"Mandy?" Both Nathan and Joshua called out in unison.
Michael stared at Mandy's face and then at his friend's dazed expressions, "How do you know her?" he asked them.
Nathan opened his mouth to talk but right then, Mandy skipped back to the house, her eyes filling with sudden tears.
Michael watched her retreating figure until it was out of sight. He then forced his attention back to his friend's faces.
"What's going on? How do you both know her?" he asked sharply, putting forward two steps.
Joshua sough, shoving his five fingers into his golden locks.
He probably didn't know how to explain the whole situation to Michael and that was because he had caught something interesting in his eyes when Mandy was there.
"That was Mandy. My ex-girlfriend," Nathan responded, almost sounding nonchalant.
Michael's expression darkened immediately, "The same Mandy you told us shit about? The one her friend came to beat you up?" his voice was calm yet unsteady.
Mandy's hand crept to her mouth while she squeezed herself through the messy throng; she was detaining herself so hard from crying out loud.
She soon found Daniella in the same spot she had left her and rushed to her.
Daniella whose heart had seemed to fill with all sorts of mixed emotions and was literally preoccupied with her own thoughts that she was oblivious of the present.
However, seeing Mandy approached her in tears. She snapped out of her thoughts and rose to her feet.
"What happened, Mandy? What's wrong? Why are you crying?" she was fraught with worry and asked a series of questions in a breath.
"Let's get out of here, Ella. Nathan and his friends are here," Mandy choked on her words, more tears streaming down her cheeks.
Daniella felt a stab in her heart, accompanied by unstoppable fury.
She swiftly turned around, grabbed their purses on the chaise, and then snatched Mandy's wrist and trotted out of the place, bumping into those who were lingering in her way carelessly without a word of defense or excuse.
Passing by the few people that were staying at the facade of the mansion, Daniella sauntered forward along with the weeping Mandy and just as she stopped walking to face Mandy, she soon noticed the three mannish figures that were looming only a few inches away to where they were.
Anger rushed up in her heart upon recognizing these guys and she attempted to scuttle to them, but Mandy quickly held her back, saying soothing words to her in a low voice.
"You bastard, didn't I warn you to stay clear away from Mandy? Didn't I?" she roared like a furious lion, struggling to free herself from Mandy's clasp.
Nathan felt his blood freezing in his body and hid behind Joshua's like a frightened quail.
"Would you please calm down?" Joshua persuaded. "Nathan was not meeting Mandy; it was just a coincidence,"
"Coincidence or not, I want him to disappear before Mandy; otherwise, I'm going to chop his prick into a million pieces and feed them to Buster," Daniella threatened fiercely, her eyes brimming with anger.
Nathan shrank inside like a withed flower and his feet became wobbling.
Joshua shot him a sideways glance and asked, "Who is Buster?"
Nathan tightened his nervous hand on Joshua's back, "Mandy's house dog,"
"A puppy or a bulldog?" Joshua raised a question again.
"It's a German shepherd,"
Joshua gulped and scratched the skin behind his ear.
Gosh!
Nathan has really messed with the wrong person this time.
He drew in two shallow breaths, summoned up his courage, and attempted to move closer to them; probably to say some reassuring words but the deadly glare he received from Daniella made him cringe.
"Yeah, sure. He will disappear immediately," he nodded continuously and enunciated in a low voice.
Daniella then took Mandy's hand and stormed off.
Joshua released a deep sigh, frowning at Nathan coldly as if he wanted to freeze him.
"What?" Nathan possum. "That bitch is really blowing things out of proportion and needs to be taught a lesson," he put in, looking frantic.
Joshua put his hands in his trouser pocket and huffed, "You must be really crazy, Nathan. Why are you saying this after she had left? Why didn't say all these when she was here but rather hid behind me?"
Nathan had no words, he just twitched his lips and avoided Joshua's hard stare.
During this whole ordeal, Michael was just silent and didn't react at all but with the expression on his face, one could effortlessly tell that he was upset.
