Chapter 152: NEW HOUSE
"What is this place?" Juliet asked Adrian, who was holding what seemed to be the key to the house they were standing in front of.
"This will be our new house," he declared and walked towards the front door.
The both of them had successfully arrived in New York and they were standing in their new house. In the middle of their airplane ride, Adrain bought a house with some of his money that was left and planned to sell the one back in California to replace the money. Just because he was rich didn’t mean he was willing to waste money. Only he knew the crimes he committed just to have that money.
"Our new house?" Juliet asked. She still couldn’t believe that they had suddenly relocated to New York, all of a sudden. "But are we going to stay here for that long?" She asked him.
"Until we get your ex-sister-in-law back, yes, we will be staying here for that long," he responded firmly and jiggled with the keys before he put it in the lock, turned the mechanism, and unlocked it. "I told you early that if you wanted to come with me then come, if you are regretting and have started missing your mum, you can simply go back. Don’t bother me," he spatted with a tone of irritation as he wore the expression of an annoyed man.
"But..." Juliet tried to say but her words refused to be let out. Hearing him call Erika her sister-in-law sounded like mistuned music with ugly lyrics in her eyes and she couldn’t help but grimace.
Staring at Adrian’s back, she watched him enter their new house and flicked the light switch on. Following behind him, she rolled her traveling box along with her as she mumbled rains of curses towards Erika.
At the Smith mansion, Erika was in Monica’s room and listened attentively to the words coming out of Monica’s mouth as she narrated her past incident with Felix before she abruptly slapped her ears, making Monica quickly pause her mouth and ask,
"What’s wrong? Why did you slap yourself like that?"
Pushing her finger into her ear, Erika tried to scratch the place that was itching her before she replied,
"I have no idea. I think someone is cursing me."
Without holding back, Monica chuckled at her friend’s words and said, "Probably the enemies that you have defeated."
After the itch finally stopped, Erika got up from the bed and walked towards the mirror to wash her hands before she replied, "I guess so."
When she was done, she got back on the bed and stared at Monica. She smiled at her friend before she placed her hands on Monica’s and spoke,
"You went through all that? I never would have thought that you were going through something as tough as that."
After hearing that Monica and Felix had indeed dated before but broke up due to some misunderstanding, she felt sorry for both her brother and her bestie. Bad because she was there with them at that moment.
"You have gone through a lot because of Maddison," she added.
"Oh please. It’s nothing compared to what you’ve gone through in that Hart family. They used you as if you were some slave that they had bought just because you looked weak. That’s not right," said Monica.
"Shush," Erika suddenly shushed her and Monica stared at her with questioning eyes. "This moment is about you and Felix. Forget the Hart family and what they have done to me. They are already paying for their sins so there is nothing for us to be worried about."
With a sigh, Monica combed her hair with her fingers and remarked,
"You are a strong woman, Erika."
"And so are you," Erika returned the compliment. "I am just glad that the both of you have made up and are soon going to be getting married," she carried a teasing tone as she said the last few words, making Monica blush slightly at that realization. It had only been two days since she and Felix had come to ask for her parents’ blessings.
She could already imagine herself wearing a white wedding gown, walking down the aisle to be beside her soon-to-be husband. She closed her eyes as she continued to dream before she suddenly heard a finger snap in front of her face.
Monica opened her eyes, only to find Erika staring at her as if waiting for her to say something.
"What?"
"Isn’t there something you would like to tell me?" Erika asked.
Monica moved her pupils to the top of her eyes, as if staring at her eyes lashed as she tried to remember if she had forgotten something but after thinking for a while, she faced Erika and shook her head as she mumbled, "Nope, I have no idea."
Slapping the Monica’s lap, Erika snapped,
"Who are you going to make your bridesmaid?"
Rubbing her lap that had just been smacked, Monica stared at Erika with shock written all over her face.
"Of course it’s you," she replied. "You are supposed to know it’s you. Who else did you think it would be?"
Giving a sheepish smile, Erika gently rubbed Monica’s lap as if apologizing for her stupidity and said,
"I only wanted to hear it from your mouth, it would be better if I heard you say it."
Monica stared at Erika as if she had suddenly gone drunk.
"I think you need to go to Ethan now, you are probably missing him," she said.
Checking the time on her phone, Erika responded,
"Not yet, he isn’t back home. He said he would be coming back late so I will be staying here in the meantime."
Erika kept her phone away and was about to urge Monica into asking her out loud for her to be the bridesmaid but the door to the room was suddenly knocked and it opened.
"Hello people," said Jasmine as she walked inside the room.
"Jasmine, you are here!" Erika exclaimed happily and moved to hug the other girl.
After Mr Davis’ arrest, Erika, Monica, Jasmine, and sometimes, Cassandra would go out and have fun or have a little girl moments together.
It was only after Jasmine turned a new leaf did the others realized that she wasn’t that bad at all. Jasmine was already a beautiful girl but after her repentance, seemed to be glowing with positive energy.
Jasmine returned the hug from Erika and moved towards Monica, "There is our soon-to-be bride," she teased and laughed while Monica covered her face out of embarrassment. "So when is the date so that we can start preparing?" She asked.
"We haven’t decided yet," said Monica. "But when we do, I will let you guys know," she added and Jasmine jubilated even more.
Since the girls had not planned for any out that day and it was already nighttime, they stayed and chatted with each other until Erika’s alarm went off.
"I have to go home now and prepare dinner," she announced and kissed the two girls goodbye before she left.
The next morning, Adrain was all dressed up and was about to head out but was stopped by his step-sister.
"Where are you going?" she asked.
"I’m going to go see Erika," he replied. He didn’t have a clue as to why his sister didn’t like Erika even though she was rich now. Wasn’t that the reason she had despised her earlier? he wondered.
"That woman again? When are you going to understand that she has found another man to throw herself at and does not want to be with you," she questioned him.
Noting the way that he was dressed, wearing a perfectly ironed black shirt with smooth, clean trousers. Styling his hair in a way that some of his locks fell, while others were combed to stay behind, making him look like some model from a TV commercial. His face was free from any stubbles, looking smooth than always.
"And you are also dressed this way because of her, Adrian?"
Without replying to her question, he glared hard at her, his eyes warning her to keep shut else he would shut it for her, and she wasn’t stupid to not take the warning and instantly kept mute. Adrain opened the door and closed it after he was out.
He entered his car, brought out his phone and googled the address of the Walters Corporation. He wasn’t sure if she was there but he hoped that he would be able to catch a glimpse of her before the day ended.
He started the car and drove towards the address written on Google.
Once he got to the building, he stared at the huge skyscraper building made of glass that reflected the shining sun.
"Is this a building or heaven?" he thought out loud as she placed his palm on his head, using it as a shade as he tried to dodge the sun from hitting his eyes.
