Chapter 45: Chapter 45

Isabella's pov;

"Hi Tori!"

I waved my hand at Victoria who was working behind the stand and she waved me back and continued cleaning the glasses with a cloth.

"I forgot to ask you about this earlier, do you only serve the customers here or do you also serve the VIPs?"

"Only the customers around here. Boss said that I have to learn more before serving them. Hey! Did you hear about the guy who joined today? He looks so cool and handsome but he's younger than me."

"And you have a boyfriend."

"Hahaha. Yeah, that too. So did you see him?"

I shook my head and said, "No, I haven't."

"Why do you sound like you're not interested?"

"Because I'm not."

"And, why is that?"

"Um, I will be having my final exams in a few days so I gotta keep my mind steady."

"Oh, really? Then, do your best, Bella." And gave me a quick hug.

"Thank you."

While I was arranging the glasses on the counter, Tori said, "Hey, Bella! Can you take these to table number four?"

"Oh, sure. Give me that."

I got a tray of beer in an ice bucket with some ice cubes from her and walked to table number four.

While I was walking to the table number four, one of the guys from the dance floor bumped into me which made me trip but i took the stand and forgot about the tray. The bottle came out of the bucket and rolled on the tray since i was holding the tray, i couldn't stop the bottle rolling on the tray. If something broke, it's prize amount is deducted from my income. What should I do now?

Someone stopped the bottle from rolling and stuck it back inside the bucket along with the ice.

I turned to thank him, but,

"Harry?"

What was he doing here? When I looked at him, he was wearing the working clothes of this club.

"Be careful when you're carrying something which is expensive."

While I was confused to see him here and with the uniforms, he said again, "They're waiting. Be quick."

I placed the tray in table number four and came to Harry and held his hand and dragged him out of the club and asked him, "What are you doing here? And why are you wearing the uniform?"

"This is my new job. I wanted to surprise you but we kinda bumped before that. So, do ya like my surprise?"

"What? Job? In here? Why do you need a job in this place when you're already rich enough? And, how do you think this is a surprise for me?"

"Do I have restrictions to work here? What's wrong with working here? I mean you're working here. If you can do this job, can't I do it?"

I let out a sigh and said, "Whatever."

I turned and walked into the club and headed to Max's room.

"Did you miss my face so much that you came all the way here?"

"What is Harry doing here?"

"Who?"

"They guy who you recruited today. What is he doing here? Are you running out of employees? I don't think so. Why did you take him in?"

"He offered and I took him. What's your problem with that? Can't I take whoever I want? Did you forget that I'm the owner of this club?"

"He belongs to the William family. One the richest man in today's world. What if Mr Williams came to know about this? You're the one who will end up in trouble."

"Do you worry about me?"

"Stop playing and give it a thought. Mr Williams will be mad if he gets to know that his son is working at a nightclub. I mean, there's a chance that you could also lose this place to him."

Someone knocked while I was talking with Max. Max asked to come inside. That person opened the door and walked in and it was Harry.

Max said to Harry, "We were talking about you. You said she'll get surprised seeing you here, but her expressions are more than you said. It's funny to see here like this."

Max talked to Harry like they already knew each other.

Max continued, "I know it's a bit surprising for you but Harry's father and I are business partners so I don't think Mr Williams will get mad if he knows because he's the one who suggested Harry to me."

I looked at both and left the room without uttering another word from my mouth.

I came to the stand and continued working along with Victoria.

When the work got over, I bid farewell to Victoria and walked to the bus terminal where I boarded the bus to get to Mr Martinez's house.

While I was walking on the road, I heard honking noises beside me. When I took a look, It's a car, in which Harry was inside it.

I ignored him and continued walking, he continuously honked which made me get mad at him so I asked him, "Why are you following me?"

"I wanted to drop you at your home. Can I do it?"

"I don't want it."

"Are you going to walk to your house?"

"There's a public transportation called bus and I'm going to take it."

"We can go by car."

