Chapter 36- Remorse

“What?” Topaz O’Connell yelled into her phone as she abruptly got out of bed and began to frantically pace back and forth in her room. The young girl was currently on the phone with her lover, and what she was hearing didn’t sound appealing to her.
“There’s no way. He didn’t tell me that,that can't be true " the young girl defended.
“Then why is she walking around introducing herself as his fiancée? Because that is what she told Wren and this one isn’t hearsay. I heard her say it and I don't think she'll joke about something like that” Gwendolyn Jefferson spoke firmly on the other end.
“He told me something else. Said they dated but he ended things with her before coming back here"Topaz corrected.
When the brunette had showed up at their door step, because Topaz was the one who opened up for her, she was surprised to see a strange and unknown face standing there with a big smile on her face.
What surprised her even more, was the fact that the girl seemed to be comfortable with her like she had known her before. She had called her by her name, took her into a hug and walked into the house without even being invited.
Topaz was ready to call the cops over, but the sound of her big brother’s voice walking down the stairs stopped her. Then, the girl rushed into Giovanni’s arms and he took her into a hug. Topaz wasn’t entirely satisfied because she wanted to know who that girl was.
And when she had asked her big brother
’s the daughter of his boss and they dated briefly, but he ended things with her. But now, hearing Gwendolyn say these things confused her even more.
“I understand baby. I will get to the bottom of it. How’s Wren holding up” Topaz O’Connell questioned in a concerned tone.
“She says she’s fine but I know she isn’t. She refuses to open up to me but only looking at her reactions I know for sure that she is not fine even though she tries so hard to hide her pain” Gwen expressed worry for her friend.
Since that night, getting a hold of Wren was next to impossible. It wasn’t that she locked herself up in the house, no. if anything, Gwendolyn wouldn’t have been so worried. It was the fact that her friend was slowly drinking herself away.
“I’m really sorry about that, baby. I will talk to him about it and try to have some clear answers " Topaz added.
Despite how worried she was for her friend, Gwendolyn insides couldn’t help but do summersault being called ‘baby’.
“Thank you” Gwen said and a brief silence crept in which was quickly filled by Topaz.
“I can’t wait to spend time with you tomorrow” Topaz said with a shy smile on her face, and just when Gwen thought her insides couldn’t get fuzzier, she proved her wrong. This time it was worse because it felt like her legs were going to give up on her.
“Me too” the dark haired giggled, earning a satisfactory smile from Topaz.
“Good. I will talk to you soon baby, bye”
The moment Topaz O’Connell got off the phone with Gwen, she marched down the stairs in a frantic manner. She was boiling with anger.
When she got to the last steps, she began to search for her brother, but her search didn’t last long as she heard voices coming from the study room. At once Topaz walked over there and abruptly pushed the door.
“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Topaz O’Connell yelled, making her big brother look up with a frown on his face.
“Don’t give me that look. How could you? After every effort you put in to have her forgive you and just like that, you threw it all away” Topaz yelled further and this time, Giovanni gave her a knowing look.
“Hello, Topaz. How are you?” Sierra’s voice sounded in the corner of the room. Topaz froze momentarily, but she immediately regain herself and turned to brunette with a smile on her face.
“I’m good, Sierra. And you?” Topaz flashed her the brightest smile she could muster.
“I’m very well thank you” the brunette replied returning the same smile to her.
“Great. Well then, I’ll leave you two for now and I’ll talk to my brother soon” Topaz ended her sentence by giving Giovanni a threatening stare which frighten the young man to the core.
The young girl casually closed the door behind her and went back to the room.
It was much later in the evening and they were all gathered around the huge mahogany table centered in the middle of the dining room. Nana Denise and Unika made some porridge and steak for dinner to officially welcome Sierra to the mansion.
For the first quarter of the meal, it was joyous with Nana Denise asking Sierra questions about city life, her parents and her job.
Something Sierra and Giovanni had in common was the fact that they loved attention. They love it when everyone stops whatever they’re doing to listen to thème or stare at them. Which is why Sierra was elated to answer Nana Denise’s questions, because they had their attention on her.
Everyone except Giovanni who hasn’t touched his meal or even bothered to look up and interact with the others as his attention was on his phone, to which Topaz assumed he was trying to get a hold of Wren.
“If it’s okay with you nana, I will like to have a talk with Giovanni in private,I mean just the two of us"Topaz questioned looking directly at her brother.
“Can’t it wait? We are dining as a family?” the older woman pressed on.
“Unfortunately, no nana it can't” Topaz said firmly.
Nana Denise sighed and gesticulated with her hand that they were free to go.
With a concerned look on his face, Giovanni got out of his chair and quietly followed behind his sister.
“What the hell Gio? Fiancée? Seriously? You got engaged and you didn’t have the dignity and the gut to inform us, your family?” Topaz questioned with arms folded as they now stood by the pool.
“Fiancée? What the hell are you talking about?” the young man couldn’t be more confused.
“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You told me she was your ex-girlfriend. The daughter of your big boss, so why the hell does she walk around freely introducing herself as your fiancee?” Topaz wasn’t going easy on her brother.
“Sierra introduce herself as my fiancée? I doubt she will do something like that. Who did she talk to?” Giovanni seem to find amusement in what his sister said.
“She introduce herself to Wren as your fia]ncée. Apparently she felt bad after what happened Saturday evening an wanted to reach out” the young girl explained.
I fucked up. The thoughts that ran through Giovanni’s mind. He didn’t need to know the details of Sierra’s talk with Wren to know that there was no way she was ever going to forgive him.
"I don't know why she would say that, Topaz. I ended things with her before coming here" he defended.
The young woman looked into her brother's eyes and found nothing but truth and sadness.
"I believe you. But sadly, its not me who needs convincing" the young woman said.
Giovanni O’Connell sighed in frustration.
"I don't know what to do anymore, Paz. She doesn't take my calls, she doesn't reply to my messages. I have left about a thousand of them yet no reply and I've too scared to show up at her door step. Know with this, I'm scared to breath the same air as her" There was pain in the man's voice as he spoke.
"Help me, Paz. I need your help" he finalized.
Now, it was Topaz’s time to sigh. "I don't know, Gio. I'll see what I can do" she comforted.
Just then, Sierra's voice could be heard, leaving both of them stunned.
"Interesting talk. Who is this she you're referring too" the brunette called, walking towards them with a glass of wine in hand.
"Oh fuck me" is all Giovanni could mutter.

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