The Billionaire's Secret Obsession (LGBT+ | BxB)

Chapter 3

“You know what? You should have told me so I could have punched him in the face!” Savannah complained when I told her everything that happened. “I don’t care if he’s handsome or whatnot. If he’s a bastard, he will take it from me!”

I chuckled as I fixed my dress. Technically, that bastard wasn’t able to hurt me physically and I am happy that I was able to kick him in his groin before he could even lay a hand on me.

“It’s fine,” I told my best friend. “It’s not like he was able to hurt me or anything. I kicked his balls so I am sure that I have gotten even with him.”

Savannah chuckled and sat beside me on the couch. Because of that incident, our night out was cut prematurely. I know that there was someone who’s trying to hook up with Savannah whom she left because of what happened to me and I feel bad for that. I did not ever want to be a nuisance to her dating life because she has been vocal about wanting to date already.

“I’m sorry. You seemed to have made some plans with someone else,” I told her. “I shouldn’t have told you that early when I have already taken care of it anyway.”

She frowned before sitting beside me. “Yeah, you have to be sorry. You should have told me right away and not wait until we were in the bathroom,” she said in a scolding manner. “Did you know that it could be dangerous dealing with him alone?”

I was not alone. I was with that handsome man with a deep voice, dressed in a black shirt and a pair of faded jeans. He was the one who helped me with that blondie. If he hadn’t come into the scene, Blondie wouldn’t have loosened his grip on me and I wouldn’t have been able to escape.

“There was a man,” I said because I am sure that I won’t be able to hide this fact from her anyway. “He saw me getting caught up with Blondie and helped me.”

Savannah narrowed her eyes at me. “A man?” she asked.

I smiled and nodded. “Yup, a man,” I replied. “But you know, for some odd reason, he’s awfully familiar. It’s like I have seen and heard him before.”

I see the boy who helped me years ago. I hear his voice from the stranger’s and I think I might be going insane.

I have tried to look for the man who saved me but he was gone when I woke up in the hospital bed. All I know is that my hospital bill is paid in full and I was given the best medical care.

For the first time in my whole life, I felt like I was cared for at that very moment. I have been used to being abused and beaten up and the feeling of someone helping me recover is something new to me. I have never even imagined being comforted in my whole life before because even my parents hadn’t done any of that when they knew that I am not going to be a great soldier like my father.

But that boy…he made me feel loved and cared even just minutes of knowing each other. He saved me from myself. And I will be forever grateful to him.

Savannah faced me, staring at me curiously. “Familiar?” she asked me and I began telling her the story about me almost jumping in the building again. She hated hearing that because she always gets mad at the cruelty that I had to face and experience from those people.

She let out a heavy sigh as she looked at me with a small smile. “I just wish I was there with you when you were beaten up like that, you know,” she said. She’s always feeling so regretful whenever we talk about that story.

She always makes me feel like she could have done a difference if she was there. Well, she wouldn’t because my father and the rest of the guys at my school cannot be stopped. They were ruthless and they wanted to kill me.

I chuckled and hugged her instead. “Doesn’t matter now. At least now, we are happy.”

She sighed and nodded as she hugged me back. “Don’t worry, I always got your back, Char. I promise,” she whispered and I couldn’t ever be more grateful to have a best friend like her.

“Now, I need to write my speech for my talk on the LGBT assembly,” I told her and we both started working on it.

***

I wore cream coordinates and a pair of black pumps on the day of the annual assembly. Savannah tired my hair in a neat low ponytail while she put on light nude makeup on my face. It is held in a five-star hotel so I needed to look my best. Savannah was even encouraging me to wear a gown but I refused. That would be too much and I don’t want to look too much.

“Wow, it’s always extravagant every year, huh?” Savannah mumbled as we entered the hotel lobby. She’s wearing a red A-line dress and a pair of gold stilettos with her hair down in mermaid curls.

I nodded. “This is to show power,” I told her. “Everyone belittles the members of the community and so they compensate it by showing everyone that they can hold annual assemblies in the most expensive venues.”

It’s fun actually. I love knowing how capable the members of the LGBT+ community are because it just proves how resilient we are against everyone who is belittling us.

“Nice and fair point,” Savannah chimed as we walked into the VIP hall where the assembly is going to be held.

But when we got there, we were early. It was still basically empty with only a few people inside who were busy preparing.

Savannah and I decided to walk around first until we saw an open hall with a what seemingly is a wedding with all the flowers and the setup of the venue. There was a red carpet and the people are in their formal attires. But then when I glanced closely, it doesn’t look like a wedding because people are crying.

And they are not happy tears.

“He went away and followed the bride!” A woman cried. “My son ran out!”

Savannah and I looked at each other before shrugging. “He probably got stood up,” she whispered and I nodded in agreement.

“That’s sad,” I uttered. “It takes so much effort to prepare for a wedding and then all of sudden, the woman just threw everything out like that.”

I was not one to judge. I don’t know the people in there but it felt a little sad knowing that many people have put in a lot of effort to make this event wonderful but one person just has to ruin it. If she didn’t want to get married then she should have been honest.

But then again, what do I really know?

“Charlotte Portman?”

I heard someone calling my name and Savannah and I both looked at the direction where the voice came from. There we saw a guy who looked like an organizer of the event looking at us.

“The event will start in thirty minutes,” he told us. “Thank you so much.”

I nodded and smiled nervously. This is what I usually feel before giving a speech.

Savannah gave me a look because she already knows that what I am feeling right now. She grabbed something inside her bag—a pack of menthol cigarettes to calm me down. I don’t smoke but when I’m nervous, it’s an effective tranquilizer to all of my nerves.

“Thanks,” I told her.

“You can smoke on the rooftop,” she said. “I’ll save you a seat inside.”

I smiled and nodded. Well, I have a seat of course but I would like to sit beside my best friend to relieve some pressure. I did what she told me and took the elevator to the rooftop.

Everything was looking so fine until I noticed someone standing in the concrete railings of the building, looking so ready to jump.

I immediately threw the cigar I was holding and rushed to the man to stop him from taking his life. “Wait, stop!” I was hysterical. I didn’t know what to do because he was so close to falling down.

The man who’s wearing a white suit turned to me with his disheveled hair and tearful face. “Don’t stop me from ending the pain…” he mumbled, sobbing.

I bit the inside of my cheeks before shaking my head. I slowly walked closer with my hands extended to him. “Jumping there will not free you from the pain,” I told him. “It will only leave the people who love you devastated…” I don’t know if I was saying the right thing but I was already losing my mind, too.

I don’t want him to jump off this building on my watch. That would make me a terrible person.

“She left me. She will not feel devastated…”

I swallowed hard and realized who this man is. He’s the groom from that hall. His bride ran away.

“What about your mother?” I asked him because I can clearly remember his mother having a nervous breakdown. She was crying hard, too.

The man stopped and clenched his fists. “My mother will understand,” he replied.

I shook my head. “She was crying,” I told him. “She was crying after you left. Do you want her to lose her mind if you jump off from there?”

He pursed his lips in a thin line before looking at me. “You don’t understand…” He shook his head.

I smiled and shook my head. “No, I do. I do understand how you feel because I have felt hopeless before. I have also reached the point of giving up on life. I was in that same situation as you are right now. Well, not the married part but I was an emotional wreck.”

He narrowed his eyes at me. “How did you get over it?”

I swallowed and extended my hand at him. “I will tell you in a while but please take my hand and go down. It’s dangerous to stand there. You might fall,” I told him the exact words I heard from the man who helped me.

For some odd reason, he paused for a moment before slowly reaching for my hand to hold.