And Then It Rained (Sequel to Rain Again; Stand Alone Book) (Completed)

Chapter Ten: Bite of the Past

Her precious car couldn't have found a better time to break down. After one long hour of waiting later at the garage to revive it, she reached the party venue. Obviously, she was the last one to arrive.

They had already started showing the advertisement!

Standing behind the crowd, as she looked up the stage, her eyes locked with Victor's. There was something in his gaze that fastened her attention to its molten quality. Yet moments later, his face hardened, his gaze froze, and he looked away from her as though the mere sight of her vexed him.

For a long time, he must have stored in him resentment as high as the mountains. And he had every reason to.

She could still recall the days when he was always magically there for her. In sickness, in danger, or to teach her a new way to wish through nature—he was always there. 

Due to her family's restrictive psycho mentality, she had no lasting friendships with a person of the opposite gender while growing up. Her father and aunt ensured she didn't break their ridiculous family rules by keeping Ricky around her like a shadow. 

Therefore, Victor's constant but discreet presence felt pleasing to her secretly. 

One of the guys at school once called him by his name from a distance. She could still recall that moment. That was how she got to learn his name. The similarity in both of their names caught her by surprise at first. Soon, some of her classmates who were close to her started to tease her with their similar names as they began to notice him ceaselessly appearing about her.  

It could have been a beginning of a beautiful story of friendship or perhaps something extraordinary. Who knows!

But unfortunately, Victor was a forbidden dimension for her.

"For a photographer, you do incredibly well in front of the camera even, Victoria," Orland praised her.

"It was the demand of the situation," humbly, Victoria downplayed it.

"You were right about that guy," Orland commented, chuckling, pointing toward Ben talking jovially—skipping from group to group. "He's making sure that no single person at this party and beyond is in the dark about how he rescued the entire project with his idea and excellence."

Victoria laughed. "Well, it was indeed his idea," she confirmed.

"I know."

"And he's harmless."

"That," Orland agreed with a suppressed laugh. "I know, too."

Besides celebrating, Victoria had been looking for the perfect chance to talk one-to-one with Victor in some privacy. Because it was now time to complete another crucial mission of her life—apologizing to him. 

She needed to apologize to him.

Putting a curtain over the most shameful bits, she would try like hell to explain her side of the story to a heedful extent. 

However, she had been trying in vain to talk to him since they were done watching the advertisement and opening champagne for celebration. Soon, people lined up at the buffet and sitting area to fill their eager stomachs. Victor seemed to be ignoring her and dodging her advances numerous times. 

Frustrated, Victoria took a seat to eat as well. And, of course, Victor was purposefully sitting at another table with all its seats filled.  

There seemed to be an open competition between Ben and Ellie, of which one between them could pile up their plates more times. Barely eating anything, Victoria was observing their antics. From the corner of her eyes, she noticed Victor walking away. Excusing herself from her colleagues at the table around her, she quickly got up and followed him.

He went to the bar counter and ordered a whiskey. The bartender had now stopped showing off his skills with bottles and glasses now that most people were busy with the buffet. 

For some time, Victoria stood behind the pillar with a houseplant decorated next to it and watched him. He looked hardly like his past, school-going self in the grey two-piece suit, with impeccably back-brushed hair, profound jawline, and sinew body. The scrawny boy was gone.

As the bartender went inside shortly, leaving Victor alone to sip from his glass—the second or perhaps the third one now, Victoria slowly advanced him. He had been downing his drinks too fast. Anyways, she hoped the alcohol would loosen him up as it did her most times. That way, he might listen to her instead of scurrying away from her at the speed of light.

With her heart beating fast and hard in nervousness against her chest, she stopped behind him. "Victor..."

Although he didn't reply or turn around, his entire body stilled—proving he had heard her. And she took it as a good sign that he didn't just get up and leave instantly.

"I—" she sighed, scouring her mind for words that could be used to voice her true thoughts. "We didn't get the proper time or opportunity to discuss what happened in the past between us—"

"What past?" his voice was solemn. "And what is so fun about it o discuss?"

"Look, I understand why you've been so mad at me or why you are ignoring me like I'm the plague—"

"Oh, you do understand!" his mocking tone was raised a bit now.

Sensing the prelude of a possible failure of her attempt, her heart thudded in apprehension. Nevertheless, she continued anyway, "It was all a misunderstanding—"

Suddenly, slamming the glass on the counter, he turned around to face her. "What was a misunderstanding?" he yelled. She was stunned by how red his eyes were as bottled up fury of years erupted from them. "Did you not call me a nobody?"

"I did, but it was because—"

"It was because you're a spoilt kid from a wealthy family," he cut her in midsentence. "Because you used to be too rich, too good to go to parties with me—a middle-class fool?" 

"No," she shook her head frantically, not knowing how to reveal the truth to him while also covering her embarrassing moments of miseries. "No, Victor, you're getting it wrong—"

He chuckled angrily, and he seemed a bit drunk. There was a slurring quality to his tone that made him pour everything from his heart. "Oh, what a fool was I! You wandered around the school with that mask of innocence on your face. But the reality of you and your family is that you're bloody frauds and goons—lying to publicly humiliate people who you see as worms, sending your good-for-nothing cousin and his gang to beat them. Those are what you so-called freaks born with silver spoons in their mouths are good for."

Mouth gaping and eyes wide, Victoria stood stunned. "My cousin—that means Ricky—he did what?"

"Argh, what kind of a liar you are, woman?!" he tried to stand up, holding the counter for support, but his foot slipped from the high stool. When he went to steady himself, his hand swung against the glass. It fell on the floor and broke, making a tremendous noise into a hundred pieces.

Victoria gasped aloud, instinctively closing her eyes and swinging away her face as those glass pieces flew about at rocket speed.

Suddenly, bright flashes of lights and murmurs coming from around got her attention. She turned and opened her eyes to multiple cameras and phones lifted toward them. 

Oh no!

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Word Count: 1189

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A/N

It is the prelude to a great disaster. Victor and Victoria's past is disastrous. Their present is not sweet. Let's see how their future will turn out to be. 

I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. Let me know which part of this chapter you liked the most.

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Love,
Lara.