Biased

"Ms. White, you can come by and pick it up tomorrow."

I handed my grandmother's ashes over to the staff at the diamond institute because I planned to have them made into diamonds to wear with me.

When I got home, I was startled by a sudden bark from a dog.

"Sorry, my puppy is a bit shy around strangers," Sarah said as she came out of the room in a silk nightgown.

Hunter quickly came over to take my hand when he saw my face fall. "We were tied up with work until very late last night, so I let her sleep in the guest room for the night."

I scoffed, my mind recalling Sarah's post. "You two were quite busy, indeed."

Hunter raised his voice, clearly stung by my rebuke. "Audrey, what are you getting at?"

I shook off his hand and went upstairs. Before he closed the door, I heard him comforting Sarah in whispers. "She's been behaving strangely lately. Just ignore her."

The room was filled with my grandmother's things. I took a deep breath, trying to soothe my emotions. Still, my tears refused to stop.

The door to the room swung open just as I was going through my grandmother's belongings. Sarah was standing there and looking at me with a mocking smile.

"Audrey, Hunter doesn't love you anymore."

"Let him come and tell me himself, then. I promise I will never bother him after that."

Sarah's smirk froze on her face.

"Just you wait!" she hissed.

However, I didn't want to waste my breath on her. I was just about to tell her to leave when I smelled a foul odor.

I quickly saw that her puppy was jumping into the bed and peeing on my grandmother's portrait. So, I immediately pulled it away and wiped it with a tissue.

"Oh, no! My baby!" Sarah screamed, hugging the dog with tender pity.

"Audrey, how dare you bully my baby!" Her face twisted in anger as she kicked my grandmother's clothes out of the bag to the ground and stomped on them hard.

I gave her a sharp slap in a fit of rage, causing her to stagger from the blow. Then, I slammed her against the wall.

"Sarah, I'll kill you if you dare touch my Grandma's things again."

Suddenly, someone grabbed my arm and threw me heavily to the ground. My head slammed against the nightstand with a thud.

"Audrey, what the hell is wrong with you?" scolded Hunter while hugging Sarah tenderly. As she showed her swollen cheeks, she expressed her grievance, sobbing loudly. "I just wanted to come and help, but… Since Audrey doesn't like me, I'll leave and won't get in her way."

Hunter's face darkened as he listened to her words. "Audrey, what exactly is your problem? Sarah was just trying to help."

I held up the urine-soaked portrait of my grandmother in front of him. "Tell me, which part looked like she was trying to help? Was it the part where she let her dog pee on Grandma's portrait? Or was it the part where she stepped on Grandma's clothes and got them dirty?"

Hunter guiltily looked away.

"It's just a photo. I'll ask her to print another one for you. There's no need to make a scene."

I looked at him with disappointment. That was when my heart stopped beating for him.

It was one thing for him not to love me romantically, but my grandmother had treated him like her own grandson for years and even saved his life. Yet, he had the audacity to allow another woman to trample on my grandmother's things!

Her Sinister Plan

"Get out!" I shouted, angry tears streaming down my face. Sarah wanted to say something, but Hunter yanked her away.

I packed up my grandmother's belongings and prepared to leave. Hunter reached out to stop me when he saw me dragging a suitcase along.

"Seriously? You're leaving home because of something so trivial? It's just a photo. I'll go print another one with you later."

I shook off his hand.

"These are Grandma's clothes. I'm going to go and stay with her. I'll print the photo myself. You just go ahead and do your thing."

My cold demeanor caused a hint of unease to appear on Hunter's face.

"How's Grandma feeling? Wait for me. I'll go visit her with you."

Suddenly, Sarah's cry of pain came from the kitchen.

"Hunter, I accidentally cut my hand. It hurts so much."

He immediately pushed me aside, rushed to Sarah's side, and wrapped her finger tenderly with a tissue.

"Sarah's finger is bleeding. I'll take her to the hospital first. Wait for me at home, and we'll visit Grandma together."

I nodded slightly, meeting his gaze head-on. Hunter heaved a sigh of relief and left with Sarah.

I knew that he wouldn't be returning. So, I took a car back to my hometown and burned my grandmother's belongings by the river, as per our family's tradition.

It wasn't until the flame died down that I received a call from Hunter.

"Audrey, there's a sudden meeting at the company. Please send my regards to Grandma. I'll go with you tomorrow."

After I hung up the phone, I saw him in Sarah's post once again.

In the caption, she mentioned how Hunter insisted on giving her round-the-clock personal care even though it was just an accidental cut.

