Chapter 4 Her Second-hand Item

"Y-you..Where are you?!" Vanessa's voice was loud in the other line. She gritted her teeth.

Once she heard what Diana was doing while everyone was dancing at the party, her blood boiled, and immediately decided to call Diana so she could reprimand her in person.

"I'm in my apartment, mom," Diana replied calmly though her hand was massaging her forehead.

"Why are you there instead of your sister's party?!" Vanessa shrieked.

'On top of embarrassing the family, she dares to escape?!'

"I wasn't feeling well, mom. I didn't want to spoil everyone's fun." Diana reasoned. Making up an excuse on why she's avoiding them is already second nature to her.

And as usual, Vanessa didn't buy her excuse. She heard from Chantal that Diana left with to-go boxes and even went with a man.

"Tell me. Who was the man you're with? Are you with him now? You're only 22 and you are already behaving like a....like this way?" Vanessa stopped herself from saying more.

Vanessa couldn't understand why this daughter of hers was so different from her. She was too different from Chantal. Plenty of times she would question whether she was doing a good job as a mom.

Diana could fill in the blanks. B****? W****?

Still, she's really impressed at the speed of Chantal's reporting. She probably even used her creativity in describing what happened, causing their mom to fume at her.

Diana wondered at how Chantal described Lucas when she told Vanessa about what happened.

"Are you not over Henry Ward yet? The man doesn't want you. You're already old enough. You should respect other people's decisions. He chose to be with your sister and your sister accepted him already. Can you just be happy for them? How could you just pick out a random old man to pretend to be your boyfriend? Are you trying to get Henry's attention? Just because he is wearing a suit, it doesn't make him rich!" Vanessa spewed.

Diana was dumbfounded.

'There it is! Random old man? Old where? Lucas is far from old! How could they just keep going on and on about Henry?'

In the first place, he was the one who pursued her before. He wooed her by taking artful photographs of her and compiled them along with a bunch of letters telling her how he admired her.

He would even show up to her University, bringing a bouquet of flowers and chocolates. Even the girls back on campus were envious of her.

Thinking back on it, it was peer pressure why she agreed to be his girlfriend. Everyone was pushing her to be with him already since he was pursuing her with great effort.

After agreeing to be his girlfriend, she didn't really do anything special with him. She tried to get to know him better, maybe waiting to feel the attraction towards him. He was good-looking enough. Like a boy next door. The one thing that she admires about him is his talent in Photography. She did tell him once to pursue his passion for this area. But his parents want him to study Business Administration instead.

They've dated for 2 years while she was in University. They would meet each other every weekend for as long as she's not busy with her classes. She didn't want to prioritize her relationship with him over her studies. After all, her degree is a ticket for her to leave the family's control.

She was not overly attached to him. But she was thoroughly disappointed when she saw him kissing Chantal just outside the cafe where she was meeting her group mates for their case study. Even her groupmates who recognized the two saw it. They felt bad for her and let her excuse herself. But Diana insisted on finishing the case study with them, already reaching a decision. She wouldn't let insignificant people interfere with her studies. Her group mates felt bad and awkward but became more serious in finishing up the work at hand.

After that, she stopped replying to his messages. When she finally blocked him, he showed up outside her apartment. She only told him to stop bothering her since he's already hooking up with her sister. Henry looked shocked that he was found out. He couldn't say anything in response and just watched Diana close the door on him.

And now even after 2 months, they're still assuming that she can't forget about him. This has Chantal's insecurity written all over it. She can't get over the fact that Diana was Henry's girlfriend first. More so that Diana could just give him away so easily as if removing trash from the sole of her boot. And Chantal who was feeling victorious at first eventually felt like being given second-hand items from Diana. She tried to reconcile with this fact since she is already madly in love with Henry. But comments from other people trigger her. She could only make herself feel as if she won if Diana regrets letting go with Henry, making her the victor for possessing what Diana can't have anymore.

"You're mistaken. I was the one who broke off with Henry willingly. Since he was already getting busy with my own sister, what was the point of holding on to him? To be honest, I am happy for them. As for the man that I am with, he is indeed my boyfriend." Diana replied coldly. "If there's nothing else, I'm hanging up now. I still have to wake up early tomorrow." When there was no reply, she bid farewell and ended the call.

There was no use being on the phone with her mom when all she could do is accuse her. It was ridiculous how they could come up with such a story.

Since she has broken up with Henry after she found out, she hasn't had the temptation to forget what she saw and forgive him for cheating on her.

'Was there anything special to go back to in the first place?' She was so busy with her degree that she didn't make her love life a priority. She figured she had plenty of time to do that in the future, once she graduates.