Chapter 25

Helen needed to be tough because of what she experienced as a child. Her personality changed over time from not allowing people to walk all over her as they pleased. There were only so many times she could be pushed to the ground before she snapped.

There was no greater feeling than earning the confidence to step on people just like they did to her. She would not go back to being unhappy or abused and being stuck in an unhappy home. Helen never wanted to be at the top of an alter saying I do.

Growing up, she experienced firsthand how people could change their character so easily and take their frustration out on others, especially their children. No loved ones were out of bounds.

It was also crazy how other family members could turn blind eye to what was happening to children and then guilt trip them as if they were the ones at fault.

"You should've done as your father said."

"Be quiet when they are talking to you."

"If you were more obedient your parents wouldn't have gotten angry."

Why does no one ever decide to point fingers at the adults? The quiet children always made easy targets.

Helen wished she had the chance to pick her biological parents. They would have been better than the monster who she originally called mom and dad. Your parents are supposed to be the first people you love and yet the universe failed her.

But she did enjoy the company of Mary and Samuel.

This was the reason she couldn't stand having to talk about her relationships. The conversation of relationships just dropped her happy mood and took her down a road of bad memories. It was time for a new conversation topic, for example, the main event which was the opening.

"What are you in the mood to eat?" Helen questioned ready to impress the man with her menu. She was confident enough he would fall in love with what Sasha created from the first bite.

"Surprise me," Eli stated, giving her the chance to pick one of her best dishes.

"How do you prefer your meat? Well done, medium or rare?" She questioned; her chair made a small screeching noise as she stood up. The waiters wouldn't be coming upstairs tonight so she would get the food herself.

"I'm a rare kind of person," Eli replied.

"I'll be back as soon as I can. No offense but I was on the fence about bringing a date since I will be all over the place today. But I promise I won't leave you hanging the whole time," Helen said apologetically.

It just seemed rude to invite him here and leave him all alone. She should've invited him another time when she was free.

"It's fine. I know you must be on top of everything today. Take your time," He replied understanding her situation. He didn't expect the owner to be next to him the entire time.

Who wouldn't be up and down for their first business opening? He was also expecting her to be a little more nervous, but she appeared to be calm and collected. Maybe on the inside, there was a storm.

Eli wanted to see Helen in her element today running things.

"Great! I will bring you my favorite dish and I will tell a waiter to check upstairs on you. Goodbye for now," She waved before she hurried down the stairs in a rush to hear what comments her staff had for her as they passed by.

'There was definitely a storm on the inside,' Eli thought seeing her rush down the stairs. He felt a feeling of being watched when Helen had descended the stairs, but Eli paid it no mind.

He had an inkling who the person or persons might be. Other than himself he had only picked up on the two wolves in the building. He wasn't surprised they would be keeping an eye on him while he was in the restaurant.

He wondered how fuming with anger they were at the thought of Eli being Helen's date for the day. Eli was almost tempted to embrace the woman just to piss off the wolves. He was also curious to know why they were so attached to the woman.

Eli knew the stupid mate ritual which sometimes involved humans was abolished thousands of years ago. Were the werewolves starting it back up again? Were the twins planning to fight over one woman or perhaps share?

Eli had no plans of sharing someone he was interested in like an item. They would have to get used to his face beside Helen's in the future regardless of whether it was for a romantic or just a friend kind of relationship.

How on earth did he even manage to pick someone who happened to have two wolves as guard dogs? Then again, this would work in his favor. With the recent danger in Harlow city, when he couldn't keep watch over Helen, he would put a grain of trust in the wolves to protect her from any other creatures who might come lurking.

He was less concerned about the wolves compared to perhaps a demon walking through these doors. Demons preferred nothing but to cause mischief. They took pride in tormenting the lives of others simply because it was fun. Then when it all over they would attempt to drag you to the underworld to torture you even more.

If it wasn't a vampire or a wolf doing the kidnappings in Harlow city, the next best guess would be the demons or the goblins. Goblins loved to mess with anyone who crossed their paths. There were a lot of creatures who found joy in the chaos.

If the rumors of some clans wanting to expose their identities to the world were true, the humans were in for a lifetime of shock. Falling almost to the bottom of the food chain they claimed to be on top of.

It was humorous all these years to hear the humans be so egotistical. Whatever the future holds, Eli considered it to be ongoing entertainment for himself.

Meanwhile, Helen had given her order for Eli's food to the chef personally and was now walking around making sure there were no problems. She wasn't necessarily in the faces of the customers because she found it to be too much and out of character for herself but if anyone wanted to know who the owner of Essence was, she had no problem introducing herself.

She was about to avoid walking past the table of Mary's friends or associates as she preferred to call them. Helen didn't understand why someone with the personality of Mary was friends with these kinds of people.

"Helen dear!" She heard the familiar voice call out to her. Helen couldn't help the uncontrollable eye roll but made sure to turn around with a smile on her face.

"Hello Grace and Edna, so happy you could make it here today," She unwillingly greeted the duo. They were the main ones who irritated her.

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

'Yay me!' Helen sarcastically thought. She had no plans to stay here for more than three minutes. Three minutes was all she could take before-

"Are you pregnant dear? You look a little chubby," Grace was the first one to start it off.

Edna placed her hand over her mouth acting surprised, then she playfully tapped Grace's shoulder. "You know Mary would've told us if she was pregnant. Plus, she needs a man to have a baby or maybe she went to a clinic."

Helen couldn't understand why they needed to do this. How did this make their day better or the person to which they were speaking? What happened to sweet older folks?

"Are you seeing someone Helen?" Grace asked.

"No," Helen nonchalantly replied secretly wishing she closed the door before they could've entered.

"Tsk tsk. By your age, I was already married and expecting my first child. Young children these days don't know what to do with their lives," Edna shook her head disappointed with the current generation.

"Well word on the street, your husband ran out the house yelling he's suffered long enough for forty years being married to you. If that's the life achievement I failed to have at this age, trust me I'm fine," Helen declared having enough of this ignorance on this special day. Edna was nowhere near in a happy marriage to be boasting.

Helen felt like slamming her head against a wall over and over just to erase every memory she had from being around the two of them.

Why was it so hard for them to just congratulate her just this one day? It didn't cost a dime to be nice. Apparently, it added a wrinkle to the face whenever they were rude. She could see them aging a bit faster.

'Botox doesn't solve everything,' Helen thought taking note mentally.

"Y-You," Grace was just as appalled as Edna by Helen's words. How could she treat them so rudely?