My Boss Is Secretly A Softie - Chapter 72

Chapter 72: Rotten
On a tall red sofa lay an even taller figure with her bare feet on the armrest and the other, which still had a heel, to the side of the couch. Her glistening red hair scattered across the other arm of the sofa, barely hanging above floor level.

The buttons of her white shirt sprawled open, revealing a dark crimson brassiere with a loose tie casually hung across her shoulder. Her left hand was over her eyes while her right lay on the sofa’s head, and a tired groan slipped from her lips as the melancholy of the pristine room sipped into her mood.

“Terrence… Terrence… Terrence…” Her left hand reached out to the bottle of wine, which she gulped down greedily, nearly choking to death in the process.

She stopped coughing and continued calling out to the man until she gritted her teeth and smashed the now-empty wine bottle on the wall across the room.

She sighed.

“Ungrateful bastard, how dare he…” she slurred, “do that to Father?!”

“And now!” She stood up with a stumble. “He wants to travel the world with me… obviously, Father is so heartbroken he’s resorted to this!”

Her long red hair coasted down her face, nearly throwing her to the floor from obstruction of vision, which she shrugged off, tossing her heel away.

She gritted her teeth with rage at the thought of how that asshole had betrayed them so easily. Father loved him so much, and he…

“Why do they all keep leaving?! I don’t get it!” she mumbled dizzily.

From the first day her mother had brought her back to live with her father, she loved that man. It was an affection that had suddenly clinked despite their first meeting, and she, above all things, wanted to be closer to him than anything else.

To be the most filial daughter! To be the best he ever had! To be the most beloved!

And then there came Terrence.

She managed to stumble out of the room through the wide corridors before finally making it into her bedroom, throwing her head down onto the fluffy wine rug.

“Ugh… toxic this, toxic that, so what? We all make mistakes… the most important thing was that Father loved us. How can’t they understand this?!”

She slammed her fist to the ground in protest and then turned over her face to the ceiling.

Her father was lacking in many aspects, but he was trying, okay?! Not all fathers could do what hers could! They only ever saw the evil side… nitpicking left and right.

Her dad was controlling? What about their luxurious life—do they think it fell from the sky? And it was for protection! She knew how many of Terrence’s ‘lovers’ would have eagerly given him a knife to the back if his competitors had gotten to them first…

Granted, he could have taken care of them himself, but still, meddling was for his safety, and as for the okay ones, they probably didn’t deserve him anyway. Father just wanted the best for him! Was that so bad?

And then her mother dared to suggest she leave her father too because he was ruining her. That woman wanted her husband’s suffering so badly, huh?!

“What did Dad even do that had all of ’em so damn annoying, and now he’s even apologizing and trying to make it up one by one? Who poisoned my old man?”

Her mind wandered off at the thoughts. What DID he do?

Mother’s complaint was about how he tried to puppet her to his desire… controlling her every move, even going as far as to nitpick her micro-expressions.

Brother’s was pretty much the same thing, although she didn’t think it was wrong—half of the reason he became so well-versed in socialization was because of the so-called ‘control.’

Terrence… pretty much only Terrence had the right to complain to an extent, because of her. She had tormented him in the guise of help because of her jealousy, but yet again, this helped him get rid of fake people!

And for her… for her… what? Oh, they complained that she had been groomed into following his supposedly ‘problematic’ policies. Which one was it, again?

“Maybe doing everything just like he wants it…? But I’m doing it willingly… I just want to see him happy. He’s doing so much for his family, yet they keep bitching about irrelevant things.”

She snickered. Perhaps Yelena’s father would be more suitable for these assholes. Maybe then they’d understand how special Father was—after getting a self-centered bastard who wouldn’t hesitate to pawn them off for his family for his benefit, then Father’s supposed control would be the last thing they’d have to worry about.

“UNGRATEFUL FUCKERS, THE WHOLE LOT OF THEM!” she roared sharply. “Don’t worry, Dad, all you need is me…”

She grinned widely, her smile curving to a creepy angle. “Yeah, just me, the only one who’ll love you for who you are!”

The anger in her eyes subsided briefly, but then they sharpened.

“However, everyone else can leave but Terrence… he… he must pay! Only I can see the hurt in your eyes, Father, even though you tried to repress it. I’ll help you again and again… I’m the only daughter for you, Dad, I…”

She rambled on and on until her words went from coherency to incoherency.

