The Dark Inheritance

Chapter 17

Heather felt like she was in a trance as she stared at Gareth's handsome face. She couldn't believe that she was actually hanging out with him. Her heart was bursting with such joy. She had to thank Serah for this. After a decade of pining for him, finally she could get him to take her out. However, right now his attention wasn't on her. He seemed more preoccupied with Serah who had just gone out to find her driver. That ugly jealousy reared its head yet again. Why? He barely even noticed her after all the efforts she made until now. Yet Serah showed up and in just a couple of days she grabbed his attention. Just what was it about her? 

"Sorry, about this, Heather." He said.

Her heart shivered at hearing her name from his mouth, but then his next words outright crushed her.

"I have a bad feeling. I need to check on Serah."

"Please wait!" Her hand automatically reached out to grasp his hand. "Please don't leave me alone." Her voice came out pleading, as was her gaze. "At least stay until I'm done eating." 

He stared down at her, seeming conflicted. "I'll just check to make sure and come back." He reached into his pocket and took out several notes. "I'll leave this here just in case."

She was about to protest, but he gave her a reassuring smile which sent her heart into a frenzy. "I won't just leave you here, don't worry."

She stared after him dreamily as he headed out. Her heart tugged with longing but at the same time the jealousy was starting to morph into hatred. She had to shake her head to clear the overwhelming thoughts.

Several interminable minutes later, a waiter came by her table. "Hello Miss, Mr. Valentine asked me a apologise on his behalf. An emergency came up and he had to leave. He arranged for one of his personal drivers to take you home. We will inform you as soon as he arrives."  

She could only stare at the man in wide-eyed shock. The feelings were coming back with a vengeance now and she hunched over, clutching her aching chest. She knew Serah was only doing this to help her but it ended up making her feel worse. She wished she hadn't agreed to go out today. Gareth was way out of her league and she knew she'd never have a chance with him. But then again, Serah didn't deserve him either! 

Heather lowered her head desolately onto the table, willing her wounded heart to calm down. Even if she was left behind today, she wouldn't give up. No matter what, she wouldn't let Serah seduce Gareth away. 

The next day, Serah unexpectedly crossed by Asher as she was coming out of her room. It was the first she saw him again since that incident with the alcohol and she couldn't help staring at him, wondering how she should thank him for his help back then. However, Asher was back to giving her the cold treatment and merely cast her a dismissive glance before heading away. She felt peeved as she stared at his retreating back. Just what was his problem? A whirlpool of emotions was rising from her chest, most of them hurt and maybe some longing. But then she clenched her fist and chased away all the feelings. If he has decided to go back to ignoring her, then all the better. She will also do the same. Thankfully she never believed in his empty words that he'd help her out. She huffed out a breath and headed towards the kitchen.

No further incidents happened that day. She went to the library that afternoon, eager to here the news about how things fared between Gareth and Heather. Heather told her that it went well, but she refused to share the details. At least she was no longer ignoring Serah so it was all good. A week went by just like this with the same relative peace. It seemed Gareth had succeeded in warning Natalia from targeting her again. Even when she encountered the girl and her friends, they would only glare at her without ever getting vocal about their hatred. The other students still looked down on her and posted nasty comments about her on social media, but the bullying stopped at this. She wasn't sure if it was also Gareth's doing, but it seemed Owen hadn't come to school since the day he attacked her. No one knew what he was up to. For her part, she wasn't looking forward to seeing him again. Even Gareth started getting busy with some stuff so she didn't see him often. Finally she could begin to hope she could change the horrible image everyone had painted about her.

As Serah walked down the hallway, she noticed Caleb approaching from the other side. “Hey, babe. You’re looking gorgeous as usual today.” He said, reversing his track to walk alongside her.

“Keep it down.” She discreetly chided, darting her gaze around. Thankfully, the couple of students around weren’t paying her any mind.

“I thought you didn’t care about people’s opinions.”

“I don’t.” She stated. “But I don’t want to feed those fake rumors with more lies either.”

