Chapter 35
Phoebe helped Yolanda by her arm all the way and finally brought her home.
"Hurry, Charlie, prepare a bathtub of warm water for me. My bestie just got caught in the rain."
Charlie Anderson came out of his room, with a hair band and a facial mask, to see Yolanda who was drenched and bedraggled. He was a bit surprised and asked, "Is this the bestie you talk about all the time? What's the matter with her?"
Phoebe was silent for a while before she responded, "Chances are she got dumped."
Charlie shut his mouth and said nothing more. Then he immediately went to the bathroom to prepare a bath for her.
Phoebe held a cup of peach tea in her hand and forced Yolanda to have some before asking, "Feeling better now?"
Yolanda was tired and hungry just now, and she almost fell because of hypoglycemia. Fortunately, Phoebe came to her rescue just in time. Otherwise, she might make a horrifying headline on the news that would read: a young girl passed out on a rainy night.
"You promised to contact me later, so I waited and waited for nothing. And it really freaked me out that your phone was out of service. I had to ask a lot of people in the company to get the address of The Jensen. And when I finally made my way there, all I saw was that you were standing in the rain like a fool. What the heck was going on?"
Just when Phoebe finished her asking, Charlie came to remind them, "The water is ready. Go and warm up first."
Phoebe thanked him, turned around, and introduced them to each other, "Yolanda, this is my friend, Charlie Anderson, a makeup artist. Just call him Charlie."
" Charlie, this is Yolanda."
Yolanda looked up and nodded weakly. "Hello."
Charlie sighed, "There's no time for that. Hurry. I'll go to make a bowl of ginger tea."
As saying that, he walked towards the kitchen, muttering, "How crazy is that guy to dump such a beautiful woman?"
Phoebe led Yolanda to the bathroom, closed the door, and helped her take off her wet clothes. When standing in the shower room, Phoebe took a stool to sit next to her before she continued, "You haven't answered me yet. What happened to you?"
Yolanda just stood still under the shower. But she couldn't get rid of the scene of Aaron passing her by indifferently no matter how the hot water was running on her.
Compared with all kinds of physical injuries, the loss of the man's affection for her overnight seemed more unacceptable.
"He knew all," Yolanda said softly.
"Of course, he knew. You went to confess to him. But did you play cute? What about the sexy skirt and tears we talked about?"
Tears?
Yolanda lost the ability to cry.
This kind of loss made her feel as if she had been hollowed out. She had no consciousness and no feeling.
"He knew it before my confession," Yolanda stretched out her hand to wipe the water on her face, and paused before she continued, "He saw the message I sent by mistake."
Phoebe was speechless.
There was a huge difference between hearing from her confession and finding it out by himself.
Aaron was so known for his tactics in the circle that no one can play tricks under his nose at all. The reason why Yolanda spent the past three months without being discovered was that the boss himself adored her. So he chose to leave many things the way they were and never looked into them.
In possession of the most power and capital in the entertainment industry, he got to determine the fate of many people. He was always the one messing others around but today it became the other way around. If someone knew about his means of dealing with traitors, he or she would realize how merciful he was to Yolanda because all he asked was for her to leave.
Phoebe sighed, "Then what are you going to do next?"
There was no other sound but the noise of the running water before Yolanda finally said, "I'll go back to Darlington"
After a pause, she added in a voice that sounded a bit aggrieved, "He won't want to see me again."
Phoebe was a little frustrated, "I finally came to Capital, and now you have to go back to Darlington again... Well, forget it, as long as you are happy. I will go back to see you when I have time."
The sound of the running came to a halt. Phoebe took a clean new towel from the cabinet and asked her again, "Did you bring your pajamas?"
Yolanda thought for a while, "I have a shirt in my bag, get it for me please."
Ten minutes later, Yolanda dried her hair, got dressed, and returned to Phoebe's bedroom.
There was a bowl of ginger tea on the table, Phoebe explained to her, "Charlie made it for you. Now drink it while it's warm."
Yolanda picked it up and drank it, "Didn't you say your makeup artist friend was a sister?"
