Chapter 40 A Clash of Wills
Chapter 40 A Clash of Wills
"What are you laughing at?"
Hearing Anne's laughter, Ruth stared at Anne, seemingly annoyed.
She hated this kind of laughter the most, not to mention that it came from the person she disliked the most. How could she not be angry?
The angrier Ruth was, the happier Cherry got. That meant that she achieved what she set out to do. As long as Ruth hated Anne, Anne would have a hard time later. Cherry finally didn't have to fight alone!
Anne shook her head and wore her passionless face.
"Nothing. I suddenly thought of something funny, so I laughed!"
"You are so annoying!" Ruth was so angry that she gnashed her teeth and wanted to slap Anne.
Fortunately, Emily was eagle-eyed and agile. She stepped forward, coming between her and Anne to protect her.
"Emily!" Anne was astounded by the crisp sound of the slap. It hit Emily, not her. Looking at the slender body in front of her, Anne scrunched up her eyes. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine." Emily reached out and touched her face. She hadn't been slapped since she was born. Ruth had gone too far.
"Are you insane?"
Finally, Emily couldn't stand it anymore. She had been in a good mood, and then it all came crashing down. Well, since this woman wanted to make trouble, she was willing to play along.
When she was about to fight back, the shop assistants around couldn't stand it anymore and hurried to stop Ruth.
"I'm sorry, ladies. Could you please talk things over?"
"Fuck off!" Ruth glared at the shop assistant who spoke. The others decided to hold their tongues. Then she turned and looked at Anne with her sharp eyes. "I'll teach you a hard lesson today, or I'll eat my hat!"
As soon as she finished speaking, she moved into position again and was about to slap Anne.
Anne frowned, but she didn't try to stop her or get out of the way.
Cherry was very happy watching all this unfold, but she still had to pretend. If something really happened to Anne, Kevin would be pressing the shop girls for details.
They were witnesses of what had happened and could prove that she had nothing to do with it.
"What are you doing? Let go of Anne!"
Seeing that Ruth really wanted to hurt Anne, Emily was frightened. If something really happened to Anne, she would be guilty for the rest of her life.
"Just calm down, Ruth! Just let her go!" Cherry pulled on Ruth's hand and tried to stop her.
But it didn't work. Ruth got even angrier.
"Cherry! Why are you sticking up for this bitch? Hasn't she tortured you enough? I think it's time we teach her a lesson!"
She gripped Anne's wrist with all her strength, and Emily grabbed her other arm. Ruth was unable to slap Anne. She could only curse irritably, "What's wrong with you? Fuck off!"
No matter how hard Ruth squeezed, Anne stood still and said nothing. However, Anne's calm eyes were fixed on the girl, and her gaze never wavered.
"Quit staring at me!"
Finally, Ruth couldn't control herself and slapped Anne hard. Her head rocked, and she felt her lip grow numb. 'Probably split,' Anne thought.
Everyone was astonished when the crisp sound echoed through the store. Even the clerks stood there were frozen, their mouths agape. No one knew what to do.
"You hit Anne? Cow!" That said, Emily threw the handbag she was holding to the ground, grabbed Ruth's hands and pushed her hard.
"Ah!"
Ruth lost her balance and fell to the ground hard, and she knocked a rack down while she fell.
Boom! Everything was in chaos.
Cherry didn't think that Emily would do anything like that.
She ran over to where Ruth lay and tried to help her up. "Ruth, are you okay? Let me help!"
"Slut! How dare you push me!"
Ruth screamed and stood up, trying to catch Emily's hair, not caring about her image. Someone caught her right hand in mid-air.
"Enough!"
Anne's firm voice sounded above her head. Ruth stopped and looked up at her. "Let go of me! Don't touch me! You have no right!"
"Exactly. I don't have the right to touch you, and you don't have the right to hit other people."
Anne threw off Ruth's arm. Then she spoke again, and her face became cold. "Imagine what people will think of you. You're a lady from a rich family. And you go around hitting people like a thug! How do you think that looks?
"Really?" Ruth sneered and looked at Anne, mockery in her eyes. "I don't think it's a bad thing. It's karma, really. But don't you feel embarrassed, stealing other people's boyfriend?"
"What are you talking about?" Emily couldn't stand other people abusing Anne, especially the one she was confronting. She had never been so angry in her life. "You're the boyfriend thief!"
