"Gina, don't you like the food? Do you want to order something else?" Amanda asked when she noticed her not touching the food.
"No, it's fine." She let out a brief smile before looking down at the food.
It's still bothering her.
The words of her mother keep echoing inside her head. But somehow, their situation added to the pressure she felt.
After playing at the golf club, Georgina's mother initiated eating at the nearby restaurant since it's rare to see them gather together. The others unexpectedly agreed, so they ended up in the most awkward and full of tension atmosphere while eating. She didn't even know how they could swallow those foods.
They're in a restaurant, gathered at a long table inside the VIP room. Henrick's sitting beside her while Giovanni and Kiela are across from them.
A deafening silence engulfed the four while the older ones talked about business.
Amidst it, Georgina glanced towards Giovanni, and he was staring at the food without eating it. He looks troubled and has lots of thoughts in mind. He lost some weight, and those almost faded bruise on his face is still visible to the naked eye. She flinched when their eyes met and hastily looked away while biting her lower lips.
"Mr. Javier, isn't it the first time you came out after you broke your engagement with Mr. Fuentes's daughter? Aren't you ashamed to sit at the same table?" The old geezer from before asked mockingly.
"Don't make fun of a child. He must have a reason. It's even a favor to me. Mr. Javier's not worth it for my child, am I right, Mr. Javier?" Mr. Fuentes asked before drinking his wine. "Anyway... They sold their company, so there's nothing worth risking to a useless man. It's a pity that I expected a lot from their small company. There's potential for it. But they got blinded by money."
A laugh from those people around the table echoed inside. It made Georgina tighten the clenched on the utensils before glaring at them.
"Mr. Javier looks reliable and smart. You must take good care of him, Mrs. Alvarez."
"Of course, he followed me without saying anything. It feels like I have a new loyal dog." Coleen said, chuckling. "You wouldn't mind if I treated him like that, Ms. Fuentes?"
"No, he chose it by himself. It suited him more than to be treasured. He's not worth the risk for, am I right, Henrick? I forgot to thank you for telling me where I should dump useless trash." Kiela sneered before looking to Henrick, who seemed shocked by her words.
"A-ah... Y-yeah, I-I think I did a pretty good job."
Georgina's eyes widened as the utensils slipped on her hands and fell to the ground. She's gone speechless while staring in Henrick's direction, who couldn't look at her.
Before she could think straight, she slammed both trembling hands on the table before standing with her eyes quivering in shock and disbelief while staring down, which made them silent and focused on her direction.
"Y-you..." She mumbled, clenching her fists. She's about to raise her head, but someone patted it. It's a familiar warm hand and scent.
Without knowing, her tears fall. She raised her head to look straight at him. It's Giovanni. He gave her a brief smile before tousling her hair and turning to those people.
"I didn't know that an elite family like yours loves to gossip about other people," Giovanni said. "I don't need to be treasured by everyone. I preferred treasuring someone's worth to risk. Your words don't hurt me a bit, but..."
"Mr. Javier, aren't you too full of yourself?" Mr. Fuentes asked.
"Mr. Fuentes, I don't mind losing my reputation in front of worthless people like you, but there's no way I can lose my pride. Besides, I'm a man. I can't fall easily in front of my woman." Georgina flinched upon hearing his last words.
"Hey, what the hell are you trying to say?" Henrick said, standing up as he glared at him.
"I should be the one asking you, what are you doing? Are you aware of who's the person you're hurting the most? That person..."
"Can you stop talking, Van?" Kiela said, breaking the tension between the two men.
"Fine, I should wait outside since I'm not welcome here. Please, excuse me."
Giovanni didn't hesitate to step outside the VIP room, but the tension didn't subside—even a little.
"Gina..." Amanda said, full of worries on her face.
"I-I'm tired. Can we go home?"
"A-ah, o-okay."
***
In the middle of the night, a chilly breeze of wind brushed on Georgina's body as the loud cries of those cicadas reverberated all over the place. She's in the garden pavilion of the Jung mansion, staring at the vast sky as she watches the millions of stars twinkling for quite a long time.
Since they came home, she didn't talk to any of them or eaten dinner. Many thoughts came into her mind, but she didn't know who to talk to. Although, it's unlikely for Henrick to do such a thing. He still chose to betray her for Kiela's sake. She can't burden his parents with her problems. As her mother said, they can't take her side over their son.
She wanted to give up everything, but she made a promise to her little brother and Giovanni.
A chuckle escaped her mouth as she wiped her tears away.
"I-It's late at night and cold here. You should go inside." She jolted out when she heard a voice coming near her. It's Henrick.
"You dare f*cking have the guts to show your annoying face to me," Georgina let out a forced laugh.
"Gina..." He was about to touch her, but she slapped it away and looked at him with an emotionless face.
"Do you know how many people betrayed me? It's not someone who just passed by. Those people betraying me are those close to me. The evil witch mother of mine, my uncle, stepbrother, cousin, even the principal, and many more that I couldn't count with my fingers anymore—You dare to side with them. I pushed those who wanted to treasure me and welcomed those who treated me as trash..."
"Gina, it's not like..."
"I... I made up my mind to give it a try, the two of us, but I shouldn't. These unsettling feelings that unconsciously grow inside my heart, I won't let it grow."
"Gina, I won't deny that I told Kiela about the dispute between the three of you because I want to help her take revenge on him. He deserved it. He hurt Kiela's feelings. And it's because of him you keep having these difficulties."
"What? It's because of him? Are you listening to those words I blurted out throughout these few months? It's me. No one but me who's at fault. Van has nothing to do with it, but rather, I'm the one who ruined his life." She shouted as she stood up and faced Henrick with those raging glares. "It's me. Do you hear me, you bastard? It's all my fault that he needs to tangle his life with the Fuentes family. It's my fault that the evil witch targeted him. It's because of me that they got forced to sell their company. And it's my fault that his life got ruined. It's all my f*cking fault."
Georgina's voice echoed in the pavilion as she pushed Henrick with all her might with one hand. As Henrick steps back, she steps forward and shoves him away, full of anger and disappointment. But Henrick didn't do anything and let her anger out.
"Why do you need to ruin his life? I'm here. I'm in front of all of you, but why can't you put all the blame on me? Van's innocent. He didn't do anything wrong but love a worthless woman like me. Blame me, laugh at me, hurt me all you want. I don't care." She said as she burst out crying.
"G-Gina..." He was about to touch her, but she slapped his hand away again.
"D-Don't touch me. I don't want to hear your voice or see you." Henrick flinched at her words and looked at her with wide-open eyes.
"G-Gina, I-I'm sorry, I-I... I'm reckless a-and..."
"Sorry? What can an apology do? The person I wanted to save badly was now working under the evil witch. I'm sacrificing everything I have to get him away from her, but because of your f*cking insane reason, it became vain. Tell me, can your sorry change everything that happened?"
"Gina? Henrick? What're all these noises?" Henrick looked behind him and saw the confusion on his mother and father's face while staring back and forth between them. "Are you two fighting?"
Instead of hearing an answer, the two remained silent and turned away while Georgina wiped away her tears.
"Henrick, what's going on? Why is she crying again?" Amanda asked.
"M-mom..."
"Mrs. Jung, I want to have a separate room for him. I-I don't think this marriage will work out somehow. I can't trust someone who can't trust me. Sorry, let's treat this marriage as a business."
"W-what?"