"And for this, I urge everyone to raise their glasses for a toast..." James continued, raising his glass up with the rest of the guests. "...To many more beautiful beginnings," he said with a wide smile.
"To many more beautiful beginnings..." The guests echoed as they clinked glasses.
James clinked his with Sarah's, before pulling her in for a passionate kiss.
Poppy stood still.
She couldn't move.
Her fingers trembled at her sides, and she balled them into fists. They were toasting to beautiful beginnings after killing her?!
Her throat tightened, and her eyes burned.
She looked around mindlessly as if everything she'd seen up to this point was a lie. And when her eyes fell on the banner once more, Poppy felt like going crazy.
It was 9 pm, only a couple of hours after she was killed, and they were celebrating a baby shower?!
She looked at them, at James's arm that draped protectively around Sarah who giggled like she'd just won the lottery. That was when James spotted her.
He didn't recognize her, not with her new body, but that didn't change the way he stared at her. The deja vu scornful look reminded her of when she was killed. His eyes lingered on her long enough to make her know he was disgusted, before they moved to other sight-worthy guests.
That sight snapped whatever rational senses Poppy had. Her feet started moving to the stage before she could even think.
James blinked in confusion as she climbed up the stage, until her hand grabbed a handful of his hair.
"AHHH! What the—?!" He shrieked.
Before anyone could process what was happening, Poppy yanked his head back like she was pulling weeds from a garden.
"You miserable lying cockroach!" She shouted. "You came here to make toasts after what you did?!"
James stumbled back. His arms failed as he tried to get away from her, but Poppy was faster.
With one hard shove of her weight, she pushed him down. James slipped like a wet fish, and landed hard on the shiny floor.
Gasps filled the room.
His wine glass shattered, and the liquid spilled on the floor.
"What is this? Is she mad?!" One of the guests shrieked in shock.
"Can't you see the way she's dressed? A psychiatric hospital has lost one of its patients!" Another responded, moving backward in fear.
Sarah's face paled. She quickly rushed forward in her heels, screaming: "Stop! Are you insane?! Get away from him!"
But Poppy was already turning towards her. Her eyes widened in horror as Poppy ran to her. "You witch!"
Terrified, Sarah turned to run, but Poppy already caught up to her. The two women tumbled onto the stage. Sarah's dress ripped at the waist as she tried to squirm away, but Poppy caught her hair, dragging her like a broom on a dirty floor.
Between the immense pain from how hard Poppy pulled her hair, and covering herself, Sarah didn't know which to focus on. Hot tears spilled from the sides of her eyes.
Poppy dragged her to a table decorated with cupcakes nearby, and smacked her face into it. "This is what you deserve to wear, you backstabbing baby mama!"
Sarah yelped as the frosting splattered on her face.
The guests gasped and murmurs erupted as they all moved away to avoid getting caught up in the fight.
James tried to get up, but Poppy reached back and kicked his crotch. He cried out in pain, clenching his thighs together.
Poppy didn't stop there. She pushed him to the floor, and climbed on him with her heavy weight.
James shrieked, unable to breathe from her heaviness.
Noticing his helpless state, Poppy started hitting him on his face continuously. "You lying, disgusting bastard!"
Leonardo stood frozen at the edge of the stage, wide-eyed.
Grace's cup slipped from her hand in shock.
While Evelyn, Bella's step mother stared at Poppy with a redface. "Bella!" She screamed, gaining everyone's attention in the room, including Poppy whose hands froze midair. "What do you think you're doing?!"
A heavy silence fell in the room. Nobody moved. Even the music had stopped playing.
Poppy remained in the same position, staring at her trembling fingers. It was Evelyn's voice that made her vision normal. Back there, all she saw was red, and she acted according to her emotions.
Now that she was calmer, she slowly turned her face toward Evelyn Highland.
Her stepmother stood at the center of the room, trembling with rage, yet she clutched her designer purse like a weapon.
Every eyes in the hall was now on them. Some had their phones out, while others murmured in fear as they stared at Poppy, who they assume to be mad, hoping she doesn't attack them next.
