Laura didn't have a chance to explain.
Before she could react, Darren directly tore the application form to pieces. The shreds of paper scattered down like fallen leaves, as if he had personally torn apart her dreams.
Brenda arrived at the door, breaking the tense silence inside with a timely knock.
"Mr. Bill, Miss Rush is looking for you."
Melanie appeared from behind Brenda dressed in a red dress with her voluminous waves of hair casually draped over her shoulders. She leaned against the doorframe, a charming smile on her lips.
"Alright, Darren, why does the family have to argue like this? It's well known that Laura likes you, how could she bear to leave? She just wants you to pay a little more attention to her."
She walked in with a smile, but when she saw Laura, she paused for a moment. A fleeting understanding flashed in her eyes before she quickly regained her smile.
"Darren, women understand women the most," Melanie said with a smile. "Laura is twenty-four this year, right? Let me have a heart-to-heart with her. It's raining outside, could you find me a change of clothes?"
Darren, who had been looking for an excuse to leave, nodded in agreement and turned to walk out.
The room was left with only Melanie and Laura.
The two of them exchanged a glance.
What had felt unreal in the dimly lit private room now stood before her, in the flesh.
Laura froze for a moment, surprised.
She realized that Melanie seemed to share a resemblance to her, maybe three or four points similar.
"Laura, you and I look a bit alike," Melanie said with a casual smile. "No wonder... Darren is so reluctant to let you go."
She walked slowly to Laura's side, picking up some application papers and chuckled softly.
"Are you using this to catch a man? You think he’ll panic because you’re about to leave? Laura, your mother really was a hostess back then, wasn’t she? Such lowly methods."
Laura didn’t like the way she spoke. She frowned and urged her to leave. "I have nothing to say to you. Please leave."
"Leave?" Melanie's tone was laced with mockery. "Laura, are you embarrassed now? Who doesn’t know that every year, you’ve been saying you want to be Darren’s wife? What a young, shameless girl, thinking about becoming your own uncle’s wife."
She casually tossed the papers aside, then picked up a nearby ornament, a rather ugly chubby doll.
"As expected, a pheasant can never become a phoenix. You rose to your position because of your mother’s body and you’re still keeping such trash!"
"Give it back to me! Melanie, get out! You’re not welcome here!" Laura's voice was sharp and cold.
"It’s pouring rain outside and the one who should leave is you," Melanie said, her voice dripping with disdain. "Go cleanse your filthy mind. You were just a substitute and now the real deal is back. Why haven’t you left yet? Do you really need to be kicked out like a stray dog before you’re willing to go?"
Melanie could clearly see the flicker of concern in Laura's eyes.
She seemed to be afraid that the clay doll would be harmed.
Step by step, Melanie retreated, until half of her body was outside the door. She then raised the doll high in her hand.
"What are you doing? Melanie! Stop it!" Laura shouted, panic rising in her voice.
The chubby doll had been a toy made by her mother before she married into the Bill Family and it had always been her emotional support.
"Sorry, but I’m going to destroy everything you care about," Melanie sneered, her voice cold. "Your man, your dreams..."
Melanie let out a soft laugh and smashed the doll onto the ground without hesitation.
The doll shattered instantly, the yellow clay mixed with broken grass turning into dust and debris.
Laura's hand was still suspended in the air, as if trying to stop it, but she could only watch helplessly as the doll was destroyed.
Her eyes widened in disbelief as she looked up at Melanie. How could she go so far, destroying something so important, just to provoke someone?
