Filed to story: Returning to Her Not-So-Poor Family
The next morning.
Mirabella came down to the breakfast table to find Serena already seated, having woken up at some unknown hour.
“Morning, sis. Let me get you some oatmeal,” Serena offered, standing up, but a sharp pain in her ankle nearly made her lose her balance, and she quickly grabbed the table for support.
Mirabella was unsure what Serena was up to; her bowl wasn’t even filled yet and Mirabella had already picked up a glass of milk, sipping it casually, paying no mind to her sister.
As Serena finished filling the bowl, she carefully set it in front of Mirabella, then saying, “We’re alone here, and I know you don’t like me calling you ‘sis’. I’ll try to avoid it when no one’s around. About last night, I’m sorry. I really messed up.”
With that, Serena twisted open a bottle of hot sauce and poured half of it into her glass.Mirabella’s mind popped up several question marks. Was she crazy?
“This is my way of showing I’m sorry. Cheers,” Serena said, picking up the glass full of hot sauce. She grimaced, and before she was halfway through, she nearly gagged.
“What’s this act now?” Mirabella’s cool gaze fell on her, taking her in with detached interest.
Serena opened her mouth to speak but was overwhelmed by the spice. She fanned her face, and Mirabella could see the bruises on her wrist and the red marks from a snake bite.
Serena forced herself to finish the spicy concoction. With just a couple of gulps left, her lips were swollen, her face beet red, and she seemed to be emitting heat. In visible distress and after a painful struggle, she finally downed the rest of the glass and ran to the kitchen sink.
Mirabella knew she had gone to rinse her mouth. She leisurely continued with her breakfast. After a while, Serena returned with swollen lips, the corners of her eyes still glistening from the tears the spice had drawn.
“From now on, I won’t do anything to upset you again. Martin and I are planning to get engaged, and if it’s okay, I’ll move out. I’ll stay away from you, away from this house. I hope you can put the past behind us.”
Hearing the words “put the past behind us,” Mirabella raised her lovely eyes, understanding the implication, “So someone’s after you? You’re afraid I’ll say something, hence the hot sauce stunt and the engagement talk, hoping I’ll let bygones be bygones?”
Serena didn’t expect Mirabella to be so astute and to guess her motives right away. Resolute, Serena locked eyes with Mirabella and asked directly, “Deal?”
“Then tell me, the person in Aunt Eunice’s basement, did you kill him?”
Serena froze for a moment, caught off guard by Mirabella’s seemingly out-of-the-blue question. The haunting memories of that cold, sinister basement still sent shivers down her spine whenever they crept into her mind.
“Is all the danger I faced in Dawnstar somehow connected to you?” Mirabella’s gaze was piercing as she asked directly.
Serena was taken aback, “What danger?”
“What danger? What are you two talking about??” Louisa walked into the dining room just in time to overhear their conversation about some danger and looked puzzled, “What happened?”
“It’s nothing,” Serena and Mirabella spoke in unison, neither wanting to worry their mother.
“Serena, what happened to your lips? Why are they so swollen? And your face, it’s so flushed?”
Kenneth asked, bewildered.
Serena started to explain, but a burning sensation in her stomach surged, making her feel nauseous, “I need to go to the bathroom.”
Before leaving the table, she glanced at Mirabella, unsure whether it was a plea for Mirabella to let bygones be bygones or fear that Mirabella might reveal something.
Louisa sat down, and once Serena was out of sight, she turned to Mirabella, “Bella, I heard you’re Queena and Jamie Noelle. Do you know how stunned I was last night when I heard from friends?
You’ve become so accomplished; I can’t even find the words to praise you.”
“Yeah, you’re practically a master in your field. Bella, you must have had a tough time over the years.”
Kenneth said as he served her a fried egg and topped off her milk, “We always hear about your achievements from others. You’re way too modest.””All those titles are just what others have pinned on me,” Mirabella didn’t take any of those accolades seriously. Chess master, violin virtuoso – to her, they were all bubble reputation.
But it was precisely her humility that endeared her to others.
“My dear kid, do you have any idea how many people spend their whole lives chasing such a title? It’s clear that those old masters really invested a lot in you over these past eighteen years. We really need to thank them properly, and you are truly gifted and hardworking.”
Kenneth knew that such achievements required continuous effort and sacrifice.
“You’re amazing, and I’m so proud of you!” As Kenneth praised her, he couldn’t help but get teary-eyed, thinking of all the hardships his child had endured over the years.
“Bella, Mom’s proud of you too. At the birthday bash last night, I heard Serena was bad-mouthing you to her friends, saying you broke up her engagement with Romeo?” Louisa said, then quickly added, “Of course, you shouldn’t feel any pressure. Just tell us what you know, and don’t worry about how it might affect us or anyone else.”
“Yeah, don’t hold back just because we’ve doted on her for eighteen years, or because you’re afraid we’ll be upset, or for any other reason. Just be honest with us, Bella. Did Serena really do that?”
As Kenneth spoke, Louisa interrupted, “Bella’s ears aren’t that long to hear every conversation between Serena and Lindsay. But Bella, you can share what you know, what you’ve seen, and what you’ve heard.”
“Exactly, let us understand the situation,” Kenneth said, looking at Mirabella expectantly.
