Free Web NovelChapter 136: Unhappy People
Vivian’s POV
[Hey Vivian, are you free this weekend].
Reading Bryce’s message, Vivian was tempted to say that not only was she busy that weekend, but that she would be busy on all other weekends as well. Instead, she pushed away that impulse and answered the man honestly.
[Yes, I am free. I do not have anything planned] freeweɓnovel.cøm
Sending the message, Vivian waited for his reply, nervously biting at her nails. All she had done was confirm that she had nothing better to do. That should not have left her feeling so anxious. But no matter what she did, she could not help but feel as though she had just given valuable intel to an enemy soldier.
When her phone buzzed with Bryce’s reply, she almost did not read it, but she forced herself to. Knowing that if she ignored him the man would not only blow up her phone. But that he would also likely show up and try to come into her apartment( something that she had not allowed him to do yet).
[Good. I am coming to pick you up. Be ready in thirty minutes].
Vivian stilled as she read the message, her heart racing as a past trauma came to the surface. One time, she had gone out on a date with Bryce, and the man had actually left her behind to walk off all that they had eaten.
When she had confronted him about it, he had denied doing it, saying that she was remembering things wrong. That he’d explained that he was leaving because he had an emergency to attend to. When they had been together, he had insisted that her version of events was wrong so many times that she’d ended up agreeing with him just to keep the peace. But she had always known that he’d been playing with her, trying to get her to doubt herself.
The fact that he would often threaten to do something similar had been proof that the original incident had happened as she remembered it. The man clearly took great pleasure in stressing Vivian out.
She’d learned a valuable lesson from the walking incident. Whenever he’d taken her out and they had to use his car, she had always made sure to have some money on her, in case she needed to find a ride for herself.
So as she got ready to go wherever it was that Bryce was taking them. Vivian made sure to have some extra money on her.
***
It was a fast food restaurant, of course, she should have known Bryce was exactly the kind of person to do such a thing.
"Come on, Piggy. I know that this is exactly the type of place that you prefer. Why don’t you order more? Eat more. It’s okay,"
Staring down at her salad and chicken nuggets, Vivian felt like she was about to be sick.
The entire time that they had been there, Bryce had been going on and on about how okay he would be with her ordering more than she had. How it would be fine if she wanted to eat a little bit of everything. How great it was that she was confident enough to eat ice cream out in public, given her size.
It was not funny. It had never been funny and it never would be. But after every single little dig like that, the man threw his head back and laughed. It had gotten to the point where Vivian had stopped watching him and was actually paying attention to all of the people around them.
In the past, she had been too busy being embarrassed to notice.
But now that she was looking, she noticed that everyone kept throwing looks at their table. Some of the men staring at Bryce in anger. It was very clear that they were not happy with how awful he was being to her.
What Bryce was doing was not a ’guy thing’. Other men were hearing his words, and they were not looking at him favourably.
It was such a small thing, but it made Vivian feel seen. She had always known that Bryce did not treat her right. Her time with Ryan had made her really come to accept that.
But now that Vivian was truly feeling it as well, it made something in her shift.
She did not know what the new feeling was. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
But despite a part of her feeling that she deserved all of the nastiness that Bryce was throwing her way. That feeling was completely against that belief.
And it made it harder and harder for Vivian to just sit there and listen to Bryce belittle her.
"I am not feeling too good. Can we go?"
For a second, Bryce looked so angry she thought he would throw his plate at her face.
But in the end, the man just nodded.
"Sure, anything for you, Piggy,"
***
"Can I come up?" The question took Vivian by surprise.
Having just taken off her seatbelt, she looked over at Bryce.
Before answering him, she put one foot out the door and shook her head.
"I have a headache, so I’m going to drink some painkillers and rest,"
"We could ’rest’ together," He said, his eyes roaming over her body in a way that made Vivian feel dirty.
Shaking her head, she finally got out of the car.
"Not today, Bryce," With that she shut the door. Not even reacting when she happened to meet his eyes through the closed window and see the darkness there.
Turning around Vivian began walking to her apartment.
Every few seconds, she looked back just to make sure that he was not following her.
She did not stop doing so until she was in the safety of her apartment, with the door locked.
Though she had not really meant it when she’d said it to him, she ended up taking a painkiller and going straight to bed.
She fell asleep, with the necklace that Ryan had given her held gently in one hand.
