Chapter Two: REVELATION: Shocking truth behind her birth.

I was humiliated publicly, and it was not something I could tolerate. I frantically looked around. Everyone seemed to be engrossed in them. I felt the drumming in my chest. Why did my parents encourage me into this marriage just to humiliate me this way? Why?

I couldn’t find the right answers to my question. They both broke the kiss, and the two of them unanimously turned to look at me. Just when I opened my mouth to speak, Fiona beat me to it.

"Hey sister," she said, emphasizing the word 'sister' mockingly.

Fiona got to where I stood and then chuckled while eyeing me like some disgusting creature. I simply sniffed and wiped away my tears. She smiled when she saw me do that.

"Seeing the great diamond this way gives me so much joy!" She laughed, and I gulped uneasily.

"W..hy me?" I stuttered, staring at the lady in front of me. She smirked and looked at me hatefully with her blue eyes. She and I were not alike. She had blonde hair, and mine was brown and medium-length.

She was much shorter and thinner. Her big blue eyes were bright, just like the blue of the sea, while mine were bottle green. She shrugged and tapped on my shoulders.

"Hey, pumpkin. You should blame it on your mother," she said, and I wheezed.

"This is the fate she left you with," she added.

"My mum..." I muttered and slowly turned to look at Mom, who was now beside her.

 "Mum. What’s she talking about?" My lips couldn’t stop recoiling. I stared in awe at the woman I'd taken as my mother all these years. She watched me grow up. She was my mom. Then what was Fiona ranting about?

We peered at each other with different insinuations.

"Mom..." I called with my tone fully held back.

 "Yeah. That’s right. I’m not your mother!" She replied. I shook my head, not wanting to believe it.

"It’s not true, right?" I asked, taking failing breaths with many thoughts dribbling through my head while trying to comprehend what she just said. My mom, Mrs. Sharon Xander, scoffed with an eye roll.

"Mum..."

"I’m sadly not your actual mother, so stop with the picky title now that you know," she snapped.

I was beyond wordless; the capability to express myself in words was lost in my system as I stared dumbfounded at the woman in front of me.

"I probably should tell you everything, right? You deserve to know," she suggested rhetorically. A weird smile formed on her lips.

"I got married to your dad when you were just a year old. I was already pregnant with Fiona. So we got married, and then I found out something shocking."

She giggled and smirked at me.

"W...what do you mean?" I muttered with my lip partly agape. She smirked afterward and faced me with a vicious look.

"Who’s my mother?" I found myself asking after finally processing their words.

"Well, your mother." She paused momentarily, taking a sniff and wiping imaginary tears from her eyes.

"Your mother was a prostitute," she said.

"What?" I jerked in shock.

"Your father can explain much better. But I'll help him out a bit," she grinned, and her face contorted with anger and her eyes narrowing with fiery intensity. "Yes. Your mother was a high-class prostitute. She cheated on your dad, and the product of that filthy relationship was you. She deceived your innocent dad, who did nothing but love her. She was just a flirt and had to die of a serious sexual infection. Your father found out when she was dead. You were just a year old. He was heartbroken and drank himself into a stupor. We had a one-night stand that resulted in me getting pregnant with Fiona. Since I was already pregnant, we just went ahead and got married. We considered taking you since you were just a year old. I thought you'd be a good girl, but you were just like your mother. It took us all these years to finally get revenge on you. Revenge for what your prostitute mother did to my husband!" Mrs. Sharon Mrs. Sharon Xander continued, her voice dripping with disdainful superiority and punctuating her words with sharp, accusatory gestures.

"It’s not true," I muttered, not believing a single word she just unleashed. My eyes turned misty as I listened to those words.

 "Yes, baby. It’s a lot to take in." She made a soft sound as she came close to me. I moved my gaze to Dad and pointed a finger at him.

"Does that mean you’re not my dad?" I mumbled. 

 "Arghhh! I’m going crazy." I laughed like a maniac as my body fell to the ground.

"Father..." I cried.

"I’m not your daughter? What are they saying? It’s a dream, right? I want to wake up from this horrible nightmare," I cried.

"You heard her right. You’re just like your mother. I shouldn’t have considered taking you in after finding out you’re not even my daughter," Dad finally said, and the whole place went silent. Even the sound of a dropped pin couldn't be heard at this moment.