Without pronouncing any word, he walked away, passing by his friends, and headed to where his car was parking.
"Not a nice time. Damn!" Joshua cursed loudly as he headed in Michael's way.
A trace of regret flashed over Nathan's eyes as he followed behind Joshua. *
A cab rolled to stop right in front of Daniella's mansion. Daniella soon alighted from it, paid the driver, and turned into the house.
However, the bright light that flashed in her direction halted her movement.
She sneaked a quick look in her right-hand side direction to see Matthew getting off his car and striding toward her with a perky smile on his face.
Matthew?" she was surprised. "What are you doing here?"
Matthew grinned, "I'm sorry, Ella, but I couldn't resist the urge of seeing you tonight. So, I ran here without even thinking of calling to inform you,"
Daniella's lips thinned into a tight frown, fighting back the impulse to reprimand him.
"Still, you should have told me," she said faintly.
"I said I'm sorry, baby," Matthew apologized, reaching out to hold one of her hands.
"Where are you coming from, anyway? Aren't you cold?" as he spoke, he was already taking off his white sweatshirt and handing it to Daniella.
"No, no, Matthew. You don't have to, I'll be going in soon," Daniella rejected his compassionate gesture.
"I insist. Now wear it," Matthew insisted with a bright smile.
Daniella let out a little sigh as she collected it from him, "Thank you,"
"It seemed you were coming from a party," Matthew spelled out while watching Daniella wear his shirt.
"Yes. A frat party," Daniella answered with a tired sigh. "But trust me, it didn't end well,"
"Why? Did anything go wrong?" Matthew asked with troubled eyes.
Daniella swept some strands of her hair from her forehead and tucked them behind one of her ears, "Not really. Mandy's ex-boyfriend suddenly showed up,"
Matthew's mouth opened in an 'O' shape and asked after a momentary silence, "How's Mandy?"
"She's fine now. I should get going," she said quickly and was about to turn around.
"Hold on, Ella," Matthew stopped her, closed the little space between them immediately, and dipped forward his head.
Daniella stared into his eyes directly but couldn't feel anything. She thought that her heart was supposed to be beating loudly by this time but nothing of such was happening.
Matthew leaned even closer, in an attempt to press his lips to her cheek but Daniella turned her face away immediately.
"Goodnight, Matthew,"
After she said that, she skipped into the yard and her eyes accidentally went up in the air corridor and saw Liam standing there.
Their gazes locked and she admired the expression her father was maintaining at that moment and just to stir the pot further, she ran back outside, calling out Matthew's name who was about to hop in his car.
She stood in front of him, clutched his shirt and drew him nearer, and kissed his lips for a millisecond.
"I permit you to dream about me," she pulled away and told Matthew sweetly.
With that, she jogged back into the house, a soft smile touching her lips.
Matthew was rendered speechless as he watched her figure disappearing into the yard.
He touched his lips and a glossy smile arose on his face, 'I'll definitely dream about you, Ella.' He screamed inwardly as he opened his car door and jumped in the driver's seat.
Inside the house...
Daniella ascended the stairs to her room but right after she grabbed the doorknob, her father's voice sounded in the silent hallway.
"Welcome, sweetheart,"
Daniella looked up and saw him approaching with slow footsteps; looking crazily handsome in his white V-neck top and a pair of black running shorts.
The smile on his face was little but enough to show the two cute dimples that appeared at the corners of his mouth.
She found herself drawing a quick breath before wearing a big smile on her face.
"Hi, Dad," she greeted cheerily and took her gaze back to the door and twisted the doorknob.
"I can see you and your boyfriend are getting along so well," Liam said crisply, standing close to her.
She struggled to remain unmoved and said ardently, "Yes, Dad. And I hope we shall last..."
"Will you shut up and quit being so bloody melodramatic," Liam shot at her and she cowered, pressing her back against the door.
"Why are you using the poor boy, Ella?" his voice dropped to a husky timbre this time, looking at her bit by bit.
Daniella felt the blood in her body freezing while her eyes and mouth widened in surprise.
What?
How did he know?