Chapter 46: Chapter 46

Isabella's pov;

"Why didn't you say that you and Harry go to the same high?"

I let out a nervous chuckle and said, "I forgot to tell you."

"But it's been weeks since he joined. How can you be like that?"

"Then, how did you find it by the way?"

"Harry told me. And, he didn't tell it on his own either. He's so tight-lipped so it was hard to get it out of his mouth."

I let out a chuckle and said, "You could have asked me."

"I thought about it but you were so busy serving the customers. Do you always work hard like that?"

I nodded and said, "It's only for a weekend though."

"Don't you get tired from weekdays because of school? I don't know how you're coping with this but for me it feels like when will I get home after this."

"Actually, I can get you. I was like that too when I first joined here and after some days I got used to it. I bet you'll get used to it soon. Don't worry, big sis."

She laughed and said, "I can't believe I'm getting advice from a High-Schooler for the second time." And whined.

I laughed and said, "It's a bad thing to get advice from a younger person. Actually, I got advice from a second grader once so you're so much better than me."

"Second grader? Who's that second grader? I want to meet that person."

"Why do you suddenly sound like you're excited to know that person? May I know the reason Ms Victoria?"

"It's a universal excitement to see the person getting burned who just burned us."

I let out a sigh and said, "She's my nephew. Yuyang."

"Yu… yu yang? Chinese? Then what breed do you belong to? Mixed?"

I let out a sigh and said, "My brother met her when he went for a business trip."

"Ooh. He went for a business proposal but got a marriage proposal, huh? Your brother must be great then."

"Tori, remember that you have a boyfriend. You're so obvious when you flirt."

"Am I? I'm so hating this! I don't want to be in a relationship anymore. I can't even flirt with other people to my wish. I hate being in a relationship. I want to be free. I want to be single. I want to flirt with guys…" her phone rang. She answered, "Yes, baby. Yeah, I'm still working... No, no. It'll take some time… okay, I'll call you when I get off work… see ya, bye baby." And ended the call and made a smile.

"Wow!"

She placed the drinks in a tray and gave it to me while saying, "Table number Five."

"We have to speak a lot."

"First, go and serve this." And shooed me.

I placed the tray on table number five. It was a table with guys who were over 40s. They were in their working clothes, I think they came for some company dinner.

When I tried to leave, one of the guys asked me, "Where are you leaving? Who's going to serve if you leave?"

He looked drunk. I think it's probably their third round.

I took the shots and placed one in front of them and said, "Happy drinking." And made a smile.

Another guy asked, "Bring me another tray of v*dka."

"Yes, Sir."

I came to the stand and asked Tori to prepare a tray of vodka and waited for it. Tori gave me a tray saying, "They already went for four rounds. I think we need to deal with some drunk people tonight. Inform me if they are out of their line. Take them."

I nodded and took the tray to table number five.

One of the guys asked me, "What took you so long?"

"I'm sorry, Sir. Let me allow you to serve you, Sir."

I placed the glasses in front of each guy. When I tried to place the glass to the guy who was far away, I bent a little forward and placed it before him. When I tried to bend, someone touched my waist. Since I wore a crop top, I could sense the touch so clearly on my skin. I snapped back and said to the guy, "Sir, it's not appropriate to touch the employees. It's against the rules."

The guy who touched me without my concern, started shouting like hell at me which made everyone look at me. Other guys who came along with him blamed me like I'm the one who caused ruckus.

I tried to explain to those guys, "Sir, I didn't do anything. Please listen to me…" but they weren't interested in listening to me. Instead they all joined together and yelled at me like I made some mistake. I couldn't stop them since they were all so drunk and blabbering something.

"Where's the owner? Where's the owner of this club? I want to meet him. Call him. Ask him to come here. I want to meet him."

"Sir, please don't do that. We can talk it out. Please don't call him, Sir."

Even when I pleaded to them, they didn't listen and asked for the club owner, who is Max. If he comes here, the issue will double fold.

"I need to meet him! Call him right here! Call him! Ask him to come here!.."

"Sir, please…"

The guy who was shouting raised his hands to hit me… i closed my eyes and… I heard someone crying in pain.

When I opened my eyes, the guy who yelled at me was on the floor with a bleeding nose. What happened to him? Who beat him?

I turned to look at who it was.

"Mr Martinez?"

Mr Martinez asked me, "Are you alright? Did he hit you anywhere?"

I shook my head and asked him, "How did you…"

Before i finished, the guy on the floor said, "You beat me since i tried to hit her, then about this guy, he touched her waist. What are you going to do with him?"

Mr Martinez's face turned red and asked me, "Did he touch you?"

