No room for regret

CHAPTER 3

CHLOE’S POV

“VANEZZA! VANEZZA!”

The moment I pushed the door open, the words burst out of me.

My mind was overflowing with things I needed to say. Thoughts, fear, excitement, guilt and everything was tangled inside my chest.

“VANEZZA!”

She jerked awake like someone had just set off an alarm.

“Yes?! Yes?! What happened?”

She sat up quickly, looking around the room like someone was chasing us.

I quickly grabbed her shoulders.

“Calm down. Calm down.”

I patted her arm as she tried to steady her breathing.

“It’s nothing.”

She yawned loudly, clearly annoyed, and tried to lie back down.

“Don’t sleep.”

“Vanezza!”

I quickly opened my bag and pulled out the bundles of cash.

“This is money! This is money!!”

I spread the bundles across the bed. She rubbed her eyes slowly, still half asleep, trying to focus.

Then she froze.

Her eyes widened.

“Huh?”

She picked up one bundle.

“Where did you get all this from?” She started counting quickly, her shock growing with every bundle.

“This can’t be from stripping.”

I exhaled slowly. “Vanezza… take a chill pill.”

My voice trembled slightly.

I walked toward the mirror and stared at my reflection.

For a second, I felt disgust rise inside my chest. “I’m a bit nervous"

Behind me, I heard the bed shift, she walked closer.

“Talk to me,” she said softly.

“Why are you nervous?”

For the first time since I met her, Vanezza looked genuinely happy for me.

Or maybe it was just the money.

On a normal morning, she would already be yelling at me over something small. But today felt different.

She returned to the bed, already sorting the bundles into neat piles.

“We can use this for your tuition. And rent. And maybe even move to a better place”

“VANEZZA! STOP!”

My voice snapped through the room, she looked up immediately.

“I said I’m nervous!” I pointed at the money.

“You didn’t even ask where I got it from!”

“Why are you acting like this is normal?” My frustration spilled out all at once.

All she saw was the money, nothing more.

“I literally had a one-night stand!”

The words left my mouth before I could soften them.

“Not just with some random person.”

I grabbed her shoulders tightly. “With one of the VIPs.”

Her eyes widened slightly.

“Yo, Vanezza” My voice cracked.

“He’s old.”

“Very old.”

“Old enough to be my father.” The room went quiet.

“I’m messed up,” I whispered. “Am I going to keep living my life like this?”

“All this just for money?”

She stared at me for a moment.

Then suddenly she grabbed my wrist and dragged me to sit beside her on the bed.

“Calm the hell down.”

“What is wrong with you?”

Her voice was sharp now.

“No room for regret here.” She pointed at the money.

“Have you forgotten something?” “Girl, nobody is coming to save you.”

Her words landed hard.

“No One!”

“Not your parents.”

“Not your school.”

“Not the government.”

“No one.”

She leaned closer. “So what exactly are you regretting?”

“This money can literally fix your problems.”

She shook her head.“But you can’t keep doing this forever, Chloe.” 

“You can’t keep being full of regrets”.

Her voice dropped slightly. “You know that, right?”

I didn’t answer.

My fingers slowly tightened around the edge of the mattress.

Because deep down, I knew she was right.

But what scared me even more was something else.

The name sitting quietly inside my bag.

“Sebastian Whitmore”.

And somehow, I had a feeling this wasn’t the last time our paths would cross.

“So you know what you’re going to do now?” Vanezza said, crossing her arms.

I looked up at her quietly.

“Get in the restroom, take a proper bath, and then come back and sleep,” she continued. “A very deep sleep. When you wake up, we’ll decide on what to do with the money.”

For a moment, I just stood there, then I nodded slowly.

“Okay.”

I turned and walked toward the restroom.

My vision blurred as tears quietly filled my eyes.

I didn’t want her to see them.

But before I could reach the door, her voice stopped me.

“Chloe!”

I froze. “What the hell”

Her footsteps moved quickly toward me.

She stood in front of me and lifted her hand to my face, wiping under my eye gently like she was checking something.

Her fingers came back wet.

She stared at them.

“Crying?” she said slowly.

“Tears?”

She looked at me like I had just said the most ridiculous thing in the world.

“Why?”

“For what reason?”

“Girl!”

Her voice suddenly became firmer. “Have this at the back of your mind.”

“No room for regret here.” She tapped my forehead lightly.

“No damn regret should hold you down.”

She pointed toward the bed where the bundles of money were still lying.

“This is money, girl, “Real money.”

“Money that can fix your life.”

She wiped the remaining tears from my cheek.

“So clean those useless tears,” she muttered.

Then she gently pushed me toward the restroom door.

“Go freshen up, baby girl.”

“Wash your face.”

“Wash everything.”

“Then come back and sleep.” Her tone softened slightly.

“You need it.”

I nodded again. Without another word, I stepped into the restroom and closed the door behind me.

The moment the door clicked shut, the silence hit me.

I stared at my reflection in the mirror. For a long moment, I didn’t move.

Then slowly, I turned on the shower.

The water rushed down, filling the small bathroom with the sound of running water.

I stepped under it.

The cold water hit my skin, making me inhale sharply.

For a moment, I just stood there, letting the water run over me.

Letting it wash away the smell of him. But no matter how long the water ran, One thing wouldn’t wash away.

The memory of tonight.

And the name that kept echoing quietly in my mind.

“Sebastian Whitmore”

I closed my eyes.

Because deep down, I had a strange feeling.

Tonight wasn’t the end of this story.

It was only the beginning.

When I finally came out of the bathroom, wrapped in a towel, the room felt strangely quiet, too quiet.

Vanezza wasn’t sleeping.

She was sitting on the bed holding something in her hand.

“My bag!”

My stomach tightened.

“Why are you touching my bag?” I asked.

She didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, she lifted something slowly.  A card.

Mr. Sebastian’s identity card.

“How did you get this?” she asked.

Her tone had changed, It wasn’t excitement anymore, It was shock.

“That’s his card,” I said quietly.

“He gave it to me.” She stood slowly.

Her eyes were still fixed on the card.

“Chloe” Her voice dropped.

“Do you even know who this man is?” I frowned.

“What do you mean?”

She turned the card around and showed me the name again.

“Sebastian Whitmore!” My chest tightened.

“Yeah,” I said that’s his name.” She looked up at me slowly.

“Chloe!”

“You didn’t just sleep with some VIP tonight.” A long pause filled the room.

Then she said quietly, “You slept with Sebastian Whitmore.”

“The Sebastian Whitmore.” My stomach dropped.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked in fear .

She swallowed. “That man…, owns half of this city.”

Suddenly the money on the bed didn’t feel exciting anymore.

It felt dangerous. And for the first time since tonight began,

I realized something.

Sebastian Whitmore might not be someone I could simply walk away from.