Chapter 28
.
The next morning became a hassle with other dorm girls whispering down the halls and spreading what they saw. Some were even brutal enough to talk aloud so Sophie and her roommate can hear them loud and clear. Everything she said to Cecilia at the coffee shop was recorded and posted on social media with a nasty caption. The post is already viral, reaching more audience than what she saw the previous night.
She couldn’t sleep a wink reading every comment on the post. She was lucky, most of them were on her side bashing Cecilia with all their might but some people made it their life work to paint her as a Mistress from hell.
She clicked on the video again watching from where the poster decided to post to make her the villain in the entire story.
” Nothing just tell this bitch to leave my man alone”
” what if I don’t?”
Just a few seconds video, a few seconds of video that was set on ruining the reputation she built over the years to protect herself. Years of being unknown and hidden have finally gone down the drain for the wrong reason.
Grunting in frustration, she smashed the phone on the wall after calling Chris again and he didn’t pick up. She could ignore the dorm whispers and the snide remarks from the girls but what about the hoard of reporters situated outside the gates waiting for her to come out so they can bombard her with questions? Why is every bad thing happening to her at the same time?
Kayla left for lectures around eight in the morning without knowing what to do. She packed a few of her clothes ignoring her already broken phone. She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, then followed by a long shower. She dabbed some concealer on the bags under her eyes. Chosing a black oversized hoodie and black sweatpants with white sneakers. She removed a black nose mask from the covid package.
Carrying the small bag she packed earlier, she waited for the hallways to be almost empty before sneaking out of the room and luckily she only attracted a few stares from the girls. She prepped herself for an upcoming Sprint by breathing in and out and stretching her muscles. She has always been a good runner and she put her skill up to good use by running the dorm building. A few reporters gave her a hot chase and a few photos were taken but they lost the trail when she ran into an alley a few blocks away from the dorms.
She came out a few minutes later when she was sure the coast was clear. She checked her small purse before waving at a taxi. At least the cash there will take her home. She doesn’t have a phone now and doesn’t have an idea if her father would be at home or a strange doing God knows what. If not because of him, she wouldn’t be in this situation right now. Unable to walk in the street without hiding her identity.
While inside the taxi, she started thinking about everything. Maybe backing out of this deal will be better for her mental health and sanity even though her heart clenches at the thought. Since an unknown helper paid her father’s debt already and she hadn’t removed a dime from the entire money Chris gave her apart from the outfits and the other treatments. Once she got a hold of him or his whereabouts, she would return every dime possible just to get out of this mess.
She allowed sleep to take her away from her thoughts for a while before she starts getting headaches. She woke up when the taxi driver tapped on the window that they are already at the destination. She paid him before exiting the car and letting herself get welcomed by the quiet atmosphere of her familiar neighborhood.
The gate was opened and the house was quiet as usual with Noah in school and her father probably drinking himself to death. She hoped at the back of her mind that father was not doing what she was thinking but it just nagged there. The front door was shut meaning he is not at home right at the moment. The last she spoke to him was when she confirmed that he wired the money back into her account and since then she only communicated to the only family that matters to her.
She made her way to her old room and dropped the bag on the clean bed courtesy of her loving brother. Noah always make sure her room was clean and tidy every day even though she hardly sleeps in the house ever since she started college. She swapped her hoodie for a lighter shirt since she was in the house already. She brought out the few books she packed and her semester schedule.
Thank goodness, she is almost done with college. Just one final exam and she is done, maybe she could travel around on her savings before getting a proper job with her certificate to pay off her study loans.
She rummage through the fridge to fix herself something to eat, she hadn’t eaten anything yet and her stomach is protesting loudly. She made a peanut butter sandwich and poured herself a cup of milk. That should do it even though it’s almost noon. While eating, Chris flashed into her mind and she struggled to push him back, wondering how everything she already deemed perfect can turn sour in just a matter of forty-eight hours. She struggled to swallow her food when she remembered how beautiful he made her feel and he treated her lovingly during their first time together. A lone tear slipped from her eyes, Why couldn’t those moments last? And why is she feeling so sad and lonely? And why is she the only one who is hurting? Why is she the only one who is trying not to cry? What is the perfect universe suddenly crumbling on her? Yes, she wants him, more than anything she wants in this world. She admitted to herself that she feels way more for him than the relationship between and she suspects he wants her as much with the way he communicates with her non-verbally everything he feels. But why leave her without a word?