"Stop it, Emily."
Glancing at Ruth and then at Cherry, Anne stood between them, and then addressed, "Tell me, Cherry. You know what'll happen if Kevin finds out about this, don't you?"
Cherry didn't expect that Anne would bring Kevin up right now. She stood still, clenched her fists and bit her lips.
She couldn't say anything to defend herself.
After a while, she stepped forward, grabbed Ruth's arm and said, "Forget it. Let's take off."
"What?" Ruth looked at Cherry in disbelief, "How can we just let this go? Are you afraid of her? Look at what she did to you!"
Ruth spouted all this off in righteous indignation, and what she said made Anne wonder if she should laugh or cry.
Who was bullying who here? She didn't even want to see Cherry, much less bully her.
"Forget it. I'm tired of this. Let's do something fun."
After taking a look at Anne, Cherry turned and walked off. Ruth was so angry that she stamped her feet, but she had no choice but to follow Cherry.
When they were out of earshot, Anne breathed a sigh of relief.
Emily stared in the direction in which the two of them went, and her eyes were full of anger.
"Damn it!" Emily shouted, "I've never been hit in my life, not even my parents. How could she do that?"
"Just breathe. Count to ten and try to calm down. Are you okay?" Looking at her red and swollen face, Anne thought, 'Ruth is such a vicious bitch. The left side of my face is still burning.' "Don't lower yourself to her level. Her parents didn't tell her 'no' enough, so she turned out like this."
"But she can't just go around doing things like that!" Looking at the mess on the ground, Emily sighed, "Anne, if only you weren't so damn even-tempered. I was so ready to throw down with her!"
The shop assistants knew who Ruth was, so they didn't say anything more. They could only lower their heads and pack up.
Anne pursed her lips and walked out.
Emily knew Anne's disposition well. She never liked to get involved in these kind of things. But Emily was vengeful. If someone attacked her, she felt she should fight back.
"Cherry, what's wrong with you?"
Ruth stopped after taking a few steps. She was extremely angry when she thought of what had just happened. She didn't even want to walk, so she just stood there.
Cherry stopped and looked back at her with an aggrieved look.
"Did you see that? She threatened me! If Kevin finds out about this, he'll blame me."
When Ruth saw Cherry so upset, her face turned blue with anger.
"Well, she's pretty powerful now. How can we touch her if she just runs to Kevin?"
"I don't know. What can we do?" Cherry looked down and her palm-sized face was full of hurt. "As you know, she married Kevin. Although Kevin loves me, I am only his mistress."
Ruth gritted her teeth and said, "Why do you still put up with her? I just can't stand her arrogance. She has always been like this since childhood. No matter how we bully her, it doesn't faze her. It's like she's pretending to be a queen."
Cherry sneered in her heart, 'Good! Ruth must hate Anne a lot. So I just need to see her knock down a few pegs.'
To be honest, she was also quite angry with what Anne had said to her today. 'Don't threaten me with Kevin, Anne. It's really annoying,' she thought.
"Then what can we do? She's protected now. We can't do anything about it!"
"No way!" Ruth said angrily, "I have to pay her back! I'll help you out if you want to hurt her."
After saying that, Ruth turned around to walk back in her stilettos. Cherry didn't know what she was planning and followed her.
"What are you up to, Ruth? No, we can't beat her up. What if Kevin finds out?"
The more Cherry said things like that, the angrier Ruth became. She walked forward aggressively like a hurricane. "Let me tell you, if I don't teach that bitch a hard lesson today, I'll eat my hat. I've hated her for a long time!"
She walked at a fast pace back into the shop. The shop assistant shivered in fear when she saw her come back.
"Miss Ruth, why did you come back?"
"What? What are you saying? Am I banned from the store?" She looked this way and that, but didn't see Anne. She put on an arrogant air.
"Of course not." The shop assistant lowered her head and trembled. Who knew what was wrong with the rich lady?
"Where is Anne?"
Ruth was angry that she couldn't find her there. ConTEent bel0ngs to Nôv(e)lD/rama(.)Org .
The shop assistant was too scared to answer, but she subconsciously glanced in the direction where Anne had gone. Ruth was smart—she followed her gaze and looked into the distance. As she thought, she spotted Anne.