Chapter 22: Your Choice
Chapter 22: Your Choice
As chance would have it, Crystal and Tiffany were dining at the same restaurant where Owen’s Welcome Back party was being hosted, and they were arriving at the same time that Amy was rushing off to the Ladies’ Room. Once they were seated, Crystal excused herself to use the washroom, and as she finished at the sink, she was accosted by Amy, who was just coming out of one of the stalls.
“Hey!” someone shouted at Crystal. “Stop it!”
Crystal looked up and saw the woman behind her in the mirror. The woman wore a black Chanel silk dress, and she was frowning at her.
Amy was annoyed after having been humiliated twice by Nathan, and she saw the appearance of the meek girl as an opportunity to vent her anger. “You got water on my dress. just now!” she hissed. “My dress was imported. from France. Now you’ve made it dirty. It is ruined! Are you able to pay to replace it?”
“I’m sorry,” Crystal replied, “but I think you’ve made a mistake. For one thing, I did not do anything to your dress. And for another: it’s only water. It will dry.”
“Don’t give me any of your lips!” Amy shouted. “I’m attending a very important party, and this dress is made of silk. But you spilled water on it! You can see how ugly the water stains are!” Amy glared at Crystal, crossed her arms beneath her breasts, and stepped between her and the door.
Crystal knew that this woman would be hard to get rid of, so she began to try to figure out how she would do that. Before the altercation could get out of control, though, another woman walked into the restroom, and Crystal was able to get out of there while Amy was distracted. What a bitch! - Crystal thought as she returned to her table- I wonder what crawled up her ass and died!
As Crystal sat down, Tiffany closed the menu. and pushed it to Crystal, “Crystal, what would you like to eat?”
Crystal looked over the menu, and when the waiter came, she ordered several dishes at once, and then she handed the menu back to the waiter. Once that was taken care of, Tiffany poured her a glass of water and started to flatter her. “You know,” she said, “when I first saw you, I liked you. You looked pretty, and you seemed intelligent enough. If it wasn’t for that misunderstanding, we might have become friends.”
Crystal smiled politely. She knew what kissing ass looked like and that Tiffany was not sincere. Crystal took a sip of the water and said, “You should know that the relationship between me and Professor Davis is not what you think it is.” She deliberately paused to observe Tiffany’s reaction to her words.
Tiffany: “Oh, I understand. You don’t need to explain anything to me. I am the one that owes the apology. If I knew you were in that kind of relationship with Nathan, I would never have had sex with him. Let’s forget the past and have a toast to our new friendship!”
Tiffany drank her glass of water to the last drop and immediately added, “Could you do me a favor, now that we’re friends? Would you plead my Father’s case with Professor Davis? My Father is not young anymore. If he is assigned to the remote mountain regions, he won’t live long. So, please...”
Tiffany seemed sincere, which made Crystal a little hesitant to say what she’d planned to say. She wasn’t unwilling to plead for Principal Ford, but she doubted that Nathan had the power to do what Tiffany and her Father wanted him to do. In fact, she didn’t even understand why Mr. Ford had been demoted in the first place.
Crystal took a sip of her water and said, “This is all a big misunderstanding, Mr. Davis is my guardian.”
Tiffany’s pupil suddenly enlarged. “Do you mean that Professor Davis is your guardian legally?”
Crystal nodded but said nothing.
Tiffany lowered her voice and whispered, “Crystal, stop joking with me. Don’t worry, you can tell me the truth, and I’ll keep your secret.”
The food arrived just then, and after Crystal had taken her first bite of food, she looked up at Tiffany and asked her if she liked Nathan. Tiffany did not come right out and say that she did, though, and instead, she said, “Professor Davis is handsome and able. I believe no woman could resist his charm.”
Crystal nodded in approval. Indeed, Nathan had a charming appearance. Crystal believed that that was why he had been able to cheat her of her Mother’s legacy so easily. She also thought that many other rich and naive women had been enchanted and deceived by him. “If you really like Professor Davis,” she said, “I can create opportunities for you to get to know him better.”
“Really?” Tiffany was overjoyed, but she immediately realized that she had acted too obviously. She forced herself to laugh and said, “You’re such a naughty girl. Please don’t tease me. It’s unkind.”
“I’m serious,” Crystal said sincerely. Crystal hoped that if she could help foster a relationship between Nathan and Tiffany, he might allow her a divorce, and since Tiffany came from a wealthy family, he might also let her retain control over her Mother’s legacy-or at least enough of it to meet her daily needs.
Tiffany frowned suddenly and said, “I have implicated my dad because of what happened between Nathan and me. This indicates to me that Professor Davis doesn’t have a crush on me... I appreciate the thought, though. Thank you for that. All I want is for my Father to be able to keep his job.”
Crystal smiled cunningly and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll handle it. And in the meantime, you can start thinking about ways to win Nathan’s heart. Okay?”
Tiffany smiled hopefully and said. “Okay. I trust you.”
As they were talking, Crystal received an Instagram text from Serenity asking about her whereabouts. She texted her back when she was able, saying, “I’m at Rossini Restaurant?”
Crystal took a quick photo and posted it below her reply, and almost immediately, a comment from Nathan appeared below it. It said, “I’m in the Aries Room at the Rossini Restaurant. Come find me!”
Crystal’s heart suddenly skipped a beat. She had thought that Nathan didn’t use Instagram, so his comment caught her off guard. She would have been more careful about what she posted if she had known that he would be watching her every move.
Tiffany saw that something was wrong, and she asked Crystal what it was. Crystal said that nothing was wrong, and she closed her phone, determined to ignore his summons. After only a few minutes, though, her phone rang - and the call was from Nathan!
After hesitating for a moment, Crystal answered her phone, and before she could even open her mouth, Nathan’s voice came through the speaker, loud and clear and cold: “You come here right now, or I will come to your room tonight. Your choice!”
