Chapter 24
“That would be me,” a voice said behind Evelyn.
Evelyn turned to see someone she hadn’t expected. Her eyes narrowed. “You.”
Aurelia stepped into the auto shop, a smile on her face. “Me?” she asked, pointing at herself. “Oh yes, me. I did it.”
Evelyn folded her arms, tilting her head to the side. She opened her mouth to speak, but Aurelia beat her to it.
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Your thanks and appreciation can come later. I just noticed how you kept running to work and taking the bus and all that, and must I say, it doesn’t suit you at all.”
Aurelia walked up to Evelyn, a wicked smile on her face. “And for the payment, don’t worry about it. It’s just a little gift from me.”
“Are you taking the keys or not?” the sales girl said, her tone exasperated.
Evelyn turned to the girl and offered her a tight smile. “Just a minute, okay?”
The girl rolled her eyes. “Whatever. They don’t pay me enough to care,” she said and threw the keys to Evelyn. Evelyn caught them and put them in her pocket. She turned to Aurelia, her face stone cold.
“Why are you trailing after me? Following me around like a jobless woman. Don’t you have something else to do with
your
time?”
Aurelia laughed. “Following you around?” she echoed. “Oh, of course not. I’m simply looking after my possession.”
“Your possession?”
“I know your plans, you damn bitch. You’re trying to seduce Caleb and take him from me. I know exactly how you plan to steal my man, and you won’t succeed at all.”
Evelyn chuckled darkly. “Steal your man?”
“Yes. I will never let such a thing happen again. He loves me very much, and not you. Why can’t you simply take a hint?” Aurelia said, raising her chin.
“If your man truly loved you as you claim he does, you wouldn’t be up in my face talking about how I’m trying to steal him.”
“What do you know?” Aurelia scoffed and rolled her eyes.
“Look at you, you poor sad thing,” Evelyn said, pity in her eyes. “A man who is faithful to you will be faithful even if there are a hundred women in front of him. Have you ever stopped to think that your man is trash?”
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Chapter 24
“Trash?!” Aurelia exploded angrily. “How dare you! He loved me and all you did was trick him into that loveless marriage! And now you want to take him from me!”
“I don’t want your man. The both of you are sad and disgusting,” Evelyn said. “You were sleeping with a married man! Have you no shame?! Yet you stand here and talk nonsense in my face!”
“You are the shameless one!” Aurelia shouted back at her. “You knew all those years that he didn’t love you! And yet you still stuck to him like an unloved dog!”
Evelyn clicked her tongue in annoyance. “An unloved dog?! Which one of us is not like a dog, huh? Lusting after my leftovers.” She laughed, shaking her head. “You have such a man now, huh? Why don’t you go ahead and enjoy him?”
Evelyn turned to her car. She took out her keys and unlocked the car.
“How about your kids?” Aurelia said behind her.
Evelyn felt her blood run cold. Her hand froze over the door handle she was about to pull open.
Aurelia chuckled behind her and took a few steps forward. The clicking of her heels on the floor was drowned by the sound of Evelyn’s heart racing.
“Two of them, huh? Lovely kids, I must say. Sweet and polite and so beautiful. You must be really proud of them, huh?” Aurelia said directly behind Evelyn.
Evelyn turned sharply. “How do you–”
“How do I know?” Aurelia scoffed. “That’s not the problem here, is it? The question is, does he know?”
Evelyn felt fear grip her heart. Did Aurelia know that the children belonged to Caleb? How did she know that? How did she even know about the kids?!
Evelyn raised her chin and hid her internal turmoil. “Does he know what?” she spat in anger.
That you’re a whore?” Aurelia said with a coy smile. “Does he know that you have children for another man? You speak to me about shame but here you are jumping from man to man.”
Evelyn felt a pain in her heart. While Aurelia was wrong, her words hit a part of Evelyn that just hurt.
“Stop it–”
“Oh, but I’m not done yet,” Aurelia snapped. “Where is the ring on your finger? None. And yet you have kids for some worthless nobody, I’m sure. Does Caleb know about this? If he knew, do you think he’d even glance at you again? Or let you treat his father?”
“That’s enough–”
“Whose man did you steal this time? Huh? I wonder. Does his wife know you have kids for him? Do the kids even know you seduced their father and birthed them?”
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Chapter 24
Evelyn felt tears prick her eyes. She remembered how she had lied to her kids that their father was in town. What if they got more curious? What if Aurelia took this a bit too far?
Aurelia smiled triumphantly as she saw the emotions change on Evelyn’s face. “Ah, I knew it,” she said with a laugh. “You’re just as shameless, huh?”
Evelyn dug into her bag for her wallet. She took out a few hundred dollar bills and threw them at Aurelia. “That’s money for the payment,” she said, her voice cracking. “I don’t need your kindness. I can pay for my car myself.
“Oh really?” Aurelia laughed mockingly. “Can you also impregnate yourself? Huh?!”
Evelyn ignored her and got into her car. She started the engine and revved it as loud as she could. Aurelia rained abuses on her. Evelyn barely heard a word she said.
Tears filled her eyes, tears she stubbornly bit back. She had never expected that Aurelia’s words could ever hurt her, but today her words cut so deep.
Evelyn didn’t know what to do next.
Her fear was that Aurelia would tell Caleb about her kids. And if she did… then Evelyn wasn’t sure her kids would be hers any longer.
