"First, we tracked down some accounts on Instagram and they pointed down to you." Desdra started to say. "You were being creepy liking her posts and sending threatening messages to her."
Clarissa did open a fake account to stalk Sunmi and see what she had been up to lately. But sending threatening messages? She never did that. Except if Desdra had somehow managed to hack through her account, or maybe she remembered the silly password. The account wasn't new as Clarissa always used it as a second account to track and monitor people. And Desdra knew a heavy bit of Clarissa, since she had been her in law for years now.
"Secondly, here's the file that you gave Sun mi. These look familiar to you or not?" Desdra slammed a pile of papers to Clarissa's stomach. They were the exact documents that Clarissa would later have to give Sun mi to sign.
"This doesn't make sense. Anyone working at Smithons can have this file! Besides, you were the one assigned to the project before, weren't you?" Clarissa said in her defense.
Clarissa paused, remembering Liam's words. He had whispered to her ears earlier that she needed to stay calm and not say anything. Then gather all evidence and figure out how to shame her enemies. But here she was letting them in on all of their failed attempts. She was supposed to keep her mouth shut but she just couldn't. Finally, she kept an invisible lock on her barred teeth and only watched.
Desdra pointed out some other things that were completely stupid like how Clarissa was too obsessed with becoming the best. She made it known to everyone that she used to be her in law, so she was in a better position to know Clarissa well. These were serious accusations that Desdra had planned so carefully well! Just to ruin her life. But why? Why would someone hate her to that extent?
Finally, Elan stepped forward. "Thank you so much for reaching out to us in this manner. We will definitely punish this staff for her incompetence. Certainly, we will!" He watched as the door shut once Sun mi and her goons were out. A loud breath of relief was heard from him.
"Desdra, why don't you go with her and calm her more? Hmm? Thanks." He said, then Desdra too walked out ignoring the murderous glare Clarissa flashed.
"You know what? I don't have anything to say to you just yet. And I am not going to hand out sack letters to the four of you just yet. You have to all pay for this mess somehow." Elan said. "Just get out for now. You're all dismissed. Out, all of you!"
Clarissa was having a shitty day as it was. How could everything just suddenly go wrong like this?
Denis said, once they were outside. "Who wants beer? My place? So people won't see how miserable our lives really are in public."
Clarissa could not believe her eyes. She was expecting that they would shout at her at least, but it seemed like they had just accepted reality as it was. Did that mean they believed her?
No. How could she just be humiliated like this? It was all too much. No one was even willing to see she didn't do anything wrong. How would she ever prove her innocence if they would just gladly accept their reality like this?
Clarissa stormed off, running outside without waiting for the others. She needed to get far away from them as soon as possible. As she ran out, leaving the building, she heard a voice sounding just like Desdra's calling her but she was not ready to stay and have another depressing chat with that crazy woman.
She was soon on the streets, glad to have been away from everyone. She felt her throat dry. Water.
"I need water." She branched at a store and got water. Anything to get her distracted. No. She wasn't going to cry again like some fool over Desdra's hatred towards her. They were never really besties before, but at least, her hatred wasn't as cold as this.
How could you hate a person by saying that things always went well and easy for them, and that was it? However, in Clarissa's defense, her life had been shitty right from the start. Things never went easy for her without serious hard work and sleepless nights.
With her purse swung on her right hand and her phone clutched tight on the other, Clarissa struggled with the water bottle's cap. After twisting and turning, it wasn't going to open!
Anger filled her and she threw the water bottle as far as she could. Her breathing paced faster and was shaky too.
"I'm not going to cry." She thought about all the time she had suffered. How she wanted to be so strong to the world, but with a family like Jared's, and no family of her own, she couldn't go as far as she wanted to. "Yes. This divorce is meant to happen." She said to herself.
Her phone started to ring suddenly that it Clarissa gave a start. Her vision was blurred now as tears had gathered it and filled it. She wanted to see who was calling, then, as if the universe was in full control of making her life miserable, the phone fell free from her hand and crashed to the ground.
Clarissa wailed, "no, it's a new phone. You can't fall like that." She realized her voice was thin, on the very edge of crying now. She bent down to pick her phone, then silly her realized she had forgotten to lock her purse's zipper. Just like that, everything inside spilled to the floor.
That was when she broke, in a crouching manner, Clarissa let the tears fall freely down her eyes. It was all too much now. Let her cry her eyes out, because she didn't even know what waited for her next.
Sack letter, perhaps? Her career, officially ruined? What was left for her then?
As if to worsen it all, tiny droplets of water started to splash down her skin. From droplets, it increased slowly, beating her as if to remind her of how miserable her life was.
Her body felt the raging cold weather as the rain slowly continued to increase. Clarissa felt the need to fall to the ground completely and remain there until something worse would come at her, maybe a volcanic eruption?
"Get up, come on!" A voice hurried her up, packing everything on the floor back into her purse. He picked up her phone first and kept that in his pocket, then held her hand tight and hauled her right at the little diner that was just down the street.