Mending Her Broken Heart

Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Bleeding

Gently and slowly.

That's how I'm shaving my facial hair right now.

I just came out from the shower room and I only have a towel that covers my lower body. I'm half naked and my hair is still wet.

I slowly shaved the left side of my jaw as the razor wipes away the shaving cream with my facial hair.

From where I'm standing, I can hear the music blasting from the living room. It made me dance after every swipe and everytime I rinse the razor. I've been like this since the moment I woke up. I'm feeling very good today. Dancing in front of the mirror half naked is the exact definition of the term "good mood" for me. And now, the music blasting from the living room makes my mood even more good.

"You rocked my world, you know you did."

"And everything I own, I give."

"The rarest love, who'd think I'd find someone like you to call mine..."

It goes on and on and it's on repeat. "You Rock My World" by Michael Jackson is the current theme song of my life. I can't help but to sing, to use my razor as a microphone, and to dance in front of the mirror even the shaving cream still covering the lower part of my face.

I'm very careful when it comes to shaving my face. But right now, I'm being careless than being careful. I really can't help it. I'm really in a good mood. It's because of that article I've read online and the magazine I asked Elisa to buy for me.

I grinned.

Damn. Why didn't I recognized that? How come I didn't had a single thought about it? Was my head floating last night? Or was I bewitched for a long time?

I hate it. But at the same time, it's giving me unexplainable feelings that I'm willing to endure for a very long time.

It's fine. It will always be fine as long as it's Clara who's giving me unexplainable feelings. I will always endure it. Always willing.

The article I've read online is about me and Clara. It was a huge bomb dropped before me because they made some dating rumors between us. Just because my suit has the same color with her romper, and just because they saw us talking last night. They even included some pictures of us from the celebration. And described how Clara was showing vulnerability to me. They did a very good job at making that article. But it's still messed up since we're not truly dating.

Psh, pathetic.

But despite of its falsehood, some people believed and made some noise on social media platforms. Clara is very famous since she's an extremely hardworking and well-known chef. She's also friends with some models and celebrities. While me on the other side, well, I'm more known in the business field. I've been featured on magazines countless times. Sometimes it's about business, and sometimes it's a photoshoot I've participated to promote my own clothing brand. So, I guess I'm also famous.

Hmm, it's not bad to assume sometimes.

Even though it's not true, it made me happy thinking that there are dating rumors circulating around. And because of those dating rumors, I'll talk to her again. I'll give it another shot because I didn't had a good sleep. Clara was all over my head as I remember how vulnerable she looked last night. She was crying. And I know something's wrong and bothering her. I can't behave and let it be.

She's the most incredible woman to me. It's annoying to think that someone had the guts to make her feel awful. Awful enough to make her eyes release tears. All this time, she wasn't okay. I'm a nobody but I'm going to change that. My life's so boring that I'm willing to ruin somebody else's life now.

Well, embrace for impact, baby.

Schyler Dael is probably not thinking straight but he'll befriend that lady and make her feel okay. She might think that I'm too unreasonable. But f**k that, I don't care. All I care about is making her feel better and stop the internal bleeding she's suffering.

I've figured out why she's bleeding. Prince Charming left her and cheated on her. Her 3-year-relationship with her longtime boyfriend has come to an end and she's here in Vegas to be alone. But according to what instincts, her decision to stay here in Vegas is not a wise one. Instead of relaxing, she had absorbed more stress because of her restaurant. She's still working. And she's not being alone anymore.

But what do I know, right? Maybe cooking can help her calm down. And maybe it's the only way to forget the current heartbreak she's enduring.

She's broken. That's what I'm going to believe in. I'm hella sure since the source of that information is very close to Clara. It wasn't really hard to contact her. She even seems like she wants me to ruin and disturb Clara's life. It's weird, I know. But I'm not going to put too much attention to that. What's bothering me is she's very excited to spoil every detail. After the very moment I finish shaving and after I get dressed up, I'm going to meet that information spoiler. Exactly at her boss's restaurant.

For a moment, I feel like I'm a terrible man for asking informations about her secretly. I know that I don't deserve to know those things about her.

But what can I do? I'm willing to know everything. And when I say everything, I mean everything. Even every little detail.

I'm like a fish caught by her even though she wasn't really trying to catch one. And she caught a fish who's very interested about her.

Glad that I got someone to spoil me details.

It's no other human being but her personal assistant.

Penelope Wesson.

She's also Clara's best friend. They've been bestfriends for 8 years now and Penelope is Clara's P.A for 3 years now. With that, I can confirm that Penelope's indeed close with Clara. I stalked Clara's i********: account last night when I wasn't really able to sleep. I saw some pictures of her with Penelope and some are with her grandmother. Some are about work, her in the kitchen, and foods she made for her restaurant. I ended up following her and liking half of her posts.

Looks like I've been stalking.

Whews, this doesn't look good to me but I'm still going to continue whatever this is.

I'll lose my mind if I'll let this pass.

I heavily sighed before I finally finish shaving my face. I rinse my face with water and wiped it with another towel.

After getting satisfied, I went to the living room to stop the music. I went to my room to put on some clothes. Dark jeans, white tshirt, and a black leather jacket. I added some finishing touches like my wrist watch, and my Nike's. After that, I combed my hair to make me look very presentable to anyone I'm about to face today. My pale green eyes are very recognizable today. I don't know why but I'm liking it.

I'm liking it very much.

Now, last but not the least, I sprayed myself with perfume for a few times even though I already sprayed myself with my favorite body spray earlier.

I hurriedly went out of my room with my phone and my wallet. I didn't forgot the key card before finally getting out of my suite. I'm excited but I'm keeping it lowkey. My mind's full of thoughts about Clara. I'm currently walking to the elevator. I went inside when it opened and I patiently waited to reach the ground floor.

