Anxious, Gabrielle was stirring her coffee over and over again. That being said, she still looked gorgeous as usual. Her purple dress complemented very well with her slender physique. Despite having given birth before, her waist remained thin and slender. Moreover, her lustrous and curly hair further illustrated her charm and beauty. Biting on her lips, Gabriella was pondering on how she should convey her thoughts to Joan.
The black special device on her palm felt very hot as if it was burning her hand. The vivid memory of Jory looking down at her with contempt was suddenly evoked in her mind. The money that she had worked incessantly for was all that she could think of at the moment.
Disappointed, she even started ridiculing herself. Gabriella, why can’t you be rational for once. Ever since I started getting jealous of Joan in college, everything went awry because of my precipitous actions. On the bright side though, at least I don’t have to depend on anyone now. I can finally do what I want without being constantly fraught with guilt.
With that said, what I want to do isn’t anything fancy or extravagant. My only solemn wish is to live a comfortable and unfettered life with my child.
Having pondered for some time, Gabriella blurted out, “Joan, do you hate me?”
Joan was caught off guard by her question. Every disaster that had befallen her in the past few years was mostly because of Gabriella. With that said, Joan definitely disliked her, but not to the point where she hated her. This was because Gabriella had already received the punishment due for all the awful things she did. It would be unfair for Joan to still hate her after that.
“I hated you before,” Joan answered her question tersely. She then added, “But that aversion is slowly fading away now. Seeing as you progressively become more independent and hardworking, I’m quite relieved. If it weren’t for all those things that happened in the past, you wouldn’t have become who you are today. There was no way you would have taken the first step to make a change in your life.”
“Truth be told, I’ve hated you ever since you decided to barge into my relationship with Larry. Everything bad that happened to me after that, I would always pin the blame on you. You were very mean to me back then. That being said, when I was in privation, you were the one who helped me out of it. It was ironic, wasn’t it? After that, I tried my best to earn a living by myself and learned to be independent. Now that I’m back on the right path, I can’t help but ask myself, have I been hating on the wrong person all this time?”
The sweet smell of the coffee from Illurasia went bitter as soon as it reached Gabriella’s tongue. The bitterness reminded her of her life up until now. When she was young, she was revered as the little princess of the Ward family. After she grew up, a lot of people acted amicable toward her to get on her good side. But when her father disowned her, everyone that was so good to her before left her, including her husband. She and her child were forced out of the house and had to eke out a living on the streets.
“Don’t worry Joan. I’ll unequivocally pay you back the money that I owe you together with the interest. Here…” Gabriella pulled out a card from her purse and placed it in front of Joan.
Without a second thought, Joan returned the card back to Gabriella. She gave her an obstinate look before responding, “I don’t want it.”
Miffed, Gabriella swept the card over to Joan again and retorted, “Are you looking down on me, Joan?”
“This has nothing to do with that. I helped you because I wanted you and your kid to have a roof to live under. I didn’t do it while expecting you to give me my money back together with interest.” Since Gabriella swept the card too hard across the table, the card fell onto Joan’s lap.
