"You slapped me?" He asked with a surprise look on his face and Bella nodded her head.
"If you dare annoy me, I won't hesitate to slap you again," Bella snapped and her other friend, Angela, agreed.
"What have I done to make you guys dislike me? Answer me," he said frustratingly, and they scoffed.
"Are you seriously asking us that question, huh?" Angela spoke up for the first time after interrupting Damon and Cassandra.
"That's enough, Angela," Cassandra spoke with an angry look on her face.
"What's wrong with you, huh? Can't you see what he has done to you? He ruined your birthday party, baby girl."
"He should be taught a lesson," Bella added in a cold tone.
"I know, but you shouldn't have slapped him. How can you do such a thing? How will you feel if I did the same to Raymond?" Cassandra asked, and she scoffed.
"You can't because he's not as useless as your friend is. And besides, he has helped us several times. What has your boyfriend done for you that you can be proud of?"
"It doesn't have anything to do with you. I'm happy with him. That's what matters."
"I think it's high time you stopped interfering in my relationship. If I can't interfere in your relationship with Raymond, you shouldn't interfere with mine," Cassandra argued, and Bella glared at Damon, who winked at her.
He loved the way she stood up for him against her friends despite almost ruining her birthday party. She didn't care about any of it.
Although Cassandra didn't like how her birthday party turned out to be, she couldn't stand her friends slapping her boyfriend because he was poor.
"I won't listen unless you get a better boyfriend. He's not someone you should be with," Bella insisted, and Damon got angry.
"Why shouldn't she be with me? Don't tell me you're jealous of our relationship," he inquired, and Bella's face flushed.
"Jealous?" She asked and shrugged.
"How can I be jealous of you when I have a boyfriend who provides me with all I need?"
"What have you bought for my friend? Nothing! You're nothing but a poor orphan with no future," she said and spat on the floor.
"Orphan? Don't you ever call me that again," he said with an angry look on his face. He clenched his fist with an angry look and moved closer to Bella, who stood unfazed.
"So what? What are you going to do? Aren't you an orphan?" She asked and crossed her arms beneath her chest.
As much as he'd liked to teach her a lesson, he knew it was wrong to raise a hand to a lady, especially one from a rich family. He could live all his life in jail and wouldn't have the chance of staying with his girlfriend, Cassandra.
He couldn't imagine living his life without his beautiful girlfriend. He had already planned his future with her.
"Don't you think that you're going overboard, Bella? How can you call him an orphan?"
"What if he's an orphan? It doesn't change the love I have for him," Cassandra said.
"Enough of the lovey-dovey words, Cassandra. It seems you've been brainwashed by him, so you can't tell what's wrong with you anymore," Angela said, and she shook her head.
"Fine. But what does it have to do with you? What if I'm brainwashed by him?" Cassandra asked.
"It has a lot to do with us. We can't watch you go astray. You're our friend," Angela said and glared at Damon, who was fuming in anger.
It was such a pity that he was poor. He felt sad and useless. If only he were rich, all of this wouldn't happen. He was sure that they were going to respect the same way they respected Benjamin.
"Let's leave and return to your birthday party. It's almost ruined all thanks to someone," Bella said sarcastically and grabbed Cassandra's hand.
He stopped them before he could leave.
"May I know why you hate me so much?"
"That's because no one wants to associate with the poor. It makes sense to you now, right?"
"Cassandra will leave you for someone better very soon. You'd better stop chasing after Cassandra and chase the bag instead," Bella said in a cold tone.
"Thanks for the advice," he bowed slightly and turned to Cassandra, who was reluctant to leave him.
"Goodbye, love," he muttered and walked away with his head bent.
With each step he took, the statement that Bella made kept ringing inside his head, and it made him dizzy and weak. It burned his heart badly, and he wished he could die.
"That's because no one wants to associate with the poor. It makes sense now, right?" she asked.
He knew he was poor, but rubbing it to his face burned his heart differently and he hated it.
By the time he arrived at the dormitory, he was extremely hurt and heartbroken. His head was experiencing excruciating pain due to what he'd seen or heard today.
Not only was he ridiculed by his girlfriend and her guests, but he was also slapped and looked down upon by her friends. She couldn't do anything to defend him.
Why? Was it because he wasn't from a wealthy family like them?
His friend, Kelvin, was the first to notice his presence in the room. "How was it?" Kelvin asked as he walked toward Damon.
Damon walked away and entered his room without sparing any of them a glance after dropping his stuff on the table.
"What happened?" Austin asked and dropped the gaming pad on the table.
"I don't know either," Kelvin sighed, and Gideon scoffed.
"What else could have happened? It seems he was rejected by his girlfriend. I told you he was going to regret it, didn't I?" Gideon asked and chuckled mockingly.
"Where is my money? I won the bet, didn't I?" Gideon asked, and the two friends scoffed.
They reluctantly gave him the money they agreed on. Gideon snatched the money from them and kept it in his pocket.
"I wonder what they did to him," Gideon muttered and shook his head with a sigh.
They decide to go to his room, but Damon has already locked the door.
Damon, on the other hand, was lost in thought. His eyes were getting wet as he remembered how he was ridiculed for trying to be good without being financially stable.
"Why do I suffer like this?" He asked himself.
His friends shook their heads and left his doorstep when they realized he wasn't ready to open the door for them. They knew he was in a bad mood.
"I told him not to date that two-faced girl. Why won't he…" Austin was interrupted bye 😭 the sound of Damon's phone, which was ringing.
Gideon picked the phone from the table and rushed to the door. "Your soon-to-be mother-in-law is calling, Damon," Gideon spoke up with urgency.
Damon would have doubted Gideon if he hadn't heard the ringing tone of his phone.
He wiped off the tears that rolled down from his eyes and went out of his room with a cold look on his face.
What is the problem? Is she calling him? That was the question in his mind as he collected the phone from Gideon, who stood beside him.
He glanced at his phone for a while contemplating whether to make the call or not. He didn't want to be insulted by his mother again. He thought she was going to blame him for ruining her daughter's birthday party until he got the call.
"Hello, ma'am," he said in a gloomy tone as he connected to her.
"You must be my daughter's boyfriend, Damon, right?" she asked in a calm tone which surprised him.
He was expecting her to yell or curse at him for ruining the party, but she didn't.
"Yes. May I know why you called? Did you call to scold me like your daughter did?" He asked in a cold tone.
"No, that's not the reason. Why would I? I want to thank you for attending my daughter's birthday party," she quickly responded in a rather solemn tone.
At that moment, he could tell that something was fishy. Perhaps they needed him for something.
"How can I help you, ma'
am?" He asked respectfully even though his heart was burning with rage.
"I'd like you to return to the party. I didn't like the way you were treated earlier," she said, and he arched his eyebrows.
What could be the problem? Why was she nervous?