Chapter 223 – Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

Filed To Story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family

“Serena, let’s go eat first.” Martha, holding the dress, followed Serena and calmly reminded her, “Tonight’s dinner is about Ms. Bella, so let’s not cause any more trouble. It would leave a bad impression on the master and mistress, who would think you’re deliberately ruining Ms. Bella’s party. There will be plenty of chances to get back at her later.”

“Even she dares to bully me now!” Serena was very angry. “Not to mention the others in the Collins family! I can tell she has a grudge against Mirabella, but she wouldn’t dare bully Mirabella in front of so many people! Why only bully me?”

“Serena, you should know the difference between you and Ms. Bella. Of course people will pick on the weaker one!”

Martha’s words made Serena even more upset. Mirabella, that woman, always had all the advantages. If she hadn’t suddenly returned, Alma wouldn’t have the courage to be so arrogant!

After a while, she returned to her seat. Kenneth, Louisa, and David all immediately showed concern. Considering the bigger picture, she just said, “I’m fine,” and then sneakily glanced at Romeo.

Romeo was whispering something to Mirabella with his head down.

Mirabella glared at him, a fake annoyance on her face. Romeo just gave a small smile, a doting expression that was envy–inducing.

That’s Romeo, and Mirabella actually dared to glare at him like that!

More importantly, he actually smiled, as if he were indulging Mirabella’s arrogance!

Why? Why would such a great guy be charmed by Mirabella?

Just then, Alma came back.

She hustled over to Beverly, grabbed her arm tightly, buried her face in her chest, and whimpered, “Mom!”

She looked like she’d been done wrong big time.

Seeing her, Serena couldn’t help but feel pissed. If she didn’t know the full story, they’d think she was the bad guy!

“What’s up?” Beverly looked down to see a handprint on her daughter’s right cheek. If they didn’t look closely, they’d think it was just makeup.

Beverly had a hunch her daughter was up to something, so she went along with the act, raising her voice with concern, “What happened to your face?” All eyes were suddenly on them.

“Mom, don’t ask!” Alma kept her head down, her voice tainted with reproach, as if she didn’t want anyone else to know.

“What happened?” When Alma wouldn’t spill, Beverly turned to Serena, asking gently, “Alma went to see you just now; how did she come back like this? Do you know what happened?”

Serena was at a loss. How was she supposed to know what Alma was up to?

“Mom, it’s not Serena’s fault; don’t question her!” Alma immediately stopped her, saying,”I did this makeup myself; I thought it was fun.”

“Who in their right mind would paint a handprint on their face?” Beverly said, reaching out to touch her face.

“Ouch, it hurts. Don’t touch!” Alma teared up from the pain.

At this point, everyone was looking at Serena in disbelief.

Did Serena hit her?

Beverly turned to Serena, saying tenderly, “Serena, it’s all because Alma was careless and dirtied your dress tonight. I’ll apologize on her behalf, and later I’ll take you shopping for a new dress. I wouldn’t feel right otherwise.”

“I didn’t hit her!” Serena felt wronged. Beverly sounded like she hit Alma because Alma dirtied her dress! But that wasn’t the case at all!

“I didn’t say you hit her; don’t jump to conclusions!” Beverly feigned a scolding smile, speaking softly, “Don’t rush; it’s Alma’s fault tonight.”

“No, I really didn’t hit her! I don’t know what’s with the handprint on her face!” Serena said, turning to Kenneth and Louisa, “Dad, Mom, I really didn’t hit her!” Louisa was also confused. Alma had gone to the restroom to check on Serena out of concern, and when she came back, she had a red handprint on her face that looked real, even wincing when Beverly touched it.

“Serena, what’s going on?” Louisa wouldn’t condemn her own daughter, but she wouldn’t cover for her if she made a mistake either.

“When Alma came to find me in the restroom, as soon as I opened the door.” Serena suddenly remembered splashing water on her, smudging her makeup a bit.

Did Alma mess up her own makeup? Did she really draw a handprint on herself while retouching her makeup? Was this to frame her? That little rascal!

“So what happened then?” Louisa saw that she stopped without continuing, wondering if something serious and unspeakable had happened.

“Whatever Serena did to me, as long as she’s not mad, it’s okay! Mom, don’t ask anymore! It will damage the harmony between us sisters and our family! Tonight’s dinner is centered around Ms. Bella, and Romeo is also present. Let’s drop it!”

