The weekend came, but instead of excitement, Sara felt a strange heaviness settle in her chest.
Emily and Hannah sent her message after message, urging her to join them at the mall. The group chat buzzed with photos of dresses, shoes, and endless chatter. Normally, Sara would have rushed to meet them, her wallet ready, her smile fixed.
This time, she didn't reply.
Instead, she wandered into the garden of the Chen mansion, the place her real mother once loved. The flowers had changed under Mrs. Chen's care, replaced with new arrangements that matched her taste. The roses her mother had planted were gone.
Sara sat on the stone bench, clutching her phone tightly. She could almost hear Emily's voice in her head — teasing, demanding, sweet only when she needed something.
"Are they my friends?" she whispered to herself. "Or am I just… convenient?"
Her throat tightened. For years, she had given without hesitation, thinking it was love, thinking it was loyalty. But all she felt now was emptiness.
Her father passed by the garden, speaking urgently on the phone. His words carried over the evening air.
"…yes, the contracts are unstable… if the Li family pulls out, we're finished."
Sara's heart clenched. The Li family again. Daniel's family. Was that why her stepmother had been so involved in his father's business?
When her father noticed her, he forced a smile. "Sara, why are you sitting here alone? You should be with your friends."
"I don't want to," she said softly.
He frowned, distracted. "Don't be stubborn. You're young. Go enjoy yourself." And with that, he walked away, his phone already pressed back to his ear.
Sara sat frozen. Even her father didn't see her — not really.
As dusk fell, she returned to her room. The mansion glowed with golden lights, servants moving quietly through the halls, Mrs. Chen humming softly downstairs. Everything looked perfect, but it felt hollow, like a stage set built for appearances.
She curled onto her bed and opened the group chat again. Dozens of unread messages flooded the screen.
Emily:You missed everything! It wasn't the same without you.
Hannah:We had to pay ourselves. It felt so weird, lol.
Sara's vision blurred with unshed tears. For the first time, she saw the truth clearly — not as whispers or suspicions, but as undeniable reality.
Her friends didn't love her. Her father didn't hear her. And her stepmother… her stepmother smiled like a queen who had already won.
In that moment, Sara realized she was completely, utterly alone.
She pressed her phone to her chest, closing her eyes.
But deep inside, beneath the loneliness and pain, a small flame flickered. A fragile but stubborn flame.
If no one will protect me, she thought, then I will protect myself.
And with that thought, a new chapter of Sara's life began — one where innocence would fade, and truth would slowly, painfully, come to light.