“You must be heartbroken. You have always been affectionate towards Lyle. There’s nothing wrong with that,” Crystal stated nonchalantly while resting her chin on her right palm. “You’ve loved Lyle for a long time now, haven’t you? If I’m not mistaken… Around ten years, am I right? Crushing on someone must be so hard. Being able to love someone publicly is such a privilege. As your cousin, I should give you at least a chance, shouldn’t I?”
My expression darkened. No one except myself knew about the fact that I had a crush on Lyle. Even on my wedding day, I had only told this secret of mine to Sabrina. Not even Lyle knew about this, so how did Crystal find out?
“You must be wondering how I found out. My dear cousin, seeing you like this sure isn’t giving me any satisfaction in winning.” Crystal lounged lazily on the couch with a wide smile. “You know, in the past, I saw you as the spoiled child of the Tanner family, whereas I’m the poor kid whose dad had died. But now, you’ve lost your mom and your dad’s affection. Even your husband is in love with me.”
Crystal placed her hand on her lips as she gasped coyly and said, “Oh no, I sound rude, don’t I?” She then looked at me sympathetically. “This is reality, but it’s almost agonizing to see you looking so disheveled, dear cousin. However, Lyle and I go way back. I’ll be generous and offer you another chance with him. Whether or not you succeed is up to you.”
Crystal’s words pierced through my heart, causing the cracks to deepen. There wasn’t anything I could refute because all she had said was true. I truly had lost everything, even before she returned. As I fiddled with the watch on my wrist, however, my heartache seemed to have dulled.
“Well, Crystal, aren’t you just as despicable as you were back then? I really don’t mind that you keep stealing my things. After all, the ones that you can’t steal are the ones worth keeping. No matter how proud you act, you can never run away from the fact that you’re still the poor kid who lives under our roof. Friendly reminder that you’re a Yates, not a Tanner.” I smirked.
“Still being difficult I see. Here I was considering playing nice so you and Lyle could have the chance to part amicably, but apparently, you still need to be taught a good lesson. You have already lost by a landslide, yet you’re still ridiculously stubborn.” Crystal clicked her tongue and scoffed.
Nevertheless, that last sentence was incredibly familiar. She used to say the same sentence every time she bullied me in the past. I knew for sure that she wanted me to surrender, so I would obey her and live under her mercy. Never could I understand such a twisted mindset. Was there really satisfaction in stepping on others to get ahead?
I slammed my chopsticks onto the table and wiped my mouth with a napkin before getting up to leave. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Yvette running toward me to step on my feet as she had done before. Instinctively, I stepped to the side, forgetting that Crystal was beside me. Crash!
I could swear that the force behind that collision would not have knocked over even a young girl at the age of three. For some reason, however, Crystal looked as though she had collided with a truck. She fell onto the ground, bringing some of the dishes along with her and spilling the contents all over her face. Upon seeing the dumbfounded look on her face, I almost burst out laughing. I guessed she had intended to fake a dramatic fall but had accidentally knocked over the plates too.
“Yvonne, what are you doing?” Lyle’s furious voice could be heard from behind me. The next thing I knew, he grabbed my arm and flung it forcefully, making me stagger. If it were not for the waiter standing nearby who caught me just in time, I would have fallen head-first into hot soup.
“Crystal, are you alright? Did you burn yourself? I’ll send you to the hospital right away.” Lyle hurried over to the woman on the floor to help her up before shooting daggers in my direction. He looked as though he wanted to rip me into pieces.
The man then turned to look at the waiters in the restaurant and hollered, “Why are you people just standing there? Call the ambulance! Go!”
“Sir, that’s cold soup. You only need to wipe it off. She’ll be alright,” one of the waiters explained patiently, trying to cover up his exasperation.
“Pfft!” I could not help but chortle at that. Suddenly, Lyle turned and slapped me across the face with all his might. “How can you be so vicious? If that was hot soup, Crystal’s face would have been disfigured by now!” he thundered.
The impact of the heavy hand caused me to become dizzy. Before I could speak, Yvette suddenly hugged me by my arm and wailed, “Yvonne, please just give Crystal and Lyle your blessing.”
