Chapter 5

It was a limited edition mechanical watch worth a six-figure sum.

The air seemed to freeze around them.

Jenny stiffened up as she stared at the watch on the floor, her face ashen.

“I… I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do that!”

Her voice was trembling, and she was on the verge of panicked tears.

Jason stood in a daze for a moment before recovering from the initial shock. He said, as gentle as he was before, “It’s alright. It’s just a watch.”

However, the crowd around them was in an uproar.

“That’s a limited edition watch, with only three pieces in the whole country!”

“Can she afford to compensate him for damages?”

“She’s a country bumpkin. I’m sure her eyes have never landed on a watch like that before.”

Whispers rippled through the crowd, each word piercing through Jenny.

I stood away from the crowd, looking on coldly at the scene.

I knew clearly that this was just a scene she had carefully planned out.

-

I remembered it clearly.

Mom had bought her a set of imported stationery consisting of a mechanical pencil, a fountain pen, a branded notebook, and a limited edition canvas stationery pouch, with all of these costing at least eight hundred dollars combined.

She had deliberately hidden all of them, as she had wanted everyone to see how pitiful she was on her first day.

She had timed it perfectly with Jason walking past so that he could be the hero who saved her.

Jason carefully helped Jenny up and comforted her tenderly.

She caught my eye with precision in the crowd, a flash of satisfaction gleaming in her eyes.

I just didn’t expect her to exact revenge so quickly.

After the evening study hall ended, I was called into the principal’s office.

Mom and Dad were there, their faces dark with displeasure.

Jenny’s eyes were red and swollen as she stood at a corner, her head bowed.

My heart sank.

The moment I walked in, I heard Mom say coldly even before I managed to speak a word, “Melanie Sullivan, how could you be so insensible?”

Her tone was harsh and dripping with displeasure.

“Jenny was in trouble at school. Why didn’t you go over to help her as her elder sister, especially when you witnessed it?”

I stood stunned.

“I…”

Dad looked equally displeased.

“Jenny has just started school here and is unfamiliar with the environment. You’re her only family here.

“Did you turn a blind eye to her when others were mocking her?

“What kind of elder sister are you?!”

I felt frustrated at their criticisms.

I was frustrated at them for wasting my time that I could have spent completing my assignments.

This was exactly what had happened in my past lifetime.

Each time something bad happened to Jenny, the first thing they did wasn’t to blame those who bullied her, but to blame me instead.

That was because I was the elder sister, and that meant that I had to unconditionally take care of her.

Even if she was deliberately putting on a show.

Even if she was scheming and plotting against others.

“Dad, Mom, don’t blame Melanie…”

Just then, Jenny spoke up, her eyes still red.

“I was stupid enough to not know how to use the automatic door.”

The more sensible she was being, the more upset it made Dad and Mom.

Dad looked darkly at the principal and then back at Jenny and her swollen eyes before he said, “Principal Lloyd, I think…”

My heart skipped a beat.

Oh no!

In my past life, after I was transferred out of the honors class, not only did my studying environment become poorer, but I even became the butt of everyone’s jokes in school.

Jenny very naturally took over my spot in the honors classes and all the resources that came with it.

“I’m sorry!” I said loudly, cutting Dad off.

Everyone was stunned to hear my apology.

At the next second, I turned to Jenny and bowed down low, my voice crisp and clear as I said, “I’ve failed in my duty as your sister!”