"He's a sister," Phoebe blinked, "Do you know gay bestie?"
"..."
While preparing the quilt, Phoebe mentioned, "My room is not as luxurious and spacious as the one you lived in at The Jensen or your former house. I'm sorry but you have to make do with it here. But still, one quick question for you."
Phoebe finally surrendered to her curiosity and asked, "This shirt you are wearing belongs to Mr. Jensen, right?"
Yolanda kept silent and crawled her way onto the bed, willing to admit that she stooped to stealing a shirt from him.
Phoebe joined her in the bed and checked Yolanda with her hand holding her head.
The shirt was so big that Yolanda's thighs got covered when she was in it. The black color was already highlighting her tender skin. And a man's black shirt implying the male hormones on a woman added to the overwhelming temptation of her body.
Phoebe shook her head. "My wrong. You shouldn't have worn a black skirt. With his black shirt tonight, he would've been lost for words, I promise."
Yolanda pulled the quilt to cover herself. "I've been kicked out. Even a dragon robe can't be of help."
"..." Right.
Yolanda also lay down and continued consoling her, "Don't be so sad. His leaving just made room for a new guy in your life. There are so many cute guys out there in Darlington. You know what, I'll introduce you to some of them tomorrow."
After a while without hearing any reply, Phoebe turned only to see Yolanda had closed her eyes.
It was the first time that Phoebe saw her so quiet as if nothing had happened. But Phoebe knew better than others that she was just holding all her feelings deep inside.
After a moment of silence, Phoebe patted Yolanda lightly, "Don't dwell on it. Maybe Mr. Jensen was just too angry, and he will come around soon."
Yolanda refuted her view in her heart.
Not anymore.
He never granted the sinner a second chance.
Thinking of this, Yolanda still couldn't help turning around, burying her head in Phoebe's arms and choking before she said, "Pheeb, it hurt."
She shed no tears when her family went bankrupt when she found out James was cheating on her and even when her leg got seriously hit.
But after losing Aaron's trust and being driven out of his world, Yolanda felt as if something had been corroding her heart.
The pain in the chest left her unable to make a sound and breathe.
Phoebe patted her, "I get it. Just cry if it's too painful. It's okay. My clothes are waterproof."
Phoebe met Yolanda at the age of fifteen. At that time, few people in the school were willing to play with her. Yolanda was the only one who was not snobby. The friendship between the two had gone through a lot since then.
In her eyes, Yolanda was the God-favored one, a woman who would sweep everyone off their feet in Darlington. No man was good enough for her there. Females like Wendy Watts bitched about her behind her back while imitating her style.
But since accidents of bankruptcy, being cheated on and the car accident, her whole life has been turned upside down.
In the matter with Aaron, she was indeed wrong. But did that mean Yolanda's love for him was fake?
Before Yolanda realized the feelings herself, Phoebe sensed them.
Back then, every time she mentioned this man, there was light in his eyes. And his smile was sweet and affectionate.
Phoebe witnessed her excruciating trudge full of tragedies all along, from which she emerged safe and sound. But now God took everything from her.
Aggrieved more than ever, she was kicked back to square one.
Phoebe thought bitterly and sadly to herself--if she knew they would end up like this, she should've talked Yolanda out of her plan when she first proposed it in Darlington.
Nip this sad story with a bad ending in the bud.
At the same time in The Jensen, unusually, Ms. Twelve hadn't slept yet at already one o'clock in the morning.
The atmosphere at home was gloomy, even more depressing than the weather outside the window. Her experience as a housekeeper here for years enabled her to tell whether Aaron was in a good or bad mood.
But it was more worrying than ever to see his lifeless face.
At 1:20 in the morning, Ms. Twelve took a glass of warm milk to the study.
There was only a small table lamp on in the study, under the dim yellow light of which, the man was holding his forehead with his hands, his eyes were solemnly fixed on something.
"Mr. Jensen, have a drink." Ms. Twelve carefully placed the milk on the table and found that Aaron's eyes were on a mobile phone in front of him.
