Starting The Act

Chapter Three: STARTING THE ACT

With the incident of that fateful night, Rojean had been in debate with herself for the past days, frantic and overly cautious about her surroundings if there really were people following them-- her specifically because she looked like a certain someone who she has not even met before, let alone knew about. It was too overwhelming for her but she finally reached a conclusion wherein she knew it will definitely affect their day to day living from that day forth. She didn’t want to worry Lucas more and it had been really hard for her to keep it from him but she thought it would be better that way.

When she gathered her thoughts, even if they were jumbled up at the time being, she called Krister’s number as she was making sure that Lucas wasn’t near so he wouldn’t hear the conversation. When Krister picked up the phone on the second ring, it was him that spoke up first.

“Hey, are you okay? I was just about to call you.” Krister sighed, a bit relieved that she and her fiance had gotten home fine even though he hadn't heard from her for a few days at most.

