“You are a jealous, wounded, lonely bitch who is going to die alone!” Emerald spat.
I drew my brows together and stood from the couch slowly. Initially, I had planned to not exchange words with her today, but as usual, my twin sister would never let me be.
“What?” I asked her, my voice coming out lower than what I had expected.
What a disappointment!
“I asked you to leave the house because we are having some visitors over and you refused!” She snapped.
“I told you I would stay in my room and would not come out till they leave,” I said, my voice not going any higher.
Maybe I am actually the weakling, not her.
Our parents are not trying to see that.
“And you called me a lonely wounded bitch because of that?” I added with a frown.
“I don’t want you around. Leave the house,” she said.
“I am not going anywhere. Come on, stop making a deal out of this,” I said.
“Listen carefully Sapphire as I would not like to repeat myself. My wedding has been arranged and my future husband and his family are visiting. Don’t be stupid by lurking around. You are not going to get anything out of it. Leave this house, and return when they leave.”
I didn’t say anything. I leaned down picked up my phone and turned to leave when she grabbed my arm which made me stop walking abruptly.
I turned around slowly and gave her a menacing look. “I am not going to leave this house. If you don’t want me around, then have your meeting elsewhere. Why must I leave the house because of you?” I frowned and this time, I was quite pleased my voice didn’t disappoint me.
“What?” She raised a brow.
“I only pity that man who is coming to marry you. Outside, you act like the nicest person on earth and inside you treat your sister like shit. Your victim card always works and I wonder how you think of yourself,” I said, my eyes blazing in anger.
It was very obvious on her face that she was shocked at my outburst, but I care less. I turned to leave and again, she grabbed my hand and dragged me back.
“Are you crazy?” I hissed as I swirled around.
She suddenly fell to the ground and screamed while she dropped her hands on her cheeks. I furrowed my brows in confusion as I stared at her smiling face.
As my parents descended the stairs, it dawned on me what my twin sister was planning.
My mum covered the space between us and knelt beside Emerald.
“What happened, baby?” she asked.
“What did you do to your sister?” my dad asked, his eyes blazing in anger.
“I did not do anything to her,” I answered with a soft sigh and rolled my eyes gently.
God, not today.
I said to myself. I definitely knew the drama that was going to follow.
I tightened my grip on my phone and turned to leave gently.
“Don't you dare take another step from there!” he ordered and I stopped abruptly.
“What did she do to you, sweetheart?” he turned to ask her and I frowned irritatedly as I watched the faked expression on her face.
“She hit me,” Emerald replied, her hands not leaving her cheek.
“You did?” he turned to look at me again and I exhaled.
“I did not touch her. We only talked. She asked me to leave the house because some people were coming over and I refused. I said I would stay in my room till they leave,” I explained.
“Then you slapped her?” he frowned.
“Dad. She called me a jealous, wounded, lonely bitch who would die alone,” Emerald added and I widened my eyes.
What?! Was she not the one who said that to me?!
“You told your sister that?” Dad asked again.
“No! She was…”
SLAP!
I held my face in total shock as tears rolled down my cheek.
My dad had just slapped me because of my twin sister.
“How could you talk to your sister that way? I told you to take care of her. You know she is not as strong as you, yet you hurt her each time you are alone with her. What is wrong with you?!” he hollered.
While Dad lashed words at me, Emerald continued with her fake sob and I swallowed hard in disdain. I turned around hurriedly and dashed to my room as I ignored him calling my name.
I slammed the door hard behind me, collapsed on my bed, and buried my face in my pillow.
I was supposed to be used to this already. Why the heck did I always cry whenever they did this to me?
It has always been like this. Right from childhood, I had always been treated unfairly.
Growing up, Emerald was the weaker twin. She had a hole in her heart when we were eight which she got operated on, and ever since then, she has always gotten special treatment.
She got the larger portion of whatever we had. She wore the prettiest dresses. She had more toys. Her room was prettier.
Our parents didn't fail to show her that they loved and cared for her which indirectly affected me.
At first, I didn't give it much meaning.
I had a sick sister who needed care and attention but it got to a point that I started wondering if it was not getting too much.
If we weren't identical, I would have assumed that I wasn't their child and that I was adopted or something.