Seeing that they genuinely wanted to know, Mirabella spoke in a calm voice, “Lindsay did say that Serena told her I stole Romeo from her.”Kenneth and Louisa were stunned!
“Given what you know about Serena, what do you think the chances are she actually said those things?” Kenneth and Louisa peered anxiously at Mirabella, as if on tenterhooks for her verdict.
“One hundred percent.”
Mirabella’s unequivocal response floored Kenneth and Louisa.
“Has she been doing things behind our backs, things to hurt you, like disrespecting you, being two-
faced, or maybe still carrying a torch for Romeo?”
“Yes.”
The confirmation rocked Kenneth and Louisa to their core, “When did it start?”
Was it recent weeks? The past couple of months?
“Always.”
“You’re saying, for the entire six months since you returned home, Serena has been like this? Just putting on a show for us?”
“Yes.”
Mirabella’s final word left Kenneth and Louisa utterly stunned. They exchanged speechless glances, unable to articulate their disbelief.
“I’ve got some issues to sort out at the office. I should go,” Mirabella stood up; she had urgent matters to attend to.
Louisa watched her leave, murmuring after a long silence, “How could this be?”They had doted on Serena all her life, and she had always been the picture of sweetness and empathy in their eyes. They never imagined she would do such things behind their backs.
“I thought Serena and Bella would get along,” Kenneth had not foreseen that Bella’s homecoming would change things.
“Bella must have turned a blind eye to Serena’s behavior because of the bond we’ve formed with Serena over these eighteen years.” Louisa was suddenly overcome with sorrow, “We wanted to make it up to Bella, but instead, we’ve allowed her to be hurt under our very noses.”
And the hurt was inflicted by the daughter they had cherished for eighteen years.
“Bella is naturally reserved and quiet. If we hadn’t brought it up today, if Serena hadn’t been this way for six months, I doubt she would have ever mentioned it. I bet she’s suffered a lot in silence,” at the thought of this, Kenneth was wracked with guilt.
“She must have kept quiet about Serena’s actions to spare our feelings, to keep us from being upset.
She’s so considerate, it breaks my heart.”
Louisa felt a lump in her throat, realizing that Bella had faced every slight, every hypocrisy from Serena alone, all the while caring for her parents’ emotions, never speaking ill of Serena, always the picture of forbearance.
“Serena must have been slandering Bella behind her back this whole time; otherwise, Bella wouldn’t be so certain it was her doing. Serena has become a stranger to us,” Kenneth never imagined Serena changing this way.
“I thought all the talks we had with Serena had sunk in. She always called Bella ‘sis’ and greeted her with such a bright smile. I was so pleased. To think it was all an act.” Louisa felt a chill of disappointment and distress.”If Serena and Bella truly can’t get along, there’s no point in forcing them to live under the same roof.
Let’s have her move out in a few days.” Kenneth said with a heavy sigh.
It seemed heartless to cast her out due to her severe injury.
“We’ll have her move into the guest house next door for these days, to reflect on her actions.” Louisa nodded in agreement, “It’s a fair punishment.”
“In a few days, both our families will be gathering here. They’ve grown quite fond of Serena over the years. If they knew about her behavior, they’d be so disappointed. We’ll have to find the right moment to break it to them, and not like last time when mom got so worked up she nearly fell ill again.”
Kenneth had hoped for a joyful season, never anticipating it would come to this.
He nodded in resignation, “We’ll do as you say.”
“Serena probably thinks we’re oblivious to her deeds, and with Bella being so non-confrontational, she’s never been called out on it. That’s probably emboldened her. Let’s have her reflect for now, but if she doesn’t turn over a new leaf, she’ll have no place in the Collins family.”
They could not allow their adopted daughter to continue causing turmoil in front of their biological child.
Louisa continued, “When Bella comes home, we should have a talk with her. She’s been through a lot this past year, and we haven’t been as attentive as we should’ve been.”
The thought of their daughter suffering right under their roof dampened Louisa’s appetite for breakfast.
“Don’t stress too much; your health is important,” while Kenneth said this, he served Louisa some eggs, but he himself had lost his appetite. After eighteen years, the bond with Serena was not easily severed. They had put their energy into doting on her for eighteen years, and yet the latter kept bullying their own daughter in the dark, which would be an unadulterated shock, disappointment and heartbreak.Remembering Serena’s tearful plea the night before, Kenneth felt played.
“That girl, crying so innocently last night, anyone would think the whole world had wronged her.”
Kenneth was taken aback by her convincing act, “If it weren’t for Bella’s words today, I’d still feel guilty, like we’d wronged her, but she’s far from innocent.”
“She’s played on the trust and affection we’ve given her over the years, always turning on the tears in front of us. Yes, she used to be so sweet, so sensible; it’s hard to imagine her doing any of this. She cried, and we believed her every time,” Louisa’s smile was tinged with sadness. She could never imagine the kid they once pampered the most would take advantage of their kindness, lie to them and make fool of them.
They weren’t naive or lacking in insight; they had simply trusted the child they had raised unconditionally. Who would suspect their own child of deceit without reason?
In their presence, Serena had always seemed perfect, too perfect for them to suspect anything.
And whenever a shred of doubt surfaced, Serena’s tears and feigned innocence would soften their hearts, and they’d push aside their suspicions.
