Ava’s blood ran cold, and she stiffened in Rocky’s arms. Rocky mumbled so dissatisfaction. Ava tried to detangle herself from Rocky to no avail. Rocky was strong to begin with, and at this ti, it was impossible for Ava to do anything as she could not free herself from Rocky’s embrace.
Ava pushed Rocky with all her might, but he was like an impossible block of stone, and he went limp.
"W-hat -"
Shelby started but could not find the words to complete her statent. Murray was the first to spring into action. He walked up to Rocky and Ava and decisively hit Rocky at the back of the base of his neck, rendering him unconscious. Murray caught Rocky and stood aside, waiting for instructions. He could feel how hot Rocky’s body was and knew right away what had happened, even before Ava blurted out, "He’s been drugged!"
Ava was scared to et Shelby’s gaze. The world seed to shift beneath her feet, a sudden vertigo sweeping through her as she could imagine Shelby’s rare sharp gaze bearing into her.
Ava had imagined this mont a hundred tis—always on her terms, carefully choosing her words, controlling the narrative—but now? It had unravelled in an instant, leaving her exposed. Ava clenched her hands tightly, her nails biting into her palms as she searched for the right words, any words, but they stuck in her throat like jagged stones.
She turned her pointed gaze to the two girls not far from her, Terry and her minion. It was at this ti that the Principal’s words made their way to her ears, "..... You will have to marry her!"
She snickered at the ridiculousness of the statent just as it dawned on her what the plot had been. Ava felt sickened to the pit of her stomach. At the sa ti, her chest felt heavy with a mix of guilt, fear, and frustration. How could she explain the inexplicable? What excuses could she use? Did she even have to?
She finally glanced at Shelby’s face to see her expression, a storm of confusion and hurt. Sha pricked at her like a thousand needles. What could she say to justify sothing she hadn’t even fully co to terms with herself?
Her feelings for Rocky, even though confird between the two of them, were ssy, unexpected, and beautiful in a way she couldn’t define. But none of that mattered now. What mattered was that her best friend—the person who had trusted her the most—looked at her like a stranger.
Tears blurred Ava’s vision, and she wiped at them furiously as she stumbled through her emotions. Ava felt as if she were drowning, gasping for air, for understanding, but all she found was the cold silence between them.
Despair gnawed at her insides. She wanted to scream, to explain, to make Shelby see her heart—but all she could do was stand there, speechless, helpless, watching the fragile bond between them fray with every passing second.
It was then that Ava noticed that Shelby’s expression was wrong. Ava looked at the unconscious Rocky and then at Shelby, then Ian.
’What’s going on? Is Shelby that dissatisfied with and Rocky?’
She twisted her fingers and took one step forward, only for the principal’s voice to stop her in her tracks.
"W-hat are you doing there?... Isn’t it supposed to be-"
Ava turned to the man, glaring.
"You expect it to be your daughter?"
"No! Why- I-"
The man was flustered. It also then that he noticed his daughter being helped up by her friend.
"OMG! Terry! Are you okay? What happened?"
He closed the gap between them and helped his daughter up, turning her around.
"Blood! Who touched you!????!!!"
Terry stood straight, pinching her nose to stop the bleeding that was as a result of Ava’s punch.
"YOU!!!!" She scread towards Ava, but then, her father stilled her.
"Dad!"
Ian was at the scene, and whatever they had been trying to do had been seen through. First, he had not confird that Terry was the girl in Rocky’s embrace and then he had demanded that Rocky marry his daughter in the worst possible way. His words had given everything away!
He felt a wave of humiliation wash over him.
"Chairman Ian, I-"
’What should I do?’ He wondered, biting his lip as his mind ran through many scenarios of what was to happen at the speed of light. It only took a split second for him to co to a decision. He left Terry’s side, rushing to Ian and then falling to his knees. The man was smart enough to know that he needed to do damage control. Terry was hurt but they were in deeper trouble if Ian decided to take action against them.