"Why should I?"

"Aren't we friends?"

"I don't remember saying you're my friend."

"You agreed with me that we'll talk like friends after that day. Then why are you doing this?"

"Come out of the car. My back is painful talking to you like this."

"Okay."

He got out of the car and stood by leaning on the car.

"Why are you working there?"

"Are you mad that I didn't tell you about the job?"

I gave a nod and stood still waiting for his answer.

"When I heard that you work in Max's club, I wanted to stop you from working there but I knew I couldn't do that. And i knew how Max is with girls who are working in his club so i can't stop thinking what he will do to you so i joined there. You can also tell that I joined because I wanted to keep you safe and to look after you."

I smiled and said, "To look after me?"

"Ah! Finally you smiled. Do you hate the idea that I work there?"

"That's not hate. I was just… worried?"

"Worried? For me?"

"For myself."

"Are you really sure about that?"

I smiled after he asked me that.

He continued, "So,.what about getting into the car? We can talk on the way."

I took a look in front of me and asked him, "Can I take the bus?"

He looked disappointed and said, "Okay, then, see ya tomorrow at the school."

He got into the car and waved at me and I waved back at him.

He left.

On the next day in the school,

I got cornered by Harry's friends while I was on the way to the cafeteria. Two of them blocked my way to walk further and looked mad at me. I haven't done anything for months, so why are they like this to me? What's with them?

One of them asked me, "I know you and Harry hangout behind our backs. Stop it before we spread another rumour about you on the school website."

"We're not meeting behind anyone's back."

"Oh, really? Then what about this?"

He took his phone out of his pocket and showed me a picture. It's yesterday. I think they took it while we're talking beside Harry's car.

After looking at the picture, I said, "What's wrong with this picture? There's just two people who talk to each other. There's nothing wrong in this picture."

"Well, about this?"

He swiped and showed another picture. This time, it was a picture of Harry hugging me? When did this happen? Ah! I remember it. It's when he proposed to me and I started crying so he hugged me to calm me down.

"Are you really his friend or what? Why are taking his pictures without his consent? What's wrong with you people? Isn't this wrong?"

Other guy said, "If you don't want this to be online, then stop talking to Harry. He's different after you started talking to him. We don't like his new attitude."

"If you have a problem with him, go and solve it by yourself. Why are you bothering me for that?"

"Can't you hear what we just said to you? Stop talking to him."

"I won't. Do whatever you want to."

I pushed them back and tried to walk away from them but they held me by both of their hands and took me to a secluded place.

"What are you doing? Leave me, let me go."

While I was struggling to escape, one of them whispered into my ears, "I didn't only take pictures of you two together. I took your friends' pictures too. Them being together with their girls. Shall I send them online too?"

Other guy asked him, "What? Why didn't you show me yet? Come on, give it to me."

When he tried to give his phone to him, I snapped his hand and the phone dropped on the floor. I took the chance and smashed the phone again and again with my foot by stomping on the phone. The phone's screen crashed and the phone got smashed under my foot.

"What the…" he slapped me hard on my cheek and took the phone to check it and found it to be broken so badly, it made him mad and I made a smirk at him.

He came closer and gripped some of my hair and said, "You think you can get away like this? You're going to face hell and that Ethan!"

I spit at his face and made him more angry which made him punch into my stomach. I hit him back in the reflex in his groyne so he fell on the floor and when the other guy tried to hit me, i blocked it and gave a punch to his stomach so he backed away from me.

I wiped the blood in my nose and grabbed both phones from them and smashed it again and said, "Go on and upload whatever pictures you want now."

In the restroom,

I washed my face and dyed it. I adjusted my shirt and took tissues for my nose since the bleeding didn't stop. I pressed the tissue paper under my nostrils and walked out of the restroom to my classroom.

When I entered my classroom, everyone looked at me and said something like they're talking about me. Since it's not the first time, I ignored it and walked to my place.

Harry came to me and asked, "What happened to your nose?"

