Novel Palace
Chapter 36
Chapter 36
Chapter 36 Thirty Six
The car screeched noisily on the tarred road and I felt myself slightly thrown for- ward as I suddenly stepped on the brake and the car came to an abrupt halt.
I turned to my side to see Bella squatting in front of the Torres mansion’s gate. What a pity, Bella couldn’t get in without Mark’s approval.
She must have noticed that I was the one in the car because she straightened up and stomped toward the car. She slapped her palm on the b*dy of the car. “Get out of the car!” She shouted and I almost burst out laughing.
What right was she trying to exercise now? Or was it authority?
Even though Rose hated me so much and I was getting a divorce, I doubted Bel- la had any chance with Mark unless she’d continue to be in the shadows of who- ever he marries next. Rose would definitely and equally look down on Bella just as she had done with me since we came from the same background. Besides, I trusted Doris, after seeing that video, I was sure Bella already disgusts her. If Mark ever made any attempt to wed Bella, Doris would be highly against it.
The Torres family and mine were two worlds apart. Theirs was in a higher rank and my family was ready to do anything to climb to theirs. I fleetingly wondered the shock that my divorce would bring to them since it was their only connec-
tion to the Torres family.
–
If only Bella had not taken Mark for granted. Three years ago, Mark had truly fall- en in love with Bella, overlooking the glaring fact that she didn’t come from a family as wealthy as his. Mark’s
family, as expected, had highly disapproved of Bella but Mark didn’t give up on their love. He had fought for a long time and made many concessions before his family finally agreed to their union.
Unfortunately, Bella seemed to have given up long before. Or maybe there was nothing to even give up in the first place. She had not cherished Mark’s effort, in- stead she chose to fly away with some lover. She flung away an opportunity as golden as that without thinking twice and now she wanted in again? I shook my
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head, what she didn’t know was that opportunities like that only came once.
“Are you deaf!” Bella’s grating voice pulled me out of my slight sympathy for her. “I said get down from the car. Why are you shaking your head?”
The guts! If I were a bystander, I would really admire Bella’s confidence. Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!
I looked at her. She must have, somehow, gotten a whiff that we were finally di- vorcing. She was here to confirm it herself but she couldn’t even get to the door. Why didn’t she just call Mark instead, I wondered.
I took a deep breath. I opened the door and stepped down from the car, decid- ing to let everything go for the moment. All the anger, the contempt for making me take her place, I put it all aside. No matter how horrible she might be, she was still my sister. If not for the hate that was always driving the both of us, I would never sit back and watch my sister go astray.
Now, I stood by the car, ready to treat and speak sense into her head like a sis- ter would do to a sister that they care for. I wanted to make her see reality, and
open her eyes to the doom that was right before her.
“What?!” She yelled before I could even get a word out, her eyes filled with re-
sentment for me, “Did you divorce Mark yet?”
I rolled my eyes and tried to tame the sizzling annoyance in me but it was hard.
Of course, that was why she was here.
“What?” I said nonchalantly, “Can you not contact him?” I pointed to the gate, “Or
perhaps go in there and ask him? Why squat before gates to waylay me and in-
terrogate me?”
She swallowed and her lashes fluttered as she looked away for a brief second.
I smirked, I had hit the nail on the head, huh? She didn’t want to admit that the se-
curity wouldn’t let her in unless Mark ordered them to.
“Look,” she licked her l*ps and faced me, “I want to know from you.” She lied
dumbly, “Just tell me, are you guys done with all the divorce processes?”
I scoffed as I gazed at her. It didn’t even take a lot for her to mellow and go
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soft. I smirked as a bulb abruptly turned on in my head. “Give me a penny, and I’ll tell you.”
At first she just gaped at me, probably waiting for me to burst out in giggles and announce that I was joking. “A penny!”
“Yes, a penny. Come on, hand it over,” I opened my palm to her.
Her eyes sized me up. Then she rolled her eyes, took out a hundred dollars and slapped it on my open palm. “Take it, no need to give change.” With her chin and nose up in the air and her shoulders suddenly high, she said it as though she had just gifted me a hundred thousand dollars.
I took it from her hands and observed it. I waved my hands in the air and hand- ed it to her, “Nah. I just want a penny.”
She laughed, “Sydney, take it. I’m giving you the whole thing. You might need it.”
“Nope, I only need a penny because the disgusting love between you and Mark is only worth a penny.”
Her smile froze on her face. Slowly, her face started to twist with anger.
I smirked, enjoying the thrill of having successfully made her feel belittled and
mocked. “If you don’t give it, I’ll leave. I am sure there are other competitors will- ing to spend this penny to buy the latest news about Mark.”
Bella furiously snatched the money from me, almost clawing my palm with her
nails. She sipped her hundred dollars inside her purse and ransacked it for a penny. Her head came up, sweat starting to coat on her creased brows.
“I don’t think I have a penny! Just take a dollar.”
“Nope. I’m only taking what the love between you and Mark is worth.”
“Damn you, Sydney! Damn you!” Her face was so red with anger and she sound-
ed like she would burst in tears any second.
Standing there, she looked so pathetic and hilarious that I couldn’t even bring
myself to be mad at her.
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Since she had no choice but to find a penny. She continued to impatiently search her purse, some of her things fell on the floor and she would pick them up only for another one to fall. Finally, she found a penny.
She angrily threw it at me. There’s your damned penny!”
I caught it with a smile, further annoying her. I looked up at her and told her what she badly wanted to hear. “Mark and I will get divorced tomorrow.”
Her shoulders seemed to fall in relief and her anger morphed into triumph and
happiness. Her l*ps stretched into a satisfied smile, That’s good.”
I sneered, “I bet you, I don’t even need to do anything, and you won’t
e able to
marry Mark. Just like him and I, you two have always been people of different caliber. It won’t be possible, Bella, move on.”
She rolled her eyes, “You wait and see. He once fought for me, he would do it
again.”
I scoffed but I didn’t bother to say anything else to her. She wouldn’t listen. She
never has. I got back in the car and she stepped away as I started the car.
I waved at her, “I’ve told you the news and I’ve told you the truth. You think about it yourself and do with it whatever you wish.” I told her sincerely, with no
anger or contempt.
She didn’t even wave back, she just rolled her eyes. Then she bent down and started to pick some of the things that dropped from her purse.
As I passed the turn, I slowed down. There was a man in tattered clothes rifling through the waste bin there. I threw the penny for the man. I couldn’t hold the laughter that bubbled up my throat when
the penny fell on the car floor as the beggar threw it back.
I stuck my head out of the car’s window, and hollered out to Bella. “Hey, Bella!”
She looked up and I said in a derisive tone, “Look, even a beggar despises the pa-
thetic love between you and Mark!”
Without looking back again, I continued to sing along to my music and casually
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Chapter 36 Thirty Six
flicked the penny into the sewer as I drove away.