It didn't end there. Emerald began to change too. The love and attention they showered got into her head and she changed towards me too.
Whenever she does something wrong, she dumps the blame on me and I get scolded by them.
At times, she spoils things purposely and accuses me of doing them.
I thought things would change when we grew up, but I was wrong to have hoped that.
My sister was never close to changing.
She torments me each time she gets and my parents still believe she was that weak girl who needs their protection.
Suddenly remembering her upcoming marriage, my face lit up in hope and I sat up. If she got married and left the house, then, I would be alone with my parents at home and hopefully, they would start to notice me too.
I clenched my fist hard, got off the bed, and hurried to my closet.
It would just be better to leave the house as they had wanted. I picked my phone up and dialed my friend's number.
“Hilda,” I hummed her name as soon as she picked up the call.
“What's wrong with you? Did something happen again?” she asked, and my lips tugged into a smile.
Hilda always knows.
“Where are you? I am coming over,” I said.
“I am at home. Are you coming now?” she asked.
“Yes. Now.”
“I'd be expecting you. Get a box of pizza on your way. Ah, with a lot of toppings,” she added, and I smiled.
“Okay.”
==
At Hilda’s.
“You know, I think your parents are the worst. How could they be so indifferent to you?!” Hilda hollered in annoyance.
Anyone would think she was the one getting such injustice and not me.
“And unfortunately, they don’t seem to know that,” I shrugged my shoulders and took a bite from the slice of pizza in my hand.
“It will be over soon. She will get married to some rich tycoon and will be out of that house. Your parents will stop the maltreatment then.”
“Yeah, I am hoping the same,” I sighed.
Hilda dropped the pizza in her hand and clapped her hands, “Let’s go out!”
I frowned at the sudden outburst and shook my head slowly.
“Out to where? I am here with you because I don’t want to be anywhere else.”
“You look so dull, girl! Let’s crash a club and drink till we pass out, then probably make out with some hot stranger!” She laughed at her idea and I pulled my brows together, slightly irritated.
“I am not going to some club to get drunk or make out with anyone. I have a boyfriend, remember?”
“I don’t remember your boyfriend stopping you from having fun,” she hissed.
“Making out with random guys is fun?” I raised a brow.
“It is,” she winked at me and I shook my head.
At times I wonder how I came to be best friends with Hilda despite our opposite personalities. She was the perfect definition of an extrovert and I was an introvert.
We met in high school when I was being bullied by some group of girls and she had fought for me.
Ever since then, I have always followed her everywhere. At first, she didn’t want to be close to me. She made it clear to me that she only helped me because she couldn’t stand injustice but later, she gave in.
I was the top student in the class and she was the button student.
It didn’t take long before we became friends.
“It’s still noon. We still have time before we go to the club, let’s go shopping first,” she said, interrupting me out of my thoughts.
“Can we not go to the club, please? Come on!” I pouted, hoping she would buy it this time around.
“No. Not this time, baby. You’re not gonna have your way. Let’s party!” She screamed in excitement.
I shook my head, grabbed another slice of Pizza, and began to eat it.
==
“God, this is so short! You should have allowed me to come with my hoodie,” I grumbled as we waited outside the club for our turn to be checked.
“Jesus Christ, Sapphire, who wears a hoodie to the club?” She widened her eyes and pulled me forward as we stopped in front of the guards who checked our identification tag.
“Me! This dress is so uncomfortable!” I shouted as we walked past the guard and entered the club, welcomed by the loud music.
“Trust me, you look sexy!” She shouted right back at me, dancing gently to the beat.
As we walked in further, I frowned at the large amount of people packed inside the space.
The strong smell of sweat, and alcohol hit my nose which almost made me nauseous.
“How the fuck does anyone enjoy being here?!” I burst out loud but the sound of the music overshadowed my ‘little’ scream.
Hilda had already let go of my hand, she had started dancing to the beat, throwing herself at the men who were also dancing alone.
I shook my head and chuckled gently.
God, help me.
I muttered to myself as I forced my way through the crowd.
After a while, I arrived at the bartender's stand and breathed out heavily.
Panting as if I just fought in a war, I dropped my hands on the table and waved my hand at him.
