Anne looked at the message one more time. Then she looked the phone and leaned back in her chair. Whatever happened three years...
Someone had just opened that door again.
***
Outside in the store
As the four ladies continued looking at the gowns, a newly hired staff member named Lily approached them with a tray of drinks.
She carefully served Sophie first before moving toward Madison, who was sitting beside Olivia.
Lily was about to hand the drink to Madison when Sophie subtly stretched her leg out in front of her. Lily didn't notice. Her foot caught against Sophie's leg.
She stumbled and the glass slipped from her hand, and the drink splashed directly onto Olivia's dress.
"What the hell? Are you out of your mind?" Olivia exclaimed as she immediately stood up.
Madison quickly rose from her seat "Oh my God, Olivia! Are you okay?"
"I'm so sorry, ma'am!" Lily said nervously. It was her first day on the job, and she had already made a terrible mistake.
Lily looked down at the floor, trying to understand what had caused her to trip. Then she noticed Sophie's leg. It was still in the same position.
Lily looked at Sophie in confusion. Sophie immediately realized that Lily had seen what she had done. She quickly pulled her leg back, stood up, and hurried toward Olivia.
"Olivia, darling, are you okay?" Sophie asked, pretending to be worried as she checked Olivia's dress.
Olivia looked down at the large stain covering the front of her dress, "Do you know how much this dress costs?" she snapped at Lily. "This was my favorite dress. Jason gave it to me!"
"I'm so sorry, ma'am. It was an accident," Lily said, her voice trembling. She was terrified that she would lose her job on her very first day.
"Olivia, it's okay. Calm down," Madison said gently. "She didn't do it on purpose."
"But, Aunt, this was the dress Jason gave me," Olivia said, lowering her voice and pretending to sound hurt.
Sophie immediately turned toward Lily. "How could you do this to my daughter? Is this how you people treat your customers?"
Lily's eyes widened. "But you were the one who—"
Before she could finish, Sophie quickly interrupted her. "Me what?"
Lily fell silent. Sophie pointed toward the entrance. "I want to see the manager right now."
The store assistant who had been helping them choose the gowns quickly approached Olivia. "We're extremely sorry for the inconvenience, ma'am. Why don't you come with me? I'll help you clean the stain and see if we can do something about the dress."
Olivia looked down at herself, clearly furious. "This better be fixed."
"Of course, ma'am." The assistant gently gestured for Olivia to follow her.
As Olivia walked away, Lily remained standing there, visibly shaken. She looked once more at Sophie. Their eyes met and Sophie gave her a warning look.
Lily immediately lowered her gaze. She knew what had happened and she knew Sophie had done it deliberately.
Meanwhile, Olivia was being led toward the changing area to clean the stain. She glanced at herself in the mirror. Her beautiful dress was ruined. Her anger grew, but then another thought crossed her mind.
Jason gave me this dress.
She knew exactly how much Jason cared about appearances.
And she didn't want him to see her looking like this. Little did she know that Jason would soon be walking into the very same store.
And he wasn't coming because of the damaged dress. He had been informed that Anne was at Angel by Anne, and the moment he heard that...
He couldn't stay away.
Outside just when Olivia returned back looking clearly upset.
"I want you to call the manager right now. We don't want anything else," said Sophie angrily to the store assistant after looking at her daughter's upset expression
Just as the store assistant was trying to handle the situation, the store manager came over after hearing all the commotion.
"I'm the manager of the store. Is there a problem, ma'am?" the manager asked, looking at Sophie and trying to understand what had happened.
"Why don't you ask your employees over here? Is this how you treat your customers?" Sophie asked arrogantly.
The manager turned to the store assistant, who quickly explained what had happened.
Looking around, the manager noticed that several customers were beginning to leave the store because of all the commotion.
"We're very sorry for the inconvenience caused, ma'am. There are many customers here, so why don't we go to the private room and discuss the matter there?" the manager suggested, trying to calm the situation.
"Why do you want to talk in the private room?" Sophie asked loudly. "Everyone should know how customers are treated in this store!"
Her loud voice immediately drew the attention of the people around them. Several customers stopped to look at them, trying to figure out what the commotion was about.
"I know all of this is because of Anne," Sophie suddenly said. "She must have told you to behave like this with us."
The manager looked surprised.
"Why does she keep bullying my daughter all the time?" Sophie continued shamelessly. "She used to bully her for being an illegitimate child, and even now she's still bullying her."
Her words caused several people nearby to exchange uncomfortable looks.
Sophie then turned toward Madison. "Look at how poorly your daughter is treating her sister. And now, because of her, Olivia's engagement shopping has been ruined."
Olivia immediately lowered her eyes and put on a sad expression "It's okay, Mom. Please don't blame my sister. She must be sad," Olivia said softly.
Then she turned toward Madison "Aunt Madison, please don't blame sister for anything. If you do, I'll feel sad."
Madison looked at Olivia with sympathy and little regretful, she knew even if Anne didn't show much in front of others, she didn't like Olivia that much.
But Eva had been watching Olivia and Sophie closely. She could see exactly what they were doing—feeding Madison lies about Anne while pretending to be the victims.