Chapter 156
Kelly’s face turned pale, her expression full of flustered panic. She frantically dug tissues out of her purse.
“Sharon, I’m so sorry… Let me clean it up for you.”
But the more she dabbed at the fabric, the more the coffee stain spread across the white dress.
Sharon grabbed her wrist mid-motion and pushed her hand away. “What are you doing?”
Thrown off balance, Kelly stumbled backward and fell to the carpet with a startled cry.
“Ah!”
The commotion drew attention-people turned to look, conversations came to a halt.
Sitting awkwardly on the plush carpet, Kelly looked up with teary eyes, her body trembling slightly.
“Sharon, I’m really sorry… I didn’t mean for that to happen.”
Sharon glanced down at her dress, now marred with dark brown stains, and let out a quiet, biting laugh. “Right. Not on purpose -you mean completely intentional.”
“No, really, it’s a misunderstanding,” Kelly said, lowering her head, voice soft and pitiful. “I was just handing you the coffee… I know you’ve always disliked me. You never wanted me to come to this talent showcase with Theo. But…”
She looked up, eyes glistening, her voice almost pleading. “This competition affects Theo’s final exam grade. Please, Sharon… I’m begging you-just think of him, okay?”
Here we go again.
The same routine, every single time. Sharon was sick of it.
Her voice turned icy. “You ruined my dress. What does that have to do with Theo? Kelly, your habit of deflecting and twisting the truth isn’t as clever as you think it is.”
Just then, the teacher managing the performance draw came over. “What’s going on here?”
Sharon answered calmly, “This woman spilled coffee on my dress. I can’t go on stage like this.”
The teacher looked down and took in the obvious damage-the large, dark stain spreading across the front of Sharon’s white
dress.
“Did you bring a backup outfit?” the teacher asked.
Sharon shook her head.
The teacher sighed. “That’s going to be tricky.”
All the outfits were tailored to match the performance pieces. Finding a substitute on short notice would be hard—maybe even
enough to affect the results.
From the corner of her eye, Sharon caught the brief twitch at the corner of Kelly’s lips-the kind of smile that slips out when someone thinks they’ve won.
But Sharon turned to her, eyes clear and unshaken. “Since Kelly ruined my dress, I think she should take responsibility.”
Kelly straightened up quickly. “How much was the dress? I’ll pay you for it.”
It didn’t matter. In the end, Carter would cover the cost. Whatever Sharon asked, she’d pay it.
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would settle everything.”
Kelly’s expression froze. Her first instinctive response slipped out before she could catch it. “If I give you my dress, how am I supposed to perform later?”
“And if you’ve ruined my dress,” Sharon countered coolly, “how am I supposed to perform later?”
Kelly fell silent, struggling for words. It took her a while to find her voice again. “Sharon, I already explained. It wasn’t intentional…”
Sharon cut her off. “Plenty of people have ‘accidentally’ hit someone with a car. Should we just let them off because they didn’t mean it? Kelly, you’re an adult. Intent doesn’t erase consequences. You’re responsible for your actions.”
Tears welled up in Kelly’s eyes again. She kept playing the part of the tragic victim. “It’s not that I don’t want to give you the dress, but this competition means a lot to Theo. He’s your son. Do you really want to see him heartbroken if he doesn’t get a good score?”
Sharon’s expression didn’t waver. Her voice remained cold. “This competition matters to Theo. But does that mean it doesn’t matter to every other kid here?”
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