In the grand Frankford mansion, Bae stood at the entrance, her sharp gaze taking in the shocked expressions of her family.
Her mother, Silva, was frozen in disbelief, while Penny's face drained of color.
Granny Elaine, informed of the unexpected visitor, slowly descended the staircase.
Cody lingered by the doorway, a faint smirk tugging at his lips, and Jai, Cody's mother, stood beside him, eyes wide in silent shock.
"I'm only here for one thing," Bae thought, her lips curling into a sweet, lovely smile that masked her true intentions.
"To take my revenge on every single one of you."
With that, she stepped forward, her black heels clicking against the polished marble floor. Each step echoed in the grand living room, reverberating with a sense of cold finality.
Her gaze darkened, the sweetness evaporating, replaced by a seething rage barely contained beneath her composed exterior.
"Mother, it's me, Bae!" she called out, her voice trembling with a false sadness, the edges of her eyes wet with what appeared to be tears. The long-awaited reunion seemed almost too good to be true.
"Bae?!" Silva's thoughts raced, her eyes wide with disbelief. How? Where? Who? She stood there, rooted in place, speechless, as if she had seen a ghost.
Bae wrapped her arms around her mother in a tight embrace. Silva, overwhelmed, began to sob, clinging to her daughter.
"I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you and not married Uncle Zanier," Bae's voice cracked with emotion. But deep inside, her thoughts were ice-cold.
"Quite the opposite," Bae mused silently, her face pressed against her mother's shoulder, hiding the contempt in her eyes.
"He taught me quite a few lessons as a naïve, foolish Individual."
As her mother's tears soaked into her blouse, Bae's gaze shifted toward Penny, whose wide eyes remained locked on her, the shock of seeing Bae alive rendering her speechless.
"Am I right, dear sister?" Bae's voice dripped with sarcasm as she spoke, her words aimed at Silva but cutting right through Penny, whose betrayal still hung heavy in the air.
"Um-um. Yeah, you should have," Penny muttered, her words barely registering as they left her lips.
Her mind was in a fog, and for a moment, she didn't even understand what she had just said.
"What am I saying?" she thought, confusion clouding her mind as she fumbled to regain control.
Suddenly, Penny's expression shifted, her confusion giving way to a smirk.
" how do we even know you're truly Bae?" she sneered, her gaze hardening. Behind the façade, her thoughts were racing." Damn you! How is she still alive?"
Bae caught Penny's glare, her smirk not unnoticed. She smiled calmly, her demeanor as sweet as ever, though the tension in the air was palpable.
"Dear Penny," Bae said smoothly, releasing her grip on Silva.
Every eye in the room shifted toward her as she stepped toward her older sister, her strides deliberate and confident, her gaze never wavering.
"I know I've been gone for a long time," Bae continued, her voice light, almost playful,
"but not that long for you to have lost your sight." She smiled, her words laced with sarcasm, as she stood inches from Penny now, watching for a reaction.
Penny's eyes flickered, struggling to hold her composure under the weight of Bae's presence.
"Come on, Penny. I expect more from you," Bae thought silently, her mind racing with the thirst for revenge that had been building for years. After all, you're the one who pushed me off that cliff!
"You might as well call me blind," Penny shot back, her voice rising in anger, the calm veneer cracking as rage seeped through. "Don't bother beating around the bush."
The tension between them thickened like a dense fog. Penny's face twisted with years of buried resentment, while Bae's icy calm concealed the storm brewing inside her.
The memory of the cliffside, the cold betrayal, flickered vividly in Bae's mind, but she maintained her composure, refusing to give Penny the satisfaction of seeing her anger just yet.
Bae tilted her head slightly, the corner of her lips curling upward.
"Oh, I wouldn't dream of it," she replied softly, her eyes glinting with unspoken malice.
Just then, A sharp voice cut through the tension like a blade. "Enough, you two."
Granny Elaine's voice commanded the room, her gaze steady as she stared at Bae.
The weight of her authority hung in the air, causing everyone to pause, even Penny's smirk faltering. Bae's eyes slowly shifted to the old woman, and she felt the intensity of that familiar gaze—hard, critical, and unyielding.
"Where have you been these last five years? Did it never cross your mind to come home? Or are you pleased to see your mother in distress?" Granny Elaine's voice, though controlled, dripped with accusation.
Bae felt her jaw tighten, a bitter taste rising in her throat as she studied the woman before her.
"To come back here and die like an abandoned dog?" she thought, resentment bubbling within her. How dare Granny Elaine question her after everything?
A forced smile played on Bae's lips, though the bitterness in her eyes was unmistakable.
"Granny," she began, her voice soft yet laced with barely contained emotion,
"after everything that happened between me and Zanier, he left me... alone, to fend for myself. I had to struggle my way back." Her voice wavered, and for a moment, she was surprised by how real the pain felt, even if her words were part of a greater act.
"Even though this is a performance, my real emotions are slipping through,"
she realized, blinking away tears as she looked up at Granny Elaine.
"I already had it bad enough, Granny, and now you're blaming me?" Her voice cracked slightly, and the tears she summoned ran down her cheeks as she stared at the old woman, the flood of emotions overwhelming her for a moment.
Granny Elaine was silent, her face hard to read as she averted her gaze not believing any word coming out from her mouth. The room felt stifling, the tension almost unbearable.
Silva, sitting on a wheelchair nearby, watched Bae with sadness in her eyes, torn between the shock of her daughter's return and the guilt she carried.
Cody, meanwhile, stood near the doorway, a faint smirk playing on his lips as if the unfolding drama amused him.
"She won't say anything," Bae thought bitterly, her anger swelling inside her.
"Why? Because she loved Zanier more than her own damn life!"
The thought burned like acid, but Bae swallowed it down, the familiar rage threatening to consume her.
Bae's chest tightened, the swirl of emotions, memories, and old wounds making it difficult to breathe, but she held it together.