Chapter 2: My Stepsister Wants My Fiancé.

(Vivian's POV)

"Hello, Sis," a voice I knew too well spoke.

I gently opened my eyes and looked past Ronald at the person who had just followed him inside the shop, and I was right about who that voice belonged to.

My expression changed the moment my eyes landed on her. A sharp pang of hurt went through me, followed almost instantly by irritation.

My brows furrowed as I stared at her, unable to understand why she was here.

"What the hell are you doing here, Laura?" I asked, my voice laced with irritation.

"I heard you're picking your accessories today, so I asked to tag along," she replied.

Tag along?

I looked at Ronald instantly.

"You brought her here, Ronald?" I asked, my voice laced with hurt.

He knew Laura and I never got along.

He knew I didn't like them being close, and I had always complained about it.

We had had countless arguments about her. He knew I hated it, yet every single time, he brought her.

"Laura said she could help with choosing the right accessories," he said, casually adjusting his cufflinks.

"She could help? Since when did we need an outsider to decide which choice was right?" I asked, unable to believe it.

Wasn't that the whole point of this? If we wanted outsiders to make these decisions for us, we could have simply left everything to the event planner.

"She's your sister. She's not an outsider!" he said.

"Stepsister, Ronald!" I said, my frustration rising.

We weren't even related by blood. Her mum already had her from her first marriage before she married my father.

If my father hadn't married Melissa, she and Laura wouldn't even be fit to stand in front of the Sterling family gate, let alone have access to our home.

We wouldn't even be forced to live like family.

"I know I'm simply your stepsister," she said, her voice dropping as if she were hurt by what I had said.

"You're right to consider me an outsider," she continued. "I have no money or status. I don't even belong to the Sterling family."

Her voice was delicate, sweet enough to make anyone believe she couldn't hurt a fly. But I knew her too well. She could fool everyone else, but she couldn't fool me.

"But I care about you, Vivian." She reached out to hold my hand. "I want the best for you."

I pulled my hand away before she could touch me. I wasn't about to fall for her fake concern. She only showed that kind of concern when there were other people around.

"Don't touch me," I warned.

Laura's eyes turned red.

"I know you hate me for coming here, but please don't take it out on Ronald," she said, wiping away the tears that had started slipping down her cheeks.

"Ronald is having a difficult time right now. There has been some tension with the board lately."

My jaw tightened.

Ronald was my fiancé. It wasn't her place to tell me whether he was having a difficult time or not. Was she trying to say she cared about him more than I did?

"Since when did you become the person who understands Ronald's problems better than I do?" I asked, my voice low.

"I..." She stuttered.

"Why are you the one explaining his problems to me?" I cut in sharply. "I'm his fiancée, Laura. Shouldn't he be the one telling me if he's going through something?"

Laura blinked, clearly not expecting my response.

"Vivian, stop..." Ronald said.

I didn't stop. I took a step closer to her, my eyes sharp as I stared at her.

"Except you're telling me you're getting closer to my fiancé than you should be," I added.

"Please don't misunderstand, Vivian," Laura said, her expression turning innocent. "Ronald and I are simply partners."

Partners?

Hadn't that been the exact excuse she used all the time to justify overstepping? To get closer to Ronald than she should?

Ever since she joined my dad's company and was nominated as the Sterling Group's representative, she's been working closely with Ronald on a particular project.

But I knew Laura too well to believe she was just there to represent Dad's company on this project.

She was there to take Ronald from me, just like she had always taken everything else from me.

From the very beginning, she had always taken everything that belonged to me. Everything I owned, she would find a way to take from me.

"Give it to her. She's your younger sister," Dad would say.

"You're older, Vivian. Let her have it. Why do you still need that? Can't you be more mature?" he would yell.

Melissa, my stepmother, would dramatically claim that I hated her and her daughter, and Dad seemed completely blinded by all their manipulations.

I might have been older than her, but I was still a child too. So why did I have to keep letting her have everything she wanted every time?

Each time I refused, I was always labelled as the selfish, inconsiderate sister.

One time, I insisted on keeping something for myself, and I was punished severely. I went the whole day without food because Melissa said I had never known what it was like to be hungry, which was why I was being disrespectful.

And ever since then, I stopped fighting. Whatever Laura wanted, I handed it to her without asking questions. They said I had finally learned to share. I was now more understanding.

But now, she wanted to take my fiancé too? She was using her position in the company to get closer to him.

And worse, no one... not even Ronald... seemed to see through her acts.

"You have no idea how intense the corporate world is." Laura's delicate voice pulled me out of my thoughts.

"So you probably don't understand the kind of pressure Ronald has been under lately," she added.

My jaw tightened.

There it was again.

That subtle reminder that, unlike her, I had never worked and therefore couldn't possibly understand what Ronald was going through.

She made it sound as though being his fiancée wasn't enough to understand him. As though working in a company was the only way I could possibly know when the man I loved was struggling.

She wasn't saying it directly, but I knew exactly what she meant.

I had never worked before. I had never had to deal with board meetings, difficult decisions, or the kind of pressure that came with running a company.

I had grown up as a princess in the Sterling family, and I had always believed my father had more than enough for me.

Now, I was about to marry a man who was just as wealthy. I had never thought there was anything wrong with wanting a simple life, taking care of my husband and our home instead of worrying about the company.

But Laura always found a way to make it sound like that made me a liability.

I hated the way she always managed to make her words sound innocent while leaving me feeling inadequate.

"Ronald is my fiancé," I said firmly. "I don't need a position in the company to understand when something is going on with him."

"I... I didn't mean it like that..." Laura tried to defend herself.

"Then what exactly did you mean, Laura?" I questioned.

"Jesus, Vivian!" Ronald snapped, his voice sharp and loud enough to draw everyone's attention.

The jewellery shop fell silent, and everyone turned to look.

“Must you always make an issue out of everything?” he continued.