When I reached the ground floor, I immediately went out and made my way to Clara's.

I arrived at the restaurant exactly when Penelope wants me to. I searched myself a table and it wasn't really hard for me though. The moment I sat down, a waiter immediately approached me. I was about to tell him that I'm waiting for someone but he spoke earlier than me.

"Mr. Schyler Dael, right sir?"

I nodded.

"Ms. Wesson is waiting for you in the VIP floor. Kindly follow me to show you the way."

My lips parted but I still stood up and followed the waiter. He showed me the way to the VIP floor. It was totally different from downstairs. The VIP floor is not too crowded like the ground floor of the restaurant. It's quiet, peaceful, and serine. Very unlikely to the ground floor.

After following the waiter, he stood before the table that was occupied by who I believe Ms. Wesson is. The waiter exactly led me to the table. So maybe it's really her.

"Hi! I'm Penelope Wesson." She automatically stood up and went to offer me a handshake. I accepted the handshake as I stated my name. "Schyler Dael. Nice to meet you, Ms. Wesson." She chuckled, "Just call me Penelope. Please, take a seat." I nodded and sat on the chair facing hers.

"Ahm, would you like to order something before we dive into that topic?"

I can tell that she's true with how she treat me. She's not even shy. She's acting normally like we already met before and that's very fine with me.

"Yes, please. I love the foods here."

She chuckled, "Of course you do."

I just shook my head and took a look from the menu. I gotta order now. The waiter's been standing since the moment we arrived.

I ended up ordering appetizers.

Smoky Bacon Wraps and Appetizer Tortilla Pinwheels.

I also ordered a bottle of white wine after Penelope stated her order.

"So," It was Penelope. She talked after the waiter left. "What made you interested about my best friend?" Both of her eyebrows were raised and her lips formed a teasing smile.

Ah, this woman smells something fishy.

Damn.

I gave her a small smile before answering her question. "Ahm, everything about her. Every inch of her beauty and her cooking skills. She's just so perfect from my point of view, you know." I honestly said.

She grinned, "Do you like her?"

"A-Ah?"

"I said, do you like her?"

I gulped. Do I? Do I like Clara?

I think it's too early to confirm. I think, no? Yes? I'm attracted to her. Only attraction.

Damn it! It's the same.

"I really can't tell for now. I don't even know what I'm doing." I nervously laughed and looked at the carpeted floor instead.

Fuck it.

"It's fine. I won't pressure you though. Just make sure that your intentions are pure."

I smiled, "Of course."

Right then and there, the long conversation started and it was all about her best friend.

My ear can perfectly hear every detail. Every word, every syllable, and every phrase. Nothing had escaped my ears not until our order came. Just like always, I happily ate and drank a glass of white wine with Penelope. But even though we were eating, she didn't stopped spoiling me juicy details.

"She's really broken and depressed. Yeah, she looks fine and radiant all the time. But what you see is not what it seems."

She shook her head. "She lost a lot because of that asshole. Honestly, I don't think she's still Clara. She doesn't have that energetic attitude anymore. If she's not busy cooking, you can find her in her office busy crying. She cries a lot."

I took a sip from the tulip glass. Clearly, I'm paying attention to what Penelope is saying. I can see that she's worried about her best friend and I can sense how heavy the emotion she's feeling because of Clara.

"She lost herself. She lost her old self."

Penelope bit her lower lip before clenching her fist. Clara is affecting Penelope too. That's what I see. They're more than just best friends. I can throughly feel that Penelope loves Clara so much and they're special to each other. This is what we call 'not sisters by blood, but sisters by heart.' Penelope is holding back her tears. She's trying so hard to avoid showing vulnerability in front of me.

"It's all because of that asshole. She broke her that much. I hope karma is already coming for him."

I sighed, "I hope too." Penelope looked at me with teary eyes. "I know that I'm asking for too much and it might be really weird for you. But..."

I gulped, "But?"

"I want you to stop the internal bleeding she's enduring."

"What do you mean?"

"I never asked for anything like this to anyone."

I don't know why but my heart started beating fast like I'm running and I'm dying to reach the finish line. I'm nervous without any valid reason at all.

"Ms. Wesson,"

"But can you heal and mend her broken heart?"

I sighed before taking another step forward. I just left the restaurant and now I'm on my to the fountain. I'm walking and I clearly know where I wanted my feet to take me. But my mind is floating. Or worse, left at the VIP floor of Clara's restaurant.

I'm close to the fountain. Only few steps left to be near it.

I roamed my eyes around as I stop walking to find her. It didn't took me too long to spot her.

There.

There she is and I'm facing her back again.

I chuckled. It's the third time now. Why do I keep on seeing her back everytime I try to talk to her?

I shook my head and continued walking instead.

Penelope wants me to heal her. She wants me to help her and she wants me to fill the void that Ivan Harbeck had caused Clara.

Ivan Harbeck.

I'll remember him. He's about to realize how stupid his decision was. He deserves to pay for what he'd done. He deserves to pay big time.

An asshole indeed.

I sighed. Honestly, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. I didn't said 'yes' to Penelope as an answer but I also didn't said 'no'. I'm not sure of anything, but here I am. Walking towards her without her knowing.

Maybe, I can really help her.

And maybe, I can truly mend her broken heart.

I just need time. Yes, time. That's what I need.

I cleared my throat to take her attention when I'm finally behind her. Close enough for her to hear me.

I hope this would work.

"Ms. Imor—"

"You're really not going to stop bothering me, huh?"

I blinked. "What—"

"Just go away. I don't want to see your face and you're so damn annoying! Do you even know that?! Leave me alone, will you?!"

With that, my lips parted as my eyes followed her walk away with heavy steps made by her feet wearing black stilettos.

What the...