All But a Dream

As soon as Dad made the announcement, the entire venue fell silent. After that, the audience began to murmur.

“Did Mr. Hepburn just say that he would give all of his inheritance to his second daughter? Did I get it right?”

“That’s a very bold announcement, is he not going to leave anything for his eldest daughter?”

“I have always heard rumors that the second daughter was their favorite child, so it was true after all! I wonder why.”

...

Claudia chuckled bitterly while she listened to the crowd speculating.

Why?

She would like to know why as well.

Why was it that they would favor one child over the other so much when both of them were equally their daughters?

She felt very depressed by this point and got up to walk out of the banquet hall. There were not many people gathered on the deck at this point and the chilly sea breeze managed to calm her even if just a little.

She leaned against the railing and zoned out staring at the endless expanse of sea. At one point, she heard the clicking of heels behind her.

“What are you doing here by yourself, Claudia?”

The voice carried a very familiar, light chirp and snapped her back to her thoughts. She turned around and regarded Fione quietly.

Fione did not seem bothered by her silence. She slowly walked up to Claudia before proceeding to size her up from head to toe.

“Don’t you ever think about how bad you have it, Claudia?

“When we were children, Mom and Dad only loved me and would not pay attention to you even when you tried to get their attention. Now that they are planning their inheritance, they’re not going to leave you a single cent either.

“When you tried to court my husband, he didn’t want you but at least his brother Brett wanted you, but now he’s dead too. What’s the point of living now that you don’t have anyone who loves you, you poor sob?”

Claudia could not make sense of any of this. Ever since they were children, Fione had taken everything that Claudia had. She took her parents, her fiancé Arthur, and now her husband Brett…

Everyone loved Fione but it looked like that was not enough for her. She just had to rub it in.

She caught herself asking Fione the very question she had in mind.

At this point, Fione did not even bother to hide it anymore and snarled with a mocking grin, “No reason, I just don’t like you and don’t want someone like you for a sister. I’ve been trying to drive you into the corner but you’re a stubborn one so at this point, I think I’ll have to do something about you.”

With that, she suddenly shoved Claudia.

“Die!”

The sudden shove made Claudia lose her balance and she began to tumble backward.

Behind her was the vast, depthless ocean!

She swung her arms wildly in search of something to grab onto and managed to grab onto Fione who had accidentally let her guard down. With that, both of them were dragged into the sea!

Soon, the sound of their bodies breaking the water’s surface followed by their subsequent cry for help attracted the attention of everyone in the banquet hall. There was a round of panic and shrieks.

“Someone fell into the sea!”

The penetrating cold of the seawater muffled all of Claudia’s senses in an instant. She did not know how to swim and struggled to stay afloat. The ocean would drag her under its tides every time she tried to swim up.

She was terrified and could feel her consciousness slowly fading into the darkness. The only thing left was her survival instinct making her cry out for help.

“Help... Help!”

She barely managed to break through the surface of the sea again. She heard the sound of two figures diving into the sea.

Though her vision was very blurry, she managed to make out the two figures.

It was her father and Brett.

Just when she thought she was going to be rescued, both of them went straight for Fione without a second thought.

Meanwhile, she could also hear her mother’s voice from the deck.

“Forget about her, save Fione! You must save Fione!”

Despair swept over Claudia and the seawater was choking her breath out making it harder to breathe with every passing second.

She was getting exhausted from the struggle and by the time the next wave swept across her, she began to sink to the bottom of the sea.

In the end, it was a lifeguard on the ship who rescued her.

When she came to, she found herself in a hospital.

Unlike Fione who was surrounded by visitors, there was nobody by her bedside.

When the doctor who was monitoring her noticed her waking up, he proceeded to go through her medical records.

After a while, he sighed deeply. “You just had a miscarriage recently. Coupled with this incident, you’re going to develop a long-term condition if you don’t look after your body.”