But that the phone was with a bright red case which seemed not like something of his own.
But Ms. Twelve didn't dare to ask him about that. So, she left with a sigh.
When he was about to go out, the man behind him finally uttered a sentence.
"Did she say anything when she left?"
Ms. Twelve paused and turned around, "No... she just said she need to leave and thanked me for taking care of her these past few months. Oh, right, she gave me a bottle of perfume which smelled really nice. Do you want it?"
Aaron closed his eyes, annoyed, "I'm good."
Ms. Twelve, "..."
The door was closed again.
The man just found it too hard to take, gazing at the photos on the phone.
He had the photo of Yolanda and James on one side and the photo Aaron and Yolanda took in the hotpot restaurant on his mobile phone.
No matter how hard Aaron tried to get over it, he still couldn't accept the fact that he was nothing for Yolanda but a tool to get back at her ex.
It wouldn't even take any investigation for him to realize that the black onyx cuff-link was not for him.
James and Jensen.
What a ridiculous coincidence.
He had seen the picture of the packaging bag of it that she posted on her Twitter once. But he thought nothing more about it.
Aaron took the gift she bought for her ex-boyfriend and carried it with him. He made a fool of himself to carry cuff-link everywhere he went, even on business trips as if she was with him because it showed her love for him.
Crazy ex-girlfriend.
Aaron was reminded of Danis Todd's description of her again.
That was just precisely the truth.
She was surprisingly crazy to blatantly lie to him and kept him in the dark for three months.
Bam.
The phone was thrown into the back of the drawer again.
This time, it was put away together with the little clay figurine that had been in the pen holder on the table.
Although he didn't sleep much all night, Aaron never had his work condition influenced because of his personal affair. So, he came to the company on time as he always did the next morning.
Lenny brought some people in with him. He was about to show Aaron a group of bodyguards he had just selected. As soon as he sat down, Blair Archer came in and reported:
"Mr. Jensen, James Hilton has been waiting for you in the reception room for a long time."
Aaron raised his head, frowning, and asked, "Who?"
When Blair repeated James's name, Aaron stopped for a few seconds and said to Lenny, "Wait here."
Lenny nodded and asked the bodyguards who came to the interview to stand in a line.
James was invited to the President's Office soon.
As cold-shouldered like a rat on the street recently, James appeared well-dressed like a celebrity.
"Mr. Jensen."
Aaron leaned back on the seat and looked at him: "Anything you want to tell me?"
Literally ruined by Yolanda, James would by no means let her go away with it. In the past days, he had pulled some strings to learn that Yolanda had been claiming to be Aaron's little sister with loss of memory. Exhilarated, he rushed to the company at seven o'clock this morning to wait for Mr. Jensen after he got the message last night.
He couldn't wait to unmask Yolanda and show what a crazy woman she had been to Aaron.
"Yes, Mr. Jensen. But don't worry, I'm not here to plead for myself. There's something you need to know. I can't stand seeing you being fooled anymore."
Aaron's eyes moved inadvertently, showing nothing that James could ever understand.
The next second, Aaron glanced at Lenny who got the signal right away and pressed the button on the remote control to lower all the blinds. And the entire office was instantly isolated from the outside world.
Aaron looked at James casually: "Go ahead."
James started his speech, " Yura, the girl who's been following you, is actually called Yolanda Walter. She did not lose her memory. She just faked it. The reason she approached you purposefully was to get back at me. All my life has been ruined by her now. Please don't believe such a wicked woman."
Lenny, "..."
The light in Aaron's eyes dimmed a bit. After a while, his only reaction was to repeat the name once, "Yolanda Walter."
So, her name was Yolanda Walter.
"Yes, she is the daughter of the owner of Thenoma Group in Darlington which went bankrupt months ago. Maybe that's what provoked her madness. She not only caused trouble for me but also cheated you."
Then, James started to tell his side of the story from the scandal of him online to everything afterward until recently.
Listen to him, Yolanda was the craziest woman in the world.
