Chapter 311: Chapter 311

"Aunt Ava, are these, okay?"

Ava glanced sideways at the packaged meals in Samantha’s hand, thoughtfully,

"Give me a moment. I’ll add one of the snacks that Mum and Dad like."

Ava said and then headed to one of the rooms at the back. She did all these without fully looking at Samantha at all. Samantha sighed. She sensed that Ava was a little cold to her, and Samantha knew she deserved it.

Even she hated herself for her stupidity in the few weeks since her stepmother had been married into the estate. Samantha was glad that her mum and dad had given her a second chance, but that did not mean that everyone around would be the same.

Samantha understood that she needed to work harder to get the acceptance of the people around her mother. The positive point in all these was that, she was very willing to do that.

’At least Aunt Ava is not pushing me away. That means that I still have some chance of doing this. I must persevere and make this right!’

Samantha turned to survey her surroundings as she waited. She felt so content with each passing day. Samantha could not believe that she had almost made herself fall into the depths of a pit she had dug for herself. With such a lovely young mother and a protective father like that, what more could she want in life? She was lost in such thoughts until she heard her name being called out.

She turned towards the direction of the voice. She was in a slightly deserted but short hallway that linked the lobby and where Ava had disappeared.

Samantha frowned, for she knew the voice. Even if she was blind, she would have been able to detect who that person was. He was the crush that she had abandoned herself to. The one boy that she thought held her world in his palm.

A week ago, if he had told her to roll over on the ground, fourteen-year-old Samantha would have done precisely that, with no questions asked, but it turned out that he had just been using her. Samantha was even happy that she had not given herself to him.

They had kissed and groped around, but that was just about it. At that time, she had thought that he was being a gentleman, not knowing that he was only interested in her mother and not her! A disgusting boy he was!

The smile left her eyes, and she turned to him but did not utter a greeting. There was no dotting in her expression.

Raye noticed all these but knew that he needed to be the one to fall over. Whatever happened to his dad’s business could be solved with just one word from Samantha’s dad, so Raye knew that he needed to up his game on this. There was no room for mistakes.

"How have you been? You got me all worried!"

The sarcasm in her voice was missed, unfortunately.

"Yes! I could not reach you, either! None of your friends could! I had thought that something had happened to you! TG that you are okay!"

Raye said brightly but he felt anything but bright at that moment. Raye had gone through all the stages of grief after that day when everything fell apart. He had initially been in denial. He had thought there was no way that idiot girl could influence his father to do anything to their family.

However, seeing his dad in the hospital, with growing medical bills, banks confiscating their assets and everything, made him transcend from denial to anger. He was angry at everything and everyone. All their workers could not stay by him as he screamed for days on end, hurling insults at the girl that none of them knew.

’How dare she stand me up! Me, Raye! The one that all scramble for!’

Most of the workers in their family had quit around that time. They knew that they would not be paid anyway.

After that, he started bargaining. Raye sent multiple texts to Samantha, but all of them were rejected. He tried finding her in school, but she had supposedly taken a leave of absence, and Raye did not know what to do.

Even if he wanted to continue living his life that way, he could not. There was no money to support his lifestyle, and the women who had been fawning on him, including Natasha, shunned him like he had a plague.

That was when Raye had gotten a taste of reality. He went to all his supposed friends, but none wanted to associate with him. It was already all over school that his family had sunk low and was bankrupt, so none of the kids wanted to be close to him anymore.

Besides, they had only tolerated him because he was the only heir of his father’s business and nothing more than that. That alone sunk him into a depressed state. For a whole night, he lost the will to do anything. Thankfully, that stage did not take long before he learned to accept that that was life’s harsh reality.

His father’s business had sunk to the ground with no hopes of a revival.

’I can’t believe that I have to lower myself to this level just to please this stupid orphan!’ Raye thought while maintaining a smile.

He stretched out his arms for Samantha, only for her to step back. He gritted his teeth, using all his self-will to keep his smile in place.

"Hey, Samantha, what is wrong? Are you not glad to see me? I missed you so much!"

