CHAPTER 34: SHAMELESS APPROACH

“That was a disaster...” I muttered underneath my breath once I had exited the room.

Now all I had to do was to get out of this office as fast as possible before I end up running into the person that I dreaded seeing the most.

I was honestly almost out of the office when I suddenly heard a voice.

"Isn’t that her?" A man’s voice caught my attention.

At first, I didn’t think that he was referring to me, but when a group of men approached me, I realized that they were talking about me and it wasn’t hard for me to imagine what they were gossiping about behind my back. I tried my best to ignore them while I waited for my ride to come pick me up.

"Abby!" I heard a familiar voice call my name and my heart sank.

I hated days like these when nothing went my way. I let out a long sigh before turning towards the direction of the voice. Not surprisingly, Sam was standing there. His face lit up in recognition before he quickly made his way towards me. I had to resist the urge not to run away because I didn’t want to make a scene and I also didn’t have a good reason to avoid him because I had done nothing that I should be ashamed of.

"Hi Abby, how have you been?" Sam asked me so casually that I wanted to spit in his face.

"Great, how’s married life? How are you doing with your marriage?" I replied sarcastically.

Sam seemed taken aback by my sarcastic question but after a few seconds he seemed to have recovered his composure. It looks like he had something to say to me but I wasn’t sure whether I wanted to hear it. I could feel people’s eyes on us and I knew that the conversation that we were having was going to spark another wave of gossip. It was surely the right decision for me to quit my job from the company and it was also worth adding a mental note not to have a romantic relationship with anyone at the same workplace ever again.

"Are you...feeling better now?" Sam asked, and he looked quite worried.

His question disgusted me and I thought that he was the last person on Earth that I wanted to hear that question from. Had he remained my loyal fiancé, we might be planning our wedding right around now. Instead, he made the conscious decision to cheat on me and then dump me to marry my best friend, I just couldn’t believe how hypocritical he really was. Perhaps it was partly my fault for not seeing him for who he really was, and I couldn’t believe that I was in love with him for a very long time.

"You know, you don’t really have to ask these questions just to appear nice when actually you don’t really care," I replied without answering his question because all I felt had absolutely nothing to do with him. I stared at him as Sam made an awkward face that I quite enjoyed seeing.

"If there’s nothing else I’m going to leave now. There’s no reason for me to stay here any longer," I said to excuse myself.

"Wait!" Sam called after me.

I kept on walking towards the entrance while ignoring him. Sam quickly walked by my side before grabbing my elbow to stop me from leaving. I turned around to face him as I wondered why he was so desperate to make a scene out of this when he could have just let me leave quietly. It wasn’t like he made any attempt to contact me after he broke up with me that day, and for that, I felt slightly thankful because it really helped me to get over him that much faster.

"What are you doing? Let go of me right now," I snapped as I tried to yank my arm away from his grip.

"I just want to talk to you," Sam replied as his eyes seemed to search my face.

"What is there for us to talk about?" I asked as my anger started to take over. It was frustrating that I had to deal with him after all that he had done and I couldn’t believe that he could approach me and talk to me so casually.

"Your mother gave me a call and I found out that she just got married," Sam said.

"So what? What does that have anything to do with you?" I asked without hiding my annoyance. For once, I regretted not telling my mother right away that Sam and I have broken up. If I had done that, then she probably wouldn’t have given him a call.

"I knew that she was dating someone but I never thought she would end up marrying into the Hale family," Sam said as his eyes lit up with interest.

My eyes narrowed suspiciously at him as I wondered what he wanted. Although the wedding was a small and cozy event just as my mother had envisioned, that didn’t stop the news of their marriage from spreading. Apparently, it was a big deal for Bennett to get married again after being single for such a long time. His wealth and status within society also made it seem almost necessary for the media to cover their wedding.

"Leave my mother alone," I ordered bluntly.

"I just wanted to pass along my congratulations," Sam said before smiling.

Although he did not directly voice it, I couldn’t help but think that Sam was looking to gain something from my mother’s union with Bennett. I looked at him as if he was scum because he definitely is one living piece of scum.

"You better leave my mother alone. I don’t want you ever contacting her again and I don’t ever want to talk to you or see you again," I said through clenched teeth as I glared at him.

"I’ve heard that Hale Corporation is looking to invest into some new ventures..." Sam said, pausing as if to judge my reaction.

He was clearly looking to see whether or not I knew something about what he had just mentioned.

–To be continued...