8 Oh, What A Pity

That night at their home, Mrs. Pereira noticed Yvonne alternately flexing and rubbing her right hand.

"What happened to your hand?" Mrs. Pereira glared at her daughter.

"I slapped someone." Yvonne answered indifferently.

Mrs. Pereira: "Who?"

Mr. Pereira: "Where?"

Mozette: "When?"

"Brien." Yvonne smirked and silently observed her family's reactions. She suddenly felt ironic at that moment. From their reactions, it seemed they were relieved that she's about to wake up - rather, break through - from the protective helmet that guy had put on her.

However, only she knew how much she was hurting, and the level of disappointment she felt towards herself.

"Finally! You can now see the light!" Mozette exaggeratedly exclaimed.

Yvonne couldn't help but chuckle, and the rest of them followed suit, laughing and teasing the youngest of them.

"Get some ice pack after dinner. Afterwards, I'll put some ointment before you go to bed." Despite Yvonne's stubbornness, she still couldn't ignore her youngest child. No matter how indifferent and cold she appeared, her motherly instinct couldn't be denied.

As the night went deeper, Mrs. Pereira tended to her daughter's injured hand.

"I can't imagine how much force you used when you threw that slap." Mrs. Pereira couldn't hide her amusement. "With your 'hand of steel' I wonder if that prick hadn't had his head fall off."

"Remember that day when I was about 8 years old. You all left me alone at home, and had gone to the church? You've found my clothes torn apart when you went back home." Yvonne recalled the memory in answer to her mother.

The Pereiras were a very religious family. Elizardo was very strict when it came to disciplining his children, especially because they were both girls. Hence, every week the parents always made sure to attend religious activities and gatherings.

The memory from that day suddenly resurfaced in Yvonne's mind. At the time, she was having a tantrum simply because she didn't like the clothes her mother forced her to wear. Because of her frustrations, she didn't realize that her clothes have been torn by pulling on them.

"That strong, huh? No wonder your hand got injured."

"Hiss!" Yvonne shivered from pain when her mother rubbed the cooling ointment on her hand.

"Mom that hurts!"

"No pain, no gain little girl!" Mrs. Pereira only laughed at her daughter's twisted face.

After a while, she spoke on a serious note.

"You know, it's better to be hurt now than regret later on. It's good that you've now realized how much of a jerk he is."

"I know, Mom. I know that now." Yvonne had her head down.

"Don't be too disappointed. You're still young. You don't have to rush in a relationship," Mrs. Pereira told her daughter. "Your father and I are waiting for you to graduate and get a college degree so we can have no more worries."

Yvonne silently nodded at her mother. A dark light flashed briefly in her eyes, unnoticed.

"Alright, be good and get some sleep. You need to wake up early tomorrow."

As Mrs. Pereira left her daughter's room, Yvonne laid down on the bed. In the darkness, her eyes burned with tears, but she held them back.

When she swore to redo her life, she also swore to achieve everything she dreamed of.

She sighed deeply then closed her eyes, willing herself to sleep.

~×~×~×~×~

A few days passed since the incident. Yvonne endured all shaming whispers behind her back, as though those people didn't exist. Gradually, the hype died down when they saw her maintain a professional attitude within their department.

In the past, she had neglected her internship. When she was supposed to be in training, she'd rather escaped to another city where Brien was living and spend time with him like a fool. As a result, she got an "incomplete" remark and almost didn't graduate.

But now, it's different. She couldn't allow herself to be blinded by love once again. People often say: "fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Yvonne's perseverance earned her a higher evaluation from the people at their department. Of course, as a simple trainee, her presence alone was not that much significant in the eyes of other employees.

However, unbeknownst to them, one man has already set his eyes on that particular girl.

"Sir, this is the result of the investigation on Brien Ahsan." Assistant Mon placed two folders on top of a mahogany desk. One was black, the other was red.

Gianni stretched out his hand to pick up the black one before casually flipping through the pages. Afterwards, he told his assistant, "Let's observe him for a few more days. If he dared to step on the line, I'll make sure to destroy him."

"Yes." Assistant Mon silently lit a candle for the guy.

Gianni then started to read through the red folder. When he was done, he sat back on his seat and stared in the distance through the window.

A few minutes passed before he gave some more instructions to Assistant Mon.

"My private firm needs a new set of blood. Soon as she completes her training, invite her for an interview."

"I will arrange for it, sir." Although Assistant Mon received his boss's instructions, confusion appeared on his ever-taut face regardless.

Gianni saw this and was compelled to say, "You don't need to question me on this. Of course, remember to hide it from the old man."

"Understood."

Gianni waved his hand and Assistant Mon dismissed himself.

Left alone in the room, he stared at the distance for a while. "Yvonne Pereira... What is it about you..."

~×~×~×~×~

The following days have been peaceful, repetitive even. For a quiet girl like Yvonne, such bliss seemed like the calm before a storm.

That morning, she was back to school to attend a couple of classes before she had to head over her internship in the afternoon.

While walking along the hallway, she caught sight of a few girls laughing and talking. She recognized one of them. It was the girl who Brien cheated on her with.

'What an unfortunate scene,' she thought.

Yvonne planned to ignore them and only pass by them until she heard the girl's voice.

"Hey! Aren't you Brien's ex-girlfriend?" The girl tauntingly asked Yvonne, with a smug smile on her lips.

Yvonne looked at the girl with a blank face. She remembered the girl's name, Janine. She was a student of Psychology.

"Why, are you interested in things I've thrown away?" Yvonne answered back.

"Ooooh!" There came jeering from her friends.

This made Janine's face turn red from embarrassment.

"Or perhaps, you were the one who seduced him and willingly became the third party between us?" Yvonne couldn't help the tilting of her lips.

"Don't worry, Janine." The girl looked up in surprise that Yvonne knew her name.

"I don't do psychos. If you want him, then go get him." Yvonne continued to say before walking to her classroom.

Janine stood there stunned speechless at the graceful comeback of Yvonne. She couldn't believe the girl would say it upfront, as if she doesn't want Brien anymore.

She thought that Yvonne was just trying to be cool about it. 'Like the bitch, she's really dumped Brien for another man.'

Yvonne, on the other hand, couldn't give a care whatever Janine was thinking about her. She couldn't be bothered to explain to someone who doesn't even know the truth, and couldn't even see the deceit in front of her.

'Unfortunately, she believed more on the lies that Brien had fed her with. Oh, what a pity.' Yvonne internally shook her head.