Chapter 73 The Aftermath

• The atmosphere at the house the next morning was a strained one. Carol had to wake up early to pack her stuff, otherwise, she would have just stayed in her room and slept, or at least, pretend to sleep until her family left. As it was, she had to come face to face with them. Belinda averted her gaze and refused to look at Carol or speak to her the whole time, not that Carol wanted to speak to her either. Aunt Alice did her best to pretend that everything was normal, and that none of what had happened yesterday happened. It was still a marvel to Carol that someone like her, who was such a tattletale, knew about all this and had been able to keep her mouth shut all these years.
• As her father had promised, they did leave somewhat early, so all she had to do was bid them a forced goodbye and they were on their way. However, they turned up again thirty minutes later, saying that they had missed their flight due to traffic on the road and that it would have to be the next day that they would leave. Her father looked apologetic about the whole thing, while Belinda looked angry, although whether it was because of the missed flights, or because of the events of the previous night, Carol couldn't tell, and she did not care one way or the other.
• In fact, she was glad that she had decided to go on vacation after all, because she could not stand one more second of Belinda glaring at her as though she was the one who was wronged. She and Sebastian had already called his uncle to inform him that they would be leaving on vacation today. They finished with their preparations before twelve in the afternoon and were ready to go to the airport. Carol bid her family a stiff farewell before they left. It was only her aunt and her father who were there to bid them goodbye. Belinda had since disappeared out of the house for some more shopping with some money that Sebastian gave Donald that morning.