Isabella

The silk cloth surrounded me making me feel gorgeous once again. This was the second time I felt like admiring myself a bit longer. The dress was a shade of light lavender, square neckline that pushed my collarbone on display. The sleeves were what made me fall in love with it, they were bell-shaped half sleeves. The dress hugged me till my breasts and fell around until my figure until my knees. I felt comfortable with it.

"Ella!" I heard Stephanie's voice call me. "Coming!" I replied trying my hair in a side braid and secured it with an elastic. I left my room towards the dining area but had to stop for a moment to inhale the aroma of delicious food that filled the house. "The smell alone makes me hungry," I said while walking further in, my eyes moving around the table in search of food. "Patience," Stephanie said with a chuckle while placing a white ceramic bowl with a lid on, on the dining table.

"Ella!" Gia exclaimed, grabbing my attention. "You look beautiful." She said with a smile. "I was going to say that." Stephanie scolded her mockingly and was about to add something when the doorbell suddenly rang. "He's here!" Stephanie clapped her hands excitedly and almost ran towards the door. "Come here." Mumbled Gia as she walked over to me and did some tugging and pulling of my hair. "Now it's better." She said once she was satisfied. "What did you do?" I asked in confusion but I didn't get a chance to listen further because Stephanie once again called me from behind, from the excitement in her voice I knew her son was here. With a huge smile on my lips, I turned around to greet them.

The world around me stopped for a minute. It felt like oxygen was sucked out of me as my eyes met the familiar ones of my best friend, Victoria. Suddenly my vision started to get blurry. "Ella?" I heard my name being called, snapping me out of my daze. "I'm sorry," I mumbled blinking my eyes rapidly to clear my vision, hoping nobody saw them tear up.

"This is my son," Stephanie repeated again after she was sure she had my whole attention now. I looked at the man beside her and couldn't help but frown at his face, especially his eyes. They seemed so familiar and before Stephanie could say it I knew who he was. "Vernon Morris." I had barely begun to breathe again when once again, I was knocked off by my emotions. "And this is Victoria, his girlfriend," Stephanie added.

I couldn't help but look at her. I knew this woman already. This is the woman I thought was my best friend. She knew it, she knew who he was but still, she was there by his side as his girlfriend. First time in my life I was experiencing betrayal and it was the worst feeling ever. A heavyweight was suddenly placed on my throat as I watched the two in front of my eyes while my hand moved over my stomach that was carrying his child.

"Ella Meyers, the Paying Guest." Stephanie introduced me to the two people I ran away from. "Hello!" Vernon extended his hand for a shake but my mind was fuzzy. I was still trying to process the last seconds of my life. My best friend was in front of me as a girlfriend of the father of my child. I wanted to scream, I wanted to cry, I wanted to be angry, I wanted to be so many things at that moment but all I could do was smile back at them and accept his hand. "Pleasure to meet you," I said, my voice cracking indiscernible.

"Let's have dinner? I'm hungry." Vernon said after he pulled his hand away from mine. His touch was still the same, full of warmth. It was addicting but addictions are always bad.

"Sure! I cooked all your favorite dishes." Stephanie was happily leading her son to the dining table while leaving me and Victoria behind. She was staring at me. Her blue eyes were masked for the first time ever since I met her. Her eyes were a mirror to her mind and I always read it but today her eyes were foreign to me. It was like I was looking at a complete stranger. She didn't say anything, just left behind the duo of mother and son.

I couldn't stand there anymore. I had to go sit down before my knees gave up. Rushing back to my room I quickly sat down on the bed, letting my tears finally fall from my eyes. My heartbeat was fast yet I couldn't seem to breathe properly.

There it was, my panic attack was back.

Closing my eyes I tried to clear my head so I could breathe again but it wasn't working. As soon as my eyes closed, I could see the picture of Victoria and Vernon next to each other as a couple.

"Please please please.." I kept mumbling to myself as I fought my sobs that were threatening to come out. It wasn't easy. The weight on my throat was now getting painful. I went over to the nightstand that had a glass of water. I quickly chugged it down and again tried to focus on my breath. It was easy now. Taking deep breaths I calmed my erratic heart and my breathing was now back to normal.

I heard a knock on my door, knowing it was either Gia or Stephanie to call me out. "I'll be there in a minute," I replied and quickly went to the bathroom to splash water over my wretched face. My eyes were red and they felt heavy. Somehow I cooled them down with cold water and went back again outside to face them again.

