“You love playing jokes? Fine. I’ll play with you to the end.”
A group of teammates gathered, staring in shock.
I finally released her. Her hair was a mess, and blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
“Emily, are you crazy? Do you want to kill me?” she cried, trying to act pitiful as more people arrived.
I calmly wiped my hands with a tissue.
“Kill you? Please. I’d be afraid to dirty my hands.”
“I just want you to know—some jokes are not to be made.”
She cried even harder.
“Everyone, look at her! I was only joking, and she nearly beat me to death. She’s paranoid and doesn’t deserve to share the stage with us.”
The Runway Director stormed in, furious.
“What is going on here?!”
The moment Vanessa saw the director, she put on her best performance—tears flowing, her pitiful act almost Oscar-worthy.
She clutched her swollen face and sobbed in a trembling voice.
“Director, we were just fooling around. I didn’t expect Emily to suddenly go crazy and start hitting me.”
I gave a cold laugh and looked at everyone.
“Fooling around?”
“Deliberately altering my outfit so it exposed my underwear on stage—you call that fooling around?”
“What?”
The Runway Director’s face darkened. The bystanders began to murmur.
“Ripping runway outfits? Those are company property, you can’t just damage them. And they’re designed by professional designers—who gives you the right to alter them?”
“Exposing underwear? That’s clearly sabotage.”
“No wonder Vanessa reacted so aggressively—she was trying to cover up her own guilt.”
Vanessa put on her innocent look.
“No, please, let me explain. I swear I was only playing around. Maybe I just don’t know better—I grew up in a small town, and that’s how we played. Emily is just too serious.”
I pulled out one of the dresses she had ruined.
“Too serious? If it’s such a joke, why don’t you wear this yourself?”
“Don’t pretend you weren’t trying to humiliate me on stage.”
Her lies collapsed instantly.
I turned to the director, speaking slowly and firmly.
“This time I’ll let it go. But if it happens again, I won’t ask anyone’s opinion—I’ll go straight to the police.”
I put on my clothes and walked out, leaving Vanessa to face the director’s scolding.
Since I had been given another chance at life, I was determined to return every ounce of humiliation I had suffered before.