"Sister is that you?" the girl asked.
When Valentina heard the words sister, she remembered the novel's description and realized the girl standing in front of her was Aaliyah Salazar. Which meant the older woman with black hair and green eyes was this body's original mother, Evelyn Salazar.
Valentina gazed at the two before greeting them insincerely.
"Hi."
"Sister, what do you mean by hi? Is that any way to greet Mother? She's missed you so much, but you don't call or come home to say hello." Aaliyah said while coming closer to Valentina.
"Sister I've missed you as well, but you don't return my calls or want me to visit. You never even come to the house. It makes me so sad."
Aaliyah's face immediately dropped, and she looked as if she was on the verge of tears.
Glancing at the girl who was performing a one-person play by herself, Valentina rolled her eyes. She had possessed this body for a couple of weeks now and not a single call had come in from Aaliyah or the rest of the Salazar's. Thinking about the original Valentina's wish of being accepted by her family, she thought that there was truly no point. Still, she had to be respectful and couldn't burn bridges until she was in a stronger position.
"Aaliyah it's great to see you. Congrats on the success of your drama. Mrs. Salazar, I'm happy to see that you're in good health. I hope the rest of the family is doing good as well."
Without waiting for them to speak, Valentina turned to the sales associate, "Ring everything up for me so I can pay."
As the salesgirl rang everything up, Aaliyah continued talking.
"Sister, who are you buying these children's clothes for? Would it be possible for you to give me this green suit? I want to gift it to our cousin for his upcoming birthday."
"No." Valentina didn't even pay her any mind. This was a public place, first come first served.
"Valentina, you should yield to your big sister more. The associate said that an order for another one can be placed so you should give in." Evelyn Salazar finally spoke up with an awkward expression on her face.
Although she was looking at the daughter she worked hard to give birth to, at the end of the day the girl was a stranger while Aaliyah had grown up by her side. Although she felt bad for Valentina's life story, she was still inherently biased towards the daughter that she raised.
Valentina gazed at the woman who had given birth to her. without even greeting her or saying any other nice words, she directly took Aaliyah's side.
Valentina simply let the words into one ear and out the other, fully ignoring the two of them.
"The total is $10,000. Would that be cash or card?" the salesgirl quietly interrupted.
"Card." Valentina quietly handed over her personal debit card. Although she had said she would spend Kaiser's money recklessly, this was something she wanted to gift the little nugget, so she planned to use her own money. Although the price was much steeper than she expected, when she thought of how happy the little nugget would be, she willingly paid. Besides, wasn't it just money? She would earn more in the future!
Unfortunately, it seems the universe was set on embarrassing her.
Not enough funds! The credit card machine beeped loudly and announced to everyone that her funds were lacking.
"Sister, are you broke? Do you need me or my mother to lend you some money? Just say the word." Aaliyah said sympathetically. Seeing the schadenfreude in her eyes, Valentina scoffed before replying,
"No need. Use this one instead." She whipped out the black card Kaiser had given her and handed it to the associate.
"Sister, what is that? Is that a real black card? Where did you get that? Are you involved in illegal or shady activities? Is that why you refuse to come home? You shouldn't do anything that would disgrace the family name. If you need money, you know you can always ask mother and father to support you more." as Aaliyah continued to slander her, Valentina simply ignored her.
Ask her parents to support her? Jokes. It had taken the original Valentina weeks of begging to even receive the money she got from them now and it was a pittance compared to what Aaliyah received. Her plan was to make enough money and return everything the Salazar family had ever given her. She didn't want to owe them anything!
She took a deep breath to calm her anger she waited for the salesgirl to swipe the card.
Thankfully it went through, and the salesgirl quickly wrapped everything. Valentina quickly grabbed the bags. Turning to Aaliyah and Evelyn Salazar, she said, "It was nice seeing you both, I hope you have a great rest of your day."
Before she could leave, Evelyn Salazar called her, "Valentina." When Valentina looked at her she continued, "Make sure you're not doing anything to discredit the Salazar name."
"Of course. Good day to both of you."
Without waiting for their response, Valentina hurried out. Not in the mood to shop anymore, she quickly called the driver to take her home.
"Mom, do you see how sister treats me? No matter how I try to get close to her she hates me so much. She doesn't even care about our family." Aaliyah whined before burying herself in her mother's arms even though she was seething.
She hated seeing Valentina. Every time she saw her, she was reminded that she was not the true daughter of the Salazar's. All her life, she had been told she looked nothing like her parents and finally, the truth came out. She was the cuckoo bird that occupied the original child's nest. Thankfully her parents still valued and cared for her the most, but she had done her best to paint Valentina in a bad light and it paid off. The Salazar family couldn't stand Valentina and she thought she was finally free of her but no!
It was bad enough that Valentina returned, but she also dared to join the same industry as her. If she wasn't using her personal connections in Black Rock Entertainment to suppress her, with her exquisite appearance she would soon rise to the top. She clearly needed to exert more pressure since she hadn't been able to make her quit the industry yet.
"You're a good child, Aaliyah, just ignore that wild child. She's a disgrace to our family."
Seeing Evelyn Salazar's displeasure at seeing Valentina, Aaliyah snuggled closer to her.
You see Valentina, even to your birth parents, I'm the better daughter. You'll never beat me in anything, In the industry. For your parents love. Nothing!