Chapter 20: Surprised to see me?
I watched as everyone whipped their heads around in an instant. Their faces fell almost immediately when they realised the very person they were gossiping about was standing right before their eyes.
Shock flashed past their eyes as they stared at me, blinking with a blank look etched onto their faces.
"Aurelia...!" They exclaimed in surprise. "We... we didn’t see you there..." one of the women stammered as she spoke, her voice trembling ever so slightly.
The corners of my lips slowly twitched upwards into a slight smile that was stretched across my face. "Of course, you didn’t," I taunted. "If you did, I probably wouldn’t hear the things you have been accusing me of," I said, my voice carrying a sharp edge to it as I stepped forward towards them while they instinctively stepped back.
"We are sorry, we didn’t mean to... we were just joking around."
"Yeah, we didn’t mean any harm!" Another chimed in.
They laughed. It was one of those awkward laughters, the kind of laughter that slipped through your lips when you are too embarrassed or guilty to say anything else.
I looked at them right in their eyes and pretended to ponder out loud. "Hmmm... well..." They looked at me with a mixture of anticipation and fear swirling in their eyes. "Count yourself lucky that I’m in a good mood today. Apology accepted... for now," I said with a smile plastered across my face before I spun on my heels, turning around to leave.
I only took a couple more steps before I stopped and turned around to face them. They simply stared at me blankly, the colours from their faces were drained with each passing second. I let a smile fall on my face.