Chapter 23 - Ouch!!!

Athena along with her sister went inside the house.

The first thing the two sisters noticed was the change in decor around the house. The usually spacious and elegant living room had changed into slightly more luxurious. The slightly neutral and bright living had turned into a setting of a king's palace.

The main colours in the room now were gold and magenta. It was definitely a change.

It may look good at first glance, but as a living environment it did not seem appropriate.

The room which once made people feel welcomed and at home had made it uncomfortable to sit.

The room screamed luxurious. But for Athena, she found it quite 'tacky'.

From the help of interior designers, maids and a lot of people living room looked very nice and sit gave an exquisite feeling. But at the end of the day you could see the very noticeable luxury the room was trying to show.

Overall, Athena found it tacky and cringe, but she really didn't care about what the design of a materialistic house. It is not like I will be in the room 24/7.

On the other hand, Helen wasn't very pleased with the interiors, the room was decorated by her late mother. Helen's mother had put her heart into decorating every corner of the house. She together with her mother had decorated each every corner of the room. It was like the memories of her past together with her mother.

Laughing and crying, the moments they had as a normal and loving family.

From the makeover all of those memories had vanished.

Helen' conflicted emotions were soon detected by Athena. With a sigh and a run through of the room Athena quickly figured out the issue of the matter.

She quickly reached out her hand and gave her hand a slight squeeze. That was enough for the young lady to turn her head and look up to her sister.

Her eyes were slightly wet, the moisture within her eyes were just about to pool out.

She gave her sister an assuring look, "Go upstairs". Athena's said in a whisper so only her sister hear it.

"But wouldn't-"

"Don't worry." Athena cut Helen off. She knew Helen was worried whether it would offend Maria. She was also worried that her behaviour would be very rude.

But Athena knew that Helen's emotions were very unstable, it would be better for the young girl to calm down. It had only been around three quarters of a year since her mother's death. As a young girl it was very much alright for her to be emotionally unbalanced.

Helen quickly went upstairs without greeting her step-mother. Maria found it rude and was about to chide her in a 'loving' manner.

But she noticed that Athena was walking towards her, Maria had been quite concerned whether her daughter would ruin her plans or not. But it seemed like she was worried about nothing, because Athena was voting more than a puppet in her hands.

But there was something about Athena that had changed. Or maybe it was just her imagination.

"Mum, How are you?" Athena asked in a cheerful and childish manner. She acted like she usually did around her mother.

"Good. How is Helen, have been talking recently?" Maria asked. "Your have to get closer to her grandfather and mother left her the majority of the company shares. We have to get her to sign the property papers."

Athena hummed in response and made a mental note to remind Helen to never sign random papers.

"Where is that steward, he has been on my nerve since he came here. When I was trying to make this place more livable, he kept on interrupting me." Maria complained.

"Oh. I forgot my book at school and I need for tomorrow so he went to get for me." Then replied in a childish-mature way. Her 'mother' did not like it when she acted like a child, but she had to act like her old self. So her only way to convince her 'mother' that she didn't go through changes was to act like a reasonable and mature child.

'Damn, I could easily get 'Oscar' for performance.' Athena praised herself in her mind.

Maria extended her arm and pinched her arm harshly. There was anger in Maria's eyes. "You only know how to create trouble, how can you be so careless?"

Maria's sudden behaviour and anger was not a surprise to Athena. This woman was meantally and emotionally unstable, whether this was her anger because of how Han abandoned her all those years ago or ego was hurt. Or because she was born without a brain and would get unstable. No idea.

Tears were brimming inside Athena's eyes, it was really painful, "Mum, I am sorry, I didn't mean to forget my stuff at school." Athena said in a slightly sobbing voice.

The elder lady had mixed emotions, she was happy to see her 'daughter' in pain, but she also was mad and annoyed at her teary face. "Go away, don't cry in front, just make sure you don't be so careless next time." Maria flicked Athena's hand away.

"Ugh, because of you my nails hurt." Maria said as she saw Athena rushing to her room like a scared little cat.

Athena quickly went to her room, trying not to create anymore conflict with her mother.

As she closed her room, she said out loud "Damn, that bit*h." Athena quickly to her bathroom and tried to disinfect the wound.

As she went to her bathroom and quickly using the cold water from the tap tried to cool down the burning sensation that was coming from her wound.

She looked down on her head there were deep nail marks on her wrist, there was also some drops of blood that had come out because of how her skin was pierced.

"That bit*h, it hurts." Athena growled in a low voice.

She then quickly went to her room and grabbed herself a black trousers and a light blue-long sleeve shirt, to cover up the wound on her wrist.