Avery's Game Of Revenge
Chapter 110: Creepy Girl

Chapter 110: Creepy Girl

She continued, the words coming out in a rush, "It doesn’t. Look, Ava, I’m not only worried for you here. I’m worried for the lives of all the crew members of Broken Hearts, especially the team in charge of this publicity stunt. We have to make sure those posts are taken down the moment the comments start affecting you, and definitely before Mr Donovan finds out it’s affecting you." She chuckled, "You know what will happen if the opposite happens. Mr. Donovan is your husband."

"Of course, I do. And that’s why I’m reassuring you here, Jo," Avery replied, her fingers making the short journey through her hair one more time. "I muted my notifications so I won’t be tempted to read anymore of it. Trust me this once and don’t call me for the next three...no, twenty four hours. You’ll be busy on set. Study your script and cherish the time with Stuart Salvador rather than wasting it to call me. Take a lot of pictures and tag me when you post them! Who knows? The number one villain in the country leaving a comment on your post might just attract much needed traffic to your page."

"Well..." Jodi hummed, "I won’t refuse an offer that’s so sad and yet so sweet. Thanks, Ava, gotta go."

"Same. Thanks for checking up, Jodi."

The call disconnected with a beep sound, but Avery was no longer listening. Her eyes were glued on the very familiar car that just stopped several metres away, her heart thumping in anticipation as the door opened.

Kathy stepped down from the car, a broad grin sitting proudly on her face as she walked past Avery towards the entrance of the church. The latter was finally able to relax when the woman had gone far enough not to be able to hear her.

"She still comes to church earlier than the starting time. How religious," she muttered beneath her breath.

"Right? One would never imagine someone like her to be the one of the most respected elders in the church."

A glint of astonishment evident in her eyes, Avery whipped her head around to the high school student sitting beside her. Was she hearing things or did she really hear that well?

"Excuse you?" she asked, eliciting a sidelong glance from the teenage girl who looked to be about fourteen. "Were you talking about the woman that alighted from the car just now?"

"I am," the girl shrugged. Seeing the confusion starting to set in Avery’s eyes, she mistook it for fear and hurriedly said, "Ah...you thought I was talking about you. I understand, but I wouldn’t have come sit beside you if I had bad intentions."

Avery raised her brows, "No, actually. I—Wait, you wouldn’t have come sit beside me? And what might you mean by bad intentions?" she asked. In truth, she had been surprised when the girl came to sit beside her after seeing her face and all. Especially when the other early comers to mass had chose to sit on the benches directly opposite her immediately after they saw her face.

However, by the time she dropped the call from Jodi, she had pushed the matter to the back of her mind completely and actually forgotten there was a girl seated beside her.

"Maybe that was the wrong use of word but I meant that I wouldn’t have come sit beside you if I bore the same thoughts those people sitting on the other side have in mind. You are the one, right? The one who looks a lot like Avery McCallum and is being bashed online right now," the girl explained. Tilting her chin in the direction of the benches opposite them, she added, "Those people have been taking pictures for a while now so I know I’m not wrong."

"Then, why are you different from them? If you know who I share identical faces with, why don’t you hate me?Except...you’re one of Emma McCallum’s anti-fan."

The girl shrugged, "Two answers. One, maybe I don’t hate you because I also don’t hate the one you ’share identical faces with’. And two, it’s the opposite; I’m a fan. I think that’s also the reason I’m in on a big secret...A very big one that will turn the whole country upside down the moment I reveal it. You can say it’s the reason I hate that woman instead of Avery."

Avery tilted her head in confusion, examining the girl’s face closely to know if she had once seen or met her somewhere. And only one face came to mind.

Archie’s. He was the only one who would answer questions with a careful choice of words that would only create more questions and confusion.

"Well," she sighed, "You can keep your ’big secret’ to yourself and thanks also, for not hating me. Feels good to have one less person after my head, even when they know I’m not the one they really hate."

The girl nodded slightly, "You really can’t blame them. If I had come across you anytime before discovering the ’big secret’, I’d have probably stabbed you to death." She flashed a creepy smile and rose to her feet. "Mass is starting in a few minutes. Let’s get in, shall we?"

Totally entranced, Avery stood from the bench and followed after the girl, just as the other early comers began trooping into the church. As she stared at the back of girl’s brunette hair, she wondered how the hell a fourteen year old girl was so intelligent and at the same time, infuriating.

As soon as she stepped into the church, Avery had expelled all thoughts of the girl from her mind, concentrating instead on her mission for the day. Her eyes searched the large space diligently for Kathy, only to find her sitting in the third row down the aisle from the front of the church.

"Fourth row it is then," she murmured, deciding to sit directly behind Kathy. Though she knew the woman would have seen her numerous times on the news these days, Avery’s heart still beat in anticipation as she imagined the epic sight she would get when Kathy decided to turn and look behind her while the program was ongoing.

Hope she doesn’t scream...

She quickened her steps to the row and quietly settled in her seat, her eyes glinting with surprise when the girl from earlier went to sit beside Kathy. At this point, she was totally convinced that not only did this girl talk and smile creepily, she really was creepy. Who would intentionally chose to sit beside someone she just badmouthed few minutes ago? Especially when there were countless other empty seats available.

"Hi."

Hearing a whispered greeting from the person who just slid into the bench on the other side of the aisle from her, Avery called up a smile to her face before turning. The smile dropped from her face as soon as her brain registered who the person was, and where she had seen him.

Back at the penthouse, on the same day she met Jodi. Ian Smith.

"Hi," she whispered back as soon as she got over her initial shock. Without wasting a single second, she asked, "Did Archie tell you I’d be here? He didn’t ask you to come watch over me or anything on that line, did he?"

Ian didn’t reply her, his eyes crinkling with amusement as he slowly shook his head. Confused, Avery wasn’t able to react to his behavior as she soon heard a whisper from behind her,

"Quit deluding yourself, Ava. You said that when you met me on campus and now here. Are you doing something so wrong that it makes you think your husband has sent not just anybody, but his trusted friends after you?"

Even before she turned, Avery already had a perfect guess on who the person was. And as she turned, the dark eyes that stared back at her confirmed her guess. What were the Smith brothers, Ian and Orion, doing in church?

The latter seemed to guess what the question in her mind was, as he replied, "We are here to pray just like you are. Don’t give us that look."

"What look? You two just..." she trailed off, reminding herself it was totally normal for anyone to come to church. She was probably the only one in this whole building at the moment, who didn’t come to pray, but came instead with an ulterior motive in mind.