Before anyone else could speak, Alma continued, “I’m really okay! Mom, don’t ask anymore! The atmosphere was so good; now it’s all changed!”

After she finished speaking, she casually tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

There’s no way Beverly wouldn’t notice the ulterior motive behind her daughter’s move, and she asked, “Why is your hair wet too?”

“It’s ‘cause it’s so hot out; I’m just sweating! Anyway, it’s got nothing to do with Serena; let’s just eat!” Alma tried to divert the topic and added in a low voice, “Let’s not embarrass Bella.”

Serena was ticked off. Wasn’t Alma’s comment a sneaky way of implying that her wet hair and the mark on her face were Serena’s doing? And she had the nerve to pretend to be considerate. What a joke!

Serena couldn’t hold back and blurted out, “Mom, I swear I didn’t hit her. That mark must be something she drew on herself. Martha can back me up!! didn’t lay a finger on her!”

On one side, Serena was adamantly denying it, and on the other side, Alma was seemingly covering up for her.

Everyone’s sympathies were leaning towards Alma!

Though Louisa doubted Serena would do such a thing, the evidence was right there. Surely they couldn’t just accuse Alma of making a scene out of nothing?

“Can we please stop staring at me? Let’s just eat.” Alma couldn’t handle the attention. “If there’s anything you want to say, let’s talk about it after dinner!” Mirabella smirked, seeing right through Alma’s act. The whole thing could be solved with a simple bottle of makeup remover to see who was lying. But Serena, in her anger, wasn’t thinking straight.

However, Mirabella decided not to interfere with their sisterly spat and merely commented, “This foie gras is pretty good.”

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly shifted their attention.

David was puzzled. He believed Serena wouldn’t hit anyone, but he also thought Alma was usually sweet and wouldn’t be capable of such deception. He shook his head, not knowing what to think, and decided to plate food for them instead. “Let’s eat first; we can talk about this later.”

“I swear I didn’t hit her!” Serena had never felt so wronged!

“Serena, nobody’s saying you hit me. Let’s drop it!” Alma continued to whisper as she ate, serving food to Serena in an attempt to make peace. Serena was fuming!

“Serena, Bella just said the foie gras is tasty; what do you think?” Alma asked with a smile, “If you like it, I can get you some more.” Serena was about to lose it!

Meanwhile, Yolanda couldn’t find any other way upstairs and had to return to the main hall.

The hall was bustling, but she didn’t notice; her mind was preoccupied with how to cozy up to the two handsome guys.

“Yoli, why did it take you so long? Are you feeling sick?” Zachary was relieved to see her return and asked softly.

“The dining room is so huge, I got a bit lost. Sorry for making you wait.” Yolanda looked up at Zachary’s average face and felt a bit disappointed. Compared to those two guys, he fell short.

“Yoli, there’s something I wanted to ask you; I’d like to hear your thoughts.” Zachary brought up something he had been thinking about: “For our upcoming engagement party, would it be possible to hold it separately at our respective families‘ places?”

Zachary added, probably worrying that she might misunderstand, “This is all me, it has nothing to do with my parents.”

As for the engagement party, his parents had long since let him take the reins.

Yolanda seemed to have a hunch but still asked subconsciously, “What do you mean?”

“That is, on the day of the engagement party, we will invite all our family and friends over, and any close relatives and friends from your side can come too. But as for those distant relatives,

Zachary hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to just say, “Would it be possible for your parents to invite those distant relatives at another time? Would that be okay?”

“Zachary, are you saying our relatives aren’t good enough, worried they’ll embarrass your family?” Yolanda immediately got a bit miffed.

“Yoli.” Zachary wanted to explain but didn’t know how to begin.

She didn’t see how uncouth her rural relatives had been just now. He didn’t even want to remember it a second time!

If his family saw it, not only would he be the laughingstock, but everyone would oppose the marriage!

He just didn’t want things to get too awkward.

“If you look down on us Meltons, Zachary, then you don’t have to worry about my future.” Yolanda retorted angrily.

“Yoli, that’s not what I meant!” Zachary tried to explain quietly, “It’s because just now.”

Everything that had happened was hard to put into words. He didn’t want to embarrass Yoli.

“What happened just now? Did you feel ignored because I took too long in the restroom? Did you think I was deliberately ignoring you? Making you uncomfortable?“,

“Of course not!” Zachary got a bit flustered and said, “You should ask your parents!”

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