Chapter 8

Charlotte's POV

.

As expected, Naomi was already waiting for me at that place where I had hopped out of the car in the morning to pick me up to the pack hospital. I didn't know, but she was extremely pissed for some reason.

"What's wrong, Naomi?" I asked softly. "Are you mad at me because I'm hiding something from you?"

"Let's not pick that topic as for now because we will discuss it later. As for now, I'm not mad, Lotte. I'm furious. And I'm furious because you have been hiding a lot of things from me till now. I'm furious that I have no idea what that bastard was doing with you. I'm furious at myself for not being there for you. I'm furious because I was so engrossed in my life that I didn't check on you. I'm furious because I believed everything when you said, 'I'm fine.' I'm furious at so many things."

"What…what are you talking about?"

Immediately she applied the brake of the car and then looked at me.

"May I ask why haven't you invented any new dishes in the last one and half years?"

Holy shit!

"May I ask why Sebastian asked me thinking that I was YOU to let NICOLE take the credit for the food cooked by you in tomorrow's wedding event AGAIN."

So, she got to know now!

I should never have her pretend to like me in my absence!

Shit!

"Now, are you planning to tell me anything?"

"You already know how successful a chef my mom was even when she was just a teenager?" I asked, to which she nodded her head because she was the best. "And the same talent is in me. Just like her, I started proving my talent in culinary from the age of sixteen. It has been more than a decade since I have been in this field."

"I don't get it; why are you saying all this at this moment?"

"I'm coming to that point.", I said. "Actually, Nicole, a trainee in my restaurant, joined in my kitchen one and half years back, and after a while, Sebastian requested me to let her take the credit for the food made by me so that she could get a chance to become famous, just like I did when I was at her age."

"Please tell me that you didn't agree with his request."

I lowered my head in shame before replying, "I…I did."

"How could you?", She screamed at me. "How could you be so…

"Dumb and idiot?" I asked and let my tears fall from my eyes. "I know. I know that my brain is in my knee, or I think it is not even there.", The more I wiped my tears, the more they started falling down from my eyes.

"Oh, Lotte!" Naomi hugged me, pulling me into her arms. "You are not an idiot, but you are just too innocent to trust anyone.", She added, patting my back.

Today I came to know that the worst feeling in the world was knowing that you have been used or lied to by someone you trusted.

"But…but why did he do this to you? He used to love you, right? Then why?" Naomi asked in confusion because even it was hard for her to believe that someone like Sebastian could request something like that from me.

At that time, I thought he was just helping Nicole in getting on her foot because she belonged to a poor family. In fact, sometimes I could use to money which she used to ask from me for her mother's illness and NEVER, never asked her to return it to me.

Now, I was thinking about whether her mother was really even ill? Or was that a way to get my money?

Yes, just like people once said, 'One lie enough to question all truths.'

"I still couldn't believe it. Did Sebastian change with the time, or was he always like this?"

"What should I tell you, Naomi?"

"Maybe the truth."

"Then the truth is that Sebastian and his wolf have found their fated mate."

"What?", She asked in surprise, pulling herself away from me.

I told her everything that happened till the truth Scarlet shared with me, except for the fact that I was married now. My best friend was fuming in anger after hearing me own.

"I'm going to break his nose for doing this to you.", She hissed.

"Don't think about that. I have a better plan this with which I can take my sweet revenge from him without involving my parents and without any violence.", I said in a low tone to calm her down.

"And what's that because he is way smarter than you!", She asked me; when I didn't reply to her immediately, she spoke again, "It's clear that they are using you, Lotte. If even a cent percent of guilt he would have been left in him that he would never have said the things to me which he thought he was saying to you."

"It's okay! I'm going to say NO to him this time.", I responded to her with a smile. "I won't let him use me or my talent this time."

"Actually…", She looked nervous now.

"You already said YES, don't you?" I asked, to which she nodded.

"Truth to be told, I wasn't planning to say YES, but when he mentioned the 'AGAIN' part, then I realized that you had done this before. So…", She didn't complete the sentence, but I had already understood her unsaid words. "I'm sorry. I…"

"It's okay.", I said, cutting her in between.

"So, what now? Are you going to say NO to him?"

"Nope! I will let him think that I still trust him like an idiot.", I said and smiled weakly. "Then I will do that same to do which he does to me. Then he will realize how does it feel when our close one breaks our trust."

"If you don't want to involve our parents. That's fine. I respect your choice, but you have to keep me in the loop for all your plans, and if not, then at least you will let me stay, will you? Because I can't let you stay alone between those cunning werewolves.", She said sternly. "And I meant it, even at your workplace."

"But Naomi.. that's not possible. You can't stay with me at my workplace because you don't know C of cooking."

