Always next to you

Chapter Twenty

NICOLE

Everything was ruined.

"Who is this bitch, anyway?"

"What family is she from?"

"No way Aiden would date someone from a normal family."

"Does that mean we had a chance to date a billionaire?"

"I heard she works at Zen."

"So she's a nerd then."

"No way! She's not rich too?"

"I'm sure she got the job, thanks to her boyfriend."

"Women like her have it easy."

"I hope they break up soon."

Each comment felt like needles pricking my chest. They were words, but they were so loud I could hear the voices of the strangers who wrote them. How could they talk about me that way when they didn't even know me?

I spent years working hard on my own, and it was all over due to my carelessness. This wasn't the first time I was in the news for the wrong reasons. Except this time, I am old enough to remember everything.

I still remember much from that day, only that I felt this way too. I felt useless and disgusted with myself. It made me wonder if the things people said about me online were true.

Considering how I met Aiden, there is a possibility he hired me because he wanted to use me. He said we should be friends, but there were thousands of people who believed we were something more. If we were actually dating, I wouldn't feel this terrible.

Aiden was also under fire as well. People were saying he took advantage of his power as my boss to date me. I won't say Aiden never abused his power, but they didn't know anything about him to speculate. It made me even more angry because all I can do about it was cry.

This was just a dating rumour, but what would happen if it were actually true? Aiden was very protective of me, and it would be normal for people to misunderstand. Even I feel confused when he is nice to me.

My phone vibrated as I stared at the comment through my teary eyes. I saw it was a text from a name I never thought would pop up on my screen. My mother.

My heart rate increased as I wondered what this was about. It was her first text message to me in four years. After getting my grant at eighteen, I put myself through college, studying what I wanted to study.

She never called or texted, even once. The few times I called her, she never picked up either. I assumed she had abandoned me. She didn't even show up for my graduation after I emailed her the invite. I had already gotten used to the fact that I was alone.

What did she want now? This was the wrong time for her to text me. I wiped my tears and tapped on the message, only to nearly choke on my spit.

"I see you've been busy. Don't do anything else until I get back." the text read.

The words were followed by a screenshot of one of the articles.

Oh no! This is bad!

My mom saw the articles. Has she been keeping tabs on me? How did she see them hours after they came out? I read her text over and over again as my mind went into a full panic state.

"How could you be so useless?!" Her voice screamed in my head.

The memory came with a sharp pain at the back of my head. Why did this memory come again? Fear shook my body as the voices continued to scream.