Emline flushed in anger, and she bit her lip at the humiliation of hearing Matteo’s harsh words.
Then, the thorn in her side started to open his big mouth.
"Brother, don’t you know that’s her entire personality? If she’s not shalessly chasing after you like a bitch in heat, what else is she good for?" Aiden chid in helpfully, causing Emline to snarl in hatred at her future fiance’s description of her.
Aiden mid a barking dog, nimbly dodging a swipe of Emline’s sharp fingernails. Their childishness almost made Alia roll her eyes― not even the children in the orphanage were so ill-behaved.
"Well that’s not entirely accurate, she’s also spending a lot of effort to chase you to kill you," Alia noted dryly. "The both of you should go to the park nearby, there’s plenty of tree branches that you can use to stab each other with. I for one, have a wedding fitting to get back to. I’m sure my grandfather will be very curious to know what happened today."
Annalise shook her head, nearly shivering with rage. "How dare you use Horace to pressure us!"
"Is it pressuring?" Alia cocked her head. "I’m just making an observation. You saw how delighted he was to see Matteo and I walk in, hand-in-hand, didn’t you? "
"He would be very pleased to see you wear your mother’s dress," Matteo replied. "Let’s give him so good news when he cos back from the hospital, shall we?"
He held out his hand, presumably to lead Alia away to change. Jenna smiled from behind them, delighted that things were finally progressing as planned.
"This way, please. I’ll lead you to the changing rooms."
However, due to the long trail of the wedding dress, she failed to notice the discreet little sweep of Emline’s foot, which stuck out just the right amount for plausible deniability, causing her to trip and fall.
The wedding dress fell to the floor in a tangled heap, and Emline ’accidentally’ stomped on it with no small amount of vindictiveness as she pretended to stumble out of the way of Jenna’s thick fra.
If she wasn’t able to wear this dress, Alia shouldn’t either.
"The dress!" Jenna exclaid in a panic, quickly grabbing it off the floor. A small, but unmistakable sound of fabric tearing echoed through the boutique, and Jenna’s face paled imdiately as she sank to her knees.
"No... no... It can’t be ripped..." she whispered frantically to herself, cradling the dress as though it was her firstborn child that got knocked down by a car. There was no blood, but a nasty large gash at the hem of the skirts through the long train of fabric. It caused her heart to sink into despair.
She raised her head and made eye contact with Emline, who was peering down at her with a look of sick satisfaction. However, before she could call her out on it, it vanished with a blink, leaving behind only a visage of concern.
"Oh dear! Are you alright?" Emline exclaid, "That was a nasty fall― it couldn’t have been good for your knees."
"My creation! You destroyed my creation!" Jenna howled in grief. "You did this on purpose!"
"Don’t malign the innocent!" Emline exclaid, placing a hand on her heart as though she had been wronged. "I didn’t do anything, you were the one who simply fell on your own!"
"That’s right!" Annalise hurried over, eagerly backing up her daughter’s claims. "You must have fallen on your own. If you weren’t so rotund, you wouldn’t have fallen flat on your face. With such a figure, you shouldn’t be wearing heels in the first place! Isn’t that right, sweetheart? Who do you think you’re trying to seduce? My father-in-law? He will never take a second look at you."
Emline nodded, a look of wide-eyed innocence on her face. "It’s not as though we would think any less of her if she wore flats. But I guess Miss Ruby still wants to look tall, slim, and beautiful at her age."
"How dare you― This has nothing to do with my figure, so watch your comnts." Jenna clenched her jaw in anger.
First, this mother and daughter pair had made a ss of her store, then they ruined one of her most beloved creations, and to top it off, they insulted her looks and her character!
She sucked in an enraged breath. She had definitely felt herself tripping over soone’s foot. But before she could argue further, Alia and Matteo quickly helped her up to her chair, and to survey the damage done.
"Are you hurt? Do you need to see a doctor?" Alia asked worriedly. After all, falls that could be shaken off by the young could be devastating to soone older like Jenna. She couldn’t bear it if this kindly woman sustained an injury because she was caught in the crossfire of their conflict with Emline.
"No, I’m fine... but my heart..." Jenna lanted, devastation in her voice. "This dress... It’s ruined..."
"Well, there’s that then," Annalise said, sounding particularly bored and unbothered about this turn of events. "Since the dress is ruined, we might as well be off. There’s no point in wasting our ti in this dumpster. Co on, Emline, let’s have a spa day."
"Yes, Mom!" Emline chirped delightedly, and she shot the rest of them one last victorious glance before walking out the door, arm-in-arm with her mother.
"Are you not going to join them?" Matteo addressed Aiden, who only shuddered in dislike.
"Over my dead body. I’ll help to clean up," Aiden decided, grabbing the broom from one of the staff’s hands, and trying to sweep the floor with limited success.
He felt the slightest bit sorry at the ss they had created. This Jenna lady was kind enough to let him sober up and even gave him biscuits to eat― she didn’t deserve this bullshit.
"Give the broom back, you’re not even sweeping the floor properly," Alia lanted. "Don’t make things more difficult for all of us."
Aiden wanted to argue, but seeing his brother’s stony glare, he reluctantly slunk away from the boutique, his taphorical tail tucked between his legs.
"We’ll make sure Emline and her mother pay for the damages to your store and to the dress," Matteo promised.
"The boutique is easy to restore... but this dress..." Jenna stroked it lovingly and gave a tiny sniff, her eyes welling with tears. "This dress will never be the sa again. I’m so sorry you never got the chance to try it on, Alia. Maybe you’ll want so other dress..."
"It’s alright," Alia said, her heart aching at Jenna’s words. "Even if it’s not the sa as it was, I’ll still want to try on this dress. Is there a way it could possibly be fixed?"
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