Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Now that he's said something, a lot of rumors are piling up again. Some people are already siding with me, but I don't want any of it. I don't want their sympathy or their opinion about our issue. It makes me sick to think that I'm not even a celebrity, but I'm feeling roasted all over social media platforms.

Arielle has become so stressed out at the moment that a lot of people have tried to say that she should hold a press conference for me, but that will just make the issue grow bigger and bigger. I don't want to push her too much now that she's living her own life.

I've been trying to help her by not doing anything and just staying at home for the meantime. I was just here in my room studying and taking all the online reviews for my exams that I need to finish to get my college diploma. It's just been a week, and everything has changed already to the point that I forgot again all my academic loads. But I'm trying to focus now and have been studying with my sister, Arianne.

As the scandal remained the most talked about topic around the city, our side just remained calm and has been taking all that matter into legal action. Kendric hasn't texted me for a while after what he did in the interview. He just sent me a voicemail right after the show, saying he's sorry but he just needs to be honest this time.

With him being honest, he didn't even think about how I would feel about it. I will understand why he did that if he came to me first, which he didn't.

Again, I just felt betrayed.

Three days passed, and the issue had already popped like a bubble. There are no traces of it everywhere, as if it's just gone off the grid. My name wasn't at the top of the scandal, and another issue arose when Muriel was seen with another guy already. Other people are speculating that she's really the one who cheated, not Kendric. She's facing a lot of issues right now, and she's the only one left with a trending topic.

As for Kendric, he became silent after the issue, and all I heard from him was that he was trying to expand his business in Europe and other parts of Australia. He's in his business-minded state now, and I'm pretty sure he's busy dealing with other problems.

As for me, I just stayed grounded after all that happened. Since I got back to school and I have a university to attend back in New York, I'll be going home the day after tomorrow. Arielle has also already found a small studio apartment for me to have my own personal space, and I heard that Tyler has already picked out the interior design and moved all of my things in there from their home.

I'm finally starting to have my own life again after weeks of hiding here.

Today, Deniece suddenly visited me. She's been worrying about me because after I went to their house, I never got the chance to go back and have more fun with her girlfriend because of my issue.

"So how are you feeling right now?" she asked after she offered me a glass of orange juice.

"Well, I've been doing great lately. I have lots of lessons to review and term papers to finish for my graduation," I said before I drank the juice she gave.

"You should have a party tonight since you'll be going back soon, and I'm waiting for this time to come," she excitedly invited me.

"I don't want to have a party outside; I just want to stay here until the day of my flight." I declined her offer.

"But you should have fun now that you don't have any problems," she reasoned.

"Shhh," I hushed her down. "Don't jinx it; if ever I face another problem after what you said, I will also drag you down."

She laughed at what I said and teased me some more before she asked a serious question.

"What about Kendric now?" She asked.

"What about him?" I asked back.

"You're not going to say something to him?" She asked again.

"Why would I even do that?" I sarcastically uttered. "He's not even looking for me, and mind you, your brother already told me that we should just be friends."

I'm right though; why would I even bother to talk to that guy if he's the one who messed up and simply walked away from me this time? Does he think that I'll go find him? I'm not that kind of girl, and I'll just do that if he's still trying to make it up with me, but no, there's no reason for me to do that.

"You are such a red flag," Deniece flicked her fingers on my forehead.

"Am I not wrong?" I asked.

"You're not wrong, but what you're doing right now will just give him a hint that you absolutely don't care about him."

I was cornered by what Deniece told me. But as much as I want to find him and tell him the words I want to say, I just can't. I'm trying to protect my peace the best I can now. I know he'll understand what I'm doing, and I just hope he won't judge me for what I did this time.

It was already afternoon when Deniece went home, and I was all alone in the apartment. I'm a bit bored and went to the 40th floor, where residents can use the polling area. It was the golden hour when I went outside and rested on one of the chairs there. I was just admiring the whole city from above when a man came to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Corbin," he said, extending his hand for a handshake.

"Angela," I shortly replied, and he sat with me without asking my permission. I'm looking at every move he makes until he gets comfortable and looks at me.

"Why are you alone?" He asked in a deep voice. His voice is soothing, almost exactly the same as Kendric's.

Gosh, why am I even thinking about him?

"I don't want to talk to you," I directly told him to turn down. He walked away from me, and I just continued to watch how the sun set today. I even took a picture of it and put it on my IG story with a caption that says, "Almost done here." I actually don't know why I put that as a caption, but I just wanted to express that I'm almost ready to leave this city again and restart a new season in New York.

I bet it's already raining there.

Gosh, I love rain.

I dipped my feet into the pool, and right after I felt the coldness of the water, I got the chills. It's freezing, so I decided that I'd just dip my feet up to my knees and put my towel over my shoulders. I'm still watching how the sun sets when I receive a text message. It's so sudden that even I was startled when I looked at the message before I read it.

From: Kendric

Let's go home together to New York.

I frowned as I saw that. I'm in the mood to keep up with his issues in life. My name has just been cleared up from the rumors and fake news; what does he want now?

I replied immediately before ignoring his other messages.

To: Kendric

I can't do that.