"You all are lying!" I murmured. I thought I was embarrassed by Max, but this was the biggest humiliation.

"That’s a lie, Father. You’re my father; how can you say such a thing? It’s unforgivable!"

I gritted my teeth in rage as more tears fell from my eyes.

"All these years, I have tried my best to believe you’re my daughter. But you’re just nothing like me and only a pain to me! Do you even know how much I disgust the sight of you?" He shrieked. I subconsciously moved backward and leaned on one of the chairs for support as I tried to look directly into the eyes of the man I have always called Dad.

I was starting to feel weak and didn’t think I would be able to move my body, which was slowly turning into a log of wood.

"Your mother was a well-known prostitute. I thought she changed when we got married, but she fucking played me!" he shouted, throwing a file at me.

"A picture of your mother and a DNA test that proves I am not your freaking father!" He yelled.  I slowly picked up the file. I tore it open and brought out a piece of paper and a picture. My mouth opened slightly as I burst into uncontrollable tears. It was freaking true. They are not my parents.

"You see, we’re not even related. I don’t know if I should rejoice or not!" Fiona giggled. 

"Wow, it’s true, Diamond. Look! We aren’t your parents," Mrs. Sharon said with a tone of caricature.

"All these years, I’ve been thinking of how to get back at you. I wanted you to feel the same pains your mother made me pass through. I wanted you to go through all of it. It finally happened when you introduced Max to us. You see, it was all a game. We planted Max in your life just to ruin it."

She flaunted her wedding ring right in front of my eyes as she mocked the engagement ring on my finger. I couldn’t do anything but stare blankly at them. These are the ones I called families, or rather, they’re the ones I’ve known as families.

"How could they do this to me?" I lamented. Everything I was made to believe was nothing but lies.

"I hate the resemblance she shares with you; it makes me want to do more than ruin your life. Ugh!" He spat with deep aversion over my body before turning back and walking away. I felt my world threatening to crumble as everything became silent.

"Your mother is a prostitute, and you will make no difference," Mrs. Sharon said.

"Nothing is true. I won’t believe it," I argued.

Why was everything happening so fast?

"Oh, poor being. Are you saying the DNA results are fake?" She asked with sarcasm.

"It's best if you just accept your ugly reality. Don’t be dense, Diamond." She muttered and crouched down next to me. She touched my hair, and I shrieked back in fright.

"Seeing you broken like this makes me happy. I pray it breaks all that makes you human and alive into pieces.

When you reach that stage, darling, I recommend you choose death!" She said it to my face, emitting a dark chortle at the end of her sentence.

Before I could understand what she was saying, Mrs. Sharon hugged me and faked a sob. I was taken aback by her sudden outburst, which was way out of line after this divulgence.

"That’s right; now you can leave and won’t have any reason to come back."

I bit my lower lip. Now I understand why she did it. Of course! No one heard except me. She patted my hair afterward and stood up. Looking at me one more time, she sauntered away, and murmuring arose immediately.

"You disgust me, Diamond!" Fiona spoke up.

"I can’t believe I was made to believe you were my sister when you’re not close to that!"

"When I found out you were nothing but a prostitute's daughter, I felt the urge to strangle you to death. I couldn’t believe I had a thing with the daughter of a prostitute. I was fed up with rage toward you. I was so glad when Mom told me about her revenge game.

We had to work Max, who was my boyfriend, into your life. We encouraged you into this marriage just to break your ego and push you into the mud," she said.

I wiped my tears. I wouldn’t let this little thing see me in tears or plead for her mercy.

"You see, I got the wedding ring while you only have the fake engagement ring," she mumbled, showing off her wedding ring right in my face.

 "pft! It’s such a shame." Fiona said and walked to pick up an already prepared bucket of mud water, which hasn't been oblivious to me all this while. She took it and walked back to me. She splattered it all over my beautiful dress.

"That’s right!  For everything your mother caused my dad. You are the daughter of a prostitute." She growled, and I couldn’t help but burst into another round of sobbing after seeing my beautiful wedding gown ruined. I look around as the paparazzi capture everything. My gaze went back to the ground as I cried harder.