She lost her appetite already, she dropped the sandwich and wiped her tears away. Everything will be over soon, she is sure about that. Exhausted she fell asleep once again with her heart heavy in her chest.
The sound of Noah and his friends arguing about sports woke her up accompanied by a spinning headache and a wave of nausea. The feeling reminded her of the one time she ever got drunk and ended up with a hangover. She doesn’t like the feeling one bit and it must be from her exhaustion.
Noah barged into the room suddenly increasing the pounding in her head. He muttered an oops sorry seeing she was sleeping before he entered. But he ran to give her a bone-crushing hug anyways.
” You didn’t even tell me you were coming! I missed you so much. What happened to you? And why do you look like you are crawling back from hell? Jeez,” He said still hugging her. She smiled at the way he was worried about her and speaking of worries, Kayla would probably be panicking right at the dorms trying to reach her.
” jeez calm down Noah. One question at a time please.” she chuckled hugging him. If protecting this angel is the reason why she had to crawl back from that hell, then she would gladly enter that hell again so she crawls back out.
” I missed you too munchkin. Don’t worry, I’ll be here for a while” she muttered kissing his forehead.
” Hmmm Cain is downstairs, I don’t know if you want to say Hi?” Noah muttered and she laughed at the boyish look on his face. Most of his wounds are healed leaving the one on his nape which is still spotting a dark purple scar. At least he is okay.
” Come on, all your friends are my friends too” she chided him and he raised an eyebrow at her.
” You are way too old for them,” He said curling his mouth in disagreement.
” I’m way older than you and we are best friends” She argued following him downstairs.
” Yeah we are best friends but that doesn’t mean Kayla and Max are my friends too” he threw back at her and she almost tripped from laughter.
” But Kayla adores you. Max, too I guess” She argued back. Cain finally came into view, shocked to hear his friend and his twenty-something-year-old sister arguing about being friends with each other’s friends.
” Hey Cain” Sophie greeted and the blonde boy muttered hi shyly.
” Max can be my friend. We play video games together but Kayla only treats me like a kid. Always feeding me ice creams and chocolate and ruffling my head. I’m a man and it bruises the ego” He said and Sophie shook her head at his words.
” You do realize that you are an adolescent right? You are still a boy” she countered and he gave her that sour look.
” I like ice creams and chocolates” Cain muttered loudly for Sophie to hear but Noah didn’t. He was busy ruffling the fridge for some snacks The boy is the opposite of her brother, their character was contrasting. While her brother is loud and outspoken, Cain is quiet and shy.
” I’ll let that comment slide because we are best friends but I can see Kayla is rubbing off on you” He replied finally getting a family-sized bag of chips from the ones that Sophie brought on one of her previous visits.
She laughed as she got a bowl, she already its game time for both boys but her brother will surely tag her along. The trio played a lot of board games till the day started getting darker. She got to know Cain more, He found her cool also compared to his elder sister that finds him annoying every time.
Her father came later in the night after she and Noah were done eating dinner, drunk as dead. She was disappointed as usual but kept her comments to herself.
Days and approximately two weeks passed by with her going to her few lecturers and the coffee shop from her house. It was exhausting given the distance but she was glad to be out of the limelight. She told Kayla about her whereabouts at school and her friend was supportive about it. Every rumor and every gossip had died down and she even heard the poster take down the video on social media.
She was on her way home from Edna’s on a quiet evening when the atmosphere just doesn’t feel right. Her instinct was telling her something is wrong and she was hoping she was wrong.
Opening the front door, What she saw took every sound away from her throat. She couldn’t even scream.