"SHE did it." Kiel pointed his finger to Aria. "She started the fire. I swear, she tried to kill me."
Everyone gasped out of surprise, not just their parents but also the staff who heard him dropped their jaws due to shock.
Valerie, their stepmother, pulled Aria to hide her behind her back as if she's shielding her from Kiel's accusation.
"How can you accuse your sister like that?" She asked with tears in her eyes.
"Sister? How many times do I have to tell you that I don't have a sister! She's not my sister!" Kiel exclaimed.
"Kiel!" His father shouted. "Are you accusing your sister of arson?"
"Why can't I? She really did it! Why can't you believe me!?"
"How is that possible, huh? Tell me!" Cesar, their father pulled Kiel's shirt collar. "Your sister just got out of the hospital last week after waking up from a coma. She's still weak! How can you prove that your sister really started the fire? Huh?"
Nanny Janice went in between the father and son just to break the heat between them.
"Please, both of you stop." The old woman pleaded. "The fire was already put out and no one got hurt. Let's just focus on everyone's safety first and set aside our arguments, okay?"
Their father pushed Kiel away out of anger before walking towards Valerie and Aria's direction. He didn't even look back at Kiel but everyone knows that when he does, Kiel will only receive a disappointed look from him.
Levi held his brother's shoulder, trying to calm his second older brother down but Kiel doesn't even notice his brother because he's focused on Aria who's now looking at him blankly. Her expressionless face makes him feel more agitated, it's as if Aria doesn't even care about the scene that she caused.
"Kiel, calm down." Levi tried to talk some sense to Kiel who's still glaring at Aria. "Josiah already volunteered to check the CCTV cameras on the hallway where our rooms are located. He'll probably see Aria setting your room on fire using that footage, so let's just calm down and wait for him."
He clenched his fist again while breathing heavily due to his intense emotion. He feels like he's gonna explode anytime. He can't accept it. He will never accept the fact that no one believes him even though he's telling the truth. The suspect is already there, standing right beside his father but no one is even listening to him that adds more to his frustration.
"Dad."
Everyone's eyes darted on Josiah who just got back from the security room of their house. He came holding half burnt wires.
"What happened? Did you see the footage?" Kiel immediately asked.
Josiah shakes his head and hands him the wires, all eyes still focused on him.
"The wires are burnt by the fire. We tried checking the recorded footage but nothing was captured at all. It seems like the camera was broken way before the accident occurred."
"Accident? The witch set me up!" Kiel threw away the wires on the ground and stomped on it angrily. "There's no way that the cameras are broken just right before the fire!"
"Uhm, a-actually, sir Kiel..." One of the security staff raised his trembling hand to catch everyone's attention. "The cameras in that hallway have been broken since last month."
"What? Last month?" Cesar frustratingly massaged his temple. "Why is it still not replaced?"
"We already placed an order for new sets of surveillance cameras but we were informed that there's a delay in the delivery."
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Kiel exclaimed. "Are you saying that coincidentally, there's no record when the fire started!? Nothing at all!?"
"KIEL VALIENTE!"
Cesar's sudden shout thundered through the air, leaving the people around him frozen in shock, their eyes wide with stunned silence. Kiel wasn't able to move an inch because of his father's sudden emotional outburst. He was usually calm and collected, he may be angry sometimes but never like this.
He can feel it in his bones that nothing can appease his father's anger this time, especially when he raised his hand ready to hit Kiel's face.
Or maybe there's an exception.
Aria suddenly collapsed to the ground, getting everyone's attention most especially his father who immediately rushed to her. Everyone was in panic trying to give way to the head of the house who was running towards the stand by medic outside of their house.
Her third older brother, Levi, pulled Kiel inside who's still stunned about what happened. Both of them can't believe that their father is really gonna hit Kiel.
On the other hand, Josiah remained standing in his place. Hands on his pocket while nonchalantly staring at Aria's direction. He didn't say anything or reacted. He just stood there until he couldn't see Aria's silhouette anymore.
***
"What a coincidence." Aria whispered before biting the apple that was given to her by nanny Janice this morning.
She's not convinced that the cameras were broken when she started the fire. How is that possible? She likes it that the situation is favorable to her but she's confused at the same time.
Anyway, who cares? Aria shrugged and continued to chomp the juicy apple that was given to her. She already taught him a lesson. She just hoped that Kiel would learn from it, because if not? She might do another extreme 'lesson' and this time, Kiel might not survive.
She stretched her arms before putting it behind her head and used it as a pillow as she lay back down on the bed. Aria is back in the hospital where she first woke up in this world. Why? It's because she pretended to faint last night when their father was about to smack Kiel on the face. She pitied Kiel a little bit so she made a scene just to get their parent's attention.
"Why does he hate me so much?" She asked herself while staring at the ceiling, still munching the apple slice. "What did Aria do in the past that made him hate me?"
