Chapter 33: Shocking Discoveries

I felt the knife before I saw it.

I looked into the eyes of the wielder. It was my friend from so long ago. The eyes that were once filled with so much purpose and love were now replaced with bitterness and hate. The only thing that showed any resemblance to the old friend was the shell the bitter soul inhabited. My old friend was gone.

Okay, that’s not what happened, but that’s what it felt like.

The shock, betrayal, and sadness that I felt in that moment didn’t ebb, but instead it multiplied. I had a sick, worried feeling in the pit of my stomach that seemed to intensify as time passed by. I raised a hand over my beating heart as I read Diane’s tweet over and over.

This can’t be real.

@dianeliong29869:
I am the marketing head of KB Studios and when Sandra used to work there before, I would often interact with her whenever we had a shoot for our brand ambassadors and so you can consider me to be credible when I say this...

In this tweet, she added a silly photo of us. The both of us were posing next to the mannequins wearing crazy outfit combinations and making wacky faces. This photo was taken on the last day of one of our photoshoots. A small smile crept on my face as I recalled the fun times we’ve spent together during my brief time in KB Studios.

My face immediately fell when I remembered the tweets she made after that. I guess this is what makes it hurt the most. I genuinely thought that we were friends until I read this post. I clearly misinterpreted the situation - our friendship was one sided after all.

@dianeliong29869:
Do not believe Sandra’s claims against Mr. Butler because all of it is false! Sandra always had a big crush on Mr. Butler. However, he never responded to any of her advances. After he kept on rejecting her, she threw a fit, destroyed property, and even spread rumors about him.

“This is not true!” I yelled to no one in particular through clenched teeth. I ran a hand through my hair as I groaned in frustration. I rubbed my temples, trying to ease my throbbing head. It suddenly felt like the world around me was going to explode. I placed a hand over my mouth in shock as I continued to scroll through her other tweets about me.

She continued to call me a narcissist, a liar, whore, and slut. She started to spread fake rumors about my past relationships and even the male friends I’ve had when I worked in KB Studios. Every word stung, only fueling the fire that burned inside of me. Every violated phrase was like gasoline to it, my fists began to clench and my jaw rooted. She was one of the people that I have confided in when everything went down between Kevin and I.

I thought I could trust her.

Key word here is ‘thought’.

I was clearly wrong.

Burning rage hissed through my body like deathly poison, screeching a demanded release in the form of unwanted violence. It was like a volcano erupting; fury sweeping off me like ferocious waves. The wrath consumed me, engulfing my moralities and destroying the boundaries of loyalty. I couldn’t believe she would say this about me, knowing how really Kevin is behind the scenes.

I clicked the reply button and started typing my reply. I felt like a woman possessed as I did. The tweet ended up to be a length paragraph with a curse word thrown in here and there. I let out the breath I didn’t as I slumped back on my chair and read the paragraph that I wrote.

My eyes widened in surprise when I saw how poorly written it was and how desperate I sounded to defend myself. Every sentence was filled with panic and even anger. I shook my head as I immediately deleted everything I wrote.

I need Ellie.

I closed my laptop in anger and grabbed my phone to call her. I tapped my foot as I waited for her to answer my call.

“Hel-” I cut her off immediately.

“Come over, we have a situation.” She must have been surprised at my sudden outburst as I heard her gasp on the other line.

“What happened?” I can definitely hear the panic in her voice. “You know what, just tell me when I get there, I’ll be there in 5.” She added as she abruptly ended the call. Well that was quick.

I paced anxiously around my apartment. I felt like a lion in its cage that desperately wanted to escape. I tried to calm down by focusing on my breathing. Breathe in, breathe out.

How could she say all those things against me? Her words really struck a nerve in me. It kept repeating in my head like a broken vinyl record. I felt so foolish to tell her things she didn’t deserve to know.

My thoughts were interrupted when I heard a loud banging on the door.

“Sandra, it’s Ellie! Open up!” She shouted as she knocked hard. I instantly rushed to open the door for her.

