Billionaire Romance: Seduced by the Billionaire (17 page)

“Now, ma’am, tell me everything
about what happened. Did the wild bear get into the house or just outside?” the
officer asked with his pad and pen in his hands.

Mellissa looked around. She’d
finally come to her senses that Thom was missing. “Thom?” she whispered,
ignoring the officer’s queries.

“Sorry?”

“Ha? Oh, it’s nothing. I just
remember something. Yes, um… about the wild bear, I’ve got no idea how did it
get here. I was just preparing dinner and all of a sudden, I heard a roar from
the outside and I went and checked it and there it was, standing on my lawn…”
she almost cried out, shocked by everything that took place.

Not a minute passed, a multitude
of vehicles came rushing into her neighborhood. Three of the largest news
networks parked their vans next to the police’s vehicles, blocking other
pedestrians from passing. Fox News came first, and then CNN. Seconds later,
MSNBC news came last.

To increase her popularity,
Mellissa walked outside to entertain the media. “I’m just gonna say hello to
them,” she excused herself from the officer.

As the cameras began taping,
reporters surrounded her.

*****

The kettle started whistling.
Natalia grabbed a noodle cup and ripped the paper lid off. Grabbing the kettle,
she poured hot water into the noodle cup while listening to Tonight’s Show with
Jimmy Fallon. Without denying it, she loved hearing Fallon’s lame jokes with
the celebrities he brought in the show. As the commercial came on, a breaking
news spread throughout the country.

Not a big fan of the news, she
grabbed the remote and planned to change the channel. In the brink of pressing
the blue button, Mellissa’s face appeared on the T.V.

“What is she doing?” she
wondered as she neared closer to the screen, intrigued by the news about
Mellissa.

Julie Banderas delivered the
news: “Mellissa Hill, a famous supermodel encountered a wild bear in her own
property. Michelle Smith reports.”

The scene changed to Mellissa’s
house. “Yes, Julie, Mellissa Hill, one of the highly paid supermodels today
just encountered a wild bear at her own backyard. The investigations were now
being carried out and the top detectives are employed to investigate this
incident. Behind me is Mellissa.”

Michelle turned around and
brought the microphone close to her face. “So, Mellissa, you looked really
terrified the moment we arrived here. What’s going on in your mind, right now?”

She brought the microphone close
to Mellissa’s mouth. “I-I’m shocked, really. I can’t say enough how terrified I
was. I mean, who would have thought there’s a wild bear roaming around New
York?”

“Yes, I understand. And this
event must be so hard for you, especially now that you’re alone?”

“That’s right. My boyfriend,
Thom, was actually here earlier, but I don’t know where he’s gone…” Mellissa looked
around to pretend she was looking for him.

“Your boyfriend?” Michelle
repeated. “Oh, how sad... I hope he did get eaten by the bear…” she joked,
neutralizing the fearful atmosphere.

Natalia’s stomach churned. Then,
she remembered something crucial she’d forgotten to tell Thom this noon when
they met up at the café. Throwing the remote away, she ran toward the window
and slid the curtain away. Her heart sank as she saw the half-moon smiling at
her.
Thom...

The thought of Thom killing
somebody in the middle of this metropolitan city weakened her knees, pulling
her down to the floor. But she knew doing nothing would make no difference to
the situation. Anxious, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath from within.
Restraining the carbon dioxide from escaping, she held her breath and slowly
released the air.

“Thom… what are you doing?” she
worried, perplexed to find him.

Out of desperation, she grabbed
her robe and set of keys before heading out the door to find Thom in the nook
and cranny of this restless utopia, completely forgetting about her noodles.
She did not even turn off the T.V.

As she walked on to the
elevator, her mind wondered about what was happening to Thom right now. “Thom…
just wait for me,” she cried out within herself…

The night had lain siege. All the media and police had gone
away now. Just before her
visitors
left, Mellissa had invited them to
share supper with her since Thom was nowhere to be found. Of course, they
accepted the offer. Who would refuse to dine with a famous celebrity?

