Chapter 3

My plane ticket was canceled.

"Aria, no matter what, the Hayes family will never abandon you!"

For a second, I felt touched when my parents said that.

But the next second, my softened heart hardened back to stone.

"The moment Celeste comes home, you go back to your old town? What will outsiders think of us?!"

"They'll just mock our family for being dysfunctional."

At the end of the day, I, who had been their daughter for eighteen years, wasn't their own flesh and blood.

Celeste was sent to the hospital for just a tiny scratch, and my parents were beside themselves with worry.

She was brought back to the Hayes mansion, adored by everyone. The first thing that happened when we got home was my belongings were moved out of my room. My parents looked away, unable to meet my eyes.

"Aria, you're the older sister. Celeste isn't well, and this room gets great sunlight. Why don't you switch rooms?"

"You're always so understanding, you'll surely..."

"Fine."

Without a moment's hesitation, I agreed, shrugging as if it didn't matter.

They wouldn't let me leave, but they also needed to hurt me to compensate Celeste.

"Aria changing rooms is exactly what she should do!"

"Of course, she'll agree! She's been usurping Celeste's place for so many years, doesn't she feel ashamed?!"

The villa's front door was abruptly pushed open. A figure swaggered in: Julian, from the Sterling family next door.

He also had another identity: my fiancé. The Hayes and Sterling families had an engagement planned for the next five years.

Now that Celeste was back, that engagement naturally shifted to her.

Julian hated me. He couldn't wait to see me suffer.

He gave me a cold look, then stood beside Celeste, his back straight.

"I heard everything that happened at school, Aria. I advise you to behave yourself!"

"Don't you dare bully Celeste!"

A blush crept onto Celeste's face, and her eyes reddened.

"Mom, Dad, and Julian... you're all so good to me."

"No one has ever been so kind to me before."

Her voice was hoarse and choked. My parents were immediately touched, and Julian stared at Celeste, his face as red as an apple.

That feeling of being their whole world, of being depended on and spoiled, was something I'd never experienced.

A cough escaped me, and their gazes softened even more.

Turning away, in a corner where they couldn't see, Celeste gave me a chilling stare.

Clearly, she wasn't done with me.

In the days that followed, Celeste found new ways to torment me.

I went to the restroom, and a bucket of dirty water was thrown over my head.

"Doesn't she know her place? A fake, still bullying the real daughter!"

"She pushed Celeste to suicide, and now she's spreading rumors that she's sick."

"I can't stand people like her!"

Wiping the water from my face, I held up my phone, which was recording, and marched straight to the teacher's office.

When the culprits emerged from the office, looking pale and miserable, my desk had been defaced with huge lipstick graffiti and moved out into the hallway.

"Aria, are you okay!"

"Don't be sad!!"

Celeste cautiously approached me from the front row, a look of concern on her face.

The next second, she stepped on a book I'd dropped, stumbled, and crashed directly into the corner of the desk.

"Ah!!!!"

That day, my parents rushed to the hospital for the second time, straight to Celeste's bedside.

Seeing the cut on her head, they both gasped. When their gazes finally found me, their eyes filled with disappointment.

"Aria, look what's happened to Celeste again!"

"Every time she's near you, she ends up hurt. What is it about you that brings her so much pain?"

What did her getting hurt have to do with me?

Before I could voice it, Julian shoved me aside.

"It's all your fault!"

"Celeste, from now on, you'll stay with me. I'll keep you safe!"

He turned to my parents. "Mr. and Mrs. Hayes, you have my word. I'll take care of her. No one will lay a finger on her again."

He emphasized the last few words, Julian looking meaningfully at me.

I scoffed, my eyes icy.

"I don't want to be around her!"

They only saw the cut on Celeste's forehead; they didn't see my vandalized desk or my dirty clothes.

At my words, my parents' faces immediately changed. Unable to hold back, they roared.

"Unrepentant! Celeste has been so patient with you!"

"Don't forget, she's our biological child."

Celeste's body trembled. She suddenly hugged her head and crouched down.

"It's not her fault. I came from the countryside, I don't know the rules. Aria hates my poverty, so she doesn't even let me touch her. It's only right that she pushed me away!"

"Snap!"

Unable to stand it anymore, I slapped my soaked school uniform jacket onto the floor. Dirty water splattered several of their faces.

I raised my hand and tapped the blackboard, pointing above my head.

"What are you arguing about? There are cameras inside and outside the classroom!"

Mom and Dad froze.

Half an hour later, Celeste bit her lip and said nothing. The video paused on the scene where I was being bullied, standing alone.

Julian clicked his tongue, then looked away, reminding them.

"Aria's just got dirty clothes, but Celeste's face is injured."

"Yes, yes."

Clearly, Celeste's injury was more important than my humiliation.

It was just a misunderstanding, my parents told me not to be so pessimistic.

Celeste was tenderly taken home by my parents to recover, while I was left awkwardly at school, without even an apology or explanation.

That evening, to thank her parents and Julian, Celeste personally cooked a pot of soup.

The whole family was moved to tears. They drank bowl after bowl, and Julian, who came to join them, guzzled the soup down.

My eyelids twitched.

As I cautiously opened the kitchen monitor, the harsh ringing of a phone suddenly echoed through the dining room.

The moment it connected, two cheerful voices came from the other end.

"Aria, our sweet girl!"

"When are you coming home?"