Fibbing

Maria Dawson had just finished cleaning up herself in the bathroom and was brushing her hair close to the window in her bedroom when her eyes fell on a familiar face. It was the cursed farm girl that ruined her designer dress she wanted to use to the festival.

"Tha audacity of this tramp." Maria scolwed.

Her body suddenly felt like boiling lava as she observed watched Raphael and Adrian escort the dirty farm girl towards the mansion entrance.

"This pig has bitten more than she could chew. She is about to learn the lesson of a life time."

Maria hurriedly put on her clothes and left her bedroom. She went downstairs, towards the entrance of the mansion, while thinking of a million ways to shred Stella.

-

-

"Are those grapes meant for me?" Mina asked sweetly as the trio came closer.

Stella's distracted eyes finally fell on an old woman, who was scrutinizing her like an x-ray machine.

"That's my grandma," Raphael drew close and whispered into Stella's ears while intentionally brushing his lips against her ears and breathing in her sweet natural scent. He tried to place his hand around her waist but quickly withdrew from his action when Stella shot him a lethal gaze.

Stella, who had almost lost her patience with Raphael's flirtatious gesture quickly moved away from him. She was resisting the urge to slap him in front of his grandma for breeching her personal space.

"Good evening, Mrs. Dawson." Stella curtsied before Mina like a well-cultured country girl. She stretched out her hands with the bowl of grapes and said, "These grapes are indeed yours and I'm sorry they are just arriving now. Also, I plead for your forgiveness concerning bumping into your granddaughter."

"There is nothing to forgive my sweet child," Mina said sweetly. She beckoned on the mansion butler to come over and collect the bowl of grapes from Stella. Then she motioned all three to follow her into the living room.

Stella couldn't help but admire the tastefully furnished interior of the mansion which was screaming luxury and sophistication on every side.

However, Stella remember her mission and refocused her attention on the sweet-natured elder woman. She wondered why the old woman was welcoming her into the mansion rather than sending her away.

"You know, I was angry at first when my grapes weren't brought over by my granddaughter. But now, I feel happy seeing you here. You didn't just come with my grapes but with my grandsons as well." Mina took a seat and pointed to an opposite single seat for Stella to seat down.

As if functioning under a spell, Adrian and Raphael also took seats close to Stella, each lost in their thoughts.

While Adrian was wondering was transpired between Stella and Maria, Raphael was eager for Mina to release Stella.

All Raphael wanted to do was have sex with Stella in his bedroom before heading to the festival in search of more beautiful local girls to devour.

"I'm truly sorry for..."

"Every crime has been forgiven," Mina said firmly, cutting Stella off. "But I can't have you leave my house looking all messy. So I will..."

Mina had barely finished her last statement when Maria yelled from behind her.

"Never, Mina! That tramp needs to be dealt with for her insolence!" Maria said at the top of her voice as she walked into the living room wearing a murderous expression. She pointed at the unperturbed Stella and said, "You swine, you dare show your face in our home after what you did to me."

Stella gritted her teeth and chuckled inwardly.

'This brat doesn't know who she is messing with.' Stella wished Maria could see her true nature and call herself to order.

Maria's high-pitched voice got some of the Dawson family members running into the living room in slight alarm at the sudden disturbance.

Amongst these family members were Camilla, Adrian's mother, and three more of Adrian's cousins, Andrew, Philip, and Luna.

"What is going on here?" Camilla asked in surprise as she stared from Maria's riled demeanor to her son's bewildered expression and Mina's surprisingly calm face. But the person that stood out from everyone in the room was the slightly messy but extremely beautiful female stranger.

"Maria asked me to shut up in my own house simply because someone else did what she couldn't do," Mina said while maintaining a placid expression.

"Maria, you did what?" Philip and Andrew, who were already drooling over the pretty stranger in their midst, queried simultaneously in alarm.

"Maria, why would you say that to your grandma?" Camilla asked sternly.

"No, Mina, no aunty!" Maria said in a hushed tone like a frightened kitten. She knew that getting Mina angry was bad news. However, she couldn't just stand and watch the smelly farm girl win Mina's heart with her idiotic gesture. "I was addressing that tramp that humiliated me."

Stella clenched her fist and gritted her teeth to stifle her anger. She kept praying for the grace not to worsen things for herself by jumping at Maria. All the name calling was beginning to eat deeper into her skin.

"Are you by chance calling me a liar, Maria?" Mina asked and stared into Maria's dumbfounded face with amusement.

Maria's opened mouth made a perfect O as she stared at her grandma speechlessly. She wanted to say something else but felt tongue-tied and stared at her sister Luna for help.

"Mina, Maria is very sorry. She would never dream of calling you that name." Luna said pleading while casting Stella a condescending look.

Raphael, who seemed to be having the time of his life in the face of the drama let out a scornful laugh at his kid sister. He knew that she had earned herself two strikes for offending Mina. He neither felt sorry for her nor spoke in her favor as a brother would do. All he was concerned about was getting Stella out of the living room to his bedroom.

Adrian, who seemed lost at what was going on stood up and strolled over to his distraught cousin. He pulled her into his arm and tried to soothe her.

"What exactly is going on, Maria? Why are you this angry and provoking Mina? This is unlike you." Adrian asked calmly.

"That's because that swine seated over there," Maria pointed in Stella's direction pushed me down, and threw away all the grapes I picked for Mina. As if that wasn't all, she attacked me when I tried to call her to order."

"Are you for real?" Adrian stared in Stella's direction unsure of what to believe.

"Yes Coz, you needed to see Maria when she returned from the vineyard," Luna said in her older sister's defense. "She was so messy, dirty, and crying her eyes out. I was so angry that I wanted to go over to the vineyard in search of the tramp that humiliated my sister."

Although Stella couldn't hear what the two sisters were whispering to Adrian, she knew that they were fibbing and this made her very furious.