Poppy climbed off James and brushed frostings from her sleeve. A small smile appeared on her lips when she saw the state he was in, but the smile vanished the moment her eyes returned to Evelyn.
"What do you think I'm doing?" She repeated Evelyn's question mockingly. "Celebrating. Isn't that what tonight's about?"
"Bella!" Grace screamed as she took her place beside her mother. "What is wrong with you?!"
At the sight of Grace, Poppy felt the same madness from earlier crawl up her spine, but she swallowed it down, piercing her nails into her palm to stop herself from going berserk again.
Instead of talking to her, she adjusted her robe and stepped down from the stage elegantly.
Sarah immediately ran to James who whimpered on the floor. "Security!" She yelled, struggling to see from the frostings on her face that she wiped with her hands. "Security!"
The guards walked in about the same time Claudia returned to the party. Her eyes immediately fell on Sarah and her brows furrowed. "What on earth happened here?"
She took in the wreckage — Sarah's disheveled appearance, and her son's current state. Then her eyes landed on Poppy, everyone's center of attention. It didn't take long for Claudia to piece the puzzle.
She walked forward slowly. "Who let in this lunatic?!" Her question was directed at the guards, who's faces paled immediately.
Poppy looked at her nonchalantly.
That smug look riled Claudia up. "Get this mad woman out of my house!"
Two large guards stepped in front of Poppy, but before they could touch her, Poppy lifted her hands.
"Touch me, and I swear the next place you'll find yourself is in a hospital!"
They hesitated.
Greatly enraged, Claudia trembled, but the familiarity in Poppy's face caught her off guard. "You— I know you. You're that... Highland girl."
Evelyn suddenly tensed at the recognition. She'd intended to turn a blind eye at the turn of event, and let Claudia handle this however she wanted, but since she now recognized Bella, this was no longer an option.
"Mrs. Langford..."
Claudia looked at Evelyn with a frown. "What is the meaning of this Mrs. Highland? Why is your daughter attacking my son and daughter-in-law?"
The room went silent. The kind of silence that screamed louder than words.
Daughter-in-law?
Poppy smiled bitterly. Not once in her marriage to James had Claudia ever called her this. Not in private, and even worse, public. She had never even been introduced as Jame's wife to any of her friends, including Jame's.
Their marriage too had been in private, with only Claudia, Sarah, and the priest as witnesses on her wedding day. She'd found it suspicious that their villa was hidden on the outskirts of the city, and they had to take long drives to their destinations every morning, but because she loved him, she never asked why.
But now, she knew the reason. It was to hide her away from the rest of the world, so no one would know she was married to James. Just like Sarah had said, she was the pretend wife.
No wonder James had insisted she quit her modeling career, said he didn't want other men oogling at his wife. She'd thought it was love.
Sarah had bought her weight gaining shakers every morning, telling her James was attracted to soft girls, knowing she could never lose it because of her Lipedema — a disorder that makes it impossible to lose weight, no matter how hard you try.
And she foolishly drank it all. Every morning. Just so she could be enough.
It all made sense now. Everything they did to ruin her career and erase her from the public view was to hide her marriage to James because of their affairs.
Evelyn's fingers trembled slightly against her champagne glass. All her life, she'd never been this embarrassed. "I apologize on her behalf, Mrs. Langford. I don't know what came over Bella. She's usually not like this."
"Yes, Mrs. Langford," Grace jumped in. "She just recovered from a fatal accident. It must have... affected her mind somehow."
"Hurry, Bella!" Evelyn snapped. "Apologize to everyone!"
Poppy's lips curled into a slow, chilling smile, before she started walking toward the exit.
Everyone looked at her surprised.
"Where do you think you're going?!" Evelyn barked.
But Poppy walked past them without uttering a word. When she got to where Leonardo stood, "Follow me," she ordered, and kept walking.
Leonardo's gaze darted between Evelyn, Grace, and Claudia, who stared at Poppy speechlessly, before he eventually followed her.
They both walked out of the hall.