A moment of silence enveloped us as I looked at her with an anticipated look hanging on my face, only to be rudely smacked with the harsh reality in the next second.
"I'm sorry, darling, I didn't see anything," my mother claimed. "I panicked when I saw the vase shattered onto the ground," she quickly said, making up some excuse.
I should have known that she wouldn't say anything to help my case. Yet, I naively believed that she would help me despite what happened at the last incident when they accused me of stealing Evelyn's diamond necklace.
"But I'm sure it was all just a big misunderstanding," she continued to explain in a hurry. "It was probably just an accident, don't think too much about it, alright?" She urged, snapping me back to the present as she placed her hand on me and I quickly pushed it off of me in a fit of anger.
A scoff left my lips as I looked at my mother.
"A big misunderstanding?" I repeated with an incredulous look plastered across my face, tossing her words right back at her. "It's not a misunderstanding, I know she pushed me! Why won't anyone believe me!" I yelled out in desperation and I swore I could see a smirk tugging at the corners of Evelyn's lips in self-satisfaction as she watched me slowly lose my mind.
"Stop it! That's enough, Aurelia!" James' loud voice reverberated in the living hall, bouncing off the walls of the mansion.
"What?! Am I being too loud? Am I scaring your precious daughter?"
Natalie pushed Evelyn to stand behind her at the same time as she met my gaze with a concerned look etched onto her face. "Aurelia, please calm down," she urged with a small frown resting between her brows.
"Why should I calm down?!" I shrieked, my voice breaking towards the end of the sentence. "Evelyn clearly pushed me and I fell, yet no one wants to believe me. I get that Evelyn is your daughter so you want to believe her but…" My voice trailed off as I turned to meet my mother's eyes.
"I'm your daughter. Why won't you believe me just this once, mum?" I asked, hurt evident in my voice as hot tears stung my eyes and a sour feeling shot up my already red nose. "Am I asking for too much?"
"Aurelia… I –"
"It's okay, save it," I muttered under my breath as my hands reached up to wipe away the tears rolling down my cheeks that were tinged red. I whipped my head around to glare at Evelyn who was still hiding in her mother's arms. "Good luck for the competition," I spat the words out of my mouth like they were poison.
"Evelyn doesn't need luck," James retorted in anger as he glared at me with an intense look swimming in his eyes. "Now leave, I don't want to see your face, you are not welcome here."
"Fine, I wasn't planning on staying anyway," I said resolutely before turning around to leave when my mother stopped me by grabbing my arm.
"Here, take this for your hand," she urged and my eyes flickered down to see the bandage and medication in her hand. I couldn't help but feel disgusted at that moment, all I could think about was how she never even tried to defend me or try to even act like she genuinely cared about me.
A cold chuckle erupted from my throat as I looked at her with a distant expression that masked my features. "I don't need them," I said before smacking them out of her hands on impulse, letting everything fall onto the ground with a loud thud.
Gasps erupted from their parted lips as everyone stared in shock and surprise, silence lingered in the air among them for a brief moment.
"Aurelia, how could you do that?" Evelyn chimed in as her eyes glanced down to look at the things scattered across the floor. She kept her head hung low, averting eye contact, acting as if she was ashamed or something. "I know you may be angry at me, but please don't take out your anger on your mother. She was just concerned for you and she is still your mother after all," she pleaded in her sickening soft voice.
"Eve, you don't need to defend someone like her," her father sneered as he eyed me with disdain."She knows exactly what she is doing."
I let a loud scoff leave my lips. "Still playing the good guy, huh? How long are you going to put up with this act?!" I snapped, my voice came out louder than I had expected.
She flinched slightly, stepping back into her father's arms this time. "I… I was just trying to…help," she stammered.
"You guys disgust me," I spat as I looked between them before turning around to run off before they could stop m e or say another word.
Behind me, I heard Evelyn's voice reach my ears.
"I'm going to go check on her and make sure that she's okay."
"Eve, you are way too nice for your own good," her father commented.
"She's bleeding and it's my fault after all. It's what I should do."
Soon after, I could hear her hurried footsteps behind me as she ran to catch up to me.
"Aurelia, wait!" She called out but I ignored her, until she got near enough to wrap her fingers around my wrist in a tight grip.
We were now standing by the gate, out of everyone else's sight. She forcefully pulled my arm up and her eyes examined my bleeding palm. I watched as a smirk morphed itself onto her lips before she looked up and we locked eyes.
She laughed, every inch of her body radiating with smugness.
"I guess I did a great job, huh," she said proudly to herself as a knowing look gleamed in her eyes. The smirk on her face grew even wider this time. "With that deep of a cut, I doubt you can heal just in time for the art competition."
I immediately yanked my wrist out of her grasp.
"I knew it, you pushed me on purpose."
She looked at me for a moment before peels of laughter escaped her lips as she cackled.
"I did," she confessed. "And so what?"