Humiliation

Ariella scrambled away from the bed and picking up all her clothes, she ran into the bathroom, and slammed the door behind her

She slid down on the floor, still naked as she burst into tears of guilt. She was supposed to sleep with a random stranger and get the money for her mother's surgery, so how did she end up in Kelvin's bed?

Did Hannah make a mistake with the room number? She was sure that Kelvin must have been expecting Hannah because he was also shocked to see her.

She buried her face in her hands as she sobbed loudly. She was not a good friend at all. She just slept with her friend's boyfriend and enjoyed it, she even gave her first time to him.

'I have to tell Hannah before he tells her, I need to beg for her forgiveness' she thought as she stood up with shaky legs and picked up her trousers

She brought her phone out of the pocket of her jeans and with shaky hands, she dialed Hannah's number. Her heart was in her mouth as she listened to the ringing tone, waiting for Hannah to pick up.

"Hello Ariella, how did it go? Is it done?” Hannah's cherry voice came from the other end of the phone, causing the amount of guilt in Ariella's heart to mount up.

"H…han… Hannah,” she licked her lips “Hannah I am going to accept any punishment you give to me, just promise that you would forgive me I…"

"What is it? What happened?”

Ariella cringed when she heard the obvious innocence in Hannah's voice, she nearly choked with guilt, “Hannah I think I got the number of the hotel room wrong. I slept with your boyfriend instead of the man you asked me to, he did not know, he thought that I was you. It's all my fault,”

There she has said it, she was willing to take the whole blame since she was the one at fault. She held her breath as she waited for Hannah's response, but all she got was a tinkling laugh.

"You don't have to worry about it, Ariella, I knew that it was my boyfriend who was in the room. I sent you there to accompany him for the night since I'm stuck here in the middle of a photoshoot.”

Arielle froze at Hannah's words. She was expecting anything apart from this. A shout? Insults? Perhaps, anything but the words that Hannah had just said.

"You set this entire thing up?” Ariella's voice was surprisingly calm as she gripped her phone and pressed it closer to her ears. Maybe she heard wrong. Hannah was going to say something else. This was all a terrible mistake.

"Yes, I did.” there was no guilt whatsoever in Hanna's voice. It was as if she were talking about the weather, “Don't worry, he won't be mad. He loves me too much and would get married to me, so it doesn't really matter. I have to go now, duty calls,”

The phone slid down Ariella's hands and made a clattering noise against the bathroom floor. She could not believe what she had just heard. Everything felt so surreal.

She sighed as she got up from the cold floor. She needed to explain everything to Kelvin. Her heart began to thunder in her chest when she looked up and saw him.

He was standing in the bathroom door and staring at her with cold and dark eyes which were devoid of any emotion.

Ariella was not sure what time Kelvin entered the bathroom, nor was she sure if he heard her conversation with Hannah; his girlfriend

His eyes, filled with hate and ridicule, racked down her body and she suddenly realized that she was naked. In the next second she picked up her clothes and quickly wore them, trying hard to ignore his disgusted gaze on her body or the shame biting at her as she dressed under the dark scrutiny of his gaze.

She was planning on explaining what had happened, but she did not know how to go about it because of the cold and unapproachable aura around him.

She felt so disgusted that she had been caught up in the middle of whatever game Hannah was playing with her boyfriend.

For goodness sake, all she wanted was money to pay her mother's medical bills, but she ended up getting entangled in her friend's relationship.

Ariella suddenly felt that she was stupid. Of course, Hannah was rich enough to borrow her money or even pay her mother's medical bill for her.

Hannah was a popular supermodel, and she was also from a rich family. She also had a rich boyfriend. Kelvin Patrick is the CEO of L & P co-operation.

'Maybe she was just the one that took Hannah as her real friend, but Hannah did not feel the same way about her' Ariella thought bitterly as she moved to walk past Kelvin, who was still standing at the bathrooms' door.

"You are really such a nice friend, aren't you?” his tone was dripping heavily with sarcasm.

Ariella paused in her step's before turning to look back at him, “Pardon?”

"After sleeping with your best friend's boyfriend, you are just going to walk away like nothing happened, huh?" His voice still held that sarcastic note that Ariella already hated.

Ariella was shaking her head negatively, “All of this is just a misunderstanding. I did not know that you were the one in the room. If not, I would never have come here,”

"Of course, you are just going to deny it, Hannah has told me so much about you recently. How you were only an innocent girl, but now I know that it was all a facade to get Hannah to trust you so that you can use her to climb into my bed. If not, how would a low life like you be able to get into this hotel?” He marched to her and grabbed her arms while he stared down at her in disgust.

Ariella flinched at his words, they stung, “I did no such thing, Hannah was the one that set this whole thing up. Why don't you give her a call,” Ariella tried to reason with him.

"Liar, Hannah would never do something like this, so stop putting the blame on her. You are in love with me, that was why you deliberately set this whole thing up. You are nothing but a prostitute. What?” He asked when she looked like she had been slapped, “You think I was going to believe you and fall for you after what happened?”

Ariella burst into tears of humiliation. As if sleeping with him was not humiliating enough, now she had to listen to him throw insults at her.

"All I needed was money! Money to take care of my sick mother and pay her medical bills!” Ariella angrily yelled before she could stop herself.

"Money? Is that what this is all about, money? You need some money, then you will get some money,” he released his hold on her arm and walked to the wardrobe in the hotel's room.

Ariella shivered and rubbed the part of her arms which he'd grabbed. She knew that she was going to have a bruise. She watched as he threw the wardrobe open with force and brought out a box. When he opened the box, she saw that it contained a large amount of cash.

He grabbed some of the cash and walked back to her, he threw them on the floor. “Since you need money then take those and get out of my sight,”

She looked down at the money that landed at her feet. He threw the money at her like she was some beggar on the streets, but maybe that was undoubtedly what she was at that moment: a beggar. One who needed money and would do anything to get it for her mother's treatment, including selling herself.

She has never felt humiliated in her entire life. She did not even feel like this when the creditors her father owed before his death came to drag her on the street for their money.

She did not feel this humiliated when she met her old classmates and they laughed and threw taunting remarks about how she was so poor that she had to drop out of school and do little modeling jobs for money.

She bent down and picked up the money from the floor, trying to ignore the man's icy glare on her.

After picking up the money, she looked up to meet his eyes unflinchingly, “Don't worry, I won't ever appear in front of you again.”

Ariella turned and walked out of the hotel room without another word. When she got out of the hotel, she released the breath she did not know that she had been holding. She hailed a cab and directed the driver to the hospital where her mother was.

Ariella went straight to pay and clear all her mother's medical bills and afterward, she counted the remaining bills and figured that it could pay off their rent for the year and some will be left to get a little groceries from the mall

"Doctor, how is my mother?” Ariella stood up and approached her mother's doctor when she came out of the theater after her mother's surgery

"The surgery was successful, but your mother will be under observation for a while,”

"Thank you, doctor, when can I see her?” She asked with hopeful eyes.

"She will be transferred back to her room soon,” the doctor patted her on the back before moving away

Ariella sighed and sat back, waiting for her mother to be wheeled out. She could not bring herself to regret what she did to earn her mother's surgery money because it was the reason her mother was still alive.