Chapter 4

AS COLD AS SNOW

Bianca's POV

The ride back home was silent, so so silent. I kept on glancing at Jason with the side of my eyes every now and then. I wanted to say something, I wanted to ease the tension but I feel like saying something will only make it worse.

Halfway through the journey home, I decided to speak up. This silence was killing me. After so much attempts to get the words to come out and not stay stuck in my throat,I looked at him and made attempts to touch him and I finally did.

"Jason..." I called out to him in a very low voice.

He didn't say anything and totally ignored me, maybe I wasn't loud enough. I called out to him again, louder this time and he turned on the radio and kept on changing the stations to find his choice.

"Good morning wonderful citizens of Nashview City, today is another day of..."

I couldn't care less about what she was talking about, my only concern was how to make my boyfriend speak to me again. He was giving me the silent treatment and it felt like a hole had been made in my heart and could only be filled with his love.

The next thing that happened shocked me. The reporter was giving a detailed account on what happened today at the protests.

"... and currently, I am standing in front of Green Co where recently, we have seen sightings of some protesters claiming to want to save the forest..."

Claim? I wasn't claiming, I was going to save it, I was still going to do that but it would prove more difficult without anyone to support me. Curse you Charles Bandra.

My heart almost escaped from my body when she mentioned my name and how... Oh no! I pray she doesn't know about the slap.

How did they know? Did those people snitch?

"...so tell us about this so called leader of yours."

She seemed to be questioning someone now. I was positive they weren't going to snitch on me, it wasn't possible.

"Yes. There was this girl..."

She said 'the girl' like it was out of spite, it had to be her, that middle-aged woman who had a lot to say and right now, she was still talking.

"She claimed to be our leader and had to have a say in our lives. I mean we only came here to protest because we were promised to get paid, no one really cares about these things."

I could picture her face, and imagined her beaming with joy as she shamed me. I couldn't believe all these allegations about me, I wasn't even aware about them getting paid.

"Oh and do you know the annoying part?" She continued.

What was left for her to say again? Don't tell me she was about to reveal to the whole world that I slapped Charles? No, no, no. It mustn't happen.

I looked at Jason again, and he looked more pissed off about this situation. Couldn't he just change the station? I guess he was using this to punish me, make me realize my mistakes even though it was beyond redemption now.

My life was completely over. I had humiliated Charles, and now the whole world was about to find out. I wondered what Charles would do about it. I was about to loose my mind.

"... this lady had the guts to reject his offer. Imagine that. How much was she going to pay us? It is nothing compared to what he offered us."

I could sense the frustration in her voice. This was messed up.

"...she even gave him a s..."

My eyes widened in fear as she was about to reveal what I did to Charles, but she was interrupted by someone. I couldn't figure out who it was, but was left speechless when I heard his voice. It was Charles. No wonder everyone went quiet.

"Excuse me, Mr Charles. Can you tell us what really happened and how..."

He cut her off before she could finish her sentence.

"There's nothing to see here, and by the way I already settled them."

Wait, settled who?

"And by settled, what do you mean?" The reporter questioned him.

"I settled the protesters already, I even doubled the price of the money I offered to them initially."

He did what? How could he say such a thing like that on live? So anyone and anything can be bought with money? What was he saying?

"Hmmm. I see" The reporter responded.

"And immediately, work is going to resume, so there's no cause for alarm."

Was he kidding right now? No one was going to stop him? I had to do something.

Jason finally stared at me. I couldn't breathe. I was only joking about them going back to him but they did. That wasn't even the annoying part, the part where I slapped him and it almost got revealed could have ended me. I couldn't believe they wanted to snitch. Charles saved my skin back there from ultra humiliation, or maybe it was just me overthinking. I had only seen him once, but I kind of figured out the kind of person he is. And never did imagine him leaving the leisure of his office just to attend to mere reporters.

"Jay..."

He looked away from me and increased the volume of the radio and I was forced to listen to that witch of a reporter speak. Jason didn't even make any attempts to change the station. I guess this was my punishment.

I couldn't take it anymore. Haven't I been punished enough? I turned off the radio and finally spoke to Jason.

"Jason? Jason, I'm sorry." I was crying.

"Cut the act, Bianca! Don't give me those fake tears. I'm not buying it. You're sorry? Do you realize what you have done? You could have just declined the offer but you just had to be dramatic as always. You had to slap him. You let your anger get the better of you."

My tears were flowing now, I was pretty sure it could fill a well.

"I'm so sorry, Jason. I couldn't just stay there and do nothing. I had to do something." I said choking on my tears. He didn't even console me.

"Yes, yes. You're so kind that you have to help everyone." He was being sarcastic.

"No one cares about the forest, babe. Do you know what we could have done with this amount of money?"

Woah woah woah!!! Hold it right there. Even him too?

"What do you mean by that?" I wiped my tears with the sleeve of the top I was putting on.

"I meant what I said Bianca."

He didn't even try to hide it. Even my own boyfriend too. He was so blunt that it hurt. He has been pretending all these while and I thought he actually cared. I was broken, shattered.

"Stop the car." I tried my best to keep my cool. I was furious. He put the car to an halt and parked it.

"Babe..."

I didn't wait for him to finish his words as I searched for my bags and opened the door and left. He didn't even make any attempts to stop me and he drove off.

I couldn't believe it. I had a lot of things to clear off my head, maybe I was being dramatic. But the thought of my own boyfriend doing this to me was alarming. I couldn't go back to that house for now.

I picked up my phone and dialed my best friend's number and told her I was going to explain everything she heard from the news, before calling a taxi to take me to her house.