Chapter 188

At first, Stella thought she was being sensitive. However, the strange gazes at her grew more and more until someone vandalized her desk and wrote foul words like “bitch” and “cunt” one day. Only then did she realize that things were not as simple as she thought.

The person who vandalized her desk was promptly caught. That person was Kevin Blamer.

Back then, he was like a martyr. He acted obnoxiously even when he faced his class teacher. In the end, the teacher finally managed to get him to explain his motive after threatening to meet his parents.

It turned out Kevin was a loyal fan of Sophia. He had been following Sophia since the adoption incident.

He said that Sophia was not happy after she got adopted. Everyone in the family kept an eye on her.

Sophia’s sister-Stella-often bullied her. She made her eat her leftovers and wear her old clothes.

Stella was confused. She was certain that she did not do such a thing.

Then, Kevin opened Sophia’s Facebook page to confront Stella.

[Stella gave me a mango-flavored cake. I hate mango the most, but Stella seemed to have forgotten again. Or perhaps, she never even remembered.]

[It’s my birthday today. I hope I can cut a whole birthday cake like Stella next year, and not a leftover cake…]

[Stella gave me a dress. It’s really pretty. If only it were new.]

[Stella’s friend asked if I was an orphan. I don’t know how to answer the question. If only I were mom and dad’s biological daughter…]

As Stella continued scrolling, she grew even more shocked, and her heart sank further.

‘Whoever saw such words would think that Sophia was mistreated at home and that her sister me was the culprit for it. It’s true that I gave Sophia a cake, but it definitely hadn’t been eaten. The cake in the photo was not smooth because it got squashed while I was on public transport on a rainy day.

After that, I cut off the squashed part, ate it, and gave the nice part to Sophia.

‘Sophia had never told me that she doesn’t like mango-flavored cakes because she likes mango. I asked Sophia what she liked, and she said mangoes. That’s why I got her a mango- flavored cake on her birthday!

‘As for the dress, I bought it when I was shopping with Felicity. I told Felicity to help me get it after I got Sophia’s size. Since it was on the expensive side, I was worried that she’d feel burdened. That’s why I told her that I was giving it to her because it didn’t fit me, and the return period had passed. How could it possibly be worn when the tag was still on?

“That was the day I learned that Sophia had thoughts that were completely different from the way she acted. She could stab me in the back while she’s also playing her part as the loving sister,’ thought Stella.

The incident about Sophia received a lot of attention in Rivera. Sophia was cute-looking and had a soft disposition, so many students in Stella’s school was a fan of hers.

That was why everyone was angry and felt bad for her after seeing the Facebook posts about. her “bending over backward” for Stella.

‘Compared to Sophia, Stella was born into a privileged family, got whatever she wanted since she was young, had good grades and outstanding looks, and was even well-liked by students and teachers in school. Despite that, she still wanted to bully Sophia, who had nothing. How could this not make others hate her?’ they thought.

Stella was shocked and furious. When she got home, she asked Sophia why she had misrepresented her on Facebook Naturally, Sophia did not admit it. She cried and said that she posted those statuses only to remember the nice things her sister did for her and had no other intentions.

On the other hand, Albert thought that Stella was blowing things out of proportion. To him, the comments had no problem at all. He even told Stella off. He said she should get her sister something new when she wanted to give her a gift. He also said she should not blame others. for bad-mouthing her since she gave Sophia something she did not want.

Rainee had her doubts but ended up not saying anything because of how Albert defended Sophia. In the following days, she merely brought Sophia to buy many clothes. Then, she changed Sophia’s room to the room beside Stella’s.

‘After Sophia received the so-called “fair treatment,” I also finally saw who she really was. My relationship with Albert worsening over the years also has to do with my “dear sister’s” exacerbation.

Sophia is a master at using her background and her fragile persona to make others pity her, thereby achieving her goals,’ thought Stella.

Stella snapped out of her thoughts and returned to the present. The discussion around her overlapped with the discussion back then.

“I didn’t know she was actually someone like that.”

“Otherwise, why would Sophia hate her so much? There must be a good reason for it.”

“It wasn’t easy for Sophia to grow up well in their family when she had such a sister.”

“I heard that Sophia was supposed to be the one to marry Mr. Kane. However, Sophia fell sick on the day of their blind date, so Mr. Jewell had no choice but to let his eldest daughter go in. Sophia’s stead.

She used her looks to seduce Mr. Kane.”

“Really? Isn’t it really weird to change the person for a blind date because she fell sick?”

Kevin glanced at Stella. Then, he smiled and said, “Who knows if anyone sabotaged it?”

His words pushed Stella into the eye of the storm. People were already envious of her being married to Keegan. Since Keegan did not like her and all the young people in the wealthy circle colluded with one another, they all scrambled to add insult to her injury now that her act had been exposed.

None of them cared about the truth behind the incident back then.

Sophia looked at Stella’s tense expression and secretly felt triumphant. However, she said, It’s alright.

Stella and Keegan love each other. Besides, it’s all in the past. We all didn’t know any better when we were younger. I’m already really grateful that the Jewell family could. adopt me.”

‘While Sophia seems like she’s exculpating me, her words insinuate that she’s still grateful and doesn’t dare to wish for anything more despite being treated unfairly because she’s an adopted daughter.

Wouldn’t this confirm that I’m ostracizing Sophia?’ wondered Stella.

She calmly looked at the faces of the people around her.

‘It’s been years since the incident. I don’t want to be as irritable as I was back then,’ she thought again.

Stella smiled and turned to ask Albert, “Dad, Sophia is 22 years old this year, right?”

Albert was a little lost due to the sudden change in topic. He paused for a moment before he answered, “She’ll turn twenty-three in a few months.”

“She’s twenty-two. When I got married three years ago, Sophia only came of age. She hadn’t even reached the minimum legal marriage age, so I wonder where these rumors came from. Seriously, only brainless people would believe them.”

Stella’s words called out the people around her. The people who were feeling righteously dignified earlier on were now as red as a tomato.

Naturally, those rumors were things Sophia had “unintentionally” leaked to the public through her friends.

Sophia was well aware that people did not care about the genuineness of the rumors; what they cared about was the feeling of trampling Stella under their feet.

The more they demeaned Stella, the more they could achieve some sense of psychological satisfaction.

‘It’s not like these people hadn’t done this before. This isn’t Stella’s first time getting demeaned in public, and she never dared to talk back. It’s just like what Aurora said; Stella’s worried that she’ll lose her position since she worked hard to marry into the Kane family. So, she only lives with her tail tucked between her legs. From my understanding of Stella, she’ll either continue enduring things, like what Aurora said, or kick up a fuss and rebut them like she did in the past. I’m confident I can deal with either of those situations and ruin Stella’s reputation. However, the current situation is not within my expectations,’ thought Sophia.