I received a call from Hunter early in the morning.

Perhaps because I hadn't bothered him all day yesterday, so he sounded a bit nervous on the other end of the phone.

"Audrey, let's go visit Grandma together today."

I was accepting the diamond necklace from the staff at the diamond institute at the time. The diamond was made from my grandmother's ashes.

I caressed the necklace tenderly, lamenting inwardly that my grandmother, who was once my safe haven, was now reduced to only a tiny diamond.

"Okay. I also have something I want to tell you," I said.

After much contemplation, I figured I should tell him about my grandmother's passing.

When I got home, Sarah looked at the necklace around my neck and flipped her hair provocatively.

She wore an expensive gemstone necklace. A smirk played on her lips as she said, "My hand hurt so much yesterday that Hunter bought this to cheer me up."

I dismissed her, asking blandly, "Where's Hunter?"

My calm reaction surprised Sarah. Then, her eyes turned sinister as she ripped off my necklace and threw it out the window and into the swimming pool.

Even though my neck bled from the force and I could feel my blood was dripping down my skin, I couldn't care less about it. I rushed to the edge of the pool and jumped in without hesitation.

Just then, Sarah's gemstone necklace fell into the water, followed by her cries.

I surfaced and saw her kneeling on the ground while Hunter pointed at me, his face livid with rage.

"Audrey, you're getting eaten up by jealousy!" he scolded.

"Sarah completed her task, so I rewarded her with a necklace. Yet, you actually tried to frame her by faking falling into the pool! Retrieve that necklace now. Otherwise, you'll keep staying in the water until I say you can leave!"

The Diamond Necklace

I tried to get out of the pool, but Hunter shoved me in. He stood at the edge and watched coldly as I shivered in the pool.

"She tossed the necklace into the pool herself. You can check the security footage if you don't believe me," I said, standing up for myself.

However, Hunter merely smiled sarcastically.

"Still, Audrey, you can't deny the fact that you did jump into the water. I saw it with my own eyes."

When I heard his accusation, I held up the diamond necklace in my hand. "Grandma has passed away, and this necklace was made from her ashes. How could I not jump in after she threw this necklace into the water?"

Meanwhile, Sarah tugged his hand pitifully.

"Hunter, didn't Jerry say that her Grandma is doing well in the hospital?"

Hunter's face grew even more stormy.

"Audrey! That's your own grandmother you're cursing, for God's sake! How could you curse her like that just because you're jealous of Sarah! Retrieve the necklace and apologize to Sarah!"

I felt my body freeze from his betrayal. I scrambled miserably to the poolside after retrieving the necklace from the bottom of the pool.

"Apologize."

Hunter gave me no room to catch a breath as he dragged me to Sarah.

Sarah clung to his arm, saying affectionately, "Hunter, her grandmother is dying, so I don't want to make things difficult for her. Let's just have her lend me the diamond necklace for a couple of days as an apology."

I gripped the necklace tightly, refusing to let go even when my hand bled from the tightness.

"I've already told you that this diamond was made from my Grandma's ashes. I can't give it to her!" I roared.

"I came back home today to tell you that Grandma has passed away! Call the hospital if you don't believe me!"

When Hunter heard what I said, his face darkened even more. He thought I was just being stubborn.

Several bodyguards came up and pinned me to the ground. They ignored my still bleeding palm. One of them yanked the blood-stained necklace forcefully and presented it to Sarah.

I had no idea if I was imagining things, but the concern in Hunter's eyes seemed genuine when he saw the blood dripping from my fingertips.

"Alright. Sarah has forgiven you. You should go and get your wound bandaged up."

Although I was pinned in place and unable to move, I still persistently reached out to snatch the necklace back.

However, my exhaustion from pulling an all-nighter and having been in the water for too long caught up with me. A sudden wave of dizziness struck, and I saw Hunter's panicked look before I lost consciousness.

The next morning, I opened my eyes in a hospital bed. The room was empty. There was only a glass of water by the bedside as proof that someone was here. I reached for my phone, unlocked it, and saw the address Hunter had sent.

"Come here if you want your diamond necklace back."

I forced myself to complete the discharge procedures and took a taxi to the said address.

I arrived at a park by the sea. From a distance, I saw what seemed to be a couple getting married.

Shortly after, I spotted Hunter's friends among the wedding guests. They had the look of shock and panic at being found out on their faces upon seeing my presence.

Meanwhile, Sarah was locking her arm in Hunter's and receiving blessings from the guests.

When Hunter saw me, his face showed obvious panic.

"W-What are you doing here?"