Chapter 96

CHAPTER 96:

BASELESS ACCUSATION

Diane’s P.O.V.

“Hey, it’s getting late… aren’t you going home? I can drive you,” Lorenz offered while throwing his half-used cigarette in a nearby trash can. I did the same thing with the frap container I already used up.

I just nodded at Lorenz, then we walked side-by-side to where his car was parked. Because it was unquestionably a stressful, annoying, and maddening day for me, I accepted his offer of driving me home. I also didn’t want to commute and walk.

Lorenz was truly a gentleman while opening the door for me. After the scene that happened last month, what circulated in EGC was about a romantic relationship between the two of us, and not between me and Liam.

The gossip turned out that Lorenz and I were not just classmates then, but college sweethearts. Lorenz just laughed it off. Little did people know here that my boyfriend was indeed Liam.

Hmm, who would think that the CEO would ever date a mere Payroll Supervisor?

However, the rumor only lasted for a week because I could feel that Liam did something to make it stop. When I got settled on the passenger seat and my best friend on the driver’s seat, that was when I decided to open up.

“Hmm… I’m sorry, Lorenz, huh? I haven’t answered your question yet. The truth is… I have a strong feeling that… Liam is getting tired of me. I don’t what to think that he is cheating, but I feel like… there was a third party involved here.” I sighed with my head down while scratching my nails, dealing with dread.

Upset, I even choked with my own words. And when I said those, tears immediately flashed through my eyes, causing me to have a fuzzy vision.

Here I go again… feeling so pathetic over thinking too much.

“Hey! For the second time around… can you stop being paranoid, Diane? Like, hello? After all you’ve been through together? Don’t even think about it, okay? Because I’m sure that Liam loves you more than he loved himself! And what the hell did you say again? Third-party? How would you even know that? Do you have proof?” Lorenz barked. He was talking some sense to me before he continued.

“Is it a fact or just a baseless accusation? Until now, haven’t you fully trusted him? Did it ever cross to your mind that he was tremendously busy at work lately while adapting days into nights, then nights into days? I wonder if he could even have enough sleep nowadays. You know that your boyfriend is a powerful business magnate… don’t you, bestie?”

He was trying to convince me with his interrogation while starting the car’s engine. Throughout, I was only listening to him. While nodding to his last question, I felt so lost and unable to convert my thoughts into words.

“And when it comes to business, there are so many competitors around the globe! You should know that, bestie. If he would not stay focused for a little while, then it would be too late for him to know that he already failed his business.”

“Competitors would find him as an easy opponent, like a pawn in a game of chess! And do you have any idea what will happen next if Liam wouldn’t take things seriously? Bankruptcy!” Lorenz flipped his fingers in front of me and decided to continue his preach before driving. His last word made me feel scared.

“But wait… I thought, after your so-called misunderstanding last month, you will understand and trust Liam with all your heart? What happened now? Don’t tell me you’re prioritizing jealousy over trust again?” He added to what he had said earlier. He even quoted the word ‘so-called’ in the air.

Lorenz was right! Liam was a multi-billionaire CEO and a very powerful businessman. In fact, I was enormously blessed to be his girlfriend if that was the only basis.

But it wasn’t just the case. I guessed I should have prepared myself right from the start that I wouldn’t always be the first from all of Liam’s priorities. Perhaps, I got used to being the first before, and that was why I felt differently these past few days. I couldn’t turn down my emotions over simple things.

“You know what, Lorenz? I trusted him, and I was trying my best to understand him. But I just couldn’t get rid of my doubts and instincts. Especially now, even at least once… I wished he could have just called me and let me know his whereabouts,” I snapped back. Although I knew that Liam was in Balesin, it was Trixie who informed me… and not my boyfriend himself.

“Liam should have just called or texted me to let me know how he was, right? Would it hurt his fingers to type on his phone and click the send button? Would it hurt his hand and ear to call me so that I wouldn’t have to act like this… and worry about him? Even a simple hi or hello would make me feel so happy, but there was nothing!” I rolled my eyes while fretting.

“Well, if you are trying your best to completely understand him like what you are telling me here… then you have to lance this straight through your brain, bestie. Your boyfriend’s schedule was so hectic, and everything might be a matter now between ‘make or break’ scenarios in terms of business!” Lorenz rebutted while fixing the strap of his seatbelt.

“On the previous weeks you’ve been together… he wasn’t like that, right? He made sure that he was taking good care of you. Wow, Diane! Don’t you think you’re just too clingy, huh?” Then, he paused before he spoke again.

“If you wanted a boyfriend whom you can see and who’s required to be with you twenty-four hours with a complete seven-days-a-week attendance, then you could have been with me instead of Liam! We could have turned that gossip about us into reality.” Lorenz mockingly laughed at me. We left the place then.

Suddenly, I got choked with his statement, and that couldn’t stop my left hand from hitting him over the head. “Duh, boyfriend your face! Eww, you’re making me cringe here! Hilarious, brr…” I hugged myself and acted as if I got shivered with so much coldness.

Then, my sudden amusement filled the car. I burst into laughter about what he had said, and at the same time, I was hilariously laughing at how I reacted.

When Lorenz pretended to be gay way back then, Karen and I were alternately used to hitting him all over his head. Now that he was indeed a straight guy, I couldn’t help but still hit him. It only transitioned from hard to moderate since my strength was not that as strong as Karen’s.

“Hey, Diane! It hurts, huh? You’ve already spanked me in the arm earlier outside Moonbucks… and now, you still have the guts to hit me over the head! So, what’s next? And with your reaction, I could never be more ashamed! With your duh, eww, and brr, it looks like you’re too disgusted to be with me, huh? Wow! As if I like you?” Lorenz stroked the part of his head that I hit a while ago before he continued.

“Do you know how many women are drooling over me? It was more than the count of your fingers raised to the power of the same number itself, so don’t underestimate me! If I know, hadn’t I pretended to be gay before, you would be the first one to take advantage of me. Mind you, I saw you gazing at me when I transferred to your school!” Lorenz giggled while his eyes were merely focused on the road.

And he really showed his analytical skills, huh? I didn’t answer him because I just laughed out loud. I didn’t know that Lorenz could be a brazen punk, who was conceited this much.

“See? I made you laugh, didn’t I? Maybe now, you won’t ever ask me to accompany you to the nightclub again so you could drink unstoppably? Oh, sad to say… I won’t let you anyway. It was a good thing that no punch had landed, and no knuckles had marked on my handsome face way back then!” He glanced at me.

“Well, I didn’t know that you’re this kind of vain, Lorenz! What’s with you today and you’re suddenly like this? Hmp, if I know—you never got beaten there because you only let my boyfriend fight with them, all alone!” I looked at him for a while, then focused my attention back on the road.

“Hey, you witch! I helped Liam, huh? I was the one who took revenge over that someone, who successfully punched your boyfriend’s shoulder. You’re too drunk while twirling yourself on the pole, so you never knew what exactly happened, dear!” Lorenz commented. “In fairness, when and how did you learn how to pole dance, huh? Karen and I never knew you had a talent like that!”

“None of your damn business, buddy!” I told him before I ignored everything that he said.

“Wow, so grumpy! Do you have your monthly visit?” I could feel him smirking.

The question made me realize that my menstruation period had been delayed for two weeks. Fear gripped my throat while swallowing repeatedly.