Ever since that first day he approached her, Caleb had taken to regularly ‘bothering’ them. It was under the pretense that he was pursuing her, but most of the time, he just hung out with them to the point he now kind of formed part of their little group. Despite his carefree attitude and occasional harsh words, he was a nice person at heart. The only problem was that Angie and he couldn’t seem to stand each other. 

“What do you mean, lies? I’m serious about you.” He gruffly replied.

She snorted. “I’ve already seen through your act. In fact, you just wanted to befriend us, right?” She smiled at him gently. “You didn’t need to use me as an excuse. We would have accepted you regardless.”

“That’s bullshit!” He boomed out. “I did not have such intentions.”

“It wasn’t like this? Then could it be you had other intentions?” She cooed, her lips stretching in a teasing grin.. “Like you wanted to get closer to only one of us? Angie maybe?”

“Not in a thousand years!” He shouted with exaggerated vehemence. “Why would I want to get close to that stuck-up girl?”

She burst out laughing but as she stared at him grumbling to himself under his breath, his brows pinched in a frown, it dawned on her. 

“It really as your real intention!” She exclaimed in disbelief.

“Didn’t I say that wasn’t the case?” He seemed to be trying his best to refute it, but she could already see the truth for what it was. She should have realized it sooner. Of course, all the stuff Caleb had been doing all along to get on Angie’s nerves were in fact just attempts for him to get close to her.

“So you like Angie.” Serah said in wonder. “Since when?”

He glanced away, appearing almost embarrassed. “Since I first saw her.” He said in a barely audible voice.

She could see the tinge of fondness blending into his expression and it made her smile. “That’s so sweet.”

They were currently walking through an open patio and he suddenly rounded on her, appearing beyond irritated. “Don’t you dare tease me about this!”

She raised her hands defensively. “I’m not at all!” But she still couldn’t keep the laugh from her voice.

He raked his hands through his hair in frustration. “She’s my mate, okay?”

“Your what?” She asked.

Caleb’s body suddenly tensed and he darted his gaze to the side, his eyes narrowing dangerously at whatever he saw there. She also followed his line of sight and her eyes widened when she saw Asher standing on the lawn, a few meters away from them. His gaze was almost murderous as it shifted between Caleb and her. It was only then that she realized Caleb was standing really close to her. Any onlooker would think they were flirting, But it made no sense for Asher to be annoyed for that reason.

“Are you at odds with Asher or anything?” She discreetly asked Caleb.

“No. I never even talked to the guy before.” He mumbled. “I don’t know what’s his deal now.”

As she stared back at Asher, she noticed Cara approaching him from behind. Goodness, it seemed like the couple was practically glued together whenever they were outside the house. The familiar uncomfortable feeling which she was now starting to fear was jealousy yet again roused from her chest.  This was no good. She needed to get away from him.

“Who knows whatever goes on in his head…” She muttered. “Let’s just ignore him.”

She pulled on his forearm, dragging him away. She could still feel Asher’s gaze burning them with even more infuriation, but she ignored him. It might do him some good to have a taste of his own medicine.

“Rather, why don’t you tell me more about your crush on Angie?” She asked Caleb excitedly. “Why didn’t you tell her anything?” Then she frowned. “But why are you always flirting with other girls?”

“I’m not a flirt okay?” He grumbled. “It’s that girl’s fault for always ignoring me and looking down on me.” His shoulders sagged. “But even when I pretended to be interested in others, she doesn’t seem to care.”

“So that’s why you made it seem like you were interested in me.” Serah said wistfully. “You just wanted an opportunity to get close to her.”

“Sorry about that.” He said uncomfortably.

“It’s fine, I don’t mind at all.” She smiled. “It’s sweet how you made all these efforts for the one you like. But you’ve been going about it wrongly.”

“Wrongly? How so?”

She gave him a gently chiding look. “For one, you should stop acting like a flirt. It will only push her further away.”

“Is that so?” He mumbled pensively.

She nodded firmly. “If you had told me earlier, I will have helped you out sooner. But it’s fine… It’s not too late.” 

He stared at her skeptically but there was also some hope in his expression.