"Ma'am, dinner's ready."
Vivienne was completely immersed in her laptop reading the details of the competition that Professor Morrison had sent earlier, when a soft knock on the door followed by the sound of a maid broke the silence prevailed in her room. Surprised, she looked at the wall clock.
'It's already dinner time!' She wondered. Well, it was one of her old habits, whenever she did something, she used to almost forget the time.
Closing the laptop, she got out of her room. While walking towards the dining room, suddenly she remembered the conversation between Maria and her earlier in the morning. And with that, she prepared herself mentally, for a bunch of queries.
As she entered the dining hall, her eyes wandered to the huge wooden dining table. It was made from the finest wood available in the city, well crafted and well polished. Ten chairs surrounded the table, where the whole Winter family was seated. At the head end sat Mr. Winter; on the right side of him, there were Mrs. Winter and Sarah, and on the left side sat Gabriel.
Vivienne went forward and grabbed the chair beside Gabriel. Right now, her heart was filled with bitterness. Opposite her, there was Sarah, the person she hated the most. And around her were her parents, the people she didn't want to see in this lifetime. She was adopted and raised by them, and she never did a single thing that could potentially bring harm to this family. She thought they loved her, Even months before her death, when she was mentally devastated, she really thought that they'd help her.
But, they didn't.
Even after knowing the treatment of Damien towards her, about the affair between their daughter and son-in-law, they did nothing. For every wrongdoing of her, they took her side, their biological daughter's side, ignoring Vivienne completely.
In the end, she chuckled at herself. She was nothing more than a mere child taken in from the streets, someone who could be thrown away with ease.
"So, Mrs. Ashford to be, what's up?" Gabriel asked her in a teasing tone. And, Vivienne's mood lit up in no time!
Why not! After all, it was Gabriel, though adoptive, it was her brother; one of the very few people in her circle who genuinely loved her.
The moment she stepped into this house, Gabriel welcomed her with a warm smile and a big heart. And within a week, they somehow became inseparable! Even, Gabriel wasn't as close to his own sister as he was to Vivienne. With time, both of them got busier; they couldn't spend as much time as in childhood; but their bond never faded.
Well, he was the only person who stood beside her. She remembered the day she opened up to him, crying; he drove straight towards their apartment and hit Damien, punch after punch. Though in the end, her old self, that shitty personality bearing Vivienne stopped him; because Damien was bleeding heavily.
But at the same time, she glanced at Sarah with the corner of her eye. She was slicing a piece of meat with the knife; Vivienne didn't miss how her hand stopped for a millisecond hearing the mention 'Mrs. Ashford to be'!
Suddenly, she felt happier.
'Already done pretending! Ah, my dear little sister, hold on! There's a whole show waiting for you!'
"I'm doing absolutely, perfectly fine!" She replied to him enthusiastically.
"Good!" He smiled, then started putting several dishes on her plate. Afterward, the dinner went on as usual, talking to each other casually and discussing petty matters.
But Vivienne was a little surprised.
'Why aren't they asking anything about the delayed marriage? Didn't Grandma tell them?'
She wondered, but as they didn't bring up the topic, she decided not to bring it up on her own.
'Let's wait a few days. If she doesn't talk, I'll talk about it on my own.' She said to herself inward, then focused on eating, dropping everything.
Back in her room, Vivienne sat with her laptop. Alongside the details of the competition, Professor Morrison sent her some documents also, containing materials related to it. It was a bit bulky, she had started earlier in the evening, but still, she couldn't finish.
Vivienne immersed herself again in her study. She went through the details of the competition and finally understood why Professor Morrison encouraged her so much for this.
The judges panel in the final round would be chaired by some prominent faces of the fashion industry. One of them was Stacy Williams, the CEO of Eon Luxe, one of the largest fashion houses in the country and a leading fashion house in the world. It was a big opportunity for a design student, winning it could open up many chances for them!
There'd be three rounds. For the first round, participants will compete against fellow students from their own college. One student from each college will go to the semi-final round, where there would be an inter-college competition. The selected candidates would appear in the final round, which would be held in Emery, where the main branch of Eon Luxe was situated.
Students from all over the country would join in the competition, which meant the competition was not easy at all!
After going through all the details, Vivienne shut down the laptop. Three hours had passed, and she didn't notice!
Laying flat on her bed, Vivienne closed her eyes. The upcoming months would be hectic for her, she needed to plan her days. She had a lot to do — win the competition, postpone the marriage, and gather a lot of evidence for the final showdown!
Suddenly, she sat up on her bed; switching on the bedside lamp, she took out a small notebook and a pen from the drawers.
A smile crept up on her face, the warm golden light of the lamp cast an ethereal glow on her face.
Vivienne curved two words on the first page of her diary — 'Rebirth List'.
The old Vivienne was naive; she never learned how to answer to the face. But this time, she wouldn't be that much coward.
She slowly started to list down a couple of names who had wronged her in the past, along with their secrets, weaknesses, and current positions. This time, she'd make them pay.
With the scratches of her pen, the first name slowly appeared in her notebook — Abigail.