Chapter 10
1081 Words
SERA
I turned over and slowly opened my eyes. Something or someone seemed to be looking over me. I wiped my eyes, unsure of what it was and that was when I saw her clearly.
“Christy!” I yelled and sat up. “Jesus, you scared me,” I whispered, trying to catch my breath. She burst out laughing and I couldn't help but smile. It's been over a week here and Christy had made it less frustrating.
“What did you think it was?” She asked while still laughing and I playfully smacked her arms, making her laugh more. I smiled again, it felt good.
“Okay,” she finally said while catching her breath. “I didn't want you to oversleep again, especially not today,” she explained and my eyebrows creased.
“What’s happening today?” I asked and she gasped.
“You forgot!”
I shook my head in confusion and she gave me a look.
“It's the introductory event,” she reminded me and my breath stopped. It was today. The day the world finally gets to meet the wife of Damian De Luca and I didn't know how I felt about it. Christy noticed the change and gently held my hands.
“It's just a little event, Sera,” she assured me, even though it didn't help much. “It's nothing you can't handle.”
“What if they don't like me?” I whispered and she blinked.
“They?”
“The people, everybody. I’m not my sister,” I said and she frowned.
“Who cares,” she asked and I looked at her. “Well, you shouldn't care, Sera. And no normal person would dislike you, have you seen you?”
I smiled then, relaxing a little. “So you're saying your brother isn't normal?" I asked and she shrugged. That brought out a chuckle from me.
She smiled and stood up then, “Let's get you ready, I need to bring out this beauty you're hiding.”
"I don't get a say in what I wear?" I asked while standing up.
"No," Christy said simply, and handed me a cup of tea that I didn't know was on the nightstand.
******
My room went busy for hours, I hadn't experienced such before. Not even when my father tried his best to make me look presentable for Damian. I swallowed then, my father. I hadn't seen them in a week and of course, they would be present today. I quickly pushed the thoughts at the back of my mind, it was better that way.
They worked on me for two hours and I sat still and let them, watching a version of myself slowly appear in the mirror that I didn't entirely recognize. Not because she looked unlike me — but because she looked like someone who had never carried a tray through a party she wasn't invited to, someone who had never stood at the edge of a room trying to be invisible.
I stood up immediately when they were done and walked towards the bigger mirror. I stared at the mirror longer than I normally would.
She looked different, like she belonged somewhere else. I stared at her for a long time, waiting to feel pleased but instead, I felt something quieter and harder to name — like the reflection was a costume I hadn't agreed to wear, a performance of a woman I wasn't sure I could sustain past tonight.
"Stop frowning," Christy said from behind me. "You look beautiful."
"I look like someone else."
She met my eyes in the mirror. "Maybe this is the real you. What you've always been hiding, Sera," she said softly, and I didn't have an answer for that.
************************************************
I was just about to step out when I heard the knock at the door and immediately thought it was Christy. She had promised to return immediately after she got dressed so she could take me downstairs. I opened the door with a smile that disappeared the moment I saw them. My stepmother and Isabella. They stood at the door for a second before Isabella shoved me aside and walked in.
They took their time studying the room, like they were deciding what to say about it. My hands shivered then and I silently prayed for Christy to come. Isabella turned at me then, studying me the exact way she'd studied the room, though this time, in a colder manner.
“I see you have made yourself comfortable where you do not belong,” she said flatly and walked towards the bed before gently sitting down. My stepmother walked towards me and I shifted backwards, my breath suddenly seizing.
“Look at you, all dressed up and made up. This is what you've always wanted isn't it?” She asked and I shook my head. “To be like my daughter,” she continued, ignoring me. “You've always wanted everything she had and now you have decided to steal a man meant for her and enjoy the goodness that comes with it.”
“I-I-I didn't want this,” I stuttered and she scoffed.
“Yet, you couldn't refuse it.”
“I didn't have a choice,” I said, my eyes already moist.
Isabella stood up then. “You are so manipulative Seraphina,” she said and I shook my head. “You cry at every situation, so that people get to pity you and overlook all your evil.”
“No, I have never been evil,” I suddenly said. “All I've ever wanted was family.”
“And yet, you betray that same family?”
“I didn't betray you.”
“Oh really,” my stepmother asked and stepped closer. “Now explain why you're dressed in such royalty and staying in a room meant for your sister.”
“I-I didn't-” I started but the shredding of my outfit left me speechless. My eyes widened and I looked at her in horror.
“You tore my outfit?” I asked and the tears finally fell.
“Someone needs to remind you that you would never be more than a slave,” she stated sternly and the tears continued to flow.
“And someone needs to teach you the consequences of disobedience,” Damian's voice sounded then and we all turned. He stood at the door, with an expression that gave nothing away.
- Writer
