Love’s New Bloom By Simone Hastings

Chapter 82 Two–Faced 

Holly’s question caught Erin by surprise. “Holly, from the looks of it, you’re more inclined to trust Chandler?” 

“Something just feels off about the sudden turn of events. Your cousin stays over at the mansion for one night, and this happens. Isn’t it too much of a coincidence? Furthermore, Chandler is a man who has tons of beautiful women at his beck and call. Would he need to stoop so low as to force himself on your cousin?” Holly stood by Erin’s bedside, expounding the 

situation. 

Erin stopped and pondered on her words for a while as Holly continued, “It’s possible that Chandler was really feeling wronged to fly into such a rage.” 

That elicited a dissatisfied response from Erin. “Hey, why are you taking his side? Who’s the one hospitalized now?” 

Holly defended herself, “Erin, you know that I’m not taking his side. I just don’t want to jump to conclusions. Besides, I wasn’t there personally, so I didn’t see what happened, which is why I’m trying to make sense of the situation.” 

“But May has no reason to lie to me. She’s just broken up…” Erin still chose to trust May. 

Holly hesitated briefly before coming clean. “Your cousin claimed to not know who Chandler was. But here’s a piece of information you should know. I bumped into your cousin in a bar a while back and overheard her talking about Chandler with several of her friends then. As for how she got to know about Chandler, I have no idea.” 

That statement did not sit particularly well with Erin, but still, she opted to believe that her cousin would never lie to her. It hadn’t even occurred to Erin that in his drunken state, Chandler might have mistaken May, who was wearing Erin’s nightdress, for Erin. It was also likely that his ego stopped him from acknowledging his mistake after he found out that he had mistaken May for Erin. 

“I don’t want to talk about this anymore, Holly. I mean, it’s not entirely bad that I’ve moved out of the mansion. He’s too tyrannical, anyway. I’ve been feeling very oppressed there.” Erin recalled how savagely Chandler had punished her earlier on. It was as if he had lost his sanity. She still felt scared now that she thought back on it, and her wounds still ached from his rough ministrations. 

Holly caught sight of May returning, so she swallowed the words she was about to say. Her instincts told her that it was highly likely that May was the one who was lying. But since Erin trusted her cousin, Holly felt she should not be so wretched as to drive a wedge between them. After all, she had no evidence to prove her claim. 

Erin and May found a place to stay a week later. The place they rented was a cozy unit with two bedrooms. 

May had officially broken up with James, so she moved out from where she used to stay. 

As for Chandler, he hadn’t contacted Erin since she left the mansion, so Erin deleted his contact from her phone. 

She had submitted her resignation letter three days ago, but Kyle called her to tell her that Chandler had rejected her resignation. However, he also told her not to go to work because Chandler did not wish to see her. 

Erin did not know what Chandler meant by that. He did not accept her resignation, yet, he did not want to see her. So she decided she might as well skip work. As she had just moved into a new place and needed to furnish the place with some new furniture and appliances, she was happy for the brief respite. 

May was still in her junior year of college and had to go back to school, so Erin was also in charge of handling the online store. May used to ship out the orders for the online store together with her boyfriend, James Heigl. But now that they’ve broken up, James would no longer be involved. 

It was six in the evening, and Erin had prepared a simple meal for herself and May. While she waited for May to come home to have dinner together, she went to the balcony to collect the laundry which they had hung out to dry. They were mostly May’s, so she returned them to May’s room after folding them. 

She was shocked to find May’s wardrobe full of branded designer bags when she opened it to put away the clothes. Erin estimated the entire wardrobe to be worth up to cost at least millions! Even if May saved up every penny of the money she earned, she would not be able to afford so many of them. She could not help wondering where May got all the money from. 

1/2 

An hour later, all the food had gone cold. Erin thought that she would give May a call to check up on her. 

Her call was quickly picked up, but before she even had the chance to speak, she heard a lewd conversation from the other end 

of the line. 

“Seems like your boyfriend doesn’t touch you enough, May…” 

“Hey! Stop talking about him. He’s nowhere near as good as you are…Oh… Keep going!” 

The conversation sounded so racy that she immediately ended the call. Erin flushed. She was sure that the woman was May. She hadn’t expected her to find another man so soon…. 

Thinking back on the designer bags she saw in May’s wardrobe, she started to suspect that May had been seeing more than. one man for quite some time. 

She had no intention of meddling in May’s breakup with James. From Erin’s point of view, if James was no longer in love with May, there was no point in sticking her nose into their relationship. But now, she had a sudden urge to call James up to get to the bottom of why they broke up. Erin struggled with herself for five minutes before finally giving in to her curiosity. 

It didn’t take long for James to pick up her call. “Hello, Erin. I wasn’t expecting a call from you. Is anything the matter?” 

James sounded sad. “James, could you please tell me why you and May broke up? Did you really cheat on her with a junior from college?” 

“Was that what she told you?” James asked indignantly. 

“Yes, she said that you were the one who ditched her and that she saw you entering a hotel with a junior of yours.” 

“That’s downright slander right there! To tell you the truth, Erin, May was the one who cheated on me with a socialite. I caught them in the act in a hotel! How dare she go around telling people that I was the one who cheated on her? How absolutely shameless!” 

His words alarmed Erin. “Are you for real?” 

James answered coldly, “She had been seeing the socialite behind my back for a year! I was such an idiot for not seeing it. The only reason she didn’t break up with me earlier was so that I could deal with the online store for her. I even banked my portion of the money into her bank card! And because I caught her in the act with the socialite, she got desperate and set me up with a junior who had a thing for me. The girl asked me to meet her at the hotel, saying that she had something important to tell me. While I was there, May brought several of her friends along to catch me on the spot. All those friends she brought along became her alibi. May is really a crafty and despicable one, I’m telling you!” 

James carried on to tell her more about what he knew. Erin felt terrible by the time they ended the call. James had told her that the photo taken of her and Matthew at the gymnasium had been posted online by May and that someone from Matthew’s agency had contacted her. 

They hadn’t taken any action against May because she divulged a great deal of Erin’s private information to them, and Matthew had also decided to let May go. James also said that she could contact Matthew to find out more if she needed any 

confirmation on what he told her. 

Matthew hadn’t contacted Erin since Chandler stopped her from attending his concert. 

Erin remembered how she had told Matthew that she was living with Chandler then. 

Matthew was in an airport waiting lounge when he received Erin’s call. “Erin! What a surprise to get a call from you!”