“Careful, it feels like you’re trying to destroy my door.” I joked as I stepped aside for her to enter. “You don’t seem to be in a hurry, do you?” I teased as I took in her appearance. Her hair was still wet and she wore baggy clothes. It also looked like she wasn't wearing any makeup. She just went to the sofa, ignoring my lame attempts to make fun at her.

“I came here as fast as I could. It sounded like something urgent but when I got here, your first words were poking fun at me.” She narrowed her eyes at me as she crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Imagine how tired I am.” She still had this menacing look on her face. I held both my hands up to stop her anger.

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to ease the tension.” I plopped down next to her and took her hand to massage it. “I’m sorry for making it sound like it was an emergency but in my defense if you also read it you would also think that it is.”

“Read what?” She raised her eyebrows in confusion. I grabbed my laptop and opened it. I searched for Diane’s Twitter profile. I browsed through her whole profile to look for her tweet accusing me of spreading false information.

As soon as I found her very demeaning tweet, I handed over the laptop to Ellie “This.” She carefully set the laptop on her lap and began reading the entire tweet.

“What the hell is this nonsense?” She muttered as she finished everything. Her eyebrows are all scrunched up.

“I know right.” I nodded in agreement with her.

“Dianne is such a shrew. I already warned you about her but you didn’t even listen.” Her tone was very sharp which made me look down, knowing she was right. Maybe I overlooked some red flags in my friendship with Diane.

“I didn't think she was capable of slandering me like this.” I muttered under my breath. We both went silent as we stared at the computer screen. I decided to carefully reach for the laptop on her lap to close it.

Ellie broke the silence as she stood up and clapped her hands as if a bright idea just popped in. What did she think about this time?

“You know what I think, maybe she was just doing this because she wants to look good in front of Kevin’s eyes so that he can finally pay attention to her.” She sounded so sure of herself.

My eyebrows furrowed in confusion “What do you mean?” I asked her.

“As you know, Diane has already been in the company long before you entered.” She voiced out as she sat back down. “I vaguely remember her being jealous of you because opportunities were opening for you when you only started for a couple of months.” She revealed.

My eyes widened with this new information I received. “Really? How did you know that?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. How could she get jealous of me? “She was already at the top of her field being the marketing head. What more could she want?” I grew even more confused.

“Well I overheard her gossiping with another employee…” She trailed off as she held her chin, trying to recall what she heard. “She said that it took her years to get to where she was. But you only got promoted because Kevin was fond of you.” She explained. My jaw dropped as I understood what Ellie was trying to say. “So she’s just doing this to win Kevin’s favor.” She declared seriously.

“Well they both have something in common, they’re horrible.” I retorted to which we both roared in laughter. “You know what I realize, Diane can go to hell. As I come to know Diane’s terrible personality, it makes me think that she isn’t worth replying to.” I added with a shrug.

Come to think of it, why would I worry about some insignificant person? Since she didn’t even consider me as her friend, I too should also disregard her as my friend.

“You’re right!” Ellie stated with glee.

“I already overcame so much these past few days. Compared to all of those, she’s just this annoying fly trying to gain relevance by forcing herself into someone’s problems.” I said, my voice was laced with annoyance as I recalled all of the events that happened recently. I grew much stronger because of these circumstances and I owe it all to myself and to Ellie, who’s always there to help.

“That’s absolutely true! You shouldn’t mind her. She’s not even important in your life.” She placed her hand on top of mine. I gave her a genuine smile. I’m really grateful to have her as a friend.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll just focus on myself and those who are important to me. Which reminds me, I never got the chance to properly thank you for everything you have done for me.“ I muttered shyly. “I always appreciate you being there for me in my ups and downs.” I pulled her into an embrace. I closed my eyes, savoring this moment. It felt nice to just hug your best friend - it really hits differently. We stayed like that for a minute and eventually pulled away. I saw her eyes welling up. “Don’t cry or else you’ll make me cry.” I added, which made the both of us break into laughter.

Despite the horrible start of my day, it ended wholesomely with Ellie cheering me up like she always does.

I wonder what will happen tomorrow.