Escaped My Ex, Got Snatched by His Rival - Chapter 75

First time standing up for oneself
“Hah…hah…” Ari tried to calm down as she watched her trembling hands. Sweat was covering her entire face and her instincts were telling her to run away, she wanted to turn on her feet and then walk away but.

‘You can’t. If you run away, then what will happen to you?’

‘Are you going to disappoint your parents even more? You are already a disappointment, Ariana. How much more will you disappoint?’

‘You should be grateful that they are even willing to accept a monster like you as their family.’

‘You know what you are.’

‘You know what is locked inside the room, right?’

‘A demon. That’s what you are.’

‘Don’t you remember what you did?’

Ari gulped hard. The surrounding silence was stretching wide, she could even hear the cicadas chirping.

Yet, the inside of her head was so freaking loud that she could feel her head on the verge of exploding. Her head throbbed and Ari felt her eyes become blurry, she was feeling faint as panic clawed the inside of her heart.

But she couldn’t stop her body from pressing the doorbell.

Why couldn’t she stop herself? What was wrong with her?

*-*-*—*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-**-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-+9*—*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-

The doorbell rang before Ariana could prepare herself. Even though she wanted some time for herself, her body did not listen to her and acted on its own. But somewhere in her heart, she did know the reason ——

‘Ring the bell when you come home and make sure to do it in three seconds, if the neighbours, especially Mrs. Prissily see you standing outside, what will they think?’ Her mother snapped at her on an evening when Ari was scared to come back home after she went to play with Molly, who lived next door.

Her mother looked at her in disappointment and stated coldly, ‘They will think that we are torturing you in this house. Goodness, the cause of our tragedies is you and yet!’ Her mother released a sigh before shaking her head. ‘Three seconds, Ariana. Not one more second and don’t even think about running away because if you do then just you wait.’

Ever since then, Ari learned to ring the doorbell within three seconds of arriving in front of her family house.

Before she knew it, ringing the bell as quickly as possible upon returning home became a habit that Ari could not change.

‘Guess, I am still the same,’ Ari thought as she looked at the door that was pulled open two minutes later.

Ariel, who stood behind the door, was beaming, but when she saw that it was Ari, her smile fell.

“Oh, it’s just you,” she said to Ariel with an eye roll. As she spoke, she reached for the gift box that Ari was holding. “Are you done running away?”

“It’s merely me,” stated Ari while snatching the box back. She did not let Ariel touch the box, causing the latter to frown and ask, “What is the meaning of this? Why are you letting me take it?”

“Didn’t we present our gifts together all these years to mum?” She questioned Ari as if it were given.

“You mean to say how you used to tell mom lies that you chipped in the gifts that I bought but never gave a penny but still presented the gift as your own?” Ari corrected with a slight smile on her face. “I remember yes, but from this year on… everything will be changing.”

Ariel stared at Ariana for a whole two good seconds before pushing herself off the door frame. She blinked her long lashes and asked, “Is this because of the kiss? Gosh, Ari, you are being dramatic. You are acting like this over just a kiss? I mean come on, it’s not as if you caught me riding Noah.”

“I am not acting like this just because of a kissing, in fact, I don’t even care if you ride Noah,” Ari stated as the air suddenly started to get filled with hostility around the two of them.

A slight annoyance flashed through Ariel’s eyes as she couldn’t get her hands on the gift that Ari brought with her. In the last few years, she had forgotten to even search for a gift for their mother, as she thought it was a waste of time and money.

Her parents caused her to live impoverished when she was young, they should have fulfilled all her desires, but instead, they asked her to be understanding. So why should she buy gifts for them? What did they do for her?

Anyway, Ari being the good daughter would always turn up with gifts. So she could always present her gift as her own, but now——

Ariel furrowed her brows and questioned, “If that is the case, then what’s up with that attitude for yours?”

“I guess I am tired of you taking my things for yourself,” though Ari was smiling at Ariel, the look in her eyes had turned. “Also, I thought I made it clear to you that you shouldn’t act so cosy with me.” She then took a few steps away from Ariel and stated, “Oh, don’t take it to heart, I am just worried that if you get close, I will be blamed for something else.”

Ariel’s eyes blazed as she glared at Ariana. If it were possible, she would have killed Ariana on the spot.

“What are you two doing here? Ariel, what did you do this time?” Aaron who just arrived at the Harlow house looked at his two sisters. One was smiling sweetly while the other was glaring. He could only turn to the glaring one and question what went wrong.

Ariel turned her wrathful face to Aaron and snapped, “Sure, take her side! She was the one who——”

“What? What did she do?” Aaron raised a brow and asked while waiting for Ariel to finish, but she couldn’t. Because Ariana only refused to let her take the gift box that she was holding in her hands.

She did not do anything else, and Ariel did not have the opportunity to create an accident that she could pin on Ariana either.

So she made an excuse, “She did not tell me what she brought as a gift.”

Aaron was speechless. He knew that there was something more to this fight than Ariel was letting him know, but he did not escalate the fight nor did he blame Ariel who was Mrs Harlow’s precious daughter.

He was afraid that if he decided to question Ariel, his mother would only blame Ari for everything, and he did not want any more rift to happen in their family.

Not that he could save this family anymore at this point, but he could at least try to save what was remaining.

“Is there a need to get angry over something?” Aaron said to Ariel as he took out a gold pendant that he bought and handed it to her. “You will get to know what Ari brought once we are inside, for now, take this pendant and see if you like it?”

Ariel’s eyes lit up as she took the pendant, the design was indeed to her liking but then ——

“Did you buy one for Ariana as well, Aaron?”