-named, labeled horribly once, why would I want that?" I muttered, reminding him why I hated all this.
Realizing this was NOT amusing for me at all, a brief silence fell upon us. He took a moment to gather the correct words and sighed.
“...My bad. Sorry,"
His apology softened me immediately. I didn’t know why, but I disliked the way his tone converted into a gloomy one.
"It's alright... uh, I am sorry too, I didn’t want to ruin your fun. Send me the location and time, I will be there," I tried to say sweetly.
"Okay,"
"Bye,"
"Bye,"
Cutting the call, I hit the table, cursing when I unintentionally ended up ruining his mood. I didn’t mean to.
“Shit!”
Vince was doing so much for me, I couldn’t permit myself to destroy his two moments of content. I should have controlled my mouth.
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shook my head in disappointment and thought about making up for it at dinner by being nice.
I continued working for the rest of the day as Vince sent me the reservation information, lifting my mood instantly.
A smile crept upon my lips, applied my lipstick and set my makeup and opened my hair, letting them flow before leaving for the restaurant.
But, to my ill-fortune, when I walked out, I bumped into Astrid who was seemingly waiting to humiliate me.
What else the people of this undesirable world would need me for apart from disgracing me?
“Oh, there you are.”
“Astrid,”
Frowning, I saw the determination of ruining my night in her eyes.
“You seriously have no shame, do you? How can you appear in public after cheating? After stealing my man from me?”
“I did not steal anyone’s man. Vince married me on his free will.” I scoffed, folding my arms at my chest.
It was not a lie. If he had loved her so much, he wouldn’t have offered to marry me.
Not once I heard a single concern about her from Vince, I doubt he wanted to marry her in the first place.
“Don’t lie to me, you manipulator! We were engaged!” She yelled, stomping her foot on the ground.
“Vince was supposed to marry me but when your marriage failed, you played sympathy card and got his attention,” She glared at me, scowling loud enough to let the people around me hear and double the talks.
“Astrid, look, it’s nothing like this. Don’t accuse me. He came to me himself,” I sighed, rubbing my temples to explain the situation but she refused to believe in me.
“Of course, he was trying to be a good man and warned you but not only you slapped him, you married him too! What a bitch,”
I lost my composure, hating how everyone was humiliating me right and left. This had seriously begun to affect me.
“Enough, Astrid, just because I am silent it doesn’t mean you can spout whatever nonsense you want,” I growled.
“You call manipulating a man to save yourself nonsense? Of course, it's not a big deal for a whore like you. I should have expected this,”
“Stop it, Astrid, before I call security!”
“You–”
“Argh! What the fuck?!”
Not giving me a moment to register, she threw her matcha drink on me to smear my appearance, showing me her middle finger.
“You wish I would leave you so peacefully, bitch!”
Feeling highly embarrassed, my jaw dropped as people walking by whispered to each other, doubling my distress.
My hands turned sweaty, taking a few moments to register what just happened as she smirked victoriously, so pleased with her damn actions.
“Security! Throw her out!” I shouted as the guard came and threw her out while she was laughing.
“You will pay Alyssa!”
After successfully destroying my image in my own office, she was thrown out as I stood with endless shame collecting me along with tears.
Hating how powerlessly I stood, hating how everyone was hurting me, I wish all of them would just disappear from my life forever or I would stop living.
Sniffling, I wiped my face to clear my vision and rushed to my car to go home. I had faced enough pain for today.
But, not only she yelled, threw her drink at me, she scratched ‘Whore’ on my car.
“What the– No!”
Gasping, my steps stumbled as everyone was seeing what was written there, shattering the frontage I struggled to rebuild.
Everyone was doing everything to ensure I won’t be able to lift myself up.
“Fuck you, Astrid!”
Glaring at the condition of my car, I couldn’t help but to yell outrageously before going home wretchedly.
Enough anguish for today.