“Do you have soda?” I asked.
He pointed his hand at the poster behind him and I rolled my eyes as I saw it. “ONLY ALCOHOL!”
“Water?” I asked and he nodded his head.
*
As I drank from the bottle, looking around at the people in the club, a man stopped in front of me and I raised my brows at him.
“My boss wants to see you,” he informed me.
“The manager of the club or…?” I asked.
This man was wearing a suit and now he is telling me his boss wants to see me.
Do I leave here and go to him?
“Not the manager. My boss. He would like to see you.”
I frowned at him and covered the bottled water in front of him.
“You expect me to go with you to see your boss or what? Tell your boss to come here if he wants to see me,” I said and turned away from him.
I hissed gently as I felt him leaving and opened the lid of the bottle again.
After a while of sitting and having nothing to do. I was getting pissed already as I couldn't find Hilda and these men wouldn't stop staring at me lustfully.
I opened my bag to search for my phone so I would call her when I felt a presence beside me.
“I thought you do not do parties.”
The deep voice that I heard had me raising my head up almost immediately to see the owner of the voice.
“Huh?” I moaned as I looked at the strangely familiar man.
“You said you do not do parties, didn't you?”
I kept mute.
Apart from the fact that the man looked offensively handsome, he looked so familiar which bothered me.
“I said…”
Wait…
I have seen him before…
Think. Think. Think…
Daniel Preston Logan…?!
My twin sister’s betrothed.
I widened my eyes, gasped loudly, and covered my mouth with my hand hurriedly.
I stared at the tall, huge, and freakishly handsome man in front of me and then gulped unconsciously.“Erm… actually…” I swallowed hard and forced a smile.Why am I acting like I am caught up in a bad thing?I am not your wife-to-be, I am her twin!I felt like screaming that out.However, I knew I dared not.My family could hate me forever because of this.Apparently, they had told the man that I was out of the country and probably wouldn’t be present for their wedding.Hold on, Emerald told him she doesn’t do parties?!What a bloodsucking liar!I screamed inwardly.“You look so shocked to see me. Why? Is it because you lied?” He asked and I breathed in.Now, I gotta pretend like I am HER?!Damn, no way!But then again, if anything should go wrong tonight because of me. I would forever be blamed by my parents and Emerald.“Shocked?” I raised my brows, my heart beating so fast like it was going to come off my chest.“I am not. I just didn’t… I did not expect to meet you here,” I nodded
“You ran into your sister’s fiance at the club?!” I removed the phone from my ear as I heard the deafening scream from Hilda. “Can you keep it low, please?” I hissed between smiles. “So, what did you do? Did you tell him you are not his fiancé? What did he say?” “Are you crazy? I dare not tell him that!” “Why can’t you?” I could already imagine the frown on her face. Hilda is not like me, she would have told Daniel that she wasn’t Emerald if she was in my shoes. Even if she was with me last night, she would have told him or popped it one way or the other. “My family didn’t tell him I was in the country. They told him I was out of the country and would not even make it to the wedding.” “Are you crazy? And you just sit still? I would have ruined her chances last night if I were you.” “Why are you making a deal out of this? It’s not like attending the wedding is some big deal. I wouldn’t even attend if I was invited,” I rolled my eyes. “You are so dense,” she hissed and I grin
“No, this is insane, mum, dad! This is not the right thing to do,” I yelled at my father’s face, and trust me when I said that my heart tore when he didn't even bulge. Neither did my mum.Is this a dream? How the hell could they suggest that I marry my sister’s fiance?!“You are going to marry Logan, Sapphire. It’s the best thing you can do for our family right now,” Dad nodded his head slightly and exhaled.I turned to look at my mum who had not been saying a word and breathed out. “Our family?”My mum clasped her hands together and began, stuttering, “Sapphire… Listen to your father. It… it is for the best.”“Mum!”I swept my hair to the back and shook my head.“It is for the best? It is the best that I can do for OUR family? Tell me when any of you has ever considered me FAMILY!”I yelled. Maybe this was the time I talked. Maybe it was time I stood up for myself.“Sapphire…” my mum muttered softly. While on the other hand, my dad looked like his mind had been made up and there was n