A long period of silence passed after James finished his accusation of her, he looked at Aaron and asked tentatively, "Mr. Jensen, are you listening? If you don't believe me, I can show you the evidence!"
James took out his phone, found out all the conversations he had had with Yolanda this month, and placed it in front of Aaron, "Look, she has been seducing me into her trap as your sister. And she admitted it herself in the end that she swallowed all the humiliation of being by your side just to get revenge on me. In addition to that, Phoebe, her best friend, is just as evil. She must have tricked you into signing the contract between her and Azel Group, right? She has been working hand in glove with Yolanda all along. "
Aaron's eyes fell on the phone lightly.
In fact, he disdained to look at it but he couldn't help it. So he chose to skim it as fast as possible.
According to their chat, they weren't talking a lot in the first week or two. It was until James began to doubt Yolanda's identity and asked her to take a video as proof did she start to get talkative.
Aaron glanced at the date of that day.
February 2nd.
The day she was taken away by his brother.
Suddenly, Aaron seemed to understand the reason for her sudden return.
She couldn't provide any evidence if she just left, which also meant that her revenge had to stop since she couldn't claim herself as Aaron's sister anymore.
Aaron got inflamed by that instantly and tried to calm himself so he could continue reading. Pretty soon, he got to the part of the past few days which was filled with unbearable insults.
Over one hundred messages in a row were all swearing words James texted to her like a mad man.
Shockingly, he even said something like [You must feel awesome getting fucked by him, huh?]
But she had always been silent. Aaron saw no reply from her.
Aaron suddenly remembered that time in the parking lot when she asked him tentatively, "If someone really bullied me, would you back me up?"
Aaron felt that his mind was being torn apart by two distinct emotions. On the one hand, he was still furious at her cheating. On the other hand, he got enraged to see his beloved woman getting abused with all the horrible words.
Although, she stopped being his beloved one yesterday.
With a snap, Aaron dashed the phone forward, just beside James's feet.
James was astonished and picked up the phone: "Mr. Jensen?"
With scorn, Aaron looked at the man in front of him who had been so irresponsible that chose to ruin his ex-girlfriend in order to save himself.
What's even funnier was the fact that Aaron had once imagined how such a vile man was while getting jealous of him many times.
Yolanda might have kissed him, loved him, or even done it with him.
Picturing those images, Aaron felt every bit of his heart was getting scratched and torn, which led to uncontrollable anger in the end.
"Read out every message you sent her since February 11th. One by one," he ordered coldly and calmly.
James was startled and asked, "What?"
"Slap yourself once after one message."
James, "..."
James was completely dumbstruck. He didn't understand why Aaron reacted like this. So, he retorted, "Mr. Jensen, obviously I was just…"
Lenny walked over at this time, "Do you do it yourself or do you want me to do it for you?"
Everyone in the bodyguard circle knew about the one standing beside Aaron, who had a lot of legendary experiences in one of the most dangerous regions. With his intimidating and powerful build, no one would mess with him.
Let alone a feeble man like James.
James's face turned pale. Unwilling as he was, he had no other choice but to follow Aarons's order.
"Yolanda, you're such a slut." "Slap"
"Have you lost your mind?" "Slap"
"Louder. Mr. Jensen can't hear it." Lenny warned coldly.
James knew that he meant with the sound of him slapping himself on the face. So, he had to make it harder with his eyes shut.
In those days, he sent too many awful messages to Yolanda, and he had only himself to blame for the time being.
When he reached the 50th message, the corners of James's mouth began bleeding.
James raised his head cautiously, only to see the man in the main seat dealing with his business with an extremely indifferent expression without seeing him at all. James felt that he was like a clown, who didn't deserve any attention from Aaron even if he was bleeding.
Something dawned on James then.
He was so eager to fight back that he forgot that Aaron was also a decent man.
He would also fall in love with Yolanda.
He might still have tenderness for her despite her lies.
James lowered his head in embarrassment and laughed at himself, "Mr. Jensen, were you venting your personal spite on me as a boss?"
