Your Never Fading Smile

Chapter 22

"Now, tell me what you want."

I clenched my fists and finally spoke my mind. My eyes looking directly towards Celly's.

"It was you who started the rumors, weren't you?" "So what? You think I'm scared now?" She said, her head hung low. "I think I told you last time to not do such a thing. I wasn't joking when I said I'll make you pay." Spoke Noah glaring daggers towards Celly and my eyes sightly widened. He threatened her?

"It's not my fault, okay?! I just did what I was told to!" Yelled Celly with clenched fists and eyes looking to the ground. "Oh really~ Then who told you to do this? If you are obedient enough, we'll let you go." After that, Celly let out a defeating sigh. It didn't took her long to tell the truth huh? "Fine... I'll tell you. After all, I hate lies... It was an annoying woman. She had blonde hair if I remember correctly, green eyes and a really weird name. I think it was Scarlet or something."

My eyes widened. There was only one woman who matched perfectly the description. "I see... Thank you for telling us." I mumbled and turned around to immediately leave. "Wait, Liam!" I heard Noah call me from behind but I kept waking ahead. My head being filled with too many thoughts about the situation.

"Liam!" Yelled Noah once more getting a hold of my arm as he looked at me with eyes full of concern. "What's wrong? Do you know who is the person she mentioned?" He questioned and I clenched my fists. "Yeah. I know who she is." "Who?"

~~~

"What do you mean? Did something happened between you and Scarlet?" Questioned Oliver as we talked on the phone. "There's a rumor going around that it's said it started from her." I spoke as the angry voice of my brother could be heard through the phone. "Are you kidding?! Scarlet would never do something like that! And what the hell is the rumor that goes around?! Why do you care so much about it?!" "The rumor is about me so I really have to talk with Scarlet to see if she truly is the one behind this or not!"

A long silence followed after that. My fists tightening and my heart beating in anxiety. "What is the rumor about?" "Well... It's not completely a rumor since it's true but I would appreciate it if nobody else except my friends and family knew about this." "So it's about that... I see... Can you come home tomorrow? I'll bring Scarlet to talk it out." My eyes widened and I let out a breath of relief. "I'll come... Thank you Oliver."

I ended the call and turned to look towards Noah and Celly. "Noah, tomorrow I'll go back home to talk it out with her. Since you are popular, you could convince everyone with the help of Celly that this is nothing else but just a stupid rumor." "Wait wait wait, you are going alone?" "And why do I have to help him!" Questioned both Noah and Celly and I took a deep breath to calm myself down.

"Someone has to stay behind anyways or else they might believe the rumor." I explained but Noah only gave me a displeased expression. "Even so... I would like to be with you. You are more important than the rumors and in the end I don't care if everyone knew." "But I do. So I want you to stay here." He gave me a sad glare and I showed him a small smile. "Don't worry, I'll be alright. I'll call you once everything's solved." "Alright..."

"What about me? Why do I have to get mixed on your problems?!" Questioned once more Celly and I turned to look at her with a deadpanned expression as Noah spoke my mind. "If I'm not wrong, you are the one who started the rumors. You could easily refuse and now that I think about it, why did you even agreed to this?"

Celly looked elsewhere with a pout and answered after a few seconds. "...She offered me a stable job at one of the best fashion industries..." At that, Noah facepalmed himself. "Did she gave you the papers? A phone number? Names in the industry? You know, sorry to break it to you, but she probably lied." Celly's eyes widened and looked at Noah with a surprised face. "N-no way! She must had told me the truth! She was really pretty and even wore a golden dress! She must be working there, right?!"

At that, I immediately tried to convince her otherwise. "Sorry, but she actually works in an underground casino. She most likely did in fact lied to you." After that, Celly clenched her fists and glared daggers to the ground. "That bitch!!" She yelled now walking ahead while grabbing my wrist. "Come on, we are going there right now! I have a few words to tell her!" "Calm down, we should wait until tomorrow and like I said, you should help Noah with the rumors." She stopped on her trucks and it took her a minute to answer. "Fine. But tell her one thing from me. Tell her that she's a lying bitch!" "...Sure thing."

~~~

The next day, I traveled back home and I could already feel the anxiety getting the best of me as I stood in front of Scarlet and my brother Oliver. Scarlet was wearing the same dress Celly mentioned and her face was full of disinterest.

"Come on Liam, tell her what's going on." Spoke Oliver and I looked at her with a small glare. "First of all, I would like to say something in my new friend's position..." I said now walking a little bit closer and showed her a smile.

"...You are a lying bitch!"