And I was right about it. After I sent my text to him, a couple of messages followed. It's not really my attitude to text back, so I ignored his texts until I finished having lunch in the pool area of the apartment building. On my way back to our floor, I read messages of him asking why and suddenly saying sorry. I just keep my poker face on, but my mind is frustrated and confused.

Who's in the right mind to do things like ignore me and ghost me, then show up like nothing happened again? That's messed up.

That's not what I deal with.

I came back to our apartment feeling so pissed off that I even spent almost an hour in the bathroom just to calm my nerves. Arianne is trying to assist me, but she's just so scared that I might yell at her because of my dark aura.

"He shouldn't treat you like bullsh*t!" Arielle protested as I narrated everything that happened to us recently.

"Exactly!"  Arianne even agreed with her.

"If he ever walks in around the four corners of José's boutique again, I will surely kick his ass out," I said as I drank the cola that Arianne gave me.

"But what if he's just also confused?" Arianne suddenly asked.

"Confused about what?" Arielle asked her.

"What if Kendric is just as confused about how he reacts because you can't even put the right label on what's happening to you two?" Arianne explained softly.

"Don't take his side now," Arielle said aggressively as she looked at Arianne.

"I'm not taking his side, sis; I'm just trying to be rational sometimes," Arianne explained again.

She's also right. What if Kendric is just struggling like me? He is just confused since I gave him mixed signals anyway. What if Arianne is right?

There's only one thing for me to find out.

I got out of the tub and got dressed to get out. It's not my hobby to enter some kind of bar, but I told Deniece that I wanted to go outside. She gave me some recommendations of places to visit tonight, but I just told her to pick one and invite his brother along with us.

I told Arielle that I'd be home late tonight, or maybe I'll just sleep in Deniece's house for the last time.

Deniece gave me the address of the club, and when I arrived at the place, lots of people welcomed me, and the lights were too bright for my eyes. The bouncer asked me if I had an invite or something, but I just told him Deniece's name, and he let me pass afterwards.

When I entered the club, I saw an ocean of people downstairs. It's too crowded, and you could never join that thing. Deniece was not hard to find in the crowd. She's always shining like a star with every outfit she wears.

"It must have been fun if only Haze hadn't betrayed you before," she shouted at me because of the loud sounds, but I frowned when she said that.

"Betrayed me?"  I was wondering if she knew about Haze and his brother before, but it's even more than that.

"That pretentious girl, she did sabotage you, tried to steal my brother away from you, and even told Kendric bad sh*t about you," Deniece explained when she pulled me to the private lounge.

"She did that to me?" I can't believe what I just heard from him. I know Haze can be so shy sometimes, but I didn't expect that she would tarnish my name just to get what she wanted before.

Well, that's a revelation.

Deniece told me everything she knows that night without even forcing her to do it. She just wanted me to know what I missed for the past three years before I came back to New York for my career.

"I hope you don't mind if CJ gets in here later," she giggled after she put down her phone.

Of course I wouldn't mind, and besides, I just also wanted to meet with Kendric here.

Hours passed, and CJ went in to join us in the private lounge. I'm still waiting for Kendric while the crowd dances to upbeat songs played by the DJ. It's getting late already; I checked the time on my phone, and he's still not here.

I'm starting to get worried, but I felt relief when I saw him just enter the club. He's looking for the private lounge, and when he saw me looking at him already, he smiled and walked in our direction. He sat down a meter away from me, and Deniece greeted his brother in her tipsy state.

They offered Kendric to drink first, but he refused since he'll drive for us later. Deniece became pushy as she started to get drunk, so he drank a couple of shots of tequila.

I remained silent the whole time he was there. I still don't know if it's a good idea to ask him to come here.

But when we glanced at each other at the same time, he chuckled and eventually held my hand. I was startled at first when I felt his cold hands on mine.

I lowered my head to close my eyes before I looked at him.

"Hi," I shyly greeted him.

"How are you doing now?" He asked softly.

"I'm doing good, I guess," I said and looked away. The intensity of his stare is almost melting my soul, and I couldn't even get my answers straight because of it.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly muttered.

Right before our talk got even more serious, CJ and Deniece already excused themselves since they wanted privacy for the both of us.

"How long do you want to keep that to yourself before saying it to me?" I asked.

He played with my fingers before he spoke.

"I just don't want to confuse you again like I did before. I just don't want to make the same mistakes I did before, and you will just eventually leave me again. I don't want that to happen again, love. So, I just pushed you away this time because maybe that's the best I could do for your peace of mind."

"But you still confused me," I said. "You kissed me first, but after what you did, you told me that we could just be friends. I wasn't expecting a relationship with you, but what I'm expecting is that you should take responsibility for what you did."

We remained silent, and only our hands seemed to feel our care for each other.

"I'll be going back to New York," I said out of the blue.

"Would you want me to visit you there?" He asked.

"I want you to prove yourself to me again," I gathered up all of my strength to say it.

"We can be friends again, back to the way we used to be."

"You really meant that?" He asked again.

I smiled at him and held his hand tightly.

"Can we start all over again?" He asked one last time.

I cupped his face and gave him a kiss on his cheeks before I whispered in his ear.

"Yes."