“Are you insane?!” Her high-pitched scream made me frown and pull the phone away from my ear slowly. I have enough on my plate already, I don't need anyone scolding me right now. “Hilda…” I started, but she cut me off right away. “You are going to marry him? Do you know what that means?! You are getting committed for life!” “It’s just for a few weeks, Emerald is going to wake up and then return to her place,” I explained to her. “And what if she doesn’t wake up anytime soon? You can’t let your parents do this to you. They are selfish and you know they will never hesitate to use you over and over again as long as it benefits them. What about Aidan?! What about your dream?! The audition is coming up in a few months and marriage is definitely not what you should think of. Especially not to a person you don’t love. This is not a movie that…” “Do you think I want this either?!” I didn’t know when I yelled. With the way I had screamed, I am sure my voice could have traveled to the li
DANIEL’S POV.“Your wedding is tomorrow and you are in the office?!”I exhaled and rested my head on the headrest. “Dad, preparing for my marriage does not stop me from working, come on.”I can already imagine the distasteful look that must have gathered on his face after I said that. It is way too early to start talking about my upcoming marriage, does he not know that? One would think my parents were the ones getting married, not me.“It does! Do you not care about what people would think at all? You should be going around, trying to know your fiance better, but what? That is all you can do?”“When I was your age…”He started. I scratched in between my brows and breathed out. Here we go again…“I made sure your mother and I met every day during our wedding preparation. And that is one of the reasons we are still going strong even after thirty years of marriage. I made sure she had no other choice but to fall over and over for me. There was a time that…”“Dad, please,” I cut him of
“Oh, my! Did you lose weight, ma’am?”I glanced at the middle-aged woman who helped in putting the wedding dress on and then looked at my reflection in the big dressing mirror in front of me.The wedding is tomorrow and I am just trying out the dress.“W…why did you say that?” “The last time you came for the dress fitting. It was so tight that we had to loosen it a bit. That’s why…”“It’s the wedding stress.”I turned around gently as I watched my mum enter and said.Wedding stress? I chuckled slightly.“I think it runs in the family. I lost over three kg when I was preparing for my wedding too,” she said as a joke and the woman laughed too.“I can understand that so much! A lot of brides lost weight when preparing for their wedding. It’s fine, we can just adjust it quickly. Tomorrow is the wedding,” she looked at me and smiled.I looked at myself for the umpteenth time and curled my fist into a tight ball. This is indeed not what I had envisioned for myself.“I will pick another dre
“Why? She’s not picking up the call?” Liam looked at me and I nodded slightly.“I think she’s rethinking already. She probably knows what she is getting into and then thinks it is best to not get married. I understand her very much.”I turned my head slowly to look Liam’s direction but he looked away quickly. “You’re insane.”“You know I am right. If not, why is she not picking up? Didn’t you say that she used to pick up your call at the second ring?” He said and burst into laughter.I tilted my head gently and sighed. Taking another look at him, I dialed a number and waited for the receiver to pick up.“Sir.”“Find out where Emerald is, now,” I ordered, and ended the call before I could hear his answer.“Is that Alfredo? You want him to stalk YOUR FIANCE?!”Liam stressed his words intentionally and I wished right now this guy knew how irritated I was at the moment.At times, I wonder if he was truly my best friend because he acts exactly like an enemy.How could he always decide to n
I dropped my hand on my neck possessively and caressed it gently after his comment. “Oh… did I?”I gulped hard as he kept staring at my collarbone. After a while, he looked away and stared at the wedding dress that was on the floor again. “This… this was the wedding dress you sent to me saying you were in love with, is it not? He asked and then pinned his eyes on me.“It looked like the same design, no?”I hiccuped almost immediately he asked his question and then beaded my brows. Emerald has been updating him about the wedding. I took a quick glance at my mother and then looked at him again.“Is it?” I asked unconsciously and then bit my lower lips.What was I saying?The way I was acting was practically giving me away.Can you just get a grip on yourself already, Sapphire?“Okay, let’s try this on you now.”I breathed out in relief as soon as the designer entered and said.“Could you stay outside for a moment while the bride tries on her dress? I know you probably can’t wait to see