CHAPTER FOUR

Gabby made her way back to her room. The events of the morning kept playing in her head; it was so unlike her. She was one who always spoke her mind and was not bothered by what others thought of her. But today, she sat with strangers, ate with them, and even chatted with them.

Since she entered the town, strange things just kept happening to her. She was so confused and was panicking because wasting one's time was not her thing. She believed that one must work and be focused on everything, but since coming to the town, everything has just been happening in reverse.

She vowed to herself never to be swayed by anything or anyone anymore. She went to the reading table where her laptop was placed and started completing the unfinished work she had.

She replied to some of her unread emails and viewed work minutes sent to her by Steph. She noticed that the network in the town was very bad, which meant communicating via calls was just out of the question. She could only get information and pass information via mails.

At around a few minutes after three, she was mostly done with her work. She stood up from her chair, stretched herself, and went to stand by the window, which was apparently facing the mountains located on the outskirts of the town, according to what she heard.

It looked so beautiful from up there; it certainly looked like a place Disney would use to enact one of their enchanting movies, with the damp weather and light showering rain, it would definitely look magical and amazing.

Peace, what she wanted most in her life. Right from a tender age, she had never known peace. After the passing of her parents at the tender age of seven, she had been the one to care for herself.

Not having any relatives to take care of her, she had been the one to bathe, cook, work, and fend for herself. At the age of seven, she had learned to pay the bills, hire stand-in parents to avoid being sent to a group home; she had been the one to organize and arrange her parents' burial.

At the age of eight, she started taking classes online and was able to take the SAAT exams; she had also started taking college classes in finance, business, and management courses.

At age eleven, she had earned her BSc degree with a first-class degree, and she had fought and taken over her family's company. At age thirteen, she had gone for her master's degree in business management, which she also excelled in, flying colors, which would have brought her into the limelight if she had not been a quick thinker and had evaded all their advances.

At age fifteen, she had started classes in fashion and design programs. At eighteen, she had earned a degree in fashion and design. And ever since then, her life had always revolved around work. She never had anyone she could call a friend or family; all her education was done online, so her having any social skills was kind of zero.

She had never been scolded for being wrong, neither had she been praised for doing good. She had never been encouraged when down or consoled when sad.

She had never had a sleepover, neither had she sneaked out of the house to meet friends or gone for a night hangout. She had never dated anyone. She was a one hundred percent virgin.

She had always felt lonely most of her life. She just wanted to be happy; she did not want to be invisible. She wanted to be seen and heard.

Maybe that was why she felt the need to introduce herself with her achievements as Alessi had said.

She just wanted to be free.

Was that so much to ask for? She sighed; she was so tired of feeling sorry for herself. What was the point of asking all these questions? What was the point of feeling down and acting depressed when nothing was ever going to change? She knew she should have accepted it by now, that happiness was not for the likes of her.

She knew that she needed to work on her mental health; she had been stressed lately. She needed to relieve her mind from all pent-up stress and the constant nightmares.

With that in mind, she stood up and made her way to the bathroom to take a shower; she was attending that party tonight. Picking out an outfit was the challenging part of it all; she did not want to appear overdressed, neither did she want to go underdressed.

She finally settled on a red v-neck gown, a little above her knees, with a slightly open back. She paired it with strappy silver heels, which also came with a silver purse.

She stood in front of the mirror to assess herself, and she liked what she saw. Her makeup was not on the bold side but more on the natural side.

She was really grateful for her long lashes because she hated attaching those false lashes; they just felt weird to her. She checked herself once more before she made her way downstairs to the hall."