Chapter 8 - Scandal

Rosaline got up quite late, having partied till late last night.

Looking at her sleepy appearance in the mirror, she thought of William. She shook her head, flattened her messy hair, and went on with her morning routine. 

There was a commotion at the breakfast table with her parents waiting for her. She had an uneasy feeling about it. 

“Good morning, people!” Rosaline said with a smile.

“You guys did not wait for me for breakfast, did you?” 

She had hardly finished what she was saying when her father, George Dayne, slammed the local newspaper on the table. 

She picked it up with curiosity and saw two pictures of herself which were rather vague.

One was her leaning toward Pete, and Pete’s face was unmistakable.

The other picture showed her leaning toward William; even William’s back view was vague. 

The headline was rather glaring.

“Shameless groupie steals another woman’s boyfriend!”

Rosaline instantly knew that it was Supriya’s doing.

As the photographs were from inside the bar that only had dim lights, they were vague.

Only people who knew her well would recognize her.

It did not bother her much. 

But the look of accusation on her parent’s faces broke her heart.

‘They are my parents. How can they love and dote on me but not trust me? At all?’

“It’s just a misunderstanding. Some boys were trying to bother me, so I deliberately got close and pushed them on the floor.”

Rosaline concealed her hurt and shrugged her shoulders. 

“Lina, you are not a kid anymore. What will people think when they see this? Did you ever think about how it affects our family’s reputation?”

“How will we show our faces to other people now? We were thinking of getting you engaged with Liam since you are both here. How will we face their family now?”

Elisa Dayne asked without even taking a breather. 

“Mom, who cares what other people think? Besides, I’m not going to get engaged to a total stranger.”

Rosaline said nonchalantly. She decided to focus on her breakfast.

‘Mom, your daughter has been slandered. Do you not care how I feel? Are other people’s opinions more important than my feelings?’

Rosaline lowered her head to bite her toast and hid the burn in her eyes. 

“What nonsense is that? Aren’t you well acquainted with Uncle Tom and Aunt Rita? Their daughter Ellaria is about to marry your brother Max.”

“Liam is Tom and Rita’s nephew. He is a good person. So, don’t spout all that nonsense about not knowing him well. You can do that after you get engaged.”

Elisa snapped with obvious impatience. 

“Mom, how can my knowing Uncle Tom and Aunt Rita be relevant to knowing their nephew? Wasn’t he in a boarding school almost his entire life? Are you even sure Uncle Tom knows him well enough?”

Rosaline tried to reason with them.

“Enough, Lina! We have spoiled you too much. Since you have been studying abroad for the last five years, do you mean to say we don’t know you either?”

“What kind of faulty logic is that? You will get engaged before your brother’s wedding, so don’t make any trouble.”

George roared and left after saying his piece.