One Wild Night

Evelyn and Jade, who had walked into the reception area of the salon shortly after Aurora left to join Tom and Lucy in the VIP room, were now seated in the backseat behind the ladies, whispering amongst themselves excitedly. At the same time, they waited for Aurora to come back and give them feedback on the task they had assigned her.

Neither of the ladies paid attention to the new people who had joined them as they resumed their gossip.

“Have you been here before?” Jade asked Evelyn since it was her first time visiting that salon spa.

She had never been to any in Ludus because she resided in Varis, and Aurora’s beauty salon and spa was where she took care of her beauty care.

“No, but I’ve seen good reviews about their services on Instagram. And since it’s situated on Tom’s property, I wanted us to have a look. Now that you’re moving to Ludus, you could get their membership card before we leave if their services are satisfactory,” Evelyn explained, and Jade sighed.

“So, how long do we have to wait? It seems like all these ladies are waiting too,” Jade observed.

“I made a reservation for 2 PM, so there is still plenty of time for us to look around the tower to see what Tom did with the place. We got here early,” Evelyn said as she glanced at her wristwatch.

She had wanted them to come into the spa early so they could observe the staff and see how they conducted their service before it was time for their appointment. That way, she could cancel if their service was not satisfactory or up to the expected standard.

“Don’t worry, we can step out after some time,” Evelyn assured Jade as she turned to the young lady seated beside her, who seemed to be in her mid-thirties.

“Are you a regular here, or is this your first time?” She asked, and the lady turned to her with impatient eyes, wanting to focus on the discussion going on in front of them.

“Regular,” she said as she returned her attention to the ladies, and Evelyn did the same, wanting to know what was so important about their discussion and why everyone seemed engrossed in it.

“Don’t sweat it. We will handle this for you,” one of the ladies assured Anita, who kept pleading with them not to go on with their evil plan as she really held no grudges against Tom and Lucy.

“Why did you insist on messing with her skin instead of her hair?” Tiffany asked the lady who had told Aurora what to do.

“She can always get a wig to cover her hair, not her face. He should see her for the monster she is. Let’s see if he will want to flaunt her with a blotched face,” the lady explained, and the others laughed and commended her wisdom.

“What if Tracy finds out we are involved in this and withdraws our membership?” One of the ladies asked, and another brushed it off dismissively.

“She can’t do that to us all. Do you know how many ladies are going to support us and boycott her business if they find out she withdrew our membership because we were teaching that girl a lesson?”

“I wonder who these ladies are conspiring against,” Evelyn said to Jade, whose attention was now on her phone.

“Who are they talking about?” Evelyn asked the lady beside her, and this time she was more willing to respond to Evelyn’s question since it involved gossip.

“You see that lady,” the lady said, pointing at Anita’s back. “Apparently, her best friend snatched her man, and the cheating pair had the guts to come in here together. And not only that, her backstabbing best friend was shameless enough to say hello to her. So the ladies decided to teach her a lesson,” the lady said, and Evelyn smiled.

“That would serve her right,” Evelyn said with a nod of approval. She liked it when women supported women this way.

“You are always too quick to judge. You don’t even know the whole story yet, and you’re already taking sides,” Jade, who had been listening to them, said with disapproval since her mother was fond of doing that. Not long ago, she had done the same thing to Lucy, and here she was doing it again to a stranger without hearing the other side of the story.

𝑶𝗏𝓵xt.𝑐𝚘𝔪

The lady looked at Jade with equal disapproval, “What more is there to know? We all saw the cheating couple walk in together, and we saw the way the man ignored her and treated her like she didn’t exist.”

“That poor girl must have been so hurt,” Evelyn said as she stared at Anita’s back pitifully.

“And you won’t believe she is being so graceful about it. I feel hurt and angry on her behalf. Can you imagine her saying they deserve to be in love and happy? One would think, considering what happened to the backstabber girl, she would have more conscience. But who knows? Maybe all that story she told was a lie. Anyone capable of stealing a friend’s man is capable of murder, and I won’t feel sorry if she harms that stupid cheat of a man,” the lady said spitefully, and Evelyn looked at her in confusion.

