Chapter 30 A Cry Baby

• With an annoying shrilling sound, Daniella pulled into the student parking lot and took a very deep breath to rein over her nerves and anger before unfastening her seatbelt. “We are not going to think about him again, dear heart. We have to hold onto the little bit of pride we have left. Do you understand?” She lowered her head and caressed her chest through her clothing and then spoke softly. Just then, her eyes closed and her mind conjured up images of Liam undressing an unknown woman and was soon sucking on one of her nipples while his teeth gritted over it. Her eyes instantly flew open to reality and she cussed out loudly, “Damn it!” Then, she grabbed her small brown bag on the passenger seat and hurried out of the car as if staying a single more moment inside her car would compel her to change her mind and she would rush back home to meet her father. She was done locking the car door and was preparing to evacuate the place when a familiar voice suddenly called out her name from her back. She tilted her head first before turning around completely to see Mandy scurrying toward her, leaving her car door wide open behind her. She chose to flaunt a mid-thigh yellow sundress with an oversize straw hat above her blond hair. “E-Ella,” she was already out of breath by the time she got to where Daniella was standing but she continued talking anyway, “Can we t-talk now, Ella? Please,” Daniella stared at her best friend's face, her brown eyes especially that were radiating nothing but sympathy at that moment. “Excuse me, I’m not interested in talking to you,” she let out without mincing words and then turned around immediately. Tears gathered in Mandy’s eyes at once as she watched Daniella’s back view retreating until she was no longer in view. “E-Ella,” her voice quavered and she broke out in tears, not minding the fact that she was in the school premises, not minding that a few or more gazes would be staring at her by now. She palmed her face and wept in it and also talked to herself at the same time. She did this for a long moment before she later dragged herself back to her car and placed a call through Michael. As she waited for the call to get connected while it rings, she couldn’t stop the tears in her eyes from rolling down her face hysterically. “Mich-ael,” her throat tightened as she called out his name in a croaked voice. At the other end of the phone, Michael has become highly strung up upon hearing Mandy’s broken voice but before he could ask what is wrong, Mandy has continued. “She wouldn’t talk to me, Michael. My best friend doesn’t want to talk to me anymore. What should I do? My heart is aching terribly, Michael. I want to talk to Daniella,” there was more liquid squeezing into her eyes and flowing down her face vigorously. “Calm down, Mandy. Please,” Michael’s soft spoken words met her ear and she found herself pushing a breath out of her mouth while she grabbed a tissue from the tissue-box in the central console and cleaned her face with it. “You know what? I’ll be right in your school very soon. Wait for me,” Michael inserted and the line went off immediately. *** In the relatively big lecture hall where only a few students were seated which included Daniella and Mandy. They were sitting a few meters away from each other. Right on the platform, a big round man with fedora on his head could be seen slowly pacing back and forth on it as he teaches his course while the small crowd listened attentively. Well, apart from two people. If anyone should take a glance at Daniella, you would seriously think that she was paying attention to the lecture going on because her eyes were solely staying on the professor while she buried her chin in her hand. But, her mind has been long gone, away from her surroundings and whatever it is that was happening. The only thing she was seeing at that moment was the image of her father. The only handsome man in her eyes with cute two dimples and soft sexy thin lips that she desperately wanted to kiss. The only man that got her so bad. Meanwhile, Mandy has not been able to keep her eyes away from Daniella. And each time her eyes went to her, the more she felt guilt raiding her heart which continuously brought tears to her eyes. “Miss Crawford?” Mandy jerked back to reality at the mention of her name from the lecturer’s mouth. She silently wiped her tears and sniffed before looking ahead to face the man. “Yes, sir?” “I just asked you a question,” the lecturer reminded her in a quite displeased tone. Obviously, he was pretty aware of the fact that Mandy was lost in her thoughts and didn’t hear him when he’d asked the question. Mandy gulped down before rising to her feet slowly with nervousness showing around her face. “I’m sorry, sir but I didn’t hear your question,” she managed to speak up while she fluttered her eyelids under the man’s hard stare. “I need you to tell me some functions of the HR management,” the middle-aged robust man told her as he climbed down the few staircases. Mandy itched her hair timidly, looking everywhere but the lecturer’s face. She hasn’t even heeded anything that has been taught by the man let alone understood his lesson. God, this is an utter embarrassment. “No idea?” the man’s brows lifted. Mandy suppressed her lips in a tight line and looked down at her desk in great shame. Moments like this would make one wish for the floor to open and swallow you whole. Just then, the lecturer’s gaze moved and landed on Daniella who seemed to have been pulled out of her fantasy since when the tutor had called her friend. The man’s brows furrowed in thought as to why the two best friends were sitting so distant from each other today. He is a professor in the college and since Liam is also a part-time lecturer in the same college too, so it’s normal for him to know Liam’s daughter and the only friend he sees around her. However, it’s so unusual to catch them not sitting right next to each other. In fact, he didn’t think he has ever seen them being apart like this in the lecture room before. “Answer the question, Daniella,” he directed the question to Daniella and all the gazes in the hall zeroed in and stayed on her figure as she stood up from her seat smugly. ‘The Human Resources management offers learning solutions that improves performance for both individuals and businesses, delivering company –wide impact. Thus, some of the functions include training and development, performance management, job analysis, and so on.’ Daniella stared on at the man’s rigid face as she answered the question to herself. “We’re all listening,” the man spoke up again, knowing fully well that Daniella knows the answer as it’s no longer news in the whole faculty that she’s among the top bright students in the school. And some of them deduced that her brilliance could be traced to the fact that her father is a lecturer. Daniella then took her eyes to Mandy and their eyes locked momentarily before she looked back at the lecturer’s face and responded, “I have no idea, sir,” Murmur filled the hall immediately and even the lecturer’s brows creased deeper in confusion but he didn’t say anything further but a light smile feathered his lips instead before he returned to his laptop on the podium. “All right. Let’s continue,” Most of the students were still stealing surprise glances at Daniella, including Mandy. She was most definitely sure that Daniella knew the answer to that question correctly but intentionally didn’t answer it. Daniella just sat back in her seat in a relaxing manner but could feel the various eyes on her. Of course she knew the answer. However, in her opinion, she wouldn’t love to take the credit while her friend would receive all sorts of horrific impressions from their colleagues. Later in the day, Daniella was getting closer to her car in the park when she soon noticed Mandy crying in a man’s chest. They were both standing beside Mandy’s car. Daniella halted her pace and watched how Mandy pulled away from him and continued sobbing while talking to him. Although, she couldn’t see the man’s face since his back was facing her but she could tell that it was Michael. “I miss my friend, Michael,” Daniella heard her words distinctly this time. She shut her eyes while she released a breath before summing the rest of her footsteps to where they were. “Will you stop being a cry baby and get yourself together already?” she cautioned in a stern voice and the two people immediately looked over at her firm face. Mandy sniffed and gave her best friend a watery smile, “Ella,” she ignored the hardness on her face and went to embrace her tightly.