Aaron's moving pen stopped, and he held James in a sharp gaze. Then he leaned back on the chair while replying in a nonchalant way, "That's right."
James did not expect that he would admit it.
He made no secret of his purpose. And the look in his eyes was filled with disdain and contempt when he was looking at James.
James tragically underestimated the importance of Yolanda in Aaron's heart. He opened his mouth, knowing that he had lost again.
He stopped asking anything anymore and continued to read the messages while slapping himself. All he hoped was for this humiliating scene to end as soon as possible.
While he was reading, Aaron made a phone call.
At 8:30 in the morning, after Phoebe got up, Yolanda was still sleeping.
Recently, the company hired teachers to give them lectures on the character analysis of " Dragon Hunt " from 10:00 to 12:00 every day, during which they could not be absent.
After Phoebe washed up and sat down to breakfast, Charlie pointed inside, "Still asleep?"
Phoebe sighed, shook her head, and answered, "If she wakes up later, take care of her. I'll come back at noon with lunch."
Charlie comforted her, "Don't worry, your bestie is my bestie. I can throw a party tonight for her to meet someone else. She just needs a hot guy to get over the last one."
Phoebe gave her a high-five approvingly, "That's a great idea. Make sure you invite adequate cutie pies. My babe deserves some fun tonight."
Happily, the two reached an agreement. Then Phoebe's phone rang. It was her manager.
"Hello, Jessica, what's up?"
"I got a notice from Blair Archer working on the 39th floor that you need to head to the President's office first after you arrive at the company."
"..." Phoebe was blank for a while before she asked, "President's office? Jensen's office?"
"Yes." The manager on the other side of the phone was as puzzled, "Have you caused any trouble recently? Normally, the boss never asks to meet new members of the company.
Phoebe felt a chill spreading in her heart and immediately figured out why.
After hanging up the phone, Charlie noticed her suddenly weird expression and asked her, "What's wrong?"
"The party tonight might be more than hot guys for my bestie." Phoebe concluded after analyzing for minutes, "It would be a party celebrating me getting fired."
"..."
Not long after Phoebe left, Yolanda also woke up. She didn't see Phoebe, so she asked Charlie, "Where is Phoebe?"
Charlie seemed pretty serious while responding, "She just got a call saying that some Jensen from their company wants to meet her. Presumably, she might get fired today she claimed. What's going on?"
Yolanda's eyes widened after hearing this, "Mr. Jensen is meeting her?"
Without waiting for Charlie's answer, Yolanda immediately rushed back to the room, changed clothes, and dashed out.
Even though Phoebe tried everything to prepare herself psychologically, she was shocked to see what was going on in the office after she opened the door.
With all the blinds shut, countless bodyguards and people in black were standing in the room. And the most terrifying part was that James, the jerk, was also there.
Slapping himself hard in the face while reading something.
Phoebe swallowed her saliva before walking forward shiveringly, "Bo, boss. Were, were you looking for me?"
During the few seconds of saying this, Phoebe had already conjured up a picture of her dead body lying here.
Without looking up, Aaron asked her casually, "Do you know why I need you here?"
Of course, Phoebe knew.
You didn't even have to ask.
Yesterday, all the lies Yolanda told were exposed, together with her identity and the truth. And James was getting his share of punishment. It made sense that she would be expecting hers, with all she had done to help Yolanda. She couldn't get away with that.
Phoebe knew that her short acting career in Azel Group might be coming to an end.
It was no big deal. After all, her bestie was still feeling tortured because of this ruthless man. It would be awkward for her to work for such a boss in the future.
Compared with getting fired silently as a loser, standing up for Yolanda for the last time sounded like a more tempting choice.
"I guess it's about Yura right? Mr. Jensen?"
"Right, I've been assisting her with her plan."
"But how hard-hardened were you to kick her out on such a heavily rainy night? What has Yura done to deserve that? Admittedly, she concealed the truth and lied to you. But do you know what that jerk over there had done to her? "
"The day when Yura got struck by the news of her family's bankruptcy, this scum was cheating on her with his mistress. He even laughed in her face when she found out about them. At that time, being penniless was already too much for her. But everything got worse when you hit her with your car. She wasn't faking her injury to cheat you out of money. It was you who hit her."
