Chapter 3 Dare To Bully My Daughter

Before Seraphina could say something more, the door creaked open. Her mother peeked from the opening, smiling.

"Emmaline darling, it's almost time. Are you-" she paused, the smile falling off her face when Emmaline's shoulders started shaking.

Seraphina was stunned into speechlessness. They were just talking, how did Emmaline suddenly transform into a crying baby? Her cheeks are already wet with streaks of tears.

"Sweetheart, are you..." Liliana gasps, setting her piercing glare at Seraphina. "What did you do to her?" She asked, her tone full of accusations. "My daughter had never shed a single tear, not until you came back."

Seraphina watched as Liliana drew Emmaline close with tenderness, something she didn't even do for her a few hours ago when she came back. She hadn't even taken her bath or taken her rest.

"Mom, did you know?" Emmaline sniffed like Seraphina really bullied her. "As the only sister I now have, I only asked her to help me pick a dress and she accused me of taking you and everything that was supposed to be hers away from her. Even when I told her that I was happy to see her, she still insisted that she was back and was going to deal with me..."

The more she explained, the more angrier Liliana became.

For Seraphina, she became even more stunned to speechlessness.

"Mom, that's...that's not what happ-"

"Smack!"

Seraphina's head twisted to the side from the impact of the slap as the sound reverberated across the room. Her cheeks burned from the sting.

"Mom?" Liliana scoffed. "You call me your mom, but you dare to bully my daughter?"

"But mom, I'm your daughter as well. Your own real daughter! How can you hit me when you didn't even hear my own side of the story?" Seraphina cried. Her face was still stinging from the slap.

"So, you did remind her that she's a foster daughter. So, she wasn't lying after all. You did remind her of being a foster daughter." Liliana's tone was filled with disappointment.

"But mom-"

"Enough!" Liliana raised her hand, not wanting to hear more. "I don't want to hear anything. Now apologize to your sister, and maybe I might forget this ever happened."

Emmaline wiped her tears, suddenly taking Liliana's hand in hers. "No mom. Seraphina is right and you shouldn't blame her. I'm really the intruder here. I should be the one to apologize, after all, she is your real daughter and not me." Her face was all shades of sorry.

Liliana shook her head vehemently, raising her hand and cradling her cheeks. "No baby. You're not. You're also equally my daughter just as she is. But that doesn't give her the right to bully you. She should be the one to apologize and not you."

"I'm sorry." Seraphina apologized reluctantly. She didn't want to start her stay with her parents on a bad note, hence she apologized.

"Now, that's more like it." Liliana raised her head in approval. "And this should never repeat itself again. It's almost time. You look like a mess, so I'd advise you to stay in your room. You don't want people talking about how a mentally deranged person crashed your sister's party, do you?"

From the angle Liliana couldn't see, Emmaline smirked at Seraphina with pride. She only wanted to test the depth and extent at which her parents' love for her ran. If they would choose their real child over her.

After all, she had been with them since when she was a baby. And Liliana had proved it beyond her expectations. She even slapped her own child for her. Isn't that great?

Emmaline couldn't contain her excitement.

Liliana turned her gaze towards Emmaline and the frost in her eyes melted almost immediately. "Now, go get dressed. The guests are almost coming."

"Alright mom. I'll go get ready now.

And with that, Liliana left the room, but not without giving Seraphina a warning glare.

The door hadn't closed shut and Emmaline shed her facade. The hostility in her eyes was so hot that you'd ask if she was the same person who just cried a few minutes ago.

"I told you, didn't I?" She smirked. "They are never going to love you. Even though you're their real daughter."

Seraphina, not wanting to create another scene, left her room. Even though her mother slapped her, she still believed that Emmaline reacted that way because she felt threatened.

But Seraphina hadn't even come back with the intention of dragging their love with her. She only wished for her parents to love her just like they loved Emmaline.

She believed they were used to each other and would come around sooner or later.

However, two years had now passed, and there was nothing to show for it. She had done everything she could. She had given up a lot of things for her Emmaline. She had been intentionally dulling her beautiful look for her sister to be the only pretty one in the family, and even as far as giving up her medical thesis for her.

That day, Emmaline had barged into her room, not caring to knock, just like she always did. As an aspiring doctor, whenever she wasn't serving her family or running errands, she had always felt the need to study.

