Chapter 244 A Symbol of Irony
Hayley was dangling her relationship with Elliot in front of Anastasia on purpose now. However, the other woman didn’t shy away from agreeing to it as she said nonchalantly, “Sure, that won’t be a problem at all. I’ll personally drop these necklaces off at his office, and I’ll be sure to give him my blessings as well.”
Hayley was somewhat unsettled after hearing this, so she turned to address Felicia curtly, “Director Evans, could you give me a few moments alone with Miss Tillman?”
“Of course. Excuse me,” Felicia replied courteously and rose to leave, but not before giving Anastasia a worried look.
The door had only just fallen shut when Hayley glowered at Anastasia viciously and snapped, “If you’ve taken my warning to heart, you ought to know better than clinging to Elliot like gum stuck to the bottom of his shoe. You wouldn’t want me to bring a certain gigolo around to see you, right?”
“Looks like you were the one who told that man where I was, and that was how he found me,” Anastasia deduced grimly instead of responding to Hayley’s threat. The man had even arranged for her to sleep with punters just to rake in some extra cash for him, which aggravated her to the point of wanting to throttle him.
Hayley nodded smugly. “Yes, I was the one who told him. Do you know how miserable he is right now? He’s completely broke, and he has neither family nor children of his own. He has nothing in this world to live for, so when he found out about his adorable and precious son, he was elated. I was the one who gave him money to stall him from coming after the both of you. Pretty charitable of me, right?” The smirk on her lips grew even more wicked as she said this.
The gigolo was but a fictional character anyway, and she could give him whatever tragic backstory she liked.
Hatred filled Anastasia’s eyes, and she dug her nails into her palms as she seethed, “Why must you go out of your way to put me through hell all those years ago, Hayley? I saw you as my own sister, but you stabbed me in the back and left me to bleed to death.”
Hayley snorted in disgust, and there was unmistakable resentment in her eyes. “You should have never been my best friend to begin with! You don’t know how invisible I felt next to you. You were beautiful, on the honor roll, and from a well-off family. When I finally summoned enough courage to confess my feelings to a boy I liked, he told me that he had a crush on you the entire time! Back then, my parents wouldn’t stop praising you either. You have no idea what it was like for me!”
Anastasia instantly regretted ever associating herself with Hayley during their school days. Some people in this world simply didn’t deserve kindness and friendship. Needless to say, Hayley was so twisted that her worldview was warped by her own bitterness.
There was only one thing for Anastasia to do when it came to dealing with people like Hayley—she had to stay away from her and hope that they would never run into each other ever again.
“I hate you, Anastasia, and I can’t stand to see you any better off than I am. I’d like to see you writhe in misery and become a shell of the person that you were. I finally got my wish five years ago,” Hayley went on to say. She reached for her tea, but just as she was bringing her cup to her lips, another cup of tea splashed onto her face and ruined her delicately-applied makeup.
She stood up abruptly and shrieked, “How dare you splash tea all over me, Anastasia?!”
“Oh, but I dare,” Anastasia drawled defiantly. She rose to her feet and eyed the other girl menacingly. “I could even kill you if I wanted to. If you so much as mess with me again, I’m going to tell Elliot about all the despicable things you’ve done. He might have slept with you, but that won’t be enough to make him put up with someone like you.”
Fear rippled through Hayley when she heard this. As droplets of tea rolled down her cheeks, she looked as pathetic as a wet dog.
“I’d watch myself if I were you,” Anastasia added coldly. Then, she spun on her heels elegantly and walked out the door.
Behind her, Hayley was so angry she could combust on the spot. However, she could only bottle up her spite and resentment. She was used to it anyway, and all she had to do now was wait for the right time to unleash vengeance on Anastasia in a fit of maniacal rage, just like how all the grudges she had saved up since grade school burst and culminated into a glorious form of revenge against Anastasia back in college.
Ten minutes later, Felicia brought the necklaces into Anastasia’s office and offered empathetically, “Anastasia, would you like me to have these delivered to President Presgrave on your behalf instead?”
Hayley had been the one who assigned this task to Anastasia to rile her up, but she would not rise to the bait. She would execute it personally just to show that she was better than that. As such, she said, “No, I can do it. Has President Presgrave come into work yet?”
Felicia called the extension line for the president’s office, and after hanging up, she told Anastasia, “He doesn’t usually come in until 3.00PM. Mind waiting for him?”
Anastasia shook her head. After all, she wasn’t in a rush anyway.
When Felicia left, Anastasia opened up the ornate jewelry case and gazed upon the necklaces she had so painstakingly designed and created. There was even a symbol engraved on the clasp that signified true love.
She had put so much thought and effort into this pair of necklaces. While she designed them, she had hoped that whoever received them would share an eternal love and that nothing would separate the lovers no matter what. However, the necklaces were nothing more than a symbol of irony right now.
