Syra remained to lie on the ground and neither Aileen nor Irene showed any intention of helping her to get up either.
Instead, they just sneered at her. Besides, the twin refused to help her because they reckoned that it was better off that way so as to divert the attention of the crowd from them to Syra's sorry plight.
Meanwhile, Syra was left to herself to ponder everything about life exactly from that point. She wondered what she could possibly have done in the past for her to deserve any of the unfair treatments that she had been getting from the same people she treated as her own keen.
Desire fed onto her swirling emotions. A desire to get back and get even to these annoying stepsisters of hers together with her stepmom.
Yet, at the same time, Syra knew more than anyone that doing so would not only bring her trouble but also would not do her any good at all.
So in the end, she chose to take control over her mixed feelings, before they could even cloud her rationality and get the better half of her.
After all, the last thing that she wanted to happen was for her to do anything stupid out of rage and regret it afterward.
In an attempt to calm her nerves and regained her composure, Syra tried to inhale but just a milliseconds after she did that she realized that it was not exactly a wise decision and she regretted doing it right away.
Apparently, her act of inhaling some air also allowed the flavored drink that was spilled on her face to make its way inside her nostrils; and before she knew it, she was already coughing hard.
"Are you okay???"
Syra was in the middle of expelling as much liquid out from her system when someone's shadow suddenly shielded her away from the blinding sun.
The other party peeked right through the direction where Syra was facing. Do note that she still had her back laid on the ground at that time so naturally, the guy was able to block the bright day sky above them. Also, he was able to shade Syra with his body.
Syra on the other hand stared back at the handsome face blocking her sight. Her mind went on a complete shutdown as she watched the most handsome face that she had ever seen.
'No wonder, Aileen and Irene were willing to bite each other's neck over Andrei's attention. Their infatuation was not unfounded.'
Syra through inside her head and subconsciously let out a sigh when that realization dawned at her.
Meanwhile, as the twin sisters watched in envy as to how Syra ended up basking all of Andrei's attention instead of them, an idea struck them.
"What are you waiting for, Aileen? This is the chance for your video to go viral. Go ahead and film them. I assure you that it would be the best content that you could ever wish for today."
Irene urged her sister and the other party seconded her idea right away.
"You're right, sissy! I need to put this on my vlog."
As soon as she heard Irene's suggestion, Aileen immediately took her phone from her pink sling bag and logged in on her social media account.
Then as though fixing her hair at the last minute would make her look good in the camera, Aileen tried her best to put her curls in place.
But in reality, it did not make was any difference in her appearance at all. She looked exactly the same as before.
The other party even made sure that she was facing the camera at her best angle before she clicked on the red button of the screen and started the video
"Hello everyone, your pretty Princess Aileen walked right into this humiliating situation."
Aileen did not forget to introduced herself first in front of the camera before she used the back camera of her phone to focus and record Syra's mess.
Meanwhile, Andrei offered his helping hand to Syra just in time as when Aileen started recording the other party.
"Here, let me help you."
Andrei said as he extended his hand and offer it to Syra.
Syra, on the other hand, happily accepted Andrei's offer to help her up. She took his warm hand and rose to her feet.
"Oh! I- I am so sorry..."
She gasped as soon as she realized that she unknowingly stained Andrei's pair of white rubber shoes.
Meanwhile, her step-sister, Aileen, still went on narrating her own version of the story in front of her camera for the vlog's sake.
"Some clumsy girl threw her drink all over the gorgeous Andrei.."
Aileen went on her tale, whilst Syra felt like she was in an entirely different universe at that moment as she watched Andrei's lips opened and closed in slow motion.
"Are you okay? Are you hurt???"
Andrei asked Syra with eyes full of concern.
'Those eyes could not be fake, right??? Is he wearing contact lenses? They were so beautiful.---'
Syra said inside her head, but outside she was in a complete daze.
"Hey, miss. Are you okay???"
Andrei asked again, this time however he put his hand over Syra's shoulder and that seemed to pull the other party's soul back to reality.
"NO!"
She blurted out.
"No???"
"No. Y-ye- YES!...No... I- I- I mean... Yes, I'm fine... Thank you!"
Syra replied with an obvious stutter as she hastily fixed herself but she did not notice that there was a plastic straw that got stuck on her long wavy brown hair.
In the end, it was Andrei who removed it.
"Thank you..."
She said timidly this time.
"Owww... Such a gentleman. He truly is. Andrei once again gets top place this week at your pretty Princess Aileen's heart.."
Aileen said dreamily as she winked in front of her camera and imaginary audiences. She repositioned her phone to make her face the focus of the camera.
"Andrei! What happen???!"
When Ellen noticed a commotion outside the store, she immediately went to check what was going on and she was literally shocked when she found out that the center of attention was actually her boyfriend with some random girl playing as a damsel in distress at the streetwalk.
"OH, MY GAWD!!!"
She gasped when she saw that Andrei's limited edition rubber shoes got stained.
"You totally ruined his shoe!!!!"
Ellen just recently bought it as a gift for Andrei so it was obvious that she was enraged to see how the shoe ended up.
"Ellen... I'm fine---
Andrei said but Ellen cut him off.
"No! It is not fine!"
"I am so, so sorry... Uhmm... I can replace them.."
Syra offered although her heart was bleeding as she said that because there was a high chance that she might use up all of her savings if she would go and buy that same pair of shoes.
"They don't sell couture at Nordstrom Rack, sweetie.."
Ellen said in false kindness, but the edge of sarcasm on her voice was not that hard to notice.
"Come on..."
She added as she pulled Andrei away from the crowd.
"I- I'm so sorry.."
Andrei's face was deeply apologetic but before he could even do a proper apology for his girlfriend's uncomely manner, Ellen already pulled him away completely.
"Whilst this hot mess gets the loser of the week award.."
Aileen concluded her vlog with that as she zoomed in and focused her camera on Syra's sorry state.