She was in the middle of having deep thoughts when the door bursted open. Aria was surprised but she didn't react at all, she just slowly turned her head towards the direction of the door.
There, her other older brother, Levi is slightly crouched while his hands are on his knees as he catches his breath as if he ran a thousand miles just to get in there. He's holding a mini basket with juicy green and purple grapes on it.
Aria raised an eyebrow. 'What's this little imp doing in here?' she asked herself.
"You…!" Levi's index finger pointed at her while still gasping for air. "How dare you do that to Kiel!"
Her lips slightly parted while looking at him with disbelief.
"Are you dumb?" She accidentally blurted out. Aria didn't mean to say that out loud, she was actually just talking to herself but her thought bubble and speech bubbles were unknowingly switched.
That remark made Levi flustered. Him? Dumb? He is a known genius at their school! He's the top of his class! How dare she call him dumb when she can't even solve a simple mathematical equation? She's constantly bothering him asking for his help for her assignments yet now she's calling him dumb? Levi can't believe how ungrateful Aria is!
"Y-you… you're really a horrible person!"
"What's with the late reaction?" Aria asked nonchalantly, as if she's not affected by what Levi said. "I thought you're already aware. Did you run just to say that to me? I admire your efforts but next time, just don't bother."
"No way! Why did you even think that—"
"Why are you just standing there?"
Aria paused her chewing for a moment when she heard that familiar cold voice outside. Impossible, she might have heard it wrong.
She literally froze when Josiah took a step in. His right hand is resting inside his bomber jacket's pocket while his left hand is holding a huge insulated tumbler. Josiah's cold and lifeless eyes are glued to her as he walks towards her direction.
When he finally reached her, Josiah just stood right beside her bed and examined her from head to toe with the same cold expression. After staring at her for a whole minute, he dropped the insulated tumbler on the bedside table that created a loud sound. Aria remained frozen in her place, she didn't even bat an eye when Josiah did that unlike Levi whose shoulder twitched out of surprise.
"You went out of the line."
Josiah's voice is cold but his words made Aria's blood boil. Is he here to scold her? If yes, then he better do it fast because she doesn't have time for this.
"Did I?"
Her short reply made his eyebrows furrowed. Those were not the words that he's expecting to hear. Usually Aria just lowers her head and apologizes immediately.
'She's one of those.' He said in his mind while staring at Aria's eyes, his hand inside his pocket balled into a tight fist as he secretly grind his teeth. 'Nothing changed. Everything is still the same.'
"Why are you even here? You two did not visit me when I was comatosed for months, now that I fainted a little you're here?"
"It's not like I want to be here!" Levi dropped the mini basket that he's holding on the same bedside table where the tumbler is.
"Nobody wants you here, dumbo." She mumbled but Levi still heard it.
"So what!? I'm only here because Josiah is here!"
She frowned. "What the fuck, are you here to pick a fight with me? You wanna fight a fifteen year old girl right here in her hospital bed?" Aria scoffed in disappointment after rolling her eyes. "Kids these days. Does he think that being smart is the same as having a good attitude? This shit ass smarty pants knows everything except good manners."
"What did you just say—"
"Levi."
Josiah just called his name but Levi immediately shut his mouth, like a puppy who heard a lion's dangerous growl. He hid behind his older brother's back but still shooting sharp glares to Aria who's now sipping the juice that Nanny Janice left for her earlier.
Their eldest brother made a hand gesture telling Levi to wait outside the room. Levi didn't utter a word but immediately went outside but he made a face and stick out his tongue first to tease Aria before finally shutting the door.
"That little shit..." She whispered in disbelief.
She can't believe that that so-called genius of the family can't help but to tease her by making immature expressions. Is that all that he got? That's childish rather than annoying.
"Why did you come back?"
That question caught her off guard. She can't help but to frown out of confusion because of Josiah's question. That's the first time that she sensed some new emotion from his tone—is it hatred?
"Am I supposed to stay dead?"
"Yeah." He replied coldly, no signs of sympathy at all. "I mean, isn't that what you wanted? That's why you jumped, right?"
"Is that how it looked like to you?"
"Why? Does it mean something else?"
The corner of her lips twitched. "How am I supposed to know? I don't remember a fucking thing about me."
"Then just stay that way." He said in a firm, commanding tone matching with a glare. "Just act like you're dead. Stay silent. Don't cause a trouble. This is the last time that we'll tolerate your stubbornness."
She is really getting intrigued. What happened before Aria Valiente died? If she's trying to get his brothers attention, why did she jumped to her death? Is she that desperate to get these assholes attention? What's special about her brothers? She doesn't understand it.
But this is her body now, so why should she give a fuck about them? If they hate her, then she hates them more.
Josiah turned his back from her as he started to leave but he stopped when Aria spoke.
"I don't think I jumped."
She said it full of conviction, as if she's so sure about what she said. Josiah looked back at her only to see Aria with a cunning smile while sipping at her juice again.
"I fell," She shrugged. "But I never jumped."