Sharlynn Runs Away

Richie's expression showed no surprise, but there was a loud chuckle coming from his mouth. Those grey irises, with their sharp eyes, stared at the unblinking Sharlynn.

 

"Sorry, miss, if you're asking me to joke around, I don't have time. I'm going back to work." Richie dismissed Sharlynn's hand. I am immediately leaving the girl with a mess on her brain.

 

"Richie!" Sharlynn took three steps, grabbing Richie's hand again to keep him from leaving her. 

 

Richie jerked to a  stop. He looked at Sharlynn in disgust. He knew who the young lady was who interrupted his work—a spoiled girl who liked to throw tantrums with him.

 

"I'm serious," Sharlynn whispered with teary eyes. Richie knew that the girl who was starting to look worried was not well. But he wanted to avoid falling for Sharlynn's proposal. "Marry me!"

 

That double-edged, knife-sharp look seemed to want to slice the beautiful face in front of him. The man felt his pride being trampled. 

 

"Miss, your future husband is Julian. Please don't act like this. I don't want you to think of me as  someone's relationship breaker!" Richie's words sounded high-pitched. But it was not enough to make Sharlynn afraid of the man in front of her.

 

"We broke up!" Sharlynn replied emphatically. But that didn't matter to Richie. 

 

"That's none of my business, miss. Now, please let me go!" This time, Richie couldn't back down. He threw Sharlynn's hand away again. After that, the man half ran away, leaving Sharlynn, who began to sob quietly.

 

"Richie! You have to marry me! Otherwise, I'll tell everyone you took me to your apartment!" threatened Sharlynn, who had stopped Richie's footsteps a few meters in front of the girl, but the man didn't look back. He soon resumed his hurried pace, leaving Sharlynn behind.

 

Sharlynn's knees felt weak. The girl was numb. She had tried to lower her self-esteem in front of Richie, but he was not interested.

 

"Mom, they're all bad!" Sharlynn whispered as she covered her face with the palm of her hand. "What am I going to do when I see Odette and Julian get married? They're such idiots!"

 

With that, Sharlynn left the mansion without anyone noticing. She went back to look for Richie at the front of the mansion, but she couldn't find him anywhere. 

 

In the gap between the first and second floors, someone could be seen leaving the second-floor hallway after seeing what happened between Sharlynn and Richie on the first floor.

 

Sharlynn got into the car and drove to an unknown destination. Inside the car, she cried as she turned the wheel.

 

"Where else am I going to go," Sharlynn whimpered as she squeezed the steering wheel hard. I am tired of seeing the faces of that older woman and her son! I  have to avenge their evil deeds! I have to!" 

 

Sharlynn's face was completely frustrated. Even her head felt empty, unable to think straight. She was not paying attention to the road signs, causing several cars on the road to almost hit her. 

 

***

The Eisenhauer family mansion.

 

In a baroque-style room with cream-coloured walls, a beautiful, slender girl with straight platinum blonde hair looked at herself in the mirror as she tried on a sleeveless white wedding dress with a mermaid-shaped bottom.

 

A middle-aged woman in a semi-formal maroon dress entered her daughter's room. She smiled happily when she saw her daughter looking so happy in her dream wedding dress.

 

"Mommy's daughter is beautiful." The voice made the platinum blonde stop and turn around. She found her mother smiling happily.

 

"Mom, do I look beautiful?" she asked her mother.

 

"You're beautiful." The middle-aged woman walked over to Odette and stroked her daughter's hair. "What I did was just for you. Soon, what Sharlynn has will be yours. Heinz is too stupid and gullible."

 

Odette smiled in satisfaction. As long as her mother was married to the head of the Eisenhauer family, everything she had wanted since childhood was what Sharlynn had.

 

"Ever since I was little, I always dreamed of what that spoiled child had, Mom. Well, what is hers will soon be mine. Even her handsome and rich future husband." The mother and daughter laughed together, imagining what Sharlynn's situation would be like.

 

"Everything will soon be yours. Look, Heinz has already given you Julian. He even had the heart to slap his real daughter in front of us," Rolanda said with an evil grin.

 

But Odette's smile suddenly turned dark, "Mom, what about the Kaufmann family? They have never liked or accepted us. Sharlynn was always their favourite niece." 

 

Rolanda chuckled irritably at her daughter. "Why are you worried about the Kaufmanns? They're not important. After Heinz treats you like his biological daughter, they will eventually accept you. After we get rid of Sharlynn as far away as possible, of course."

 

The wicked grin returned to the lips of the two women of different ages. However, neither of them realized that someone had been listening to their conversation through the crack in the door that Rolanda had left open.

 

***

The Kaufmann family mansion. "Mommy! Daddy!" Yolanda's cry caused Keenan and Adriana, who were relaxing in the living room, to turn their heads toward the little girl running toward them.

 

"Honey, why are you running around like that? Is someone chasing you?" asked Adriana as she put down the pot of tea she had just poured.

 

"Daddy, Aunty Sharlynn left the mansion crying after Uncle Richie refused to marry her," said little Yolanda.

 

Keenan, who had just taken a sip of tea from his cup, choked and spat it out. Adriana was just as shocked, the beautiful dark blonde gazing at her daughter with a gaping mouth.

 

"Darling, please don't joke. Daddy never taught you to lie like that," said Keenan, who couldn't believe his daughter.

 

"Daddy, Yolanda isn't lying! Aunt Sharlynn indeed forced Uncle Richie to marry her. Aunt Sharlynn broke up with Julian!" Yolanda insisted to her father with a playful expression on her face.

 

"There seems to be something wrong. If it's true that Sharlynn and Julian called off their wedding, there must be a reason. Of course, I'll ask Heinz directly," Keenan said as he picked up the cell phone on the table in front of him.

 

But before he could press the button that would connect him to his younger cousin, Adriana's screech startled him.

 

"Keenan, look at this!" Adriana showed her husband her phone. "I opened my social media, and Odette made a status like this."

 

Keenan frowned as he saw a photo of a wedding dress and a hand with a diamond ring on it. That was not what caught Keenan's attention, but the pair of names.

 

'Odette love Julian'.

 

"Damn!" Keenan squeezed his phone. "This is really frustrating my niece. "I'll call Sharlynn."

 

Keenan scrolled through the screen of his smart, flat object. He tried to dial Sharlynn's cell phone number. Unfortunately, Sharlynn's number was not available.

 

A harsh exhalation came from between Keenan's lips, and he stood up from the sofa with a tense expression on his face.

 

"Keenan, what's wrong?" asked Adriana, no less panicked.

 

"I need to find Sharlynn. I can't get her cell phone. I'm worried she's being reckless or something's wrong with her." Keenan half ran forward, followed by Adriana and Yolanda.

 

Outside the porch, Richie was standing next to the car he was going to use to take Keenan to work, but that plan had to be changed.

 

"Richie!" he called, causing him to turn to his master and immediately open the car door for Keenan. "We're going to look for Sharlynn. She just left the mansion in tears, right? After talking to you? Her cell phone is out of order. If anything happens to her, you have to take responsibility!"

 

Richie noticed something different in the Great Lord's gaze. The man was looking at Yolanda, which made him suspicious. But he did not know what had happened to Sharlynn and where she had gone.

 

"Keenan, you should ask Richie and Sharlynn yourself for the truth. Is what Yolanda said true ?" suggested Adriana.