A Graduation Gift novel Chapter 445

Joel was stunned to see the beautiful woman standing before him. Transfixed by her twinkling eyes, distant memories began to flood back to him.

Trying to hide the mild panic in his eyes, a name slipped out of his lips.

"Courtney!"

His voice was so high that it drew inquisitive eyes from around the restaurant.

Cloris also averted her eyes towards the commotion with curiosity. She caught Whitney hurrying to Courtney's side, looking at the man with bewilderment.

"What's going on there?"

Arthur asked. He brought his glance back from the strange man to Cloris in front of him, who did not look like her usual self.

"Nothing. Don't worry about them. Let's just finish our meal. We're still going to the movies afterwards, right?"

Whitney's words from before were still running through Cloris's mind. She did not dare meddle in whatever drama was unfolding, mindful of Courtney's current mental state.

"Of course. We should be just in time when we finish this meal,"

Arthur replied, smiling at Cloris and putting the commotion across the restaurant to the back of his mind.

Courtney's eyes were stunned wide open, and her face began to contort in anguish, conjuring up some grievous memory. She felt her mother's arms come around her. As her mother, Whitney's maternal instinct was to protect her as the symptoms of her illness started to show.

"Come on, Courtney. Let's head home,"

Whitney said, with agitation straining her voice. She feared what would happen if Courtney had a relapse in her mental disorder in the middle of this restaurant.

With a sudden and forceful push that even surprised Whitney, Courtney wriggled out of her grip. She stood, glowering with rage at the man.

"You promised you would be beside me for the rest of our lives. You promised me! Why did you lie?"

Courtney shouted, tears falling down her cheeks and clouding her vision.

Joel was lost for words, dumbstruck at the outburst. He knew he had taken advantage of Courtney, cheating her out of her money the moment he found out she was the daughter of a very wealthy family. He had always had the reputation for skirt-chasing but never thought he would have to face up to his past actions like this.

"Courtney, calm down. Just forget about him and let's head home, okay?"

Whitney was so focused on getting Courtney out of this situation and back home to take her medication. 'Maybe I should've brought the doctor around too, ' she thought, leaving no space to even ponder whether Joel was the man who had hurt Courtney so badly back in the day.

Whitney grabbed onto her daughter tighter but Courtney did not budge, nor did her hateful stare waver from Joel.

"You lied! You cheated! You are a liar!"

Courtney continued to yell. The people in the restaurant could no longer ignore the commotion. They strained their heads from the seats to get a good look and some waiters had even gathered to watch.

Cloris suddenly rose from her seat, her mind too distracted.

"Arthur, let's go. It's too noisy here, I can't stand it anymore," she said, packing her things for a hasty exit.

Cloris could feel the nerves rising within her. Deep down, in her heart, she felt every word dagger Courtney threw at Joel was actually being directed at her. She couldn't handle it any more.

Arthur hastened to get up and join Cloris as she hurried out.

Cassandra watched on, her heart sinking as Courtney became more erratic and crazed.

This was not the first time she had seen Courtney relapse.

She hurried over to the scene, helping Whitney to carefully drag Courtney out of the restaurant.

Joel's dinner date was completely stunned silent from her front row seat to the whole scene. She grabbed onto his arm, her face full of fear.

"Joel, I'm scared. That woman is a lunatic!"

The girl shuddered, hoping Joel would pull around and comfort her.

Instead, her insult was the final straw for Courtney. Courtney snapped back around, her mind descending into a manic abyss.

With a loud shriek, she broke away from the grips of Whitney and Cassandra and launched herself at Joel, grabbing onto his collar.

"You left me! Why? Why did you leave me? For her? You said I was the love of your life. Why did you lie? You liar!"

Courtney cried desperately. Joel did not know what to do, his body frozen with fear, his collars still clutched in a tight grip by Courtney.

He could see the mania in Courtney's eyes.

He pulled her hands off his collars with definitive force.