She wanted to… Ah… Her vision blurred. Maybe tomorrow…

***

“Guys!” Elara dashed out of her room with a beaming glow. “My family… they… they’re back!”

“Huh?!” Terra, sprawled out on the living room floor, sprang up in shock, along with John, who nearly choked on his spicy noodles. “How…?!”

Elara was more excited than ever before, and her expression, even her bearing, made this extremely clear. “I don’t know!”

She spun about, unable to contain her excitement. “It was meant to surprise me? I was so shocked I…”

“So, are you going now?” Star, who strolled out with a can of Coke and Fanta, interrupted, handing the Fanta to John, who thanked her briefly. “Need a ride?”

Elara threw herself into the blue-eyed lady’s arms, who patted her sweetly. “No~. Sorry! Mum says she’d like to see only me for today and would prefer a grander welcome for you guys, so you’ll have to wait.”

Terra scoffed. “Ela, come here.”

“Ok–”

“Nope.” Star grabbed the back collar of the teen, stopping all movement, before dragging her away.

“I’m going to help her with preparations. You come if you want.”

The door was shut, leaving behind a pouting Terra.

“She’s totally getting back at you for hiding so many things about Elara from her,” John said.

Terra groaned. “Like, what was I supposed to do?! Break my promises?!”

“Well, there’s no Elara to take it out on, so…”

“You’re not helping matters!” she replied through gritted teeth, leaving John whistling in defeat.

“Fine, I’ll just mind my damn business then… yeesh…”

The more she thought about it, the more bullied she felt.

That day, after that question, Elara’s answer was so shocking it left even her appalled because she revealed a secret that her adult self had nearly destroyed their friendship over when she found out about it.

“Why did you do it?” Star had asked.

Elara had averted her gaze briefly with guilt before she stared up at Star and boldly replied, “I thought you liked Sarah and not me. Even I hate myself enough to kill Elara and become Sarah. And I understand, but instead of being Sarah and trying to bury Elara, I’d rather take the right path than the easy one.”

She stared at them with a confident gaze as she declared:

“I am Elara. I’ve been pretty evil, but now I’ve changed. There is no Sarah or the death of Elara to miraculously wipe off the things I have done. I refuse to be a coward and will face that. Indeed, my past has been atrocious, so I hope you like me exactly as I am,” she paused.

“As Elara. Even with all her wrongdoings.”

That time, she had frozen up, not only in shock but from the gaze of a certain someone– Star. The blueness of her eyes became so murky you’d think an artist had mistakenly poured a bit too much black into them. It was so terrifying and fearful… just like the old days.

“Terra,” she had called out to her with a grip so hard a mark was made. “What. Is. She. Talking. About?”

Naturally, she spilled everything she could. About how Elara couldn’t forgive her past self and decided to ‘kill’ it altogether and become Sarah, and how she had even planned to change her name to Sarah eventually.

How John’s sudden appearance had threatened her because he was a direct recollection of her past wrongs, which she tried so hard to hide from, and how Sarah was merely a side of Elara—an image of everything she wanted to be, while Elara, apart from the past, was the side of all the things she hated about herself.

From hard-core things like being a bit too possessive of Terrence (no one else knew, but she did, and perhaps, now that her accident made her leave traces of her acts, also Terrence) and simple things like smoking. She literally wanted to format herself to a version she preferred, but how difficult was that? Insanely so.

So much so that even when she finally believed she had Elara under control, she still worried about slipping up and even had Terra create plans for that just in case.

And when Star asked her why she didn’t advise Elara to take therapy, she was beyond stumped. Probably because she never really thought of it as bad. Also, Elara was way more fun than Sarah, so she didn’t want it to fully go away.

Needless to say, due to her selfish reply, Star had been treating her coldly till today.

She sighed. Was it that bad? After all, her liking ‘Elara’ helped Elara to not be so conscious and hateful of that side… at least enough to approach the dissolution of that side more patiently.

She thought of all the times she had used her Ela’s issue as entertainment. The difference between Sarah and Elara was captivating, to say the least, and she loved the contrast of both sides… she also liked being the only one who knew the full Elara and wanted it to remain so.

She didn’t see any issue with Elara hating herself so much that she’d rather dissociate and kill that side than try to embrace and make peace with it because it was fun. Yes… she was THAT selfish.

‘And I never really realized it. If I truly was a friend, I should have helped and not coasted on her issues simply because I liked it… I… I’m such a rotten fuck.’