If I said yes, he would definitely hit him. I shouldn't say yes to him.

I gulped and shook my head and said, "No."

Mr Martinez held that guy's collar and started to hit him on his face again and again.

I tried to stop Mr Martinez by saying, "Why are you beating him? I said no. Stop it. Stop beating him."

He didn't listen and continued hitting him on his face making him bleed and when the guy fell on the floor, he kicked him right into his stomach.

"Stop it! Please, stop beating him! He's bleeding. Stop it. What if he dies?"

"Why did you lie? Tell me that he touched you."

I shouted aloud, "Yes! He touched me! Was it enough for you?"

Mr Martinez let go of him and walked towards me.

I got scared and backed away since I never saw this side of him. He looked like a stranger to me all of a sudden.

Harry held me and said, "It's fine. It's fine." And patted my head.

Max came and said to others, "The clubs are closing pretty early today so I'm asking you all to leave, please? You can all come back tomorrow."

Everyone started leaving the club.

I saw Mr Martinez leave the club with others.

Victoria asked me, "Hey Belle, are you alright now? Sorry, I should have come but I got busy in the stand."

"It's okay. I'm fine now."

Victoria, "Wait, I'll get you a glass of water." And left.

After everyone left, Max came to me and asked, "Do you Alexander Martinez?"

I gave a nod.

He made a smirk and said, "Wow! You're having rich guys around you. That's a really great talent. I wonder how you lured them into you. Did you use your…" and pointed towards me.

If he didn't give me money to pay my debts, I would have beaten him to a pulp by now.

Harry came with water and said, "Come, I'll drop you at your place."

Max made a smile which made me torn into pieces.

I said to Harry, "It's fine. I'll go by myself."

Max said, "If you go with him, he'll give you a ride to your house."

"I'm used to travelling by bus so it's never a problem for me."

I walked out of the club and headed to the bus terminal. I don't know how I'm going to survive til mom wakes up. I badly want to be inside my mom's arms and cry out loud and want her to console me saying that everything will be fine. I wiped my tears and walked to the bus terminal.

At Martinez's house,

When I entered the house, I saw Mr Martinez in the hall. I ran up the stairs and came to the room.

I took all my clothes from the wardrobe and put them into a bag and took my books and tucked them into the same bag. I took my things and came out of the room and dragged the bag downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Mr Martinez asked me.

I stopped from walking and said, "To my house. You brought me since I got sick. I should have left when i got alright but forgot and stayed here. I think I stayed a little longer. Thank you for accommodating me for these, Mr Martinez."

"If you want to leave that bad, then leave by the morning."

"It's fine, Mr Martinez. I can take care of myself."

When I tried to leave, he held my hand and said, "Stay."

I removed his hands from mine and said, "I have a house. This is not my house. I have to leave someday so I'm doing it now." And walked out of the house.

"Are you mad at me?"

I turned and answered him, "No, I'm mad at me. And, tell big brother to come find me at my place if he wants to talk to me. I'm not coming again to this house unless it's Tuesday and Thursday."

"Take the car."

When he tried to call Mateo, I said, "Don't call him. The employees aren't supposed to take the owner's car. It's still around 10. The buses are still running so I'll go by bus. I'll take my absence, Mr Martinez." And made my way to the entrance.

I came to the bus terminal and waited for the bus. The memories flashed in my head and made my eyes teary. Sh"t! I'm sorry, Mr Martinez. I didn't come out of the house because of you. I can't stay there after hearing those words from Max. He sounded like i was leeching off you. I don't know why but i get really mad when they speak like that about you. I don't want them to think of us like that. I don't want him to ruin you name. And, I don't want to ruin your name.

I don't want to go to that club anymore. I don't want to work there. How am I going to solve my debt? I'm scared that if i continue working there, something bad will happen. I'm scared to go there. Mom, i want to be in your arms really bad. I want to hug you, mommy. While I was crying, someone hugged me by wrapping their hands around me. The warm that i felt, I've knew this before.

I raised my head and wanted to make sure it's him.

"Mr Martinez?"

"You forget the coat again."

I saw coat wrapped around me.

"Did you came all the way to give me this coat?"

He wiped my tears and said, "Why aren't you in the bus? Why are you still sitting here? It's getting cold. Didn't bus came?"

"What are you doing here?"

He ignored me and said, "Ah! The bus is here. Come on." Took my bag and tried to board the bus.

I stood and walked to the bus and get into the bus and asked for my bag. He gave me the bag and boarded the bus along with me.

"What are doing? It'll take doon. Get off the bus."

He walked inside and sat in one of the empty seats.

The bus took off.