Everyone was sitting down around the delicious food that no longer seemed appetizing to me. Giving Stephanie a small smile I took my seat beside her. Words were exchanged mostly between mother and son while I sat there trying my best to avoid Victoria who was sitting opposite me. All sorts of scenarios were running in my mind. What was the reason for Victoria betraying me like that? Was it even a betrayal? Maybe she was just living my lie, after all, I was the one who gave out my name as Victoria that night to Vernon. Did he go looking for me? Was Victoria the one who went after him? There were so many questions brewing in my anxious mind. I wanted to ask them all but now wasn't the right moment.

Frowning, I looked up at Gia's face who placed another piece of meat on my place but she didn't give out any smug smile like she used her and just went on to serve others. I noticed then that Gia was suddenly mute and her face was blank. I had never seen her like that before.

The doorbell rang once again shifting my attention. "There he is!" exclaimed Stephanie as Gia walked towards the door to open it. I wasn't aware of another guest joining us tonight but it seemed like I was done with my share of unwanted guests in my life for tonight but I was wrong, I had to welcome another unwanted guest at that moment.

"Stephanie? Is that you?" A husky voice asked as the footsteps grew closer to us. "You look younger darling." He added when the man was out in the plain view. "You are forgiven for being late," Stephanie answered instead. The woman with pink cheeks stood up from her chair and went to hug the man. Again it was a familiar face but this time my heart didn't get heavy, it in fact lightened as I looked at his face. It didn't seem like he had seen me yet.

"Buddy!" The man exclaimed in delight seeing Vernon and the two men hugged. "You must be Victoria." The man, whom I vaguely remember being named as Tyler. I frowned at his sudden change in expression. Why were everyone's expressions changing so fast today? Victoria gave out a smile to him and extended her hand for a shake but Tyler just walked away from there, either he didn't see it or knowingly ignored it. There was another question that arose in my head at that moment out of curiosity, why did he do that?

Suddenly Tyler's eyes locked with mine and he stopped. "Cherry?" He asked in confusion and leaned closer looking at me with narrow eyes to confirm it was indeed me. "Cherry?" I asked with a scowl. "Cherry!" He exclaimed with a huge grin and walked around the table to take a seat beside me. "Meeting twice on the same day is a bit too much, don't you think?" He asked. "I wasn't planning on meeting you ever again," I replied which made him chuckle.

"You two know each other?" Vernon asked while Gia served Tyler his dinner.

"Yes!"

"No!"

Tyler and I answered together and looked at each other, me in irritation while he was just amused. "I don't know him," I added, shifting my gaze back to Vernon. "I do know her," Tyler added too. Rolling my eyes at him I went back to eating my dinner. "She works at Ellis's bakery. I bumped into her earlier today." Tyler filled in their curiosity.

"Really?" Stephanie asked me to which I just shrugged. "That's nice. One friend is your landlord while the other is your employer." Victoria said for the first time ever since she came. I was confused at her words. I understood the landlord part but "Employer?" I asked in confusion. "The bakery is owned by Tyler. Ellis and Susan are just running it." Vernon filled me in. "But Ellis told me he is the owner," I said in confusion. "He is," Tyler said. He didn't say anything more than the two words but it was enough for me to understand. Suddenly my irritation for him seems to deem down a bit.

"So cherry, you left without bidding me goodbye," Tyler said. Nope, said it too early. The irritation was back in full force. "It's Ella." I corrected him. "Also goodbye is a promise to meet again which I wasn't planning on so there was no point in me saying goodbye to you," I said. Everyone's eyes moved to Victoria when she let out a humorless chuckle at my words. "I think she doesn't like saying goodbyes." She said while looking at me.

My eyes moved back to my plate in guilt knowing that Victoria was taunting me for leaving her without saying anything.

The rest of the dinner was spent talking about Vernon and Tyler's friendship and Stephanie prying into her son's whereabouts but nobody was talking about Victoria and Vernon. I wanted to know how they met, why they met and why was she his girlfriend? I wanted to know about them but I didn't have the guts to ask so I just stayed quiet and sat with the thick tension between Victoria and me but it looked like nobody noticed it which was a good thing.

After dinner, Vernon decided to stay the night and went to drop Victoria at her house. "I'll go get my medicines," I said to Stephanie who was sitting on the couch to watch some sitcom. "Tyler honey can you please go with Ella? It's dark outside, I don't want her to go alone." Stephanie said stopping Tyler who was also about to leave. "No, it's alright. I'll be fine on my own." I said. "Stephanie is right, it's too dark. I'll walk you." He said. I contemplated for a while but Stephanie left no room for me to argue. "Okay." I finally gave in and left the house with Tyler by my side.

******

Hey guys!

I hope you are doing well and are safe and healthy.

Finally, Vernon and Victoria are back in Ella's life and she also has Tyler. Now the real action starts. So I suggest you sit tight and wait for the further chapters to come.

They will be out soon.

Love,
Aasth.