Leap OF Fate novel Chapter 65

Feeling the chilly breeze against her body, Serene curled herself like a cooked shrimp. She hugged her knees closer to her torso as she laid on the cold gutter, exhaustion forced her to sleep.

A gentle pat on her shoulder pulled her out of her sleep. Her lashes flutter as she tried to open her eyes.

“Jus… Justin?” she asked, her voice hoarse and barely got out of her parched mouth.

“No, Madame. It’s me Jane.” Jane’s gentle voice and eyes tugged her heart. Her cloudy eyes showed her usual gentleness but today, she saw pity mixed in those gentle orbs. Of course, she pitied her. Who wouldn’t, she slept the night outside of Justin’s villa, exposed from the elements? Serene let out a pained smile. The things she did for love.

“Where’s Justin?”

“He already left Ma’am. He asked me to tell you to go and…” Jane swallowed the lump in her throat. She could not bear to say the words her master asked her to say. Serene had always been good to them, in fact she treated her as her daughter.

“He asked you to tell me to go away?” Serene took the words from Jane’s mouth. Her red eyes watered again. She pursed her lips and forced herself to get up. “That’s fine, Jane. Could you please do me a last favor and call me a taxi? I’m afraid I don’t have the strength to walk to the gates,” she forced herself to give Jane a smile who then nodded at her and turned back to enter the house.

Serene stood outside the villa and waited for the taxi to arrive. Although Jane said Justin already left, she still craned her head to look at the master’s bedroom. Her heart felt heavy as she recalled the cold treatment he got from him. Even beggars got treated better.

It’s still hard for her to comprehend that the man who said he’d spend his life with her could kick her out of his life in a snap of a finger and treat her like garbage. Serene gave out a hollow laugh.

She felt extremely stupid for hoping that he’d come to his senses and take her in. After all, it was unsafe to sleep outside so much more for a woman like her. And he said he loved her. She sneered at the thought.

If this is the way he treats a person whom he said he loved, I shiver at the thought of how he treats his enemies; she thought to herself. If there is one thing she learned from her relationship with Bryan, it’s knowing when to give up. Clearly, this is a fight she could not win. She’d hold on to the last shred of her dignity and accept that they’re over.

With that, her taxi had arrived. She boarded the vehicle and gave the driver her destination. She gave the villa a last look, closed her eyes and shed the last tears she had for Justin.

The taxi stopped at the domestic airport. Walking past the glass walls of the surrounding buildings, she saw how pathetic she looked. She went to the washroom to attempt tidying herself and appear decent before she queued to board the plane.

Forty-five minutes after she boarded, the familiar aerial view of Coast City welcomed her. Stepping out of the arrival area, the sight of the tall and burly Conrad welcomed her. Suddenly, her heart felt heavy, and her chest tight.

Just like when she was a little kid, whenever she got bullied, the sight of Conrad gave her a comforting feeling, and just like in the past, her feet ran towards the familiar brawny arms that carried and comforted her when she felt aggrieved.

Conrad frowned at the sight of her daughter. She looked distraught. Her clothes unkempt, her face sullen. When he saw Serene running towards him, his chest tightened. She looked like the tiny little girl who ran to him, crying her heart out.

Serene threw her body into Conrad’s waiting arms. “Dad!” she croaked as the tears she kept at bay flowed out of her eyes like a broken dam.

“What’s the matter, baby girl?” he said as he rubbed the back of her head. Serene just buried her head in his chest, her shoulders quivering as she uncontrollably sobbed.

Serene clung to her father’s neck as he carried her in his arms. Just like what he did many years ago whenever he would pick her up from the playground because some kid bullied her or took her toy.

Serene’s sobs were the only sound heard inside Conrad’s jeep. The father kept looking at her daughter, who was seated in the passenger seat. Both said nothing. Conrad’s grip tightened around the steering wheel.

Instead of driving straight home, Conrad stopped by an ice cream shop. He bought two cones of chocolate ice cream.

Father and daughter quietly ate their order as they sat facing each other in the quaint shop. Just like when she was still a child, Conrad waited for her to tell him what’s wrong. Each spoonful of ice cream he brought to his mouth tasted like hay as he looked at his aggrieved daughter’s face.

“Justin… Jus… Justin…” she said, sniffing in between sobs as she tried to control the new wave of pain she felt in her chest. “He… uhm… he broke up with me, Dad.”

Conrad’s hand tightened around the spoon but said nothing. He knew heartbreaks are a part of life. Not all relationships have a happy ending. However, seeing his daughter deal with a breakup was gut wrenching for him. He wished they’re back to the time when all she cried about was a scraped knee, or a broken toy. It was much easier to handle back then.

Serene told everything that happened to her yesterday. Conrad’s face grew redder by the minute as his daughter narrated all that she’d been through. Hearing the painful words hurled at her stabbed his heart. When she said she slept outside his villa for a night, on the gutter, like some homeless person, he wanted to hop on the next flight to Hyacinth Bay and beat the crap out of Justin.

His princess, treated like some piece of trash. How could he bear it as a father? He cherished her and protected her like a crystal and yet the man whom his daughter loved despite all the complications he brought, just kicked her out like some piece of rotten garbage.

He walked to Serene’s side and pulled his daughter into a warm embrace. What else could a father do? When she calmed down, they got back to his jeep and drove home.

The smile that Carol had to welcome her daughter froze when she saw her distraught look. Her eyes sought her husband’s.

“Let’s go inside first,” Conrad said as he guided Serene.

Seeing her mother’s worried eyes squeezed Serene’s heart. Her tears automatically fell from her eyes. Carol ran up to her daughter and embraced her and kissed her tears away.

“My baby, what happened to you?” she said, her voice filled with worry and concern.

“Dear, let’s go inside first. Let her clean up and have her food prepared,” Conrad said, his voice commanding but tender.

Carol nodded and walked inside the house, holding onto her daughter’s waist. Serene got into her room to shower and change.

She felt bitter when she recalled how she and Justin made love in her room when he visited. She shook her head to drive the memory away and attended to the task at hand.

Meanwhile, Conrad filled Carol with the details of Serene’s sudden return to Coast City. Carol felt so distressed for her daughter. She could not accept that the person whom they welcomed in their home and treated like a son would treat their daughter like trash. And for what reason? An unconfirmed accusation? She cursed Justin in her heart as many times as she could.

Serene always wore her heart to her sleeves. Although she knew she loved Bryan before, she bet her life that Serene never cheated on Justin. How could she when she loved that bastard like crazy?

The image of her daughter sleeping on a gutter, exposed to the elements, wrenched Carol’s heart. They were not affluent like the Lewis’s but they brought up their daughter to live comfortably. And yet she had to do what she did to convince some bastard to listen to her, to keep a space for her in his life. Their daughter, begging for a man to not leave her when a queue of men would treat her better, she just needed to say the word.

Justin, that bastard of a person better pray their paths do not cross because she would definitely beat him up!