CHAPTER 15

Finally agreeing to have dinner with her mom, Gabriella headed towards the dining room. Rosalind sure did a good job persuading her to come downstairs because the last time she had dinner outside her room was the evening her mom arrived.

She had no interest in seeing her mom's face so most times, she skipped her meals, especially breakfast.

"Good evening," she greeted. The older women looked at her in astonishment. Veronica hadn't received a proper greeting from her since she arrived, so obviously, the sudden 'Good evening' was surprising.

The all settled to eat, there was no need for her to set the table because it had already been done. Before she arrived in the dining room, she heard Veronica telling Nana she'd like to stay longer than she had originally planned.

Gabriella didn't like the idea, but at the same time, she felt a certain emotion she couldn't really explain. She couldn't bring herself to confront her mother about it, so she just ate her food in silence, they all did.

Veronica had something to say, and Gabriella knew this because she had been watching her mother's body language since the beginning of the meal.

"You've got something to say?" Gabriella bluntly asked, her eyes on her meal. Veronica glanced at Rosalind who signalled her to go ahead before she did after hesitating for a while.

"I've decided to extend my stay," she announced. Gabriella looked unbothered, apparently she had succeeded in figuring out what the other emotion was. She was a bit delighted, she wouldn't dare admit that, but at least she knew.

"Okay," she responded nonchalantly and continued eating. Veronica, who had expecting her daughter to probably leave the table or lash out, was thrilled none of that happened. Her relief and happiness didn't go unnoticed, Gabriella grinned watching her mother smile.

Veronica then brushed her hair from her face, and Gabriella's expression changed. She dropped her spoon and stood up to leave.

"I've lost my appetite," she said and left.

"But you barely ate anything," Rosalind protested but got no response.

Reaching her room, Gabriella banged her table with her fists to demonstrate her anger. Although it felt like the reason for her outburst was because of Veronica's announcement, but there was an entirely different reason for all that happened.

That scar was still there.

Growing up, she never looked her mother in the eye when the traumatizing events took place. All she could look at was the scar above her mother's eyebrow and with time, she grew to resent it.

She grabbed her hoodie as she prepared to head out, the sight of the scar had destroyed her mood that evening.

Fortunately, Damian had asked to meet. For whatever reason, she was happy, at least she could leave the house. He shared his location with her, and she decided to go to him, although where he stated he was seemed strange.

It wasn't a place she couldn't stroll to, so she took a ride, she had no idea where the place was so a designated driver to her location seemed much better. Although she didn't know where she was headed, it did sound quite familiar.

She finally arrived and realized why it sounded familiar, the place she was called to was a bar or rather a nightclub, she had no idea which one it was. The name felt familiar because most of her friends/ schoolmates went there. Some of them with fake ID(s) and the others who were old enough.

She wouldn't be allowed to enter obviously, plus the fact that she didn't look the part, so rather than been told to back off by some big guy at the door, she decided to call Damian.

His phone rang out for a while until he finally answered the call. He wasn't the one speaking, though, she heard an unfamiliar male voice.

"Uhm, hey, were you the one I texted earlier?" He asked.

"Yes, and why are you with Damian's phone?" She asked confused.

"Oh, the dude is completely wasted. I can't take him home, I've got something to handle, so I decided to text someone," The person explained. Gabriella informed him she was outside, and he immediately hung up.

How come Damian was wasted? Did something happen?

Shortly after, a man came out, helping Damian out because he couldn't balance himself. It was the first time seeing him drink, which was fine because she didn't know him too well. Looking at the man who dragged Damian out, he looked like he was the same age as him or rather a bit younger. She didn't know how old Damian was, so she could only assume.

When she saw he was having trouble finding her, she waved at him and he eventually spotted her.

"Hey,"

"Hi," obviously the dude was awestruck, didn't expect to see a pretty, younger lady. He was expecting someone much older.

"I'm Aziz, Damian's friend," He said, extending a free hand.

"Gabriella," she responded. Damian lifted his head and smiled as soon as he saw her.

"Did you stalk me again? How come you found me?" He asked. Gabriella hit his head with her fist, something she wanted to do since the beginning. She finally had the chance since he was drunk.

Aziz chuckled and with Gabriella's help, they managed to get him to his car.

"You seem young, how old are you?" He inquired.

"Eighteen," she responded, and a shocked expression came to his face.

"Wow, then there's no way you could be Damian's girlfriend. I had my doubts at first, though,"

"Girlfriend? I barely even know the guy," she scoffed.

"I actually called thinking you were his girlfriend. I was actually excited to finally meet her since he refused to introduce me to her," He blurted out.

'Too much info bro!' although Gabriella made a mental note that he had a girlfriend.

"How all is he, by the way?" She asked curiously.

"Twenty-five"

"And you?"

"Twenty-four. This punk is a year older," He informed. After a while of talking about only God knew, she got Damian's address from Aziz and drove him home.

Gabriella found the drunken state of her 'Colleague' quite amusing. He stayed silent and maintained a certain posture like he wasn't drunk at all. Finally, they arrived at their location and all she could think of how she'd drag him all the way up because Aziz told her he lived in a penthouse apartment

A part of her wasn't surprised because Keith lived in a palace, literally. But then, based on what she had seen, Damian had a severed relationship with his family, so the penthouse was definitely not from his family.

She knew taking him up was a bad idea, but she had no idea how bad it was. By the time they had gotten to his apartment, she dropped him on the ground. She was beginning to find Damian's drunk state less amusing.

She took a second to look around the house as she massaged her shoulder. Just as she expected, the apartment screamed 'rich'. He probably lived there with his girlfriend. She managed to find his room and dragged him to his room. She couldn't believe she was doing all that for him when they weren't even that close.

She stood up to take her leave but then, he grabbed her hand, which was unexpected.

"Stay,"