Clarissa tensed up as well when she heard what Yarick said.
She turned towards Matthew, hoping to read the look in his eyes. However, she couldn’t make anything out of his cold, expressionless face.
“Yeah, what do you make of this, Uncle Matt? You’re always spot on with your judgment about people, so why don’t you tell us what you think? Who knows, maybe you can even recommend someone better for Clarissa after her breakup!”
“Ahem…”
Yarick choked on his own saliva when he heard that, but pursed his lips and kept quiet when he saw the others roll their eyes at him.
All Matthew did was shoot Clarissa a cold glance as he said, “Break up with him, then.”
Everyone else went silent upon hearing that, all except Ellie, who patted Clarissa on the shoulder as she tried to comfort her.
“See? Even Uncle Matt agrees that you should just break up with that guy! Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll find someone better! I’m sure Uncle Matt and Justin know some decent men they could recommend to you! The best way to forget about that guy is to embrace a new relationship!”
A look of sadness flashed across Clarissa’s face, but it was quickly replaced by a cold and wry smile instead.
Ellie tried changing the topic to take her mind off it, but her bestie wasn’t interested and continued downing drinks, one glass after another.
Realizing something was really off, Ellie decided to bring her home.
Clarissa was so drunk that she could barely stand, and she was mumbling something under her breath while Ellie struggled to hold her steady.
“Hey, you guys! Don’t just sit there! Give me a hand, will you?”
Yarick was the fastest to respond “Ah… No, I think I’ll pass…” He shook his head profusely.
Jeremy, on the other hand, simply smiled. “I don’t think it’s appropriate for us to do so.”
Justin nodded. “I agree. It would be disastrous if someone were to spot us and take pictures.”
Ellie frowned in annoyance and turned to Matthew instead.
“Uncle Matt, you’ll help me out, right?”
Before Matthew could respond, Clarissa stood up straight and said, “I can manage myself… I’ll be fine on my own…”
She then brushed Ellie off and staggered her way out the door.
Letting out a helpless sigh, the latter ran after her while the rest of them remained in the room.
“She’ll be fine with a little coaxing, Matt,” Jeremy said with a grin as he watched Matthew light up another cigarette.
“Jeremy is right. He’s the most experienced when it comes to these sort of things, so you should take his advice on this.” Justin chimed in. “Fights are normal between couples, but cold wars are a big no-no. You can either try to talk things out with her, or just coax her a little if that doesn’t work. The longer you leave it like this, the further you two will drift apart. It’s about time you change that stubborn behavior of yours, Matt.”
Yarick thought about saying something as well, but changed his mind in the last second.
Matthew simply puffed away on his cigarette in silence, seemingly in a bad mood.
Noticing that, the guys exchanged glances and stopped saying anything further.
Suddenly, a loud scream was heard outside. A string of curses followed, and two of the voices sounded really familiar.
They immediately rushed towards the direction of the voices, only to see three women scuffling in the corridor.
A closer inspection revealed that it was in fact a one-sided beating, with Clarissa sitting on top of Yvonne while Ellie helped hold her down from the side.
“You b*tch! This is what you get for insulting me and my mother! Seeing you make me sick!” Clarissa yelled as she violently tugged at Yvonne’s hair.
Needless to say, she was also in pretty bad shape with her skirt all ripped and the scratch wounds on her thighs.
“What are you doing, Ellie? Let go of her!” Jeremy shouted as he pulled Ellie away.
The beating only stopped when Ellie yanked Clarissa off. Even then, she still tried to kick Yvonne as she was being dragged away.
It was truly a nasty sight to behold.
“Let me go! I’m not done with her! You b*tch, I’m gonna beat that pretty face of yours to a pulp! That’s what you get for bullying me!” Clarissa continued cursing at Yvonne as she struggled to free herself from Ellie.
“Alright. That’s enough, Clare! You’ve already beaten her. Let’s go home and celebrate, okay?”
Ellie tried her best to talk her out of it, but Clarissa was dead set on continuing the beating.
It didn’t take long before she struggled free. Matthew stepped forward immediately and held her tightly in his arms.
Clarissa looked up and froze when she saw the terrifying cold glare in his eyes.
Right as everyone thought she had finally calmed down, she lashed out once again.
“Ahh! Let go of me! Help me, Dad! There’s a bad guy here trying to rape me!”
