Rejecting the billionaire, or alpha

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

“What’s the problem with Flora? She's been my friend since high school!” Laxton yelled angrily, his eyes bulging and bloodshot. He stood near the door after he had stomped all around the condo unit during the fight.

“What kinda f*****g friend that you had to feed her from your plate, on your fork, into her mouth?” Christabel crossed her arms, her voice not increasing the slightest. She looked at him calmly, as if she had done this a million times and knew that there wasn’t any use raising her voice.

“I told you! We’re just used to it! We’ve been doing it since we’re kids! Even her mother didn’t say anything!”

“That’s another problem, right there isn’t it? Why did you invite her mum. Her sister. Her sister’s boyfriend, for Goddess’ sake.” Christabel counted them one by one with her fingers for each one. “You didn’t even invite me to the play and you invited them?”

“I didn’t know you wanted to go!”

“You never even asked!” Christabel answered right back furiously.

“So it’s my fault now? You looked like you were having a great time with your ‘friend’ though!” Laxton said while pulling air quotes, his face scrunched up sarcastically. His handsome face was slightly red and he looked maniacal, which is absolutely different from his usual charming face. This was a face of rage, a face that Christabel is the only one privileged enough to see.

Christabel and Laxton had been dating since 5 years ago when they found out that they loved each other although they weren’t fated mates. So they decided to be each other’s chosen mates instead. At present, they were arguing about a play they just got home from.

Christabel stood there in a long dress of lilac, her long black hair flowing straight to her hips and her make up still flawless. Laxton had removed his tie and unbuttoned the top few buttons on his shirt. His gentleman look from a few hours ago has entirely melted away. They had met at the concert hall where Christabel was accompanied by a friend, Malcolm, and Laxton was there with Flora, her mother, her sister, and her sister’s boyfriend. If one didn’t know it, they’d think that Laxton was out with his wife and in-laws!

When Laxton saw Christabel and Malcolm together, he had done everything he could to ensure that they were all seated in the same row. But he had been a gentleman and allowed Flora’s family to take their seats first before he did so he ended up sitting at the far end of the row with Flora’s sister’s boyfriend while Christabel and Malcolm sat on the other end of the row together. Laxton had driven Flora’s family home before coming to Christabel’s home and started arguing with her about how much fun he saw her having with Malcolm.

Christabel nearly rolled her eyes at him, losing all her patience at this point.

“You weren’t there, the play was funny, was I supposed to keep quiet the entire night? Even Flora was talking over me to Malcolm, why don’t you fault her for that?” Christabel walked towards the kitchen to get some water.

“I wanted to be there, but I just couldn’t. I was at the other end!”

“You couldn’t because you were busy trying to portray your gentleman image and let them choose the seats first. You didn’t intend to and therefore did not reserve the spot beside mine so Flora sat beside me instead. At the same time, you did not stop her when you saw her sitting beside me too. So where is my fault? You told me you weren’t going and you didn’t say anything when I told you that I agreed to Malcolm’s invitation. I can’t be mad at you for lying to me?”

Christabel fired off shots after shots reasonably without taking a break. She was a trained lawyer, a rising star lawyer, in fact. So when she was done, he had nothing to say but he tried to anyway.

“If you can go watch a play with Malcolm, I can feed Flora,” he said slowly, his eyes dark and watching her with a frown.

Christabel had enough of his stupid ass logic. Malcolm was their mutual friend from high school, in fact, he was Laxton’s friend first before hers. They share a mutual love for plays and concerts so that was their only point of interaction. Christabel had made sure to be transparent to Laxton about all her interactions with the opposite s*x because she knew how possessive and jealous he was.

Laxton, on the other hand, was one of the country’s top supermodels. His family was one of the wealthiest families in the country so he didn’t lack work and resources at all. But that didn’t stop him from appearing on tabloids and having scandalous rumours spread about him every so often. He would be photographed with a new starlet or supermodel or actress and every time, the photos are accompanied by scandalous headlines to hype it up. They had argued about it so often that Christabel was numb to it by now. But that doesn’t mean that she would take it lying down if he turned around and accused her of infidelity.

Laxton looked like he was done with the argument.

BANG

He slammed the door as he left her home. When the door banged, Christabel nearly dropped her glass of water. She quickly put it down on the table and squeezed the glass hard. She had been hiding her shaky hand since the beginning of the argument. She had never told anyone but loud noises unnerved her. His yelling and the door banging was already nearing her maximum level of tolerance. But he never found out and she never wanted anyone to know as well.

Once he left, her heart broke and she held a fist on her chest as she suppressed a sob. She didn’t know when their relationship became such where he would yell at her and would lie to her.

Actually, she knew that Laxton was going for the play with Fiona. Malcolm had informed her of it - he said that he was only looking out for her, that she deserved to know. She had pretended that she didn’t know and called Laxton to invite him to the same play. But he told her that he wasn’t free at that time. When she agreed to go to the play with Malcolm, she had hoped that Malcolm was wrong but to her disappointment, she wasn’t.

Laxton had been adamant that they were only friends and they didn’t act close other than feeding each other. Flora’s mother also didn’t act like a mother in law, nor did she look surprised at their actions. Maybe they really are just used to it and so Flora’s mother was used to the sight too?

Christabel had given him the benefit of the doubt at that time but she never thought that he would barge into her home and started a fight as soon as he arrived. So she was beyond disappointed about that. She looked around her home, there were pillows scattered around the house where he threw it in his anger. His shoe prints were all over the floor as well. She sighed and went to pick up the pillows before starting the robot vacuum and mop.

When she finally laid down on her bed, she reminisced about the good times she had with Laxton.

They met when they were kids, when she was nothing but an unwanted adopted daughter of the Ross family. Everyone in their school was wealthy but she knew that she didn't belong - because her adopted mother is already pregnant and may return her to the orphanage. She knew that that day would come soon.

One day in school, she was standing on a small slope beside a narrow dirt road which connects the school’s learning blocks to the canteen. She was at the canteen before realising that she'd forgotten to bring money and when she looked around the bustling canteen, there was no one she could ask, and no one she could have lunch with. For just a moment, in her young mind, she could feel a sense of emptiness that she couldn’t understand. Feeling a little unwanted, she turned around and left. But then, her tummy started to hurt so much that she squatted down and murmured,

“It’s ok, it’ll be ok.”

Christabel pouted as she clenched her tummy with her little hand. Her left hand clenched the green plastic fence beside her. Little pain jabs stabbed her little body from inside her tummy. Little sweat droplets covered her little forehead. It was at this time when she was in pain and feeling so lonely, that a pair of black shoes appeared in front of her.

“Are you ok? You don’t look well.”

Christabel looked up and saw a chubby little boy, he was fair and well fed. She didn’t want to trouble a young master so she shook her head and wanted to walk away.

“Are you hungry? My mother said that when someone is too hungry, their stomach would be pain pain. Do you want food?”

He held out a sandwich he was holding in his hands. “You can have this, I have already eaten.”

Christabel didn’t want to eat his sandwich but he pulled her to sit down on the slope and was so talkative, she couldn’t reject him at all. But once she started eating and her stomach pain subsided, she felt comforted by his company. When she looked at him, the sun was behind him, illuminating his wavy brown hair and tall nose as he chattered beside her. He was her first friend and was the first person who showed her kindness without any expectations of return.

From then on, their fate has been tied together.