CHAPTER FOUR

Sabrina’s Pov

When I got home, I slept off even though I was shivering in the cold. I was woken up the next morning with Coral pushing aside the curtains, allowing the subtle bright sunlight to seep through the windows and hit my eyes. I blinked, my eyes fluttering open against the sudden intrusion of light, only to find Coral standing before me, her figure illuminated by the morning's rays.

I sat up on the bed, rubbing my hands over my body from the cold of last night. I was still feeling really cold and shivering slightly.

“Good morning!” Coral beamed a smile at me as our eyes met and she drew the last curtain in the mirror aside. “Did you have a wonderful sleep?”

As Coral stood before me, cheerful and all smiles, my mind scrambled to make sense of the situation. Was the party from last night only a mere figment of my imagination, or perhaps a dream?

The pain in my heart ached with a clarity that denied any illusion. Every moment, every twisted smile, every whispered insult from the night before replayed in vivid detail, sharp and well defined. Everything felt too real to just be  a dream. But if everything was real, then why was Coral acting as if she could not remember what had happened last night? 

"What should we make for breakfast?" Coral's smile remained fixed, her eyes gleaming with an almost unnerving innocence as she posed the question. Her tone was warm and inviting, as if she hadn't just stabbed me in the back with every pointed laugh from the night before.

My frown deepened, my gaze drilling into hers as I searched for any sign of recognition or remorse for what she had done. As I did so, I could almost see the layers of her smile begin to peel away, revealing a depth of deception that sent a shiver racing up my spine. All of a sudden, her smile didn't look so genuine anymore. If anything, it looked and felt creepy and it gave me the chills.

"Coral," I said, my voice tinged with apprehension and confusion. “Did we attend a party together last night?”

“Of course we did, silly!” Her laughter rang through the room as she settled beside me, her touch now feeling cold, contrasting to what had once been a warm and genuine gesture of friendship. As she spoke, I felt the hairs on my arms prick up in response, a silent warning that this version of Coral was a stranger. It was as if her fake nice girl facade had worn off now and I could finally see her true self.

"What?" she asked, her tone light and playful, as she feigned innocence with a smile that refused to falter. "Are you mad at me for what happened yesterday?"

Her question and the twisted invitation to the charade of ignorance she was playing made my heart drop in my chest, confirming my worst fears.

It really happened. The whole thing wasn't a dream.

"It was just a prank," Coral offered, her explanation as flimsy as a lame excuse. "I didn't mean for it to go that far."

I shook my head, a scoff escaping from my lips as her words landed like a slap in the face. 

"What part of yesterday was a prank?" I challenged, my voice laced with incredulity. "The part where you made me wear that ridiculous dress? Or the part where you laughed along as they all made fun of me?

"Don't be so dramatic, Rina," she chided, her voice a sickly-sweet tone that set my teeth on edge. "You're taking things far too personal.”

Staring into her eyes, shock and disbelief coursed through my veins. Denial was as persistent as it was infuriating, her smile a razor-sharp blade of manipulation that cut straight through my sense of self. I felt as if I were tumbling down a rabbit hole of denial and gaslighting.

I refuse to be cowed by her attempts to minimize my hurt.

"I'm sorry, Coral," I began, my voice firm and unwavering as I leveled my gaze at her. "But I think you're sick in the head to think that what you did was a harmless prank.”

“Excuse me?”  Coral's once sweet expression was now twisted into a mask of stony coldness that sent a chill down my spine. I had never seen her emotion and facial expression change so fast.

"Was it funny to you?" I demanded, "Was it hilarious to see me humiliated, to watch as they laughed at me like some kind of circus freak?"

"You stupid, dumb, ungrateful bitch," Coral spat, her voice dripping with venom. The words stunned me, a shockwave of hurt and disbelief washing over me.

Did she really just insult me, when she was the one in the wrong? Was this the same Coral I thought I knew?

"How dare you speak to me in that manner?" she continued, getting up from  the bed as she growled, her voice low and dangerous and her gaze hard and unforgiving. 

At that moment, the woman before me was unrecognizable. Gone was the cheerful facade, the kind and gentle friend I thought I knew, replaced by a stranger whose eyes gleamed with a sinister menace that chilled my very bones. Perhaps this was the real Coral all along, the Coral that had always lurked beneath the surface, waiting for the right moment to reveal herself.

"I fed you, sheltered you, helped your sorry orphaned ass, and this is how you repay me? Yes, I did what I did last night, and so fucking what?!" she snarled, her face a twisted mask of fury and resentment.

The revelation struck me like a hammer blow, her words a betrayal more painful than any physical wound. I rose up from the bed, my eyes stinging with hot tears as I fought to comprehend the magnitude of what I had just learned.

"What... what is going on?" I managed to choke out with quivering lips.

Coral's arms folded over her chest, her posture like that of a triumphant predator as she advanced towards me, her gaze never wavering as she closed the distance between us. The malice in her eyes was a tangible thing, a cold, cruel promise of worse to come if I dared to defy her.

“I have never really liked you, Sabrina Williams," she seethed, a malicious pleasure evident in her voice. "You disgust me. You think you're pretty and smart and all that? Trust me, you're not. You're just a pathetic, little girl trying to outshine me, and I couldn't stand for that."

“What?” Tears flowed freely down my cheeks, hot and painful tracks of heartbreak and confusion as I struggled to comprehend Coral's words. Why would she feel this way about me? I wasn't half as rich or as elegant as she was. I worked at a bar where I always kept struggling to make ends meet. I lacked fashion sense because I didn't even have the money to afford clothes. I literally had no friends except for her. So, why did she feel this way towards me?

“Did Liam tell you?” she asked, her voice a poisoned honeyed-sweetness that made my skin crawl. “The reason you guys broke up was because of me.”

I frowned, trying to understand what she was saying. The reason we had broken up was because of her? No, it wasn't. The reason we had broken up last month after dating for five years was because he cheated on me with a girl…

“I was the girl he cheated on you with.”

Her words, voice devoid of any remorse, any hint of emotion, were like a punch to the gut. My knees suddenly felt like jellies. Soft sobs escaped my lips and I shook my head, my mind refusing to accept what she had said.

"I was the reason you didn't get the job at Eldorado's firm," she continued, her tone casual as if she were discussing the weather. The cruelty in her voice was like a twisted form of sadistic pleasure. "I hid your original CV and replaced it with the one that made them reject you. We couldn't have a pretty girl like you working for a firm owned by Olivia's boyfriend, now could we?" 

"You're lying," I choked out, silently praying to God, Angels or whoever is listening up there right now, that none of this was real. "You're lying, Coral, you wouldn't do this to me."

But she clicked her tongue in disdain, her voice dripping with scorn.

 "Pathetic. Now, get your things and leave. I want you out of my house by the time I'm done with breakfast."

Her cold tone of finality rang in my ears as she walked out of my room again, leaving no room for negotiation.