Entwined With the Villainous Guardian
Chapter 182: Meeting Again

Chapter 182: Meeting Again

"Gosh, Melanie!" Gabriella hugged Viviana and pulled her inside. After checking that no one was near, she locked the door.

"What’s all this?" Gabriella asked hearing the clinking. She patted Viviana all over. "Why are you wearing a coat inside the house?" she checked Viviana. "Can’t you get the good ones, at least?" she sighed after safely getting the bottles from Viviana.

Viviana plopped on the bed. She didn’t know if Gabriella wears her perfume to bed but even the bed smelled like her. There was a comfortable silence between them for some time as Gabriella sat beside Viviana.

"Are you okay?" Gabriella broke the silence.

"I’m so glad to see you, Gabby. I never thought that I would see you again." Viviana rolled on the bed. Her face was lit with a bright smile contradicting her eyes that were rimmed red.

"Really?" Gabriella pinched her cheek. They have a lot to talk about. "You didn’t look very happy to see me last night. If looks could kill, I’d be ashes by now."

Viviana grinned cheekily. "Well..." she sat up as she needed to think properly for her to answer Gabby. She did get mad. But she was mad at both of them. "I was mad," Viviana leaned to Gabriella. "You never told me that you knew Leander!" she spoke gritting her teeth and pinched Gabriella’s thigh.

Gabriella screamed in pain. "You little!" she raised her hand to hit Viviana. Viviana covered her face with her forearms reflexively.

Gabriella sighed seeing Viviana cowering. She held Viviana’s hand. Viviana opened her eyes sensing the gentleness of Gabriella.

"When you came to me a year back talking about your plans, I didn’t think you’ll go through it. Geez, Melanie! You were the kindest person I knew. You didn’t even talk back against the kids who bullied you. And you...When I heard of what happened to Evander, I thought you were dead, Melanie...They said that you were dead. I was so...You were the last friend I knew from back then. And this was the second time I was hearing about your death..."

Viviana hugged her seeing the tears in her eyes. She knew Gabriella would have grieved for her.

"You know how it goes, Gabby... You signed a wicked contract for your mother. And I picked the knife for my parents... What else can we do? It’s not so easy to give up, is it? They were the ones who loved us rejects..."

Gabriella sniffed. Viviana’s eyes filled with tears too.

Gabriella was one of the elder kids in the orphanage. Unlike her, Gabriella came to the orphanage at the age of three after her parents died and none of the relatives stepped forward to take her in to raise her. Gabriella was left in the orphanage.

Gabriella was adopted by a couple soon after she came there because they had fertility issues. But after five years, when Gabriella was eight, that family returned her to the orphanage because they had a child of their own.

Gabriella was too young to remember her real parents and their death. She must have been confused when she was first adopted but she accepted them as her real parents. And when Gabriella was sent back to the orphanage as she was "no longer needed" by the ones she thought were her parents, she had abandonment issues.

But in the orphanage, she was not the only one who was returned. She got used to it there. Years passed and her hope for someone to adopt her waned the more she grew up. She didn’t want to get adopted either because she was scared that they won’t like her just like her parents did.

Viviana was not very close with Gabriella. For one, they had a big age gap of six years. In kids’ age, that’s too much of a gap although for adults that difference won’t matter all that much.

And more importantly, Viviana was the pariah in the orphanage. No one who wanted friends got along with her. Gabriella had her own gang of friends because of her bright nature. As Gabriella had settled in the orphanage and believed that she won’t get adopted, she was a happy child. She had a gang of happy girls around her.

Viviana would often look at them from a distance. But she didn’t dare to get closer to them. Their happiness repelled Viviana away from them. And they didn’t care about her either. It was a big orphanage and there were many groups of friends in different age groups.

But when she needed help, Gabriella was the one who offered her help not worrying if she might lose her friends. The kids who bully Viviana once locked her in one of the kennels for the dogs with a bunch of feral cats when she was six years old. Those cats got scared and they attacked Viviana. The kennels were at the far end, near the fence, and no one was near her to hear her shouts because the bullies made sure no one got near her.

Gabriella saw what was happening. She listened to the bullies and left just like the other kids did. But while no one returned, Gabriella did, with Father Flanagan. Viviana had to be hospitalized after the attack. And that was the reason she developed a fear of cats.

Even after that incident, Gabriella didn’t talk to her much. But she got adopted by another family who already had a son just a couple of months after the incident with the cats.

Viviana didn’t hear from Gabriella after that. After Gabriella left, Viviana found Leona. And her life changed soon after too. When she came across Gabriella, she was already at Venus Point.

Viviana was shocked to learn that she was working at Venus point. She thought that her parents sold her there and cursed them. But Gabriella didn’t let her. She told her that it was her choice to enter a contract to work at Venus point.

The family who adopted Gabriella were good people and they took care of her as they did their son. Apparently, Gabriella’s mother couldn’t get pregnant for a second time. But she wanted a daughter so much. They were planning on adopting a little girl, but when they saw the bright and chirpy Gabriella, they fell in love with her and brought the tween home.

Gabriella talked about living in a measured and careful way in their home. She told Viviana that she feared that a simple mistake might make her new parents hate her and they might return her to the orphanage.

And then there was the news about the Abenney fire.