Helanie:
The girl arriving with her father was Jessica. She wore a black dress that couldn’t hide her beautiful long legs. Her pretty brown eyes shone even more with winged eyeliner and glittery eyeshadow.
I was such a fool to think I was special. The compliments directed at me were nothing compared to the ones given to the ladies before me. They were gorgeous.
Of course, the brothers would choose them any day over an average girl like me. Jessica had her brown hair straightened like a waterfall. She was all smiles with Norman, who was also constantly speaking with her. Whenever she had something to say to him, he would bend down to reach her level. He would casually pull his face near her ear and listen to her attentively.
However, while Kesha looked too arrogant and full of herself, Jessica was the one who seemed friendly. She was going around checking on everyone. Even Kaye seemed to smile a lot for her.
"I heard they had a breakup previously, but then—well—her father convinced Norman that she would be a good choice." Rudy must have noticed how attentively I had been staring at her for him to come and tell me what was going on between the two of them.
She must have a lot of patience to tolerate someone like Norman, who looked like a giant beast in a dark gray tweed suit. The brothers were busy greeting everyone and then taking pictures with them.
Charlotte had a golden dress on. Her eyes kept looking over at Maximus, who seemed anxious. I saw her trying to communicate with him here and there, but he was too distracted. It confused me to watch him look at me and then smile at me—almost as if nothing had happened. Nothing had gone wrong between us.
Everyone began to clap and welcome my mother and Lord McQuoid and my mother, who had just arrived in their car.
My mother looked stunning in a light blue high-low dress. Honestly speaking, I truly believed she deserved happiness. I couldn’t believe I had been about to jeopardize her relationship for my own. Since when had I become so selfish? My eyes darted to Daphne, who was glaring at my mother with hatred. The brothers didn’t look very pleased to see her either.
But they kept fake smiles on their faces for the sake of their father and the guests. Even their plus ones were forcing smiles while standing beside Daphne to show whose side they were on.
After my mom had met up with everyone, she looked through the crowd, and her eyes fell on me. She excused herself from the crowd and walked over to us. As she stopped before us, she directed her attention to Senior Rudy.
"Welcome to my place. I am so glad you students managed to take time out of your schedules to attend the ceremony." She was so gentle when talking with them. But whenever she was alone with me, she was so harsh.
"Of course, we couldn’t miss it. You look absolutely amazing," Penn rushed to respond before Rudy could.
"You look stunning," Rudy said, side-eyeing Penn for stealing his chance.
"You two are kind gentlemen," my mother blushed, shaking her head at them playfully.
"I am Helanie’s friend," Penn was quick to explain why he was being so nice to her. He wanted to be in her good books.
Well, funny story—none of them knew my mother hated me. So that would just put them on her hate list.
"Oh, you two are her friends?" she asked as she pointed at Rudy.
"I am not trying to be just a friend."
As soon as Rudy said that, I felt my jaw hit the ground. But my mother found it funny.
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