Seraphina wanted to help people who were sick or assaulted to the best of her ability. She didn't want people to end up like her foster mother, Rosamund. She wanted to save people, nursing them back to health.

"Oh my goodness!" Emmaline's eyes had glinted with a mixture of greed and astonishment when they caught sight of it. "So you know these things and you couldn't even share them with me?"

Before Seraphina could say anything, Emmaline had yelled for her mother who came rushing into the room.

"What, baby? Are you okay?" She asked, turning Emmaline from side to side to see if she's been hurt. "Did she do something to you again?"

Seraphina's eyes dropped. Ever since she returned back from the countryside, everyone in the house always assumed she did something whenever an argument ensued.

They believed that she was the only one capable of hurting Emmaline since she had the characteristics of a caveman.

The whiny voice of Emmaline brought her back from her painful past. "No Mom. Did you know that Seraphina knew a lot about medicine, and she didn't even care to help me out with my thesis?

And to think that I told her about the upcoming medical competition that'll happen in a month. Mom, I want it. I want her thesis. And Mom, have you heard about the infamous medical guru who is widely talked about but no one has seen?"

Liliana nodded frantically, her eyes widening in realization. "Don't tell me that the Doctor of all doctors, SR, is coming to that competition?"

When Emmaline nodded, they both squealed out with joy. It was going to be an honor seeing SR in the flesh! She would make sure that Emmaline grabbed the first position.

Not just the position, it was stated that whoever snagged the first position would be taken under SR's wing!

"See? Mom! What if I fail? Our reputation will be ruined in front of everyone watching and we will lose face!"

Liliana turned to face Seraphina, her face filled with all seriousness. She stretched out her hand and with a stern voice that brooked no room for an argument, said, "I do not want you to argue, but slowly hand it over, now!"

Seraphina's mouth dropped in disbelief. She couldn't believe that her own mother would do this to her. But she still obeyed nonetheless and handed it over.

When Emmaline saw this, she was overwhelmed with joy. She couldn't wait to shine on the day of the competition. She was already imagining the applause she would get as they showered praises on her. She would definitely go with the first position.

Suddenly, Liliana's face instantly drained of color when she glanced down at her phone when a notification popped up.

"Oh God, what do we do?!" she murmured, voice trembling. Her heart was beating fast!

"Mom, what is it?" Despite how they just treated her, Seraphina still showed concern towards her. "Are you alright?" she asked, walking towards her mother.

"Mom, talk to me, you're scaring me." Emmaline urged. However, her heart caught in her throat, and she stumbled back when her mom spoke.

"It's Evan. Your birthday is in a month, and he's reminding us of your engagement with him! Not just that, he even preponed it to next week!

"Mom," Emmaline was shaking her head already. For the first time since Seraphina could remember, she saw real fear in her demeanor. "You can't give me to him. You can't. He's a monster, how could you bear to give your daughter to a monster like him?"

"The Ashford's are not people we could afford to offend!"

When Emmaline saw that Seraphina still wasn't bulging, she continued, suddenly facing Seraphina.

"Really, Seraphina, I would have accepted, but Luther and I have been going out for a while now. He has even proposed to me, and I have already agreed! He had even shown me a ring and he's planned the day to announce our engagement."

Emmaline's voice was meek as she said that, hinting that she would have accepted it if not because she is now almost engaged to Luther.

Luther is the son of Andy, a wealthy and influential businessman, but not on par with the Ashford's.

Liliana's eyes lit up. "That's good news! That's good. You guys should hasten up and fix the date."

"We will mom." She paused, wiping a non-existent tear. "But now that it has come to this, who will become engaged to Evan? Or mom, maybe I should just run away!"

Emmaline smiled coyly, reveling in her mother's praises. But inside, she sneered. 'Now, Seraphina. Let me see how you are going to escape this!'

Liliana shook her head, heartbroken for her dear child. "Oh child. You have suffered so much, Emmaline! You can't think like that. Don't worry, you won't have to marry him. There should be a way out, or... an alternative."

She turned to Seraphina who stood beside her with a look of relief, making Seraphina step back, shaking her head.

"Oh, dear..." Liliana started, her voice sweet for the first time since Seraphina returned. "You will do this for your family, won't you? You'll become engaged to Evan, in your sister's stead, right?"