Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Whispers, Wounds, and Warnings
Whispers deepened around them. Students stopped, watching.
“I knew you were trying your hand at fashion design,” Rose continued with a faux-pleasant tone. “It’s so… inspiring to see you chasing dreams again. I didn’t think you’d be back so soon after, you know… everything.”
A pause. A sharp silence.
Rose pressed a hand to her chest. “Oh, I would never. I’m just happy to see you again. Family’s family, right?”
As Melanie slipped her phone back into her bag, her steps slowed near the exit.
She didn’t know how to stop.
The instructor soon appeared, ordering everyone inside, but the tension lingered like smoke.
Rose’s smile faltered for a second. “Melanie, you’re twisting everything.”
He leaned back in his chair, a glass of untouched scotch in hand, as his assistant finished briefing him on the agenda for the day. Contracts. Numbers. Investors. All the same old dance.
As class ended and students gathered near the doors, Betty nudged Melanie.
What if her heart, despite everything she’d sworn, was no longer her own?
She blinked. How did he know?
He paused, then added another message.
And the scariest part?
“Don’t fall,” she whispered to herself.
Rose blinked.
Melanie tilted her head. “Strange how you still have time to stalk my life when you’re supposedly happily married.”
Not because he said anything wrong.
Rose stood there—dressed like she walked out of a magazine spread. Hair curled in soft waves, subtle makeup with just enough shimmer, and a smirk tucked behind her sweet facade. Her ever-loyal friend Lara stood beside her, looking like she wanted to disappear.
Before Rose could recover, Melanie turned to Betty and said calmly, “Let’s go. Class is about to start.”
Leo: If anything happens—anything—call me.
What if she was already falling?
Melanie: I will. Promise.
Melanie’s POV
“Because I’m not the one who has to pretend every day that she didn’t ruin her sister’s life just to feel wanted.”
More students appeared, drawn by the tension.
Leo: Good morning, have a great day.
The hallway was empty now, the earlier tension replaced with silence. But her heart hadn’t calmed. If anything, Leo’s message had made it worse.
She could feel it in the way he checked in. In the quiet warmth behind every protective word. In the way he saw her—even from miles away.
She adjusted her tote bag on her shoulder, the driver nodding politely before pulling away. Today, she was determined to learn and avoid unnecessary drama.
“Rose, don’t do this,” Melanie said, her tone sharp. “Not here. Not for an audience.”
Melanie froze for a second before turning around.
She pressed a hand to her chest, as if she could quiet the ache building beneath her ribs.
Melanie didn’t bother replying. The hallway had already grown quieter. Students nearby had paused, their curiosity piqued by the unfolding tension.
Melanie’s tone dropped a degree. “I don’t feel awful. I feel lucky.”
“You okay?”
But because he cared.
But she already had.
***
Not today.
“Don’t hope.”
Melanie kept her voice steady. “I didn’t come here to relive old stories. So don’t start one.”
“No. What wasn’t fair was you lying to my face while planning your dream wedding with my fiance. What’s not fair is pretending I’m the villain just because I refused to stay your victim.”
Melanie looked from one to the other. “If she really felt bad, she’d have said this years ago—not in front of an audience.”
The city skyline looked endless from his hotel room, but Leo’s mind wasn’t on the view.
Leo: There’s a dinner party tonight for all the newbies, right?
“I will be,” Melanie replied with a small smile.
The gasp from a few classmates was audible.
He picked up his phone.
The students murmuring nearby froze.
“That’s not fair—”
Leonard’s POV
Then her phone buzzed.
“In front of strangers?” Betty said sharply. “You didn’t come to apologize. You came to embarrass her.”
“You’re sorry you got caught. You’re sorry I didn’t break the way you hoped. And you’re sorry because you can’t stand the fact that I’m still standing.”
The sun was already warm by the time Melanie stepped out of the car, wearing a soft beige blouse tucked into cream slacks. She smiled when she saw Leonard message. It was her third day at Harrington’s Institute, and the air still buzzed with the same blend of nerves and creativity. This place felt like something out of a dream.
“I just wanted to talk,” she said, her eyes now moist. “I wanted to apologize. For everything. For the wedding. For Adrian. You didn’t deserve that. And I… I just want my sister back.”
He exhaled slowly, letting the silence fall around him.
Melanie stepped forward. “If you have something to say, Rose, say it directly.”
Melanie stared out at the fading sunlight beyond the glass doors.
And that terrified her.
But he couldn’t stop thinking about Melanie.
Melanie: Yes. At the Hilton restaurant. How’d you—?
Melanie stepped forward, voice calm but firm. “You don’t get to rewrite the past, Rose. You lied. You stole. You humiliated me. And now you want to play the perfect sister because it makes you look good?”
“You played the perfect sister for years, Rose. I played the quiet one. But I won’t play anymore.”
Betty, who had been passing by, paused and raised a brow. “Is this a sisterly reunion, or a publicity stunt?”
Three days away. It wasn’t much. But for some reason, it felt like a lifetime.
She’d handled herself well lately—better than he expected. Especially with the run-ins they had with Aaron and his mother’s surprise visit. She was resilient. Graceful. But he knew all too well that even the strongest people cracked when no one was looking.
More gasps.
“No. I’m just not staying silent anymore.”
Rose turned her head smoothly, smile never faltering. “Just family catching up.”
Lara gave a tight smile. “She means it, Melanie. She’s really been hoping to talk to you.”
Rose reached out like she might hug her. “I mean it. I’m sorry.”
Rose’s expression faltered—but only for a second. Then she smiled again, voice trembling with fake emotion.
Rose’s eyes sparkled—not with guilt, but with the thrill of being watched. “I didn’t come here to fight,” she said sweetly. “I actually wanted to talk… to clear the air. I’m your sister, Mel. I just want us to be okay again.”
The hallway outside her class buzzed with whispers the moment she arrived. Melanie didn’t notice at first, until the hair on her neck stood on edge.
Melanie stepped back.
But drama, apparently, had other plans.
Because caring back meant opening up. It meant trusting again. And trusting Leonard Westwood… felt like stepping off a cliff with no parachute.
Leo: I have my ways. Be careful tonight. Call me if you feel off.
Just as Melanie reached her locker outside the main design studio, that unmistakable voice sliced through the air.
That wiped the smile off her face.
Lara stepped forward, feigning sympathy. “She’s telling the truth. Rose hasn’t stopped feeling bad about it.”
“I already said it.” Rose’s smile widened, sickly sweet. “I forgive you. I know you must feel awful about everything that happened between us… and Adrian.”
“Well, if it isn’t my darling big sister.
