I heard Evelyn say behind me, the words that left her mouth were dripping with sarcasm. I looked up to see her eyes flickered down to look at me with a smug look plastered across her face.
Tension stretched between the two of us as I stood up on my own and narrowed my eyes on her, watching the smirk on her face grow even wider than before.
"Drop the act, Evelyn. You pushed me," I sneered with a disdainful scorn. "Don't try to play innocent now," I spat the words out of my mouth as I glared at her.
I didn't notice it earlier but my mother was now standing beside me as she placed her hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sure it was just an accident, Aurelia," she tried to convince me while Evelyn stood there feigning innocence as she kept her head hung low. "Evelyn wouldn't do that…" she insisted while I continued to glare at Evelyn, my eyes burning right through her skull.
There was a brief pause before my mother said something again. "Are you okay?" She asked this time when I didn't reply or say a single word, yet I couldn't sense a hint of genuine concern in her voice as her eyes remained cold.
"Okay? Of course I'm not okay! She pushed me!" I snapped, my finger jutting out to point right at Evelyn who was playing the role of the victim all too well. "Look at my hand, do you see the blood dripping down my hand? How am I going to paint in the upcoming competition?" I yelled, my voice boomed loudly in the living hall.
All this commotion must have attracted Natalie and James' attention as I watched them come running into the living hall with a tiny frown etched onto their concerned faces. They closed the distance between us in a few large strides across the place.
"What happened?" James' deep voice sliced through the tension that was thick in the air.
"What's going on?" Natalie came running behind him as she asked in a hurry. Her eyes darted around in a panic and she glanced down to see the broken glass on the floor and realisation dawned upon her. "Is everything okay? Is anyone injured?" She went up to Evelyn and started examining her hands, legs and face with a concerned look.
"No, it's not okay," I said firmly as I met their worried gaze. "I'm bleeding, my hand is injured because your daughter pushed me to fall on broken glass!" I snapped, losing all sense of control and rationality as impulse clouded my mind at that moment. I could feel my heart pounding loudly against my chest, threatening to burst out at any second now.
There was a moment of silence that lapsed among us before James stepped forward with a serious expression that masked his features. His jaw was clenched tightly as he looked down at me with an intense look in his eyes.
"How dare you accuse my daughter of something like this?! Why would Eve do that to you?"
"Oh, I don't know, maybe because she wanted me to injure my hand so I couldn't compete in the upcoming art competition!" I shouted as my voice shook with rage.
"You–!" He stopped himself as Natalie reached out to hold him back and he took a deep breath to calm himself down. "My daughter doesn't need to resort to such methods. You have seen her paintings right? She is talented."
"Oh, is that so?" Then why did you hire me to help her with her paintings?" I questioned, my voice carrying a sharp edge to it.
My mother tugged at my arm, pulling me back with a frown etched onto her face as she shook her head. "Aurelia, don't say that!" She warned in a hush tone but I ignored her, barely sparing her another glance as I kept my eyes fixated on James. I shook her hand off my arm.
"I didn't accuse your daughter, I know that she pushed me," I said this time as my voice remained unwavering as determination gleamed in my dark eyes.
"Eve did not –"
Before he could even get the complete sentence out of his mouth, I watched as tears started spilling out of Evelyn's eyes, streaming down her flushed cheeks as she sobbed her heart out. She buried her tear stained face in her hands, her body shaking with each deep breath she drew.
"I'm sorry!" She exclaimed loudly as Natalie hugged her tighter. "I didn't mean to, I slipped and accidentally bumped into her… It's all my fault..." she muttered under her breath as her head hung low, averting eye contact while anger continued to spread inside of me like a wildfire I couldn't seem to contain.
A cold chuckle left my parted lips as I looked over at her. "Come on, Evelyn, you can stop acting," I snarled. "You did that on purpose and I'm the one with the bleeding hand, you don't see me crying now, do you?"
"Aurelia, what the hell is wrong with you?!" James sneered with disdain. "Eve had already apologised, what more do you want from her?" He asked, his voice laced with a hint of anger.
"Exactly, Evelyn had apologised. It was just an accident, can't you just forgive her?" Natalie asked in her soft voice as she looked up to meet my eyes while she continued to comfort her daughter who was still sobbing in her arms. "She's awfully sorry."
Evelyn's exaggerated sobbing echoed in my ears and anger continued to pulse through every single vein inside of my body with each passing second.
"No, I don't think she actually is sorry."
"Aurelia!" My name left James' lips in an angry voice as he glared at me with wide eyes.
I turned to look at my mother who was standing there quietly for most parts of it. I raised a brow at her as I let the next few words roll off the tip of my tongue.
"You saw Evelyn pushed me right?"