Tired and wrung out, Mellissa slumped herself onto the sofa
in the lounge. With all the people that came over to her house unexpectedly,
her mind couldn’t process how many reporters interviewed her regarding the
random bear at her backyard, only if she knew who it was, maybe then she
would’ve never made so much fuss about it.

In fear of how much she’d clean up, she brought her gaze to
the dining area where she could barely recognize its former glory. Lavished
with stains and left-overs, the dining table screamed for attention to be
tidied up as if all the food made it appear less attractive to dine on. And it
did. It looked nasty. The chairs around it were scattered all over the place.
Some traveled all the way to the lounge while the others sat still next to
their mother, the dining table.

Mellissa rolled her eyes away from the disturbing sight of
the kitchen. “Aaargh… why did I give myself so much pain?” she said, regretful
of all her efforts. At least, she made herself the headline of the top
newspaper networks in the world. That’d surely increase her popularity and she
might even get invited to the White House with Barack Obama along with the
first lady, Michelle Obama. Now, that’d be over the top. Don’t you think?

Could no longer behold the poor state of the kitchen, she
forced her feet to stand up and walk forward. Dazed with tons of chores she had
to do, she slapped herself slightly as to wake every nerve of her body – if
there was any left.

“Wake up, Mellissa… you did this to yourself, so stand for
it. Your mother ain’t here, so grow up!” she commanded herself, adamant to
change for the better.

After she’d gathered all the leftovers to be thrown in the
garbage bin, she headed to the sink and placed all the dirty plates in it
before turning the water tap on to drown them clean. It only took her a couple
of minutes to finish rinsing the quintillions of plates before putting them
into the dishwasher machine. Then, she went back to the dining area to wipe all
the stains on both table and floor.

While slaving herself like Cinderella, her gaze accidentally
landed on the clock fixed on the wall. “Eleven o’clock. Great…” she sighed in
exhaustion as the sweat of labor dripped down her forehead.

As she continued wiping the table, a sudden epiphany woke
her up. “Thom?” she said out of nowhere as if she’d been thinking about him
since then but had entirely forgotten to wonder where he was. Oh well, she was
dog tired so that was undeniably understandable. 

To find out where Thom had gone, she grabbed her phone from
the countertop and dialed his number. “Come on, Thom… pick it up,” she worried,
shaking as she tried to hold the phone still.

He picked up his phone. “Hey, Thom here–”

“Hey Thom, where are you?” Mellissa excitedly cut in.

As she heard the next thing Thom said, her enthusiasm
vanished. “Please leave a message. I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. See
yah.” Then, his phone beeped…

Furious of what Thom was doing, she dialed Natalia’s number,
thinking he was with her, enjoying the night together while she was alone
cleaning all the mess Thom and her should be doing together.

Out of vexation, she placed her hand on her right hip while
the other held the phone to her ears. “Grab your phone, you slut! You’ll see
who I really am…” she threatened, as if Natalia would answer her phone any
sooner.

“Pick it up, bitch!” Mellissa kicked one of the chairs.
Without any slippers on, it was surprising she didn’t complain about the pain.

Five minutes had gone by and Natalia still hadn’t answered
Mellissa’s call. As her phone’s credit ran low, her patience had run even
lower. Her water-proof make-up began melting, refusing to stick to her face.
Angered with all the trouble she was going through right now, her mind went
blank.

In the brink of throwing her phone against the wall, she
took one more breath to dare call Thom’s phone again. If she failed to reach
him this time, she’d definitely crash her phone against the wall – even worse,
her head as well. Hope not. That’d hurt.

With a red face and purple lips, she dialed his phone number
for the last time. “Go and pick this one up, Thomas, or else I’ll go to your
parents’ house and tell everything I know about you and Natalia…” she
pressurized, determined to attain him.

