Filed to story: Dumped by Scumbag Adored by Billionaire
Pedro leaned towards the sweating Anabelle whose sole attention was focused on working the lock. He said,
“You sure you can do this, or we can humbly contact the?security to help us with…”
Click. The lock opened.
Anabelle turned, cocking a brow at him, “You were saying?”
“A-hem,” Pedro cleared his throat awkwardly, “Well, you’re a woman of surprises,”
Anabelle stood to her feet with a grunt, she had lost feeling in her legs for squatting for so long, “I’m not that useless, Pedro,”
Pedro frowned, “I never said you were useless,” He corrected her.
“You don’t need to say it, I see it in the way you guys stare at Isabella after she’s accomplished an unimaginable feat while I don’t try at all. You know, I’m the odd one in the group,” She threw her hands up, “Isabella and Julie both share a common trait of being strong and badass. You? You’re smart and intelligent and have interesting skills, but me? The sheltered princess of Sparks Clan who can’t even take care of herself,”
“Don’t beat yourself so hard, you have your own unique trait,”
“Don’t try to console me,”
“Anabelle,” Pedro’s gaze softened, placing his hands on her shoulder, “I think you’re unique, and you kind of remind me of a caterpillar,”
“What?!” Anabelle’s face distorted, she couldn’t believe what she just heard.
Pedro realized she misunderstood his intention and began to clear himself, “I’m not trying to be insulting but alluding to the metamorphosis of a butterfly. You know, caterpillars are often viewed as useless by most people but in reality, they are a source of food and play an important role in ecosystems. Not to mention that various species of caterpillar are sources of silk, and some can be used for the biological control of invasive pest plants. But most importantly, they become beautiful butterflies in the end – “
“Or moth,” She reminded him of the other likelihood.
Pedro gulped, awkwardly, “That wasn’t how it was supposed to go,” she was supposed to be comforted by his words, not the opposite – he forgot that Anabelle was more concerned for her looks than his tomboyish girlfriend, Isabella.
“Yeah,” She faked a smile to him, ” And now I kind of regret breaking up with you?”
“What?” Pedro wrapped his hands around himself protectively, “Don’t tell me you still have feelings for me?” He gave her an accusing stare.
“No, so I can break up with you a second time, stupid!” She kicked his leg.
Pedro hopped on one foot in pain, regretting why Isabella had to pair him with her emotionally constipated cousin.
With a huff, Anabelle went into the house and froze in her footsteps. Pedro followed after her and understood the reason for her halt since he stopped as well. Everything was the same except the furniture had been covered with white clothes against dust. Aside from that, there was no change in the house.
“Didn’t Maria move out from here before her supposed death, yet why does it look like nothing changed at all?” Anabelle asked, brows furrowed as her gaze swept over the living room.
“It must have been Niles’ doing, everyone knew how crazy he became after he thought Maria died,” Pedro answered, pulling off the cover from one of the couches. It was still the same; the couch he, Isabella, and Anabelle used to play on whenever they came over to Maria’s place.
He continued, “And that being said, I feel like I’m encroaching on someone else’s territory,”
“If Isabella says it’s okay, then it’s okay. Besides, Maria is alive and this is all in the past. Also, the whole place is dusty, how are we going to sleep in such a filthy environment?” Anabelle was disgusted. She could even see spiders, Eww!
Pedro ignored her and went into the house, not long after, he returned with a long brush, rag, and dustpan saying,
“We are not going to sleep in such an environment because we are going to make it clean,” He tossed the brush to her which she dodged.
“No way! I haven’t even touched that in my entire life,” Anabelle complained.
“Well, you’re going to, beginning now,” Pedro gave her a – pick – up – the – brush – and – sweep look.
“Pedro,” Anabelle hurried over to him, took his hand, and began to coax him, “You know how fragile I am. Moreover, females are meant to be taken care of by the males, right? Help me out, please” she fluttered her eyelids at him alluringly.
“Nice try but you’re not Isabella,” He handed the rag to her and went over to pick the brush from the ground where it had landed.
Anabelle stomped her feet in exasperation, was Isabella the only one he sees now? He used to be loyal to her once before! She felt like crying. If only Julie was here, he would have helped her out. But then Julie wasn’t present nor was Pedro letting her off, hence she had no choice but to clean.
“Eww! Eww! And another Eww!” was all Anabelle sang on repeat each time she wiped off a dirty surface.
The sight was so disgusting she felt like puking. If Anabelle had known, she wouldn’t have come here – She should have known Isabella’s idea was always bad. Perhaps, she could have persuaded Julie and the both of them would run off to a better place like a hotel, resort or even move out of the country. It would have been much better than -!
“Are you planning on marrying that spot?” Pedro interrupted her line of thought. He had been watching her and she has been cleaning there for over ten minutes.
“Tsk tsk,” Pedro shook his head in sympathy, finally deciding to put her out of her misery, “Hand the rag over,” He stretched his hand expectantly.
Anabelle didn’t have second thoughts, she gave him the rag with lightning speed and went over to the sink, washing her hands obsessively. She just touched germs, was she going to die from it.
Pedro sighed, Julie had his hands full. Luckily for Anabelle, the boy was from a rich household who could afford hundreds of maids for her bidings – that is, if they do end up getting married.
Pedro made sure the whole place was clean. If Julie and Isabella returned from their “goose chase”, they’d probably be tired and need a place to lay down their head. And it was not going to be on a dusty place – he had to make himself useful here.
However, after two hours of cleaning and the pair still didn’t show up, Pedro and Anabelle became worried.
“You sure they haven’t been caught by my father, or Julie’s father?” Anabelle was having a bad feeling about this.
“Let me call them,” Pedro was just?about to dip his hand into his pocket when he recalled he tossed his phone out of the car. Oh shit.
“And we can’t call them either,” Anabelle pointed out upon noticing his action.
“Neither can they call us,” Pedro scratched his scalp feeling uncomfortable with the whole development, “No, they would be fine. I know Isabella, she’s smart and would return here as she said,”
He hoped so.
The third point of view:
“What did you say you’re having this makeup for again?” the makeup artist asked, working on the make-believe wrinkles on Isabella’s face.