He took another step, and Samantha took the same back, keeping her distance. In fact, Raye had been on the premises from the break of dawn and had seen the family come in, but he needed to see Samantha alone and had waited until that very moment.

He knew that the only place he could probably find Samantha was this very place. He knew that he needed to keep his temper in place so as not to anger her, or else, he and his family would have to beg to live, considering the debt on their heads.

Samatha took a good look at the boy she had crushed on and seriously doubted her own sanity. Within the few days that they had spent apart, Raye had lost all his lustre and glow. He was nothing like his old self, unkempt hair, wrinkled shirt and shorts that looked to have been slept in. None of those fit the image that he had created for himself over time, but to Samantha, that was the real him.

On the other hand, Raye had to fight to keep the surprise from his face. Samantha was young and still growing but without her usual makeup, she gave off a pure, untouched look that made him regret not putting in more effort with her. However, Raye knew that all was not lost then and needed to bring up his A-game.

"I- really miss you, Samantha." His eyes softened as she was the only one in his world but that only made Samantha feel sickened.

"I don’t! .... And don’t ever use that word! Miss me? What a joke!" Samantha spat out as if she had just tasted bile.

"What?!" Raye could not help but exclaim, for he had never expected her to say that right to his face. However, Samantha did not want to stay in the same vicinity with him. She did not need to be a genius to figure out why he was there. It was disappointing but it firmed her resolve.

"Well, if you’ll excuse me...." Samantha side-stepped him, and that riled him up.

"I just want to talk! Why are you being such a bitch!"

"Oh, now you’ve taken off your mask?"

"I’m sorry, Samantha! That came out wrong. You know that I did not mean that? Please. I just want to talk."

"... and I don’t want to see you, so leave me alone!"

Samantha turned to leave, and Raye grabbed her hand, making her wince in pain.

"Hey! You’re hurtin-"

Samantha had barely finished the statement when Raye’s hand was grabbed and twisted painfully behind him for him to scream out. This attracted the attention of a few people around, including Shelby’s group, which was not far from them.

Samantha turned to look at her saviour, and her eyes narrowed into slits from the smile that brightened her face.

Ava glared at the girl, "Don’t you know how to scream for help?" She snapped, but Samantha just felt warm.

"I’m sorry – I just-"

"Save that for later!"

Ava turned back to Raye and then twisted his hand more, making Raye, who was a head taller than Ava, cover as his knees hit the ground.

"Now, I believe, my goddaughter here said NO. Don’t you understand that single word? Did you not pay attention to your English class?"

"OUCH!!!!!!" Raye screamed as Ava exerted more strength, but she was getting tired,

Samantha felt warm. ’Did Aunt Ava call me a goddaughter?’

Soon, Ian, Shelby and their two assistants arrived at the scene, with Brad tailing them.

Ian raised his brows questioningly, and Currey filled him in.

"Oh, so this is the twerp that had set his eyes on my wife and daughter?"

Even though Raye was in pain, he did not miss Ian’s intimidating aura, but even then, his gaze was stuck on Shelby.

"Let me take care of that for you,"

Brad walked around to Ava and then took Raye from her hand. Brad had a slight smile, so Raye thought that his saviour had arrived, but he had no idea that his worst nightmare was about to start. Brad was usually not known to be violent and had a party outlook.

"Don’t worry, brother; He is in good hands!"

Ian nodded and added, "Let me never see this twerp again!"

Ava stretched her arms and then, without looking at Samantha, picked up a small basket and handed it to her.

Samantha quickly handed that off to Suzie as Brad dragged the screaming Raye out of the place.

It was the last time Samantha had seen him or even heard of his family, and it was the first time she felt so protected. Samantha teared up, and her vow to remain true to her new family was reinforced.

Just on the side, outside the window, in the growing darkness, another pair of eyes stood looking at the family. Unknowingly, this festival had turned to be one that promised a night brimming with untold events, each moment crackling with the anticipation of the unexpected, it would seem.

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