"W-what did you say just now?"
Arabella shook her head. "Let's break up."
Jude suddenly rose to his feet with a confused expression on his face. His hands held both of Arabella's arms with a demanding look.
"What do you mean, Bella? Did I do something wrong to you? I'll apologize and immediately improve myself to be better than before. You can't cut me off like this."
Arabella gently released Jude's grip on her arm. She was still smiling sweetly, in contrast to the distraught Jude.
"I'm no match for a perfect man like you, Jude. Forget about me and don't look for me anymore." After saying that, Arabella turned around and walked away without turning around.
The restaurant staff who were about to deliver the special orders for their VIP guests were lost in thought at the sight. Even the chef who was also about to approach the guest of honor, who had booked the entire restaurant to propose to his beloved, was left speechless in his current position.
"The perfect rejection," Arabella thought with a smirk.
***
Her long, porcelain-like index finger pressed the number 7 button. Letting the boxy thing called an elevator take her body to her destination.
"I completed a new record. Made a bad boy son of a millionaire family bend the knee to me. It's a pity I can't have that beautiful red diamond ring."
"Huh, he's totally out of my expectations. He suddenly proposed to me and it's already past the limit I've set. If I had accepted just because of that expensive ring, he would have taken me to a hotel afterward."
Arabella shook her head in disgust. "No, just twice I accidentally slept with men I wanted to play with. I may be their lover, but I'm not willing to sleep with them. I will approach, date, and break up with them after they truly love me."
The elevator doors opened to the sound of clanking. Arabella stepped out and passed through the long hallways with a smile blooming on her face.
"The 25th man has been conquered! Wow, you're a crazy woman, Bella," her monologue was followed by a chuckle.
The tapping sound of high heels stopped. The smile on Arabella's face faded as soon as her eyes caught an ugly sight. She immediately stopped the trembling of her right palm with the other. She straightened her shoulders and raised her gaze.
"Hey, cruel girl! Quickly open the door for your father!"
A man, drunk with graying hair and a bottle in his hand, was banging on the door of someone's apartment and shouting. Who could resist going out for such a horrendous spectacle?
"Hah, can't he come to me sober? This is the third encounter after I left home, but he still hasn't learned from experience," grumbled Arabella who was just on the tip of her tongue. She couldn't say it because many people were watching her at the moment.
"Damn it! I wanted to live quietly in the apartment, but this guy messed it up. My image is going to change in the eyes of my neighbors, and how am I going to respond to them when I accidentally run into them in the hallway or elevator? It's going to be so awkward," Arabella thought to herself.
"Stop yelling, come with me." She tugged roughly on her father's hand to get out of the sight of the neighbors and away from her apartment. After all, she couldn't allow a man whom she had come to regard as a stranger into her apartment, could she?
"Let go! You can't behave like this with your father, Bella."
"You can't grow up like your mother."
Arabella's father's chatter did not stop until they reached the rooftop of the building. Arabella splashed a bottle of mineral water that was in her bag on the face of the man in front of her.
"So, are you awake, Mr. Revenhurst?"
Arabella's father's face turned red. His palms were clenched tightly and his teeth were chattering. He was holding back both anger and shame at the moment.
"How dare you splash water on my face!"
"I'm sorry, but I had to do that to wake you up. So, what's your purpose in coming to see me?" asked Arabella, cutting off her father who was about to blabber some more. She didn't have much time as she had work to finish after this.
Arabella's father let out a deep breath. With a firm chest, he thrust out one of his palms. Arabella frowned in confusion which made the man have to move his palm as a gesture.
"What do you want? Say it with your lips. You can speak, can't you?"
"Give me one billion dollars to repay the debt." Arabella's father finally revealed his intentions despite the growl in between his words.
Arabella was shocked for a moment, but she quickly returned her facial expression to normal. She shook her head before finally uttering her refusal.
"I won't give you any more money. You drained my savings last year and you want to do it again? Shamelessness has its limits too." Arabella was about to walk away past her father, but her father grabbed her firmly by the arm and pushed her back.
"What the hell is he doing being rude to me like this?" thought Arabella as she patted her dirty hands. She was made to take a few steps back and ended up falling.
"Is your consciousness still under alcohol? You're getting on my nerves." Arabella rose to her feet. Her entire body felt like a shattered piece of glass from the hard push.
Not given time to breathe, Arabella's father suddenly pushed Arabella's shoulder and cornered the woman against the barrier. Fear ran through Arabella's heart as she looked back to find the highway far below, and the rooftop barrier only as far as her stomach.
"You can't be like this to your father, Arabella. Your father needs money, you should hand over all your money to me with pride. I'm only asking for a billion dollars anyway. No more than that," Arabella's father growled.
Arabella clucked. "I never thought of you as my father again after you brought those whores home. You should know better."
Even though her body was being pressed further back to its current alarming position, Arabella still maintained a faint smile. She had faith in the security of this apartment. It would not be long before the security would be running to them.
"You're an ignorant child! You're just like your stupid mother!"
"Then what about you? Are you an intelligent man who likes crotches?" Arabella chuckled enjoying her father's angry face.
"Damn it, shut up!" Arabella's father raised his hand, and Arabella spontaneously closed her eyes. But what happened was not what was expected, Arabella's father pushed Arabella's shoulder with a hard jerk until Arabella's thigh passed the barrier.
Suddenly Arabella stretched her arms forward when she felt her body about to plunge. But the man did not reply. Arabella saw the smirk on her father's lips and the pounding on the door by the security guards before her body finally plunged as fast as the speed of sunlight.
"Hah... Hah..."
A fat hand stroked her sweat-soaked forehead. Arabella stopped as soon as she saw the different shapes of the hand and the wavy brown hair that fell to her chest. Arabella hurriedly rose to her feet, grabbed the IV stand, hobbled over, and looked at her reflection in a mirror.
Her eyes rounded, and her fingers were busy exploring her facial features.
"No, where exactly am I right now? And whose face is this?"