"I don't know anything about that, keep me as your trainee or something, but I'm not letting to fight alone. When they are two, then there should be two players in your team as well."

"Naomi…"

"Either you will keep me with you, or I will vomit everything to your parents.", She threatened. And I knew she was not joking.

"What..what about your current job?"

"You're more important than any job, Lotte. And if mom will ask me about it, then I will tell her that because of everything that happened recently, I felt my best friend needed me more than anything.", She was already ready with her excuse. Well, what could I do now?

"Okay! By the way, what excuse did you give before walking out of the pack hospital because I think we should go back to there." I asked, checking the time.

"I said that 'I am going to pick my best friend because she is waiting for me near the road leading to the city.'", She answered. "In this way, I don't even have to lie and also cover up the truth.", She added nonchalantly.

"Let's go then. I don't know what else he has to say now.", I said, on which she started the engine of the car.

****

"You know, Lotte. You should stop others from using you. You are too innocent for the world", Woah! I was hearing this line from the person who was using my talent and my money. Well, you guessed it right, it was Sebastian's words.

"What happened?" I asked, wondering the reason why he was saying something like that.

"Your best friend, Naomi! She is using you.", He said, on which I tried not to get angry. I was thankful that Naomi had masked my scent. "You can see the situation which happened just an hour ago. You went here to pick her up! What are you to her? A driver?"

"She is my best friend, Sebastian."

"But you can't forget the fact that she is a WITCH. And witches don't leave their own family members. You must keep in mind that whenever witches sacrifice their loved ones, they end up getting more stronger, so you should stay alert from her, you know."

"Thank you for your piece of advice."

"It's my pleasure, Baby.", Saying this, he tried to hold my hand, but I pulled it away from him. I was thankful that I had already taken off my ring from my fingers and kept it in my bag. With ring or without it, I knew that I was now married. When Sebastian observed this, he raised her eyebrow at me before asking, "Are you mad at me?"

"No."

"See, you have to understand that I didn't ditch you at your wedding intentionally.", He explained.

Lies!

All lies!

Just because I couldn't smell, he was feeding me with nothing but lies and fake stories.

"I understand that.", I said, nodding my head.

"Why? Why can I smell your feelings?"

"Because I asked Naomi to cloak it. I don't want my parents or anyone else to smell that how I am feeling right now!" I responded, to which his eyes softened.

"I will soon be marrying you, okay? Just don't be sad."

He lied again!

The previous Charlotte would have to believe him but not this one! I smiled, and even though tears dwelled in my eyes! He might be thinking that I was crying because I didn't get married today, but only if he would have known how wrong he was about this fact.

"Okay!" I nodded and looked at the time. HE must be waiting. I shouldn't be wasting my time with someone who didn't deserve my time. "I should be going now.", I said, standing on my feet.

"Yeah! Okay."

When I was about to leave the room, he called me from the back, "Charlotte."

"Hmm"

"Thank you for everything that you're doing for Nicole. You see, her mother is really sick that so she needed to stay by her side for quick recovery. If you will help her, then one day, she will be a famous and successful chef just like you."

I wish you could have told me the truth, Sebastian, that if she would stay by her mate's side, then he would recover quickly. I never knew a mate bond could change you from a gentleman to a cheater, or maybe you were like this always.

"Sure! I will make her famous." I smiled, throwing a sarcastic remark, and walked out of the room, leaving Sebastian in confusion whether I said a sentence in a good way or bad way! But by knowing what kind of person I was, I knew he would think that I would have said that in a good way.

I told Naomi to drop me at my apartment in the city. Though she wanted to tag along with me, not leaving me even for a while but somehow I convinced her to leave me alone JUST for tonight. I couldn't tell her the truth because she wouldn't let me complete the thing which I had already started.

But I promised her to share everything tomorrow.

And the moment she left, I quickly called Mahazael. I expected him to receive the call, but the call was received by HIM. As he said, I waited for someone whom he would send to pick me up, but I was surprised to see that he himself came to pick me up.

I knew it was not a big deal for many, but this gesture touched my heart.

"I thought you were going to send someone to receive me."

"Didn't you like it?", He questioned back.

I shook my head quickly, "I didn't mean to say that; it's just that you surprised me by doing this, and I liked it.", I explained calmly. Once I finished, he stared at me without saying anything. I raised my hand and softly pushed his jawline, making him look in the other direction.

Why did he have to make me uncomfortable under his intense gaze?

I was glad that he then didn't turn his head toward me again. Even I turned my head toward the window to stare at all my surroundings; I didn't know when I was consumed by the darkness because my human body was too weak to handle all the drama that happened today.

.

#TBC