Chaca was leisurely relaxing, engrossed in a novel within the confines of her room. However, the sound of a door opening diverted her gaze from the pages. She craned her neck upwards to see Lana entering her room and standing before her bed.
"Chaca, you're coming with mom to JF restaurant," Lana declared abruptly.
"Why, mom? You don't usually ask Chaca to come along," Chaca inquired, lacking enthusiasm.
"I'm introducing you to the son of a business associate," Lana revealed, causing Chaca to react with surprise.
"What! No way, Chaca doesn’t want to!" Chaca exclaimed in refusal.
"You have no choice but to want to," Lana asserted with piercing eyes.
"Why does it have to be Chaca, mom? Why not Leona? She’s older than Chaca, why not her?" Chaca protested, baffled.
"Your sister already has a boyfriend," Lana responded nonchalantly.
"Chaca has a boyfriend too, mom," Chaca retorted, clearly annoyed.
"Hahaha, mom doesn't believe that! You have to come, period," Lana stated before leaving Chaca's room.
After Lana left, Chaca immediately went to find Leona in the adjacent room. "What is it?" she asked, containing her irritation, only to find Leona relaxing with her nail polish.
"What is what?" Leona asked, turning the question back.
"Why does it have to be me?" Chaca asked again.
"Because you’re the only suitable one," Leona replied nonchalantly but with a sting, "Just accept it, he’s a good guy and he's got money too."
"I don't need his money!" Chaca yelled, frustrated.
"Hahaha, your attitude is so outdated, get out of my room!" Leona shooed Chaca away.
***
While Leona, Faris (Chaca's father), and Lana (Chaca's mother) had left earlier by car, Chaca opted to ride her motorcycle. Ever since childhood, Lana treated Chaca differently, always favoring Leona over her.
Upon arriving at JF restaurant, Chaca spotted Hanna and Arlan enjoying their dinner. Unenthusiastic about meeting the offspring of her parents' acquaintance, she chose to join Hanna and Arlan, despite potentially annoying them.
Some time later, Chaca decided to leave Hanna and Arlan's table. As she was heading out of the restaurant, she unfortunately ran into Leona, who was arm-in-arm with her boyfriend.
"Oh hello, my dearest little sister," Leona greeted smoothly, her tone as soft as silken tofu.
Without a word, Chaca chose to walk away, but Leona forcefully grabbed her arm. "You haven’t met our dad’s friend's son yet, have you?" Leona interrogated.
"I don’t need to. I don’t want to!" Chaca stated, attempting to pull her arm away, but Leona gripped it firmly.
"You have to. Come on, I’ll take you," Leona insisted, her smirk betraying her pretense of kindness.
"I don’t want to! Let go, I want to leave, I don’t want to!" Chaca screamed in rebellion, attracting whispers from onlookers who assumed the sisters were fighting over a love interest.
The tug-of-war escalated until Chaca inadvertently pushed Leona, causing her to fall to the ground, just as Lana exited the restaurant, searching for Chaca.
"Chaca, what have you done to your sister?" Lana screamed in disbelief, witnessing Leona's tumble.
"Mom, I... I didn't mean to..." Chaca confessed truthfully, as Leona feigned greater injury for Lana’s benefit.
"Mama... my knee hurts so much," Leona whimpered, holding her slightly bloodied knee.
"You're beyond ungrateful, truly a curse!" Lana accused, roughly pulling at Chaca's hair.
"Why are you always biased against me and Leona? I'm your child too, mom. Why do you always trust and prioritize Leona over me?" Chaca cried out in anguish.
"Because you bring misfortune," Lana pronounced harshly.
"But I’m your child too! You can't treat Chaca like this, it's not my fault I bring misfortune," Chaca shouted again, tears streaming down her face.
"You're truly ungrateful and unthankful. We've been waiting for you inside, but here you are, torturing your sister!" Lana continued to berate.
"I didn’t intend to hurt Leona; I love her and would never harm her," Chaca pleaded weakly.
"Lies! Chaca deliberately pushed her so that Leona would fall. Chaca is jealous and angry because mom loves Leona more," Leona exacerbated the situation.
Lana, provoked by Leona's words, shoved Chaca backward, sending her crashing onto the pavement just as a car entered the restaurant area.
"Aaaaah..." Chaca's scream elicited a rush of concern from the restaurant's patrons, including Faris and his business associate.
Thud...
Chaca’s body skidded slightly, fortunately the car was moving slowly; a faster speed could have caused more serious injury.
"Chaca!" Hanna cried out, rushing to the scene, horrified to find Chaca bleeding on the ground.
"Call an ambulance, hurry!" Hanna wailed to Arlan while in tears.
Arlan’s attempt to call emergency services was cut short when he recognized the person emerging from the car that struck Chaca.
"Brother..." Arlan whispered disbelievingly.
"You were driving," he stated before hurriedly lifting Chaca into the backseat of the car.
"Hurry up, A," Hanna urged, quickly taking the passenger seat next to the driver. As for Lana and Leona, they were left speechless and expressionless on the sidelines.
"I never thought you could be so cruel, Le," Johan said coldly, walking away from Leona.
"Jo, I can explain everything. Johan..." Leona called out, but he didn't listen.
To be continued...
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