“Serene!” Ryan cried. I could sense him running towards me. It wasn’t just him. All of them were. Gosh, what now?
I ensured I remained motionless. I wasn’t going to stand up. This was the best way to prevent a commotion from happening.
“Serene!” Ryan held me up, shook my body, but of course, there was no response from me. “What’s wrong with you? Hey, get me some water! Hurry up!”
Gosh, no! Water? How come I hadn’t thought about that shit? He was going to ruin this!
I peeked at him by opening my left eye. Unluckily for me, Raymond caught me. I quickly shut my eye, cursing myself for opening it. What if he had seen me? Gosh, what had I done?!
I swallowed, and just kept pretending.
Ryan soothed my hair. Of course, Raymond and Ralph would be so jealous. But, I was glad to know that Ryan was the one who was holding me. I was more comfortable around him.
“Here’s the water, sir.” A tiny voice sounded from the crowd around me.
Though he was going to sprinkle the water on my face, I still wouldn’t wake up. If he was probably able to take me from here, then, I would wake up. But, first, I had to get rid of Ralph and Raymond.
“Wait,” Raymond’s voice sounded. Why had he asked Ryan to wait? For a moment, everywhere was silent. What was going on? “Ryan, I’ll sprinkle the water on her. I’m good at things like this.”
“No, I’ll—”
“Please,” Raymond said.
And then, everywhere was silent again. I could feel someone crouching beside me, and I knew it was Raymond. How could Ryan give him the water? Had he forgotten that Raymond was a snake?
Irresistibly, I bit my lower lip. It was something I did anytime I was scared. Shortly, I heard a snigger from Raymond. And, before I could sense any other thing, a mountain of water was spilled on my face. Uncontrollably, I jerked awake.
“Oh my gosh!” I gasped.
Raymond scoffed, a smirk lingering on his lips as he gazed at me. “Are you awake now, my dear?”
I shot him a glare. “Are you crazy? Is that how you wake someone up? Dude, I fainted. How rude of you.”
“Enough of this madness. Get up now.” He gave someone the glass in his hand, standing up slowly.
I glanced at Ryan, and looked away immediately. Pulling myself off his hold, I stood up quickly, glaring at Raymond. To my surprise, James wasn’t here. Ralph was beside Raymond, but he seemed so speechless.
“Do you always have to be mean and dumb?” I scolded Raymond. Who cared if he was the CEO of this company? So what?
He glared. With a snap of his fingers, the crowd around us got dismissed, Ralph included. Since Ralph had gone with the crowd, I could tell that he was probably working at Twinkle Stars.
“Mr. Arthur.” A young, Asian-looking lady hurried over to Ryan. Seeing her tugging some files to her chest, I knew she was his new secretary. “Please, I need to speak to you for a few minutes. It’s quite urgent.”
Ryan held my arm, turned me to him. As I stared into those blue eyes, my heart raced really, really fast. Now that I knew what I felt for him, it felt weird to have him around me. What if he noticed my feelings, and ended up realizing that he had won in getting me to fall for him?
“See, I’ll be back soon. Once he tries to do anything crazy to you, call out my name, okay?” He said.
I nodded. I just wanted him to leave as soon as possible.
He turned to the Asian chic, walked out of here. And, so, it was Raymond and I that were left.
Raymond put his hands in the pocket of his pants. He was no longer glaring at me. He was only smirking. “Nice seeing you here.” He stepped close. “I can see that you’ve come here to see me. Isn’t that a miracle?”
I scoffed. “See you? How dumb. I came over, only to deliver groceries to someone.”
“Oh.” He raised his eyebrows at me. The sarcasm in that one word he had mentioned, was a great one. He sniggered. “That means you work at a grocery store. Too bad, my love.”
“Well, at least, over there, no one has to force me to like him, just like you. Working there is better than working here, as long as I get the liberty I desire,” I choked out.
“Actually…” He shrugged. “I don’t mind accepting you back. But, you’ll just have to do one thing.”
As much as I missed working here, I also wasn’t willing to work here anymore. “Keep your job to yourself. I’m fine with what I do.”
“You’ve been Ignoring my texts.” He pulled his hands from his pocket, wrapped his arms around his chest, a stern look on his face. “Tell me, you still aren’t ready to accept my feelings?”
“You disgust me. Just get off my way now.” I frowned so, so hard. My fingers were curled in a fist, my teeth clenched. I really felt like hitting the asshole out of him.
He let out a throaty laugh. A sinister one. “Do you think this is a joke? Raymond Shawn said he likes a woman, and you think I’m joking?”
“But, I hate you,” I retorted.
“You fool!” Uniformed, he gripped my arm. He tugged it so tight, towed me to him, seeming like a monster as he scowled this hard. “How can you hate me? What do you even want? I’m successful. I’m the son of a billionaire. Many ladies are dying to have me. But then, you say you still hate me? Have you gone mad?”
“L-Leave my arm, you filthy thing! You’re hurting me!” I cried, struggling to pull his hand off my arm. He was really hurting me.
He laughed at me, panting hard like an angry lion. “You think this hurts? If you wanna know what ‘hurt’ feels like, check my heart. Take a glimpse at the pain in it.”
I shivered. Tears formed in my eyes, which made me feel so terrified. Raymond really looked like a monster. His eyes were red, and this anger seemed extraordinary. Wait, had he truly fallen for me? That was crazy!
“Please, let go of my hand,” I pleaded. I couldn’t do anything else. Calling Ryan for help wasn’t the better option. He’d only worsen things.
“Is there a reason you aren’t calling your lover?” He mocked.
I blinked away my tears. “I swear, if you don’t leave me alone, I’ll deal with you. How can you be this violent with a woman? All because she doesn’t wanna accept the stupid thing you call love?”
“It’s not stupid!” He barked. Like a maniac, he slammed my back against the wall, literally pinning me to it. I gasped in fear, feeling a thick pain at the back of my head, due to the force he had used to hit my back. This man was really running mad.
“P-Please, stop. This is—”
“Do you know what this means to me? I sacked you, yet you rejected me. I send you threatening texts, yet you aren’t ready to give me a chance in your life. It hurts my ego, woman! It hurts my pride! No one dares to refuse me. I’m Raymond Shawn!”
“Ah! My arm!” As he got more angry, he tightened my arm harder. “Please, stop! Have you gone mad? Ah!”
“You shouldn’t—”
And then, his words got stuck in his throat. A force pulled him from behind, which made him release me from his grip. Moving my eyes to what had pulled him, I gawked on seeing Ryan.
Ryan turned Raymond around, so he’d face him. Glaring so hard, he cursed underneath his breath. And, in only one second, he pulled the collar of Raymond’s shirt, pulled Raymond closer to him, then clashed his fist against Raymond’s cheek.
“You idiot!” Ryan threw another punch against Raymond’s cheek. This time around, Raymond fell to the floor. The moment Ryan wanted to hit Raymond again, Raymond managed to stand up, and hit Ryan.
I clutched my back against the wall, allowing the tears which had blurred my vision, to leave my eyes. I shivered like a coward.
What was I going to do? They were fighting because of me. I shouldn’t have come here! I shouldn’t!
—