“What story did she tell?” Evelyn asked, and the lady was more than eager to tell.

“Some time ago, news of how she murdered a young boy and his family was all over the internet. I think you might have heard or read of them. The man she is dating is Thomas Hank, the CEO of….”

Jade’s head snapped up at the mention of her brother’s name, and she looked at the lady, “The so-called backstabber they want to teach a lesson is his girlfriend?” She asked, and the lady nodded.

Evelyn exchanged a look with her daughter and then looked at Anita’s back. Who was the lady claiming to be Lucy’s best friend?

“Are Tom and Lucy here?” Evelyn asked Jade, and the lady looked from mother to daughter with interest.

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen them all morning,” Jade said, and then she took out her phone to dial Lucy’s line and Evelyn decided to dial Tom’s line.

“Do you know them personally?” She asked, but neither Jade nor Evelyn responded to her question.

Away from there, inside the VIP room, Tom stood in front of Lucy while Aurora, who was still waiting for the couple to answer her question, looked from one to the other.

“Where are we going?” Lucy asked when Tom extended a hand to her.

“Do you think we came here only to relax and hear what they have to say about you?” Tom asked, his hand still outstretched as he waited for Lucy to take it.

“Yes. That is what I came to do. That is what you said we were coming here to do. You said you always wanted to do this….”

“Yes. And I still plan to do so, but we can do that after setting things straight.”

“What do you plan to do?” Lucy asked, and Tom raised a brow.

“I intend to confront her in the presence of her audience. She should be able to retell her tale in front of me confidently,” Tom said, and Lucy shook her head.

“Is that necessary? You shouldn’t stoop to her level. You are bigger than that….”

“Says who?” Tom asked, and Aurora stifled a giggle.

“Tom….”

“It is because she and those with her assume I am bigger than that, is why she must have the boldness to tell such a tale while I am under the same roof as her. I told you before being a CEO doesn’t mean jack to me. I plan to live exactly like everyone else, and I won’t let my wealth or title get in my way,” Tom said, but Lucy didn’t budge.

“You confronted her a while ago. What happened to your speech about giving her a reason to plot?” Tom asked, and Lucy shook her head.

“That is different. Besides, we can still expose the truth as planned during the live show. We don’t have to do this now. It’s good enough that they asked the wrong person to do the job,” Lucy pointed out while Aurora watched them, wondering what live show she was talking about.

“Eric’s live show and now are separate events. I wouldn’t be confronting her this way if she did not sit out there and blatantly lie to everyone to tarnish your image. I didn’t come here only to sit back and let her and her sister fill the mind of everyone with hate. Not that I care what any of those ladies out there think about me, but I care what they think and say about you. If we don’t confront her now, by the time we leave here, you will be the topic on the lips of every woman who has ever walked through the doors of this spa. If Aurora didn’t know us, do you have any idea what could have happened to you? What about the next time you need to come here or go somewhere else? If we don’t correct this now, everyone will believe that what she said is the truth, and The damage will have been done before the live show,” Tom said, and when he noticed that Lucy was still hesitating, he shook his head.

“If you’re not going to come with me, I can as well do what I want to do on my own,” Tom said as he dropped his hand to his side as he headed for the door, leaving his phone on his seat.

“What are you doing sitting there? You should go with him. You’re lucky you have a man that has your back this way,” Aurora said, taking Lucy’s hand and pulling her up.

As Lucy took a step towards the door, her phone started ringing, and she glanced at it when she saw the call was from Jade. The call could wait. She had to join Tom.

After now, she and Tom would have to discuss how he brought her here without giving her complete information and yet expected her to go ahead with his plans, Lucy decided as she dropped her phone in her handbag and hurried after Tom leaving behind her handbag and Tom’s phone which was also ringing.

“Tom,” Lucy called as she caught up with him, with Aurora following closely behind them.

Tom turned to her, getting ready for another argument, “I’m not….”

“I think it’s best I confront her myself. I don’t want you to stoop to her level,” Lucy insisted as she held Tom’s gaze, and after a moment, Tom gave her a nod, and they both headed for the reception.