"Yes, Yura didn't suffer from amnesia. But in her defense, she was excusable for all the mistakes she had done after the car accident and what the jerk had done to her. Now, that's enough, because you seem like a jerk, too. You don't deserve Yolanda's love. I'll tell you what, it's over between you two. I have prepared a party and invited all the hotties in the city so that Yura could get over you right away."
"Say it. You asked me here to fire me, right? Fine. I quit."
Phoebe had little patience. She felt much more comfortable after letting out all the anger she had held in her heart last night.
Aaron was amused by her furious speech though.
No wonder they became best friends. The two women were equally unreasonable.
He saw Yolanda being taken away by someone last night, and he only tell that it was a girl. It was until James said did Aaron know that Yolanda had a bestie assistant.
Come to think of it, that weird short man was 100% the girl standing here at the moment.
Crazy and clever.
Aaron gave a rare smile and looked at her, "You mean you want to break the contract, am I right?"
Phoebe answered loudly, "Yes!"
"Good, according to the contract, you need to pay a penalty of 9.86 million yuan to Azel Group."
Phoebe, "..."
Forget it, can I take it back?
The door got slammed open at this moment after which someone broke in with Blair Archer behind, apologizing, "I'm so sorry. Mr. Jensen, I"
It was Yolanda.
Aaron's eyes narrowed, and in the next second moved away peacefully.
He said nothing and didn't look at her, as if it was someone irrelevant who entered the room.
But he didn't ask her to leave.
Lenny understood the situation instantly. He asked Blair to leave and took James to the next reception room to continue the slapping.
Noticing James's swollen face, Yolanda immediately pictured the similar torture Phoebe must have suffered in this room. In a hurry, she started checking with Phoebe, "Are you alright?"
Then she turned back to Aaron, "It's my idea. Please don't hurt my friend."
Aaron ignored her and asked Phoebe lightly, "Still want to quit?"
Phoebe was stunned but sensed that there might be room for negotiation. She jumped at the chance and shook her head while apologizing, "I'm sorry boss. It was just a misunderstanding, I was too impulsive."
"Off you go."
Phoebe, "..."
Then what did you need me here for?
For that passionate scolding?
Although she had no idea what Aaron meant, Phoebe immediately grabbed Yolanda's hand to leave.
When they were about to reach the door, they heard an order from behind.
"You stay."
Both stopped, stiff.
Looking at each other, Yolanda knew that Aaron meant her.
She gave Phoebe a signal that said "you go first" with her eyes. Phoebe shook her head at first, but she got still pushed out.
Closing the door, Yolanda turned around.
She didn't go any further toward him but stood behind the door.
Aaron was sat where he handled business documents.
The distance between the two at the moment reflected their current relationship. Unfamiliar but tentative.
"I'm sorry." Yolanda decided to break the ice herself, "What I did to you is all my fault. I'll shoulder all the responsibility myself. Please don't drag anyone else in."
After a pause, she added, "Of course, I have no problem with you dragging James down."
Aaron, "..."
She was always using her brain.
But she seemed to have lost a lot of weight and her face was even smaller even though they just met yesterday.
Aaron was silent for a while, "Shoulder all the responsibility?"
"Yolanda Walter." Aaron called her name calmly for the first time. It saddened him that he learned it from her ex.
He walked towards her slowly and stopped in front of her, holding her in a fixed gaze. He asked, "You have been putting on a show full of lies in front of me for three months. How do you think you could shoulder all the responsibility? "
Yolanda was surprised to hear Aaron calling her by her real name. But seconds later, she felt inexplicably relaxed and relieved.
Those shackles were gone in an instant, and finally, she didn't have to act and pretend.
Then let's talk openly and freely.
Yolanda took a deep breath, glanced at Aaron, and answered quickly under her breath,
"I gave you my first kiss."