“Pfft… Hahahaha!”
Yarick burst into laughter upon hearing that. He quickly stopped himself when Jeremy kicked him in the shin.
Ellie noticed the angry look on Matthew’s face and quickly spoke up, “Uncle Matt, maybe it’s better if I hold her instead…”
“No! Don’t you steal him from me!” Clarissa wrapped her arms tightly around Matthew suddenly, much to everyone’s surprise.
Ellie scratched her head as she looked on in confusion.
That’s weird… I remember Clarissa being the quiet type when she gets drunk. Why is she acting so crazy right now?
“Uh… How about I…”
Jeremy cut her off. “You go on ahead, Ellie. Your Uncle Matt will take care of Clary.”
“Oh, alright…” Ellie nodded. Uncle Matt has always been cold towards women, so it should be safe to leave Clare with him.
Yvonne groaned in pain as she slowly got to her feet. She tried to chase after them, but was stopped by the restaurant staff.
It was obvious that they weren’t on her side because none of them helped her when she was being beaten up earlier.
Frustrated and furious, Yvonne stormed back into her room. She saw Luke being occupied by two women, while her other friends simply laughed at her disheveled appearance and carried on with their meal.
“Luke!”
Yvonne walked up to him and shoved the women off him. “Look at what they’ve done to me! You’ve got to avenge me!”
Luke eyed her from head to toe and flashed her a mocking grin.
“Wow, who did this to you?”
Yvonne was about to say Clarissa’s name, but stopped herself when she remembered he used to have a crush on the latter.
“It’s just some random drunkard I encountered in the bathroom,” she mumbled as she sat down, unwilling to say anything further.
Luke raised an eyebrow at her.
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Stop staring at me already; I look like sh*t right now! Anyway, I’m going to head home.”
Luke reached out and grabbed her by the wrist as she was about to leave. “I’ll drive you.”
Yvonne’s eyes lit up with joy, and the two of them left Skylight Restaurant together.
That joy was short-lived, however, as driving her home was exactly all Luke did.
As she watched him speed off into the night, she could no longer contain the burning rage inside her any longer.
She entered her house and slapped Hilary hard across the face the moment she saw her.
“You b*tch!”
Zach got a little angry when he saw that. “What the hell has gotten into you, Yvonne? What happened this time?”
“Why don’t you ask this b*tch of yours instead? Her crazy b*tch of a daughter hit me!”
“You mean Clary?”
“Who else could it be? You listen to me, Hilary! You’ll pay for your daughter’s doing!”
Hilary looked at Zach, who sighed as he wrapped an arm around her.
“Look, Clary’s the one who did this to you. Don’t you blame everything on Hilary. Now, sit down and tell us exactly what happened.”
“What else do you think happened? I just happened to bump into that b*tch while she was being dumped by a guy, and she started hitting me like a crazy drunkard!”
“Dumped?” Hilary was shocked.
“Yeah! I bet he’s the one who picked her up in a fancy car the other day! He’s definitely married, too! I mean, there’s no way he’d be interested in a bumpkin like her otherwise! I was having dinner with Luke at Skylight Restaurant, okay? Unless she’s his mistress or something, there’s no way Clarissa could possibly afford to dine there! Oh well, looks like her life of luxury is over now that he’s dumped her! Heh, I guess even her pretty face wasn’t of much use!”
As Yvonne didn’t get to see how Matthew looked, she imagined him being a married, ugly creep. The mere thought of that amused her so much that she even let out a snicker.
“You know, I think it would’ve been better for your daughter to be with Patrick than some disgusting creep! Isn’t that right, Dad?”
Seeing the frown on Zach’s face, Hilary tried to calm him down. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask Clary about this. If she really is in the wrong, I will right it.”
“Clary isn’t a child anymore. We don’t really have to concern ourselves with who she dates. Yvonne, did you not get to see who that man was?”
Yvonne recalled the incident from earlier and shook her head. “No, all I saw was his back.”
It didn’t take a genius to guess what Zach was thinking about. Yvonne caught on pretty fast and continued with a smile, “Why don’t we just have her come over and then we can ask her ourselves?”
Zach nodded. “Yeah, you’re right. Hilary, ask her to come back for dinner or something. She’s been in D City for so long, it’s about time we had a little family reunion.”
“Okay.”
