Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 351

Chapter 351: Final sighs of denial
“She made Ariana bow her head?” Mateo questioned, sounding outraged and disbelieving.

“Yes,” Mrs Burt said with a sigh. “Poor girl, she was really upset that day, she did nothing wrong, and yet, she had to lower her head in front of others, because of her mother.”

Mrs Burt continued, “However, she is a kind girl. Optimistic too. She soon forgot about that incident and continued to live her own life but then —that boy came looking for her. Once he was discharged, he started to act more and more crudely with Ariana having learned that no one would stand up for her from her family.”

“I saw him following her around the street and so did everyone else, but they blamed Ari. They all however ignored what was going on—time after time, Ariana had asked her mother to help her, but that woman did not listen and even told her daughter that she was blowing things out of proportion.”

Mrs Burt snorted. “As if, that girl had every right to ask for help. When no one helped her, she took matters into her own hands— now everyone calls her a murderer, a criminal and whatnot. But no one speaks about the torment that she had to go through for six months.”

“They care about their own image and comfort, don’t want to offend the parents of that boy or ruin their reputation. So they blame her—how could they? How could they go ahead and say that it was them who ignored the situation, and turned a blind eye which led to the girl smashing the head of that boy along with his hoodlum friends?”

His sister was not a troubled child like everyone made her—She was someone who had once asked for help and didn’t get any. The thought took a long time to sink in, as this wasn’t someone he had expected to find.

When Mateo thought about Ariana’s plight while they all protected and supported Penelope, his heart ached like it was tearing apart. Mateo found it challenging to digest that a man harassed his sister for six whole months and no one did anything. To think that his sister had to fight a bunch of boys because they endangered her peace…

He asked the elderly woman,

“Do you know who these men were?”

The woman thought about it for a while before replying, “Unfortunately, many years have passed and no one discusses that family anymore as they have been threatened by them. I no longer remember who they were.”

***

“Is everything alright?” Ariana heard Danny speak to her as she raised her head and smiled at him.

“Yeah, I am just tired,” Ariana replied to him. Three days— the very three days that Nicolai had given to her have passed.

It was the weekend, and Ariana finally got the chance to take a break from everything that had gone wrong in her life.

Everything was so damn wrong.

It was wrong to the point that she did not even want to begin on it.

Today was the last day and instead of calling Nicolai or replying to his messages which were nothing but the countdown of the remaining days that she had.

It made her feel awfully anxious and out of the loop, which was why Ariana chose to ignore it.

Yeah, continue hiding.

Nicolai’s voice echoed in her ears, and Ariana gritted her teeth. She picked up the glass of whiskey and drowned it in one go.

“Seriously what the hell is wrong with you two?” Danny asked as his gaze ping-ponged between her and Leila, who seemed to be drowning in alcohol rather than drinking it. “Why are you so down in the dumps tonight? It’s Saturday, for fuck’s sake.”

Not wanting to go down that lane, Ariana teased Danny, “Oh come on Danny, I thought you invited us to drink. Don’t tell me you are already feeling sorry for your wallet?”

The man rolled his eyes and huffed, “More than my wallet it’s your liver I am sorry about. Especially hers-” he tipped his chin at Leila, who was drinking alcohol like water.

Ariana shot a sympathetic glance at her friend. Compared to her, her friend had a much more painful love story to tell. Something she hardly spoke about.

But just because she did not speak, it did not mean it was not hurting her.

In fact, Ariana didn’t even want to come down to this small party and wanted to stay back home and paint. But these days even painting seemed to have turned into a torment rather than a solitude, given that they have turned into a nightmare.

Your personal nightmare.

That voice echoed in her ear again, and Ariana clicked her tongue.

“Did something happen?” Ariana asked when she saw Leila dumping another shot down her throat.

She tried to remember if it was that day, but it wasn’t.

“Do you think I would be asking if I had known?” He turned to look at Leila and stated, “You better not be drinking because of that man, alright? Because even the jury admits that you dodged a bullet.”

“Shut up!”

“You better not be telling me to shut up —I am the one paying for your drinks!” Danny snapped at Leila, who made a face at him.

She seemed beyond drunk which was not a surprise given that she had smashed more than three bottles of whiskey.

“Bow down peasant.”

“You better not call me a peasant when your card is blocked!”

Ariana laughed at their antics as the two of them. The two of them were her friends—in fact, they were her family more than her real one. She was thankful that she had them.

After all, even she had a pillar to lean on if she was to get tired,

Two hours later, she stood up, needing to relieve herself. She walked away from the drunken blabbering of Leila and Danny, who were still grumbling over being called a peasant.

After she was done, Ariana washed her hands and started to dry her hair. It was then her phone vibrated in the silent restroom.