CHAPTER 4: REJECTED LOUDLY!!

Gabriella came out of her hiding place. She could hear her heart beating fast.

It was the first time they were both conversing with each other ever since their last encounter. She quickly came up with an excuse to save herself from embarrassment.

"I wanted to extend my gratitude to you for saving my life" she said with her face flushed.

Tony felt uneasy when he looked at her face. He vividly remembered their previous encounter but decided to act like he didn't.

"Saving your life? I don't have any memory of what you are talking about" he replied.

Gabriella felt ashamed. She felt stupid for thinking he would remember a person like her.

"It's fine if you don't remember,just accept my heartfelt gratitude" she said as she made to leave.

"Wait" Tony called out. "Why do I feel there is something more to this? Why exactly did you follow me up here?" He asked her,his gaze almost piercing into her soul.

Gabriella kept staring at her feet, contemplating on whether she should tell him the truth or not. She instantly felt an adrenaline rush surge through her body.

Without thinking twice,she blurted out her feelings. "I like you a lot and I want you to be my partner for the graduation party tomorrow"

Immediately she made that declaration,she wished the ground could open up and swallow her. 

"That was too straightforward" she thought to herself. Living her life without having a deep connection with people had made her unable to express her feelings properly.

Tony was silent for a while,trying to comprehend for a moment what he had just heard. He felt good and irritated at the same time. Confused by the mixed emotions he was having,he finally responded. 

"You disgust me,"he said with a disdainful look in his eyes.

Gabriella thought she had heard wrong. She broke out into cold sweat,trying to digest what her crush just said to her.

"You are not my type. I don't associate myself with lowlife imbeciles like you" Tony continued. He felt bad for uttering those hurtful words but his pride couldn't stop him.

Gabriella remained rooted to the same spot, unresponsive. She looked like she would pass out at any moment. She had never felt so humiliated like this before.

Out of the blue,the lady in the red dress that was with Tony earlier,approached them and locked her arms with Tony's,making their relationship clear to the poor girl in front of them.

Gabriella was shocked to see the school queen. Then,it finally dawned on her that the two of them were together.

"I thought I warned you to stop stalking him. You are too dirty to be seen around him" the school queen said, spitting directly into Gabriella's face.

The pain Gabriella felt was so unbearable,she felt her heart break into pieces. She quietly walked away from them,they watched her leave with no ounce of pity for her.

Gabriella left the party immediately to avoid drawing anyone's attention to herself.

She just kept on walking, oblivious of where she was heading to. The words of Tony kept on replaying in her head. "A lowly imbecile". She was shivering,after all,it was a cold night.

She was so lost in thoughts that she didn't notice the black maybach trailing behind her.

The expression of the man in the back seat darkened at the sight of the lonely figure he was following.

"Should we help her?"the driver asked.

"No,we have only a few days left," the man at the back seat replied. 

"Soon enough,I will have what is truly mine" he thought to himself.

After a few hours of walking, Gabriella finally got to the door of her parent's house. She pushed the door open and dragged herself into the house.

She threw herself on the sofa,looking so pitiful and soulless. She just wanted the pain to go away.

Tyler and Emily heard the creaking sound of the door and rushed downstairs to see who had come in. They were dumbfounded at the broken sight of their daughter. What they saw was a shadow of her real self.

"Gabby,what happened to you?" Her father asked with hurt evident in his voice. When he didn't get any response from her,he moved closer to her. Her face was reddened.

He touched her bare skin and felt a burning sensation course through him. She had caught a fever from walking endlessly in the cold.

He carried her to her room and instructed his wife to get a bowl of boiling water to reduce the burning temperature.

After much pampering and comfort from her parents,Gabriella fell into a deep slumber. 

Her sleep didn't last long,as she became restless. She tossed to every side of the bed like she was having a terrible nightmare. These actions persisted until day break.

Gabriella woke up stressed,with dark circles under her eyes. The memories of last night gradually came back to her as she clenched her teeth in pain and tightened her eyelids,trying to stop the tears that were threatening to fall.

She glanced at the window to see the sun glaring at her,and then at the wall clock. It was already past noon.

She looked by her bedside and saw a cup of water on the table. She gulped down the water and clear her throat to get rid of the lump in it as she walked out of the room 

Heading to the living room,she saw her parents having lunch. At that moment,her stomach grumbled,indicating that it was time to eat.

"Good morning mom,dad" she greeted her parents trying to force a smile but they were her parents,they could tell when something was wrong with her.

"I'm sorry we didn't wake up early for your graduation party but your well-being was more important," Emily said with a concerned look on her face.

"It's fine mum. I wasn't going to attend anyway"Gabriella replied.

The family of three all ate their lunch in silence. No one wanted to make it difficult for the other.

"Make sure to use your pills, Gabby" her dad reminded her to which she gave a slight nod to as she left for her room to nurse her broken heart.

The pills could only heal the body but not the heart.