Filed to story: Bring It On My Mafia Life Novel (Rhea & Lukas)
“So did you get the colder one?” Mimi intentionally reminded her of her outburst earlier on.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to -“
“Don’t worry, I get it. You’re stressed up, I’ll be the same if I was in your shoes,” She smiled at her and Rhea took her hand in hers and squeezed gratefully.
Mimi laid back in her seat and sighed deeply, “I always thought love triangles were quite cute and romantic, who knew it was this distressing and would happen to my best friend, instead of me,” She said wistfully.
Rhea looked at her immediately, “What? Why would you wish that upon yourself? Are you not satisfied with your relationship with Victor? Is there something going on that I don’t -“
“Ladies!” The woman cautioned them, they were interrupting her teaching.
…..
“Sorry,” Rhea apologized for the both of them, and the woman after giving them a long look, went back to her lessons.
“So it is important to know that when manually diluting cleaning chemicals, always add water to the bottle or bucket first, then add the chemical next. This minimizes the risk of the concentrated cleaning chemical splashing back at you….”
The tired Mimi turned to whisper to her friend, “There is a reason why I hated school?”
“Exactly,” Rhea groaned inwardly.
But the woman, oblivious to her student’s turmoil, went on with her lessons. Lukas had paid her handsomely to educate them on the job properly, she couldn’t leave any stone unturned.
“Never mix chlorine bleach with ammonia or acidic products, such as drain cleaners, toilet bowl cleaners, or metal cleaners, because it will release toxic fumes strong enough to be fatal. Any leftover bleach can be flushed down the toilet or washed down a drain followed with plenty of water. Additionally, do not dump any household chemicals on the ground. Chemicals may flow into surface waters and eventually into groundwater sources where they can pollute drinking water…..”
The woman was still saying when Rhea heard chuckles coming in their direction. Normally, she wouldn’t give much attention to such careless chatter, however, that voice was unmistakably familiar and she could recognize it anywhere – even in her dreams. It was Lukas’s, and there was another female voice in the mix.
Hence, before Lukas and the mystery girl could step into the room, Rhea already had her eyes fixed on the door. So when Lukas finally stepped in, her gaze first connected with his before taking notice of the hands that secured his arm and the figure came into sight.
Rhea gasped softly when she saw that it was that girl from earlier. She couldn’t help but feel this sudden dread grip her heart. Who the hell was that young lady and why was she with Lukas? Rhea knew that it wasn’t his fiancée, she had already seen that one.
Moreover, they weren’t even this intimate, enough to grasp his side, nor was Lukas the type to let any woman get close to him. So who was this one? They looked too comfortable with each other? Perhaps, she’s a friend? Ex-girlfriend?
Why does she even care? Lukas could frolic as much as she wanted. It was none of her business.
Mimi must have noticed her discomfort because she turned and followed her line of sight. Her friend said, “Wow, she’s pretty. She and Lukas actually look cute together.”
Rhea didn’t forget how to breathe, rather, she couldn’t breathe. When Mimi said those words, it was as if someone plunged a knife into her heart and twisted it hard. It not only killed her, but in a torturous way.
Without even getting to know the young lady, Rhea decided at that moment that she didn’t like her. Her jaw flexed and she didn’t notice how white her fists had turned from clenching them too much.
Rhea looked at the girl and sneered, she wasn’t even that beautiful. The girl had blonde hair and baby blue eyes and was the epitome of the barbie doll. The only advantage she had over her was the fact that she was younger. Of course, Lukas liked them young.
No, it was actually stupid of her to have thought hard of his confession that morning. He likes her? Who was she kidding? She simply told him that she wanted them to be just friends and he got over her that easily? It was quite disappointing. Thankfully, she hadn’t made the mistake of agreeing to his confession. Lukas was not worth her anger.
“Rhea?!” Mimi whisper-yelled, slightly startling her.
“What?”
“Are you okay? You look like you’re ready to murder someone right now?” Mimi looked at her in concern.
But Rhea gave her a smile that didn’t touch her eyes, “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be fine,” She turned to look at their incoming guest.
They must be doing some sort of couple marching because it was taking them too long to reach them. Rhea noticed every single exchange between Lukas and the young woman, like when she stood on her toes to whisper something into his ears and he actually smiled.
That gesture made the furrow on Rhea’s brows deepen, were they kidding her right now. Their zealous teacher upon noticing Lukas’s presence stopped her lessons as well.
Lukas halted upon reaching them and then pulled Winters to his front, saying, “Everyone, let me introduce to you, this is Winters, a very good friend of mine.”
The young lady waved proudly, “Hi, I’m winter and it’s nice to meet you. I hope we have a nice time here together.”
Lost His favour
Everyone responded to the introduction all except Rhea who didn’t know what to say to her. But that was until recognition set in and Winters pointed at her, “Oh, it’s you.”
Lukas looked between the both of them, “You know each other already?”
Rhea answered, “She bumped into me -“
“More like, we ran into each other,” Winters corrected her.
Rhea looked at the young girl, she was quite cheeky.
“It’s good that you know each other then. Winter, this is Rhea, and Rhea, this is Winter -“
“Your very good friend,” Rhea took the words right out of his mouth. She said curtly, “Yeah, I heard you the first time.” She hoped her expression was welcoming enough.
While Lukas had introduced Winters to her as a “good” friend, he introduced her as just “Rhea”, nothing else. Rhea guessed she didn’t mean much to him – Winters probably had much value. And why was she bothered by all of this? She was supposed to be happy that Lukas moved his attention to another person – much quicker than she thought.
“You are very beautiful,” Winters said and that made Rhea’s brows arch, then narrow suspiciously. What was the girl’s intention? Was she trying to pretend like a good person in front of Lukas? Rhea knew her female gender and they were good at pretense. She has seen women do many things just to get a man’s attention.
…..
Look at Winters, she had her arms around Lukas when the man had a fiancée? Or Lukas didn’t tell her about that? Friends her butt. And weren’t girls her age supposed to be in school instead of hanging on to older men?
Fine, since the girl wanted to play this game, she was in. She would tear off her mask and reveal to Lukas her true intention. She was not backing out of this one.
So Rhea replied, “Thank you,” with a big smile. She was not jealous of the young woman and was merely looking out for this stupid fool, Lukas.
Noticing the teacher, Lukas stepped closer to whisper into her ears and
Rhea felt a shiver run down her spine. She was almost tempted to wrap her arm around his waist and pull him closer.
It would seem like an innocent gesture, as if she wanted to hear him better, but Winters was a woman like her and it was enough to send the message. Winters has no control over Lukas and the both of them have been together, before she came along.
But before that could happen, Rhea heard Lukas say, “She’s the hacker,” and she froze.
Dumbfounded could not even explain how Rhea felt at that moment. She slowly turned her head to look at the girl that Lukas just called a hacker. No, that’s impossible.