Terry watched aghast as her father ran to Ian and then fell at Ian’s feet, and Terry gasped. The floor was dump and had stones and whatnot but her father did not mind. This was the first ti that Terry had seen her father do that. Her father was supposed to that immovable mountain in her mind. Her minion, however, had seen such scenes more often than not as she ca from a slightly less privileged family.
"Dad! What are you doing?!" Her voice ca out muffled and whiny because she was still pinching her nose.
"That girl punched , and you are kneeling? Where is your dignity? Why are you not standing up for ? What is wrong with you!" Terry shouted in frustration.
Everything was going wrong that evening and she did not like it.... One bit!
In all this, Shelby had yet to move or react to anything that she had seen or heard. The most prominent thing at the forefront of her mind was,
’Aliya is alive?’
Shelby had no idea what that information ant about her relationship with Ian. She had been more than triggered by the dead Aliya and did not know how to handle an alive Aliya.
’If Aliya is alive, does that an that children go back to her? Ian goes back to loving her?’
Shelby distinctly rembered Ian consoling her by saying that Aliya was no more and that there was nothing to worry about. In fact, most people around her had said the sa, including Suzie and Ava.
All her reassurances had been rested on one fact, ’Aliya is dead.’ It goes to say that with this singular platform of faith and foundation swept out from under her feet, every single thing ca crashing down.
Yes, Shelby knew without a doubt that Ian loved her. She could feel that in a way that was unexplainable. At the sa ti, there was and most probably will always be that little part of her that will feel Aliya’s threat, whether that threat was incredible or non-existent.
The succession of the events caused her to beco numb.
Ian, on the other hand, turned fully to Currey. The shock of hearing the news about Aliya had faded a bit. Ian could not understand how she was alive. It did not seem possible. He ignored the Principal, who was at his feet, begging and then,
"Is this confird?"
"Yes, Chairman."
Ian’s expression was unreadable, impassive and very strange. He looked down at Shelby and seed to hesitate.
"I’ll take care of this and co back," Ian whispered, then patted Shelby’s arm, leaving decisively.
It took another second before Shelby sprang into action, "Ian! Wait!"
He paused and then turned to look at her,
"I-"
"I’ll be right back," Ian said again, but sothing snapped in Shelby. She could feel a fury start to peek up.
’He is my husband. He is mine! I should not let any third party co between us!’ She convinced herself and then without looking at Ava and Rocky, said to him,
"I’ll go with you, Ian."
"There’s no need, I-"
"Ian, either I go with you, or we stay here together. Take your pick!"
Ian raised an eyebrow and then he seed to hesitate. Ian stood there for a while, not daring to make any hasty decisions, especially from what had occurred that evening. He also realized that the decision to go alone had been rushed. Shelby had major dissatisfaction and insecurities regarding the dead Aliya. He ntally facepald himself. There was also a tiny part of him that did not want her to tug along but then, Ian dismissed that.
"Sure, let’s do that."
Shelby then turned to Suzie and Murray.
"You can take care of this, right?"
"Yes, Miss," Suzie said brightly as Murray nodded curtly.
"Chairman Ian, please... I-"
"I don’t want to see this thing again!"
Both Currey and Murray bowed swiftly in acknowledgent.
Ian took Shelby’s hand, noticing how cold it was. He frowned and held on tighter as the two started out of the back garden.
Ava was still unsure of what was happening. Sothing in her guts told her that there was more to what she was seeing. She had not heard Currey’s words on Aliya, so a part of her was that guilty, thinking that she may be the only cause of the strange mood that she was detecting.
’I did not know that Shelby would feel this strongly about this. I need to apologize to her.’ She thought, however, that at that ti, it had never occurred to her to break it off with Rocky at all.
"Shelby?" Ava called out softly at Shelby’s retreating back.
"Not now, Ava."
*********
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