"Are you that forgetful? Where is the money for all that? I can't pay anything more than my current offer. I honestly don't even have much for myself. The campaigns and wrong investments drained me. She should even be lucky I'm willing to give her a dime," Max said with bared teeth and a clenched jaw.
He even counted himself fortunate that the police were still looking for Adams, who had gone into hiding, since if they hadn't been, he would have demanded his money back. Adams had gone into hiding.
Ben was also on his neck, inquiring about their business arrangement. But he also felt a strange sense of joy at the way things had turned out that Adam was nowhere to be found, and there was no payment.
"I'm leaving for my vacation tomorrow evening. I hope I will have finalized this by then," Ryder said as he got up to leave the room, leaving max holding his head which felt heavy like a rock, in despair.
Xxx
For the third time during one lesson, Chloe had gotten so overwhelmed with emotions that and walked out into the washrooms.
She closed the main door after her and went to stand before one of the mirrors, from where she cried her heart out, looking at herself in pity and disdain.
Anytime her mind wasn't occupied, she would think back to Lisa telling her about her father, and she would look at herself in loathe.
"Chloe! Chloe! Come on. Open the damn door," she heard Janely and Riana call out, and she sobbed more.
"Just go away!" Chloe shouted back as she opened the taps and cried more loudly. Her heart felt heavy, and she feared it could burst. Her eyes were red like beetroot, her nose was running, her head was throbbing, and her vision had become blurry.
"Oh my God! I think she's losing it," Janely whispered in concern. "Did she really love Ivan that much? He isn't worth the trouble."
"I'm so scared for her. It doesn't look like it's about Ivan, though," Rina said, forgetting about her loneliness since Joel's departure. She was also glad people seemed to have gotten over her embarrassing situation.
"We need to call the janitor, or who else has these damn keys?" Janely asked as she looked around the corridor they were on. Groups of girls were approaching, and she could see Jacky and Camila from in the distance.
"I can't hear her cries anymore," Rina said in a panic, and Janely leaned by the door and listened keenly for a while, and nodded in agreement.
"This is worse than I thought. What should we do?" Rina asked as she held her chest as if the act would calm her fast-beating heart.
"If we don't get Chloe out of this place before they get here, she will have a panic attack from their trolls," Janely pointed out as she continued looking around helplessly and in panic.
At the corner on their right, she saw a small piece of fabric, and her eyes lit in joy. She rushed to the place and incoherently shared her predicament with the woman.
"She'll open the door. Chloe just likes attention, and you know that more than anyone," the janitor said in arrogance, and Janely clicked her tongue as bile slowly rose within her.
"Give me the fucking keys," Janely angrily hissed as she pushed the janitor to the wall and angrily breathed on her neck.
The janitor fumbled as she removed the keys from her pockets, and Janely threw daggers at her before storming off to the washroom doors.
"Thank God," she said when she managed to open the door.
Together, she stormed in with Rina, and they looked around to find Chloe lying on the cold floor, a pack of pills and a small note next to her
Janely rushed to feel Chloe's heartbeat as Rina screamed her lungs out, attracting attention to themselves.
Boys and girls alike rushed into the washroom, and they almost caused a stampede as they struggled to see what was happening.
Janely was on the floor, trying to shake Chloe into waking up.
"Someone call for help!" Janely said in a panicked and distressed voice, and she wasn't even sure if someone heard her, given everyone present seemed confused and unable to think straight.
"Call for help. The nurse. The ambulance. Anyone! Help," Rina screamed as she made her way through the crowd.
The VC, who happened to be passing by after going to the washrooms, noticed the commotion and responded to the call for help.
As she struggled to press 911, her heart was beating faster, and it was possible anyone besides her could hear it.
Yes. She dreaded dialing 911: the number of disasters and emergencies. The one thing that held the line between Chloe being alive and dead.