I stared right into her eyes as I silently asked her if she did it. She must have understood my unasked question because she nodded her head slowly yet firmly. Diana closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around me.
“I did it for you,” she whispered right into my ear.
The smile that she showed me told me that she didn’t have a shred of regret in her body. It felt like something was sucking life out of me and my entire body felt cold and numb.
“What is the meaning of this?” the teacher yelled, and it was clear that her question was directed at Diana.
Diana slowly unwrapped her arms from around my body before turning around to face the teacher, the staff, and the other students that had gathered at the scene. She lifted her hands to cover her face for a moment before lowering them.
“I didn’t mean to. It was an accident...” Diana said in a broken voice before she began wailing.
Tears fell from her eyes in streams as her face contorted into a mask of extreme sadness and regret. Although I knew that she was just acting, I had to admit that it looked and felt so real. Diana wouldn’t stop crying and her outburst soon bordered on hysteria.
“It was an accident. Daphne...she suddenly fell down the stairs. I tried...to help her...” Diana wailed even louder.
Her entire face was streaked with tears and red with intense emotions. Everyone was clearly shocked, and no one dared to say a word. All the whispering and jeering had subsided as everyone got absorbed into the show that Diana was putting on. As if her performance wasn’t already convincing enough, Diana sank down to the floor and continued brawling her eyes out.
That was the day that Dahlia pushed Daphne down the stairs. From that day forward, my sister and I were the only two ‘D’ girls.
...
**Back to the Present**
“I’m not sure if I can ask you this but since I don’t have anyone else that I can ask. How is Dahlia doing these days?” Daphne asked as she stared directly up into my face.
I was sure that she didn’t have a care in the world about what I was up to or how I was doing. She was probably asking Diana this just to rub the fact that she had managed to separate us in the end into Diana’s face. I pitied her for not knowing the truth and I couldn’t imagine how shocked she would be to find out that it was Diana who had pushed her down the stairs.
The fall had lasting effects on Daphne’s body. From that day forward, Daphne never regained her ability to walk properly and ended up confined to a wheelchair. Needless to say, the incident caused a big uproar in the city and created a great rift between our families.
“I don’t know. I haven’t heard from her since we’re not supposed to be in touch,” I replied before smiling sweetly at her.
Her mocking words couldn’t hurt me, and I dared say that I deserved this if not worst from her for what my sister had done. I had no idea how my parents were able to sweep something so major under the rug. I was too young at the time to be convicted by law, so there wasn’t much to be done on that front. However, I did have to sit through hours upon hours of grilling interrogation about what had happened.
In the end, the whole thing was written off as an accident just as Diana had claimed right at the scene. When it really came down to it, no one was there to witness what had actually happened. All the students who claimed on the day that they saw me pushing Daphne down the stairs never came forward in the end to offer their testimonies. All they said was that they ‘thought’ that was what happened. Without any real evidence or witness, the case was dropped.
Although it was never proven that I was guilty of pushing Daphne down the stairs, the case was covered and twisted for months in the media and the harm was already done to my reputation. Everyone had their own theories and speculations, and they were not hesitant to entertain the idea that the spoiled second daughter of the Alnault family had finally shown her true colors. It was like I became the villainess overnight.
“That’s a shame. You know, I really do miss Dahlia sometimes. Those were really the good old days. The three of us together in school. Young teenage girls just growing up...” she said with a wistful look in her eyes.
“Time has really flown by...” I replied with a soft laugh.
I had no idea why she was bringing up the old days when we were supposedly ‘friends’ when I was sure that there was nothing pleasant about those memories for her.
“Diana, what would you say if I told you that I know the truth?” Daphne asked.
The truth?
“About what?” I asked with widened eyes as I feign complete innocence.
“That day when I fell down the stairs, the one who was with me was actually you and not Dahlia. Isn’t that, right?” she asked but I could tell that she wasn’t looking for an answer from me.
“How can that possibly be? I wasn’t there with you that day. It was Dahlia...” I replied smoothly after letting out a slight scoff to show her just how ridiculous her words sounded to me.
“Do you know what really happened that day?” she asked with a faraway look in her eyes.
“No, but...why are you bringing this up right now? It’s been years. Dahlia is gone and everything is...in the past...” I said as I tried to remain calm.
She doesn’t know anything.
I kept telling myself that there was no way that she could possibly know the truth. Back then, I decided to take the blame for my sister’s actions, and she ensured that I would escape without any form of serious punishment.
--To be continued...