Chapter 5 Five

CHAPTER 5

Ten days after Karen's death.

First Metro, New York.

Stella leaves the room after the lunch hour. Mr. Bear asked Stella to bring some files to the audit room and Stella confronted Samuel.

"Do you want to join me?"

"Nope! I'll wait in the cafeteria. I'm not in the mood to talk or meet Mr. Bear."

Stella just rolled her eyes lazily. "Your explanation is too personal, but it's okay. I'll see you later. I'll see you soon."

Stella and Samuel's friendship was often misunderstood by others. The two of them were so close that some people thought that they were lovers all along. But Stella always denied every rumor and said that the men around her were just friends. Samuel, on the other hand, felt it was okay to be rumored with Stella. Samuel likes Stella.

After finishing putting down the files requested by Mr. Bear, Stella immediately headed to the cafeteria. As we all know, the cafeteria is the border between room two and room three in First Metro.

That day, Stella met Clara, Ganisa, Helena and Sera in front of the cafeteria. The four of them were walking together to the cafeteria just like the past few days. Or you could say, Ganisa was leading at the front while the other three were following like maids behind. While Helena and Sera looked just as imperious as Ganisa, Clara often wore a flat expression when walking with her three seniors.

Stella was silent as she watched Clara's movements among the seniors who were also known as First Metro's Queen Bee. Aside from the fact that she was related to the higher-ups in First Metro, it was also because she was good at currying favor. She seemed unhappy and was ignored several times by the three as they talked.

Soon, Ganisa's voice echoed through the cafeteria. She stood in front of Clara with a glass of orange juice in her hand. "Didn't you hear what I said?" she asked sarcastically. "I ordered mango juice, not orange juice. Are you trying to poison me when you know I'm allergic to acid?"

Clara looked at Ganisa in disbelief. She hurriedly defended herself. "But you ordered orange juice from me earlier."

Stella looked at them in turn as Ganisa acted up again. "Sera and Helena are witnesses here," she said and looked at her two friends. "Did you two hear me order orange juice from Clara? No one heard, did they?"

Ganisa's high-pitched voice caught the attention of the other employees gathered in the cafeteria. At this time of the day, all the tables were occupied and Stella couldn't imagine how embarrassed Clara would be to be the talk of the cafeteria because Ganisa was yelling at her.

Sera then pushed Clara's shoulder with one hand. "Don't play victim. We both clearly heard that Ganisa ordered mango juice, not orange juice."

"I think she's doing this on purpose to make you sick, Ganisa," Helena said, making the atmosphere between them even more heated.

Clara exclaimed. "I'm not wrong. I definitely bought the drinks you told me to."

Without further ado, Ganisa poured the orange juice in her hand over Clara's body until her blazer was soaked with the yellow liquid. The surrounding staff immediately squealed in shock while some employees took pictures and posted them on social media. Clara burst into tears, but her legs seemed stuck and she couldn't go anywhere. She just cried and stood in front of Ganisa like a weak and helpless fool.

The girl who had purposely dyed her hair fiery red then grinned triumphantly and crossed her arms over her chest. "That's because you didn't listen to me and because you didn't accompany me to the salon yesterday," she said without any guilt. "Next time, if I tell you to do something, you have to obey so that nothing bad happens like this. You understand, right?"

Helena and Sera smiled and folded their arms across their chests as they watched Ganisa bully Clara.

But this was too much for Stella. She didn't mind if Clara didn't want to be friends with her, but it was a different story if she was just being bullied by Ganisa and her two friends.

Stella then stepped forward, breaking through the crowd of employees vying to take pictures as Ganisa bullied her junior who was none other than her own best friend and boldly, threw the remaining trash from Juna's desk in front of her towards Ganisa.

Stella doesn't even realize that Juna is there. Juna was engrossed in her pasta instead of intervening in the ruckus Ganisa was making. But when Stella picked up the trash on her plate that she had bought earlier, she was distracted.

Juna saw Stella throwing plastic at Ganisa's face, causing her to be completely shocked. She glared and her face turned red with embarrassment.

"What the hell!" screeched Ganisa in disgust.

But Stella didn't flinch at all. Instead, she rounded her mouth into an O shape and scratched the nape of her neck, which wasn't itchy at all, on purpose. "Sorry, I didn't know you were there. I thought it was a trash can, so I tried to throw the plastic in the right place."

Ganisa pushed Stella until the girl took a few steps back. "You're looking dead, huh?"

Stella just snorted in amusement and shot Ganisa a glare back. "Don't ever touch my best friend or I won't stay silent," she snapped, causing Clara to turn around in shock. "I'm never afraid of seniors like you."

Then Ganisa laughed and walked over to Clara. "Best friend, you say?" She grabbed the short-haired girl until Clara winced in pain and cried again. "Your Clara doesn't want to be friends with a girl who doesn't have manners like you just so you know. She prefers to stay with me and avoid you. Don't you understand, Stella?"

Stella looked at Clara. "Really?" she thought. But Clara only gave her a pitiful look that convinced her that Ganisa was just bullying her.

"The problem isn't with Clara, it's with you. You're such a trashy human that you don't deserve a friend as good as Clara," Stella said boldly. "Let's make this fair. I can't be friends with Clara because I don't have any manners, but you can't be friends with Clara because you don't have any brains or feelings. So, who's worse off? []