I walked in and stood beside him and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Can't you see? Are you blind?"

I took the seat beside him and continued, "Get off on the next stop."

He ignored me and looked outside the window.

"I know now why you like to travel by bus. It feels good, feeling the cold breeze on my face. The city shines in the bright light."

When the stop came, i said, "Get off. Get off the bus."

"No!"

"Where are you going?"

"To your place."

"What? My place? Why?"

"I'm your boss. You don't question me." And continued looking outside the window.

I don't know what's on his mind right now. Why is he doing like this?

When i looked at him, he was looking at the buildings in the night lights.

I remembered when he beat that guy, i remembered how Mr Martinez was at that time. But now, he looks way too different. He was looking outside and watching every building that passing by like a child.

How could a person be different like this?

When the stop near my house arrived, i took the bag and got out of the bus. He walked past me like he knew the way.

"Do you know the way?"

"Did you forget that I'm one who carried you to the car when you feel sick?"

"That was once. Once. Let's see if you're right."

He took a wrong turn. I walked in the right path and ignored him. He followed me back and walked past me again.

"Mr Martinez, you can't remember these ways like your business proposals. The way is crooked and there are so many turns on the way to reach my place. You have to live here to know those ways." And made fun of him.

After some time, he took my advice and followed me.

We reached the house. I opened the door a nd walked in. The smell of dust in the air made me cough when i stepped into the house.

"Mr Martinez, i came to my house so please go back to your place. You didn't even took a car so grab some cab and return to your house."

He sat on a chair and said, "I'm staying for tonight."

"What!? No, you can't stay here. This place is so messy. Please leave. Go back to your house, Mr Martinez."

"I didn't ate my dinner get. Do you have something in your house?"

He's hungry? He didn't had any? What should I do now?

I opened the cabinets and found some instant cup noodles inside it.

"There's only cup noodles. Was it enough for you?"

"Bring it here."

I took three to four cup noodles and kept in front of him.

"Wait, I'll boil some water."

"You know how to boil water?"

"Yeah, the only dish I'm good at."

I heard him chuckling while i was boiling the water.

I kept the kettle in front of him and said, "You got to pour this hot into the cup first and close the lid. We have to wait for one or minutes to get them cooked and we can eat it after that."

"Is it still paining?"

"Huh?"

"The bruise on your stomach."

"Oh, that. Yeah. It got better now. The pains all gone."

"Your place doesn't look bad. Even though it was a small house, it was so spacious. I like it. You can easily take the things you wanted, you don't have to search for them everytime."

"Seriously, what are you doing?"

He made a smile and said, "Waiting for the cup noodles to get boiled. By the way, the guy who hugged you, was it the Harry you talk about?'

I gave a nod and waited for him to talk.

He continued, "Two minutes over. I think it got cooked. Dig in, let's eat." He took the lid off and started eating the noodles and slurped in. "What happened to my manners? Sorry." And continued eating.

After finishing eating, i asked him, "Are you really going to stay for the night?"

"Yup!"

He stood up and closed the doors and came back asking for a pillow and a blanket.

I gave him my mom's and said, "We two don't have guests so can you…"

He took it from me and lied down on the mattress.

When i went to turn off the light, he said, "Can you keep the lights on? I used to it."

"Okay."

I spreaded the mattress and laid on it but i couldn't sleep since Mr Martinez was beside me. We never slept together like this close. This is the first time, a guy is sleeping in my house and lying beside me. I couldn't sleep even when i tried hard.

"Whatever you're trying to supress, will bound to come out in some way. And i think You're suppressing something right now. Just remember that you can talk to me about anything." Mr Martinez said.

Was he still awake?

I asked him back, "Why are you being nice to me?"

I didn't hear a response so i continued, "Is it because that I'm the one who you're feeling comfortable with? Do you think if you act mad and I'll quit my job and you'll suffer from haphephobia again? Is that the reason why you're being nice to me?"

"No."

I turned to him and asked again, "Then why are you being nice to me? And only to me?"

"Why did you leave the house?"

"Why did you followed me here?"

"What aren't you throwing me out?"

I turned away from him and asked, "Do you like me?"

He didn't give a response so i turned to look at him. He was standing and wearing his coat.

"What are you doing? Are you leaving?"

He gave a nod and opened the door.

"Wait, why are you leaving? Did I asked something that shouldn't be asked?"

"See you on Tuesday." And tried to leave.

"Wait, do you know the ways? What if you get lost? Can I come with you."

"No. I'm not a child. I remember it." And left.

I only asked that does he like me. What's wrong with that. He can say 'no'. Was it that difficult to say?

Anyways, he wasn't interested in me in that way so i can be rest assured.