Entwined With the Villainous Guardian
Chapter 184: The One Everyone Wanted

Chapter 184: The One Everyone Wanted

Maybe Gabriella realized that she is speaking of the wrong thing, she stopped. "How did you end up here, Melanie?" she asked.

Viviana turned with a smile and offered her the wine she poured for her pretending that she didn’t notice her pause. "It’s a long story..." Viviana let out a long breath. "Or it might be a very short one... I don’t know why I’m here or what he..." she stared at the distance as she remembered what happened in the morning.

She can try to ignore it all she wants to. But it happened. And he implied a lot. It can’t be good. It can’t be. It’s her life. Nothing good comes for her.

"How did you end up here? How do you know Leander?" Viviana asked.

Gabriella sipped the wine and stared at the glass for some time. "Those two were my classmates. Leander and...Lionel. We were friends... before everything went wrong..." Gabriella bowed her head and wiped the corners of her eyes.

Viviana could see that Gabriella was distressed thinking about the past. If she was crying, then that means those memories she made with them were so precious.

"You’re not going to ask me how Leander was back then?" Gabriella looked up with a smile after wiping her face.

Viviana’s heart skipped a beat. She would want to know how Leander was as a teenager. The boy she met that day was very different from the man she knows now. He must have been very different when he was a teenager.

She leaned forward as she wanted to know.

Gabriella giggled. "He was silent. The dangerous-looking guy, brooding with his dark features and with that questionable tattoo all over his chest... Enticing, like a dark temptation... you know, the one every girl dreams of having for herself, to fix him, or to see the side of him where he only shows all his good sides only to her... the masculine hunk, the dangerous~"

"All right, all right," Viviana stopped Gabriella. For some reason, she didn’t want to hear more.

"He was my first crush, you know?" Gabriella added and Viviana glared at her.

Seriously? First crush? Leander was her first crush?

Why would everyone want a dangerous guy knowing that he was dangerous? Dark temptation? Why tempted by darkness? Everyone saw his tattoos? What was he doing showing his chest to everyone? That exhibitionist!

And if Gabby remembers it all even now... what went on between them? Why didn’t he tell me anything about his seduction methods? Nasty guy!

Viviana clenched her hands into fists. But then she released it. She is just like everyone who wants such a high-value man for herself. But she was not his first. Not in anything.

Maybe just his first wife. That’s it. That would be the only thing she would be first. Everything else... First kiss, first crush, first love, the first woman he lost his virginity to, the first woman he shared his bed for the night, the first woman he dated, the first woman he gifted, the first woman he received a gift from...

It could all be different women. Or it could be just one... Helena.

And what can she do about it all? Nothing. She had no right to want anything from him.

She didn’t want to think about Leander anymore. And she was able to somehow control her emotions.

"Lionel... What was he like? Was he interested in movies even then?" She wanted to know what Gabriella thought about Lionel.

Also, she remembered the watch Leander threw away. Could Gabriella know about it?

"Yes, he was," Gabriella’s face brightened up talking about Lionel. And a rare blush formed on her soft cheeks. She was not drunk and Viviana could see that Gabriella gets that excited talking about Lionel.

Gabriella told her that Leander was her first crush. A crush is something that comes for a short period of time and then you get over it. That means... Leander was not her first love.

Viviana observed Gabriella more.

"He was so into movies...he was a nerd. That’s how we got close. I used to watch a lot of movies back then. He was the one who introduced me to Leander... His favorite movie was The Godfather and he used to recite every line of Don Corleone... well, he also could recite... He recited the whole movie. And I could sit and watch him each of the parts so perfectly... Those days..." Gabriella supported her cheeks on her hands and looked at the distance.

Viviana could see how happy Gabriella was as she talked about the past. And she could say Leander’s name so easily but she rarely said Lionel’s name. It didn’t seem deliberate but more like she was trying to conceal the feelings in her heart as she says his name.

"Was he your first love?" Viviana asked. It doesn’t hurt to ask.

Gabriella’s smile vanished and she sat hugging her knees. Looking at Viviana, she sighed and hid her face behind her knees. There was silence for some time.

Viviana waited for Gabriella to speak.

"Did he come here? How was he?" she asked.

Viviana couldn’t see much, but she could see droplets of tears sticking on Gabriella’s eyelashes. And she was speaking holding her breath. She knew that Gabriella was crying.

So, he was her first love. And she loves him still.

"He was very drunk, cursing, and shouting... He had picked a fight with the paparazzi and... I don’t know what happened but Leander wasn’t willing to accept him in. And... somehow, they..." Viviana shrugged.

Gabriella buried her face in her knees and started sobbing.

"But he left on good terms with Leander. They were in the office for a long time. I don’t know what they talked about." Viviana told knowing that Gabriella would want to know.

But she knew Gabriella wouldn’t stop crying. She must be holding back till now and now she is letting out. It is better to cry and let it out.

She scooted closer to Gabriella and Gabriella hugged her and continued her weeping. "I didn’t have a choice... I didn’t... I’m sorry... I am so sorry..."

Viviana rubbed her back.

She understood why Gabriella never told Lionel what she felt about him.

They were in school when she started developing feelings. And Lionel probably had feelings for her even from then too. But it’s not very easy to confess. She knew what her friends used to talk about. They get all shy about talking about the boy they liked.

And then tragedy stuck and Gabriella had to sign that awful contract. And after losing her autonomy for that signature. She would have thought that she was not fit to be Lionel ever.

But Leander is misunderstanding something. And that’s why he is still mad at her.

What could that be?

And why didn’t she ask them for help? Both of them were rich and they would have arranged for something. She truly believed that Leander would have taken care of Gabby even if Lionel couldn’t get help from his father because of their misunderstandings.