Luckily, Thom’s phone started ringing. Clouds of hope
declined Mellissa’s frustration, exchanged with the assurance he was able to
explain why he’d gone all of a sudden. Within seconds, a ringtone sang in her
house. Although it was faint, she could still hear the song coming from the
heart of the house.

Her eyebrows frowned in suspicion. “Is he hiding somewhere?”

She began walking in the direction of the sound while
keeping the line engaged. Despite all the mess on the floor, she managed to
reach the hallway where the ringtone became louder. She paused for a moment and
then continued walking slowly, cautious not to bust Thom’s prank on her.

Walking past another room next to the toilet, she stopped
again. This time, the sound resonated with her phone. Carefully, she twisted
the doorknob and slowly opened the door. A strong and foul smell quickly hit
her nostrils.

“What the hell is that smell?” Mellissa clasped her nose.

Inquisitive of what it was, she swiftly swung the door into
the open, sharing the foul smell across the house. A look of shared disgust and
horror registered across her face, sending chills all over her body. Her eyes
grew wider as she saw the broken window. The glass was shattered into pieces
and the frame was badly bent. Terrified of what had happened, her joy turned
into dread.

She collapsed to her knees, weakened by the excuses she had
to make when Tonya arrived back home. “W-what happened?” she stuttered.

In the midst of her shock, all she did was to stare at the
ripped pants and shirt lying on the floor while the phone kept on ringing.
Certain it was Thom’s, she shoved the shirt away to grab the phone underneath
it. She gasped for air. The crack and debris left from his phone managed to
stay together, allowing Mellissa’s call to get through.

Beads of tears trickled down her cheeks as she came to
understand who Thom really was. All the furs on the floor alarmed her concern
as they reminded her of the night in the Resort. The night she discovered his
curse but failed to see the truth behind it.

Shaken, she fell down on her butt. “No. It can’t be…” she
shook her head in utter disbelief of what the reality was telling her. Truth
hurt. But it would definitely set her free. No doubt.

As volt of pain attacked her, the past brought itself to her
remembrance. Pulling her hair in desperation not to recall Thom’s disappearance
in the resort that night didn’t help to abolish the fact that the man she
considered a prince was a beast in disguise.

Mellissa covered her mouth as not to allow her cry to be
heard across the neighborhood. Her nose became immune to the revolting odor.
Out of consciousness, she dropped her phone to get hold of the garments. Torn
into bits and pieces, the shirt cried to be repaired, but the poor thing was
beyond any tailors’ ability to mend.

She gathered some of the furs and observed the color and
texture. Every strand felt rough and silky. As she rubbed it in between her
fingers, the furs melted into powder down the floor. Mellissa’s tears refused
to cease as she became certain Thom was closely related to the bear in her
backyard. So related that she began to put the pieces of the puzzle together
that he was no mere human – far from what she’d dreamed of…

Finding the courage to tackle her fear, she stood up and
poked her head out of the broken window to investigate every scratch and mark
that would tell her, she was right. Thom was the bear. A dangerous and
unapproachable bear. Precisely, a werebear.

She frowned. “Half-moon…”

Yep. Mellissa remembered the night Thom and her walked along
the shore. Adoring the sun of the night, she could never forget how the
half-moon smiled at her after the wild bear banged on the shack where she was
left alone. Shameful of her foolishness, she buried her hands in her face,
repentant that she allowed herself to fall for someone she could never have.
Someone who could potentially ruin her career.

Now that everything was crystal clear, Mellissa looked
across her backyard in case someone was spying on her and find out about Thom’s
supernaturalism. Her alert mode heightened, stretched by the fact that she
still loved Thom despite his secret…

“I-I need to clean this up,” she trembled. To quicken the
pace, she used his shirt and wiped the floor clean, ensuring nothing seemed
happened, except, of course, the broken window which she’d worry about when her
mother came back home.

“Alright, Mellissa, calm down. He’s still the Thom you’ve
known in kindergarten, okay. Everything is gonna be fine,” she tried to
convince herself, although her knees quaked in terror.

Then, she went out of the toilet and slammed the door shut.