I looked at my friends. They gave a surprised expression. I think it's because of seeing Harry talking to me like that.

"It's fine. Nothing serious. You can go back to your place."

He gave a nod and went back to his place.

Sophia asked me, "What's happening here? When did you get closer to the bully?"

"Recently." And made a smile.

"That smile looks suspicious. Are you hiding something from me? Spit it out! You know you can't hold it."

"There's nothing. We just solved the issues between us."

"And what's the nosebleed?"

"I got bumped into the washroom dryer."

Noah asked me, "You never gave a smile like that to us."

"What?"

Evelyn joined them, "Are you dating the bully?"

My friends started staring at me eagerly, eagerly waiting for an answer.

"No! We're not even on the friends stage. We're just talking without getting angry. That's it."

Evelyn teased me, "Oh, really?"

"Oh, yeah."

Liam said while looking into his phone, "Was that you?"

Noah asked him, "Who's who?"

He showed his phone to Noah and said, "It's Isabella right?"

Noah showed me the phone while saying, "It's you, right?"

I took the phone from him and saw what they're talking about. I saw a clip where Harry's friends pinned me and bullied me and I beat them back. Sh*t! Who took this video?

While I was looking into the video, Noah said, "Even though your face wasn't clear, I know you by seeing those shoes. You're the only one who wears pink sneakers to school."

Sophia said, "You got a nosebleed during the fight, right?"

Noah asked me, "Really?"

I nodded in embarrassment.

Sophia stood from her place and checked me while asking, "Where did they hit you? Did you bleed somewhere?"

"No, I don't. See the video, they're the ones who got… ack!"

"Is it painful?"

I gave a nod when she pressed my stomach.

Liam said, "Come on, let's go to infirmary."

Sophia said, "Yeah, you go with him and get treated."

When I was about to leave, Ms Devlin came to our class and looked at my sneakers and asked me to follow her.

I turned to Liam and said, "I'll go to the office first."

He gave a nod and went back to our friends.

When I entered Ms Devlin's office, she showed me a video and asked, "It's you, right?"

I gave a nod and stood still.

"There are not many days for your exams. If you still get into troubles like this, then how will you write your exams? Okay, what's the reason behind this?"

"They said they'll upload pictures of my friends being intimate with their loved ones online. That's why I smashed their phones. So they hit me back and the fight went on. I'm sorry for my behaviour, Ms Devlin. I promise that this will never happen again."

"Good god. No one's face is clear in this picture or this would have gotten bigger. Don't talk about this to anyone. Get back to your class."

"How are they, Ms Devlin?"

"In the infirmary. They got treated when I went to see them. I asked them to stay away from you and they agreed on it. And I hope you'll do the same too."

I thanked Ms Devlin and walked out of her office and went straight to the infirmary but they left before I arrived.

While I was on my way to the class, someone closed my mouth and dragged me into the washroom.

After getting out of their grip, I came to know that it's Harry.

"Hey! What was that for? What if it hits you?"

"Sorry for that. I don't want anyone to see us, that's why I pulled you quickly."

"In the men's washroom?"

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologising to me? It's not you who hit me though."

"But it's my friends. I have to take the blame for them after all."

"Hey! Don't take those guys' sides. You're not like them. You're…"

Someone came in so Harry took into one of the closed washrooms and locked it. I sat on the toilet seat after closing it while he was placing his ear on the door and waiting for them to leave. It looked funny.

"What are you doing?"

He shushed me and came to me and whispered, "What did you ask?"

I whispered back, "What are you doing?"

"Checking them whether they left or not."

After knowing they're not leaving, he whispered to me, "What were saying outside when those guys came in?"

"I came to say that you're not like them and you're not a bad person."

He smiled and whispered, "Did they hit you hard? I saw when Sophia touched you and you flinched. Where is the pain?"

"Give me your hand."

When he gave me his hand, I held it and took it near my stomach and placed his hand where my ribs end and whispered, "Here."

Our faces were closer than before where I could feel his hot breath on my face. He looked into my eyes like he was looking for something where I was thinking about why my heart was beating so fast like it's going to fall out of my chest. He leaned and caressed my cheeks with his other hand and brushed my lips and when he was about to kiss me, I closed my eyes. I heard someone closing the door like the boys left but I ignored it and still was closing my eyes.

"I think they left."

I opened my eyes and found Harry standing in front of me waving to go with him. I stood and took a peek to make sure no one was around. When I was about to step out of the individual washroom, Harry pulled me towards him by holding my collar by his left hand and pressed his lips against mine and didn't let go of my collar and lips too. While kissing his right hand went around my waist and held me closer to him.

"Ack!"

I got hurt when his body touched mine since I got bruised badly.

"I'm sorry. Did it hurt?"

"It's fine."

"Let's go before someone else comes."

I gave a nod and said, "Yes."

We walked out of the washroom and I made my way to the classroom.

Sophia asked me as soon as I entered the class, "How did it go with Ms Devlin? What did she say?"

"Since it's the time for final exams, I got an excuse."

Noah tapped on my shoulder and said, "Good for you."

I remembered the kiss of Harry's when I touched my lips. What's happening to me?

In Mr Martinez's house,

In the middle of the night, I woke up because of the pain. I forgot to take medicine for my wound.

I came down and asked Jack to buy me some medicine and waited in the hall by sitting on the couch.

When he came back with the medicines, I said, "Sorry for waking you up in the middle of the night, Jack."

He gave me the medicine and asked, "Nothing is wrong with that. Can I take you to the hospital?"

"It's fine. I'll take care of it. It doesn't hurt that much. And, thank you for the medicines."

"Don't hesitate to wake me when you need something else." And left.

I climbed stairs with a pain in my stomach and made it to my room.

"What happened to you?"

When I turned to look, I tripped and fell on the floor.

Mr Martinez helped me to stand and asked, "Are you alright?"

I gave a nod and stood by myself and walked into my room.

I sat on the bed and removed my shirt and took a cotton cloth to clean the wound.

Mr Martinez barged into the room and saw my wound and looked stunned and asked, "What is this? How did you get this? Did you fall somewhere?"

If I said what happened in the school, he'd get mad so it's better to lie.

"Yes."

I couldn't even touch my wound since it hurted a lot.

He kneeled in front of me and took the cotton from my hands and said, "I'll do it."

I stopped him when he tried to touch it and said, "It's fine. I'll do it."

He removed my hands and said, "I'll do it. Tell me if I pressed rough."

I gave a nod and watched him.

He slowly rubbed the wound and cleaned it using the cotton dipped in disinfectant and applied an ointment on it.

When I thought he's going to leave, he came closer to the wound and blew over it and said, "You'll get better soon." And left.

Why did he blow over it? Why am I feeling like it happened already? Whenever Mr Martinez does things like that, he makes me think that it happened already to me. But I don't have a memory of this before. I feel my heart beating again but for a different person this time. Why is my heart throbbing a lot today?

I went to sleep thinking why Mr Martinez is so nice to me… and only to me? I never saw him being nice to anyone like how he's with me. He's my boss but never behaves like one. Mr Martinez always uses a lower tone with me like he knows I have a problem with high pitch talks. Not like he won't talk to anyone but it feels like he talks to me more when compared with others. Even though he doesn't like going out, he agrees whenever I ask him. He gets annoyed easily whenever I am near Ethan. I can see it clearly on his face but still I tease him for fun. Whenever I feel down, he was right there to comfort me. He always asks what role he plays in my life. Doesn't he know he's my boss then why does he keep asking me like that? Or is he expecting some other answer from me? What does he expect from me?

Does he like me???

No, he doesn't. I'm so stupid to think like that. He said I'm the one to cure his haphephobia. It must be that. Yeah, He takes care of me because of that. Stupid of me to think he likes me, how can he like someone low like me?