Loud and angry voices filled her ears as soon as she came inside Stella's ward.
"Ahh! He is a moron! How dare he cheat on me! I am going to kill him!"
"Quiet down Stella! You should focus on nurturing yourself and your baby first! Your revenge can wait! I told you Luke was no good, but you insisted on snatching him from Arella!"
Arella made her way to the bed. She wanted to greet them and make them aware of her presence. But listening to the heated voices, she felt it was better to remain quiet.
But, unfortunately, the wheelchair didn't support her thoughts this time. It made a whirring, rattling sound as it moved. The corridors were too noisy. So, she didn't notice it before. But now, in the enclosed ward, it sounded too loud.
Two pairs of eyes looked at her simultaneously.
"Oh! Arella! How nice of you to visit your sister!" The stepmother recovered soon and started acting like a good host.
As soon as Arella opened her mouth to reciprocate the greetings, something flew to her face at an alarming speed.
She ducked instinctively and then, heard a crash. It was a cup! She had narrowly escaped! She took long breaths to stabilize her core.
"How dare you come here! It is all because of you! You…you are a jinx! A jinx that kills her kinsmen! You killed your father and mother. You stay far away from my baby! How dare you to come here!"
Stella's emotions were raging high. Her eyes were bloodshot. With her unkempt locks, she was not the beautiful girl who had once stolen her fiance. Instead, she appeared like the reincarnation of a hungry ghost!
What happened? Wasn't she pregnant? Shouldn't she be gloating and glowing?
The stepmother tried to chain her down to the bed, restricting her movements. But Stella was going wild.
"Calm down! Think of the baby!" The stepmother insisted.
Arella thought it was better to leave this room. Safety first.
As soon as the thought of leaving fermented in her mind, a loud slap reverberated in the room!
And everything went quiet down for a while.
Arella looked towards the bed. Stella had a red hand printed on her cheeks, and her eyes were brimming with tears. The loving, delicate, and quiet mother had slapped her own daughter? For a moment, Arella thought that she was hallucinating!
How was that possible? For the stepmother, Stella was the apple of the eye! How could she slap her?
"Mother…mother, you slapped me? You don't love me anymore? Nobody loves me! Even Luke doesn't love me any longer! Why are you people so fickle? What did I do wrong?" Sobs and heart piercing cries filled the room. Stella was crying bitterly, but nobody consoled her.
A guilty emotion flashed in stepmother's eyes.
Stella's baby was the most important right now. The stepmother was afraid that in her raging emotions, she would harm the baby. So, she strapped Stella's arms with the bed. And then, left to get an ice pack for her beloved daughter.
Seeing her leaving in a hurry, Arella too thought of leaving.
"Um, I will come back later," Arella spoke in a small voice and started moving the wheels in reverse.
"Huh! Now that you have seen how miserable I am, you must be satisfied right? Tell me! Did you hook up with Luke behind my back? How dare he compare me to you? What kind of potion did you give him?" Stella's hoarse voice raged in the room.
It was only Arella and Stella now.
"I don't understand. I am leaving." Arella didn't want to get involved with the mess. Stella and Luke had nothing to do with her.
"Oh! You don't understand! What farce! Huh! Then tell me, why did he cheat on me as I carry his cub? Why did he say that you never interfered in his private affairs? Why did he wish to have married you instead? It was you! It has always been you! It was because of you that he cheated on me! It was because of you that he doesn't like me anymore!" Stella's eyes burned with anger, and her voice dripped with accusations.
Unlike Stella's raging emotions, Arella was as calm as a sea by now. With the bits and pieces, she has weaved together the entire narrative.
Stella was pregnant. So, she couldn't have satisfied Luke. She should have caught Luke cheating on her. Luke had a flirty nature, but Arella never questioned him or his actions. Stella wasn't like her. She must have confronted him and had a fight. Both of them should be in the Cold War at this time. That could explain Luke's absence from the hospital.
"Don't blame me for your sins. You fell in the grave you dug for others. You stole Luke from me and now, somebody else has stolen him from you. It tastes bitter, right?" Arella never thought that she could be happy to see someone else suffering.
But she had to admit, it was very satisfying.
"Stealing him? Ha ha ha! He should have been mine since the start! All your life, you thought that you were very miserable? But I am the real victim! I had to share my father and mother with you. Even Luke, who was destined to be my partner, was given to you!" A mad fury burned inside Stella.
"Why? Why did I have to put up with you? Your aptitude is so low, but you could enjoy all the benefits, even a husband was fixed early on! But in reality, you are nothing but a Jinx! You killed your father and mother! You are nothing but a murderer!" Stella laughed loudly. It looked as if her sanity was on the verge of madness.
Why did it happen? By getting married to Luke, Stella thought that she would be freed of Arella's shadow. But why was she still being compared to her? A fury engulfed her. She wanted to see Arella as miserable as herself.
"You still don't know, do you? The father you look up to isn't your father! He is my father! Luke was promised to me! But your arrival destroyed everything!"
Listening to the ramblings, Arella shook a little, but her face remained calm. Was Stella sprouting the truth or simply nonsense in her stupor?
"You might have forgotten, but I remember everything! I remember how you sucked your mother's spiritual energy dry! I remember how she disappeared! I remember how they paid a hefty sum to raise you and give you my Luke! I remember everything!"
"Ha! Ha! Ha! The Arella that everyone praises is nothing but a dog living off my family! Ha! Ha! Ha!
When the stepmother entered the ward with an ice pack, Arella was nowhere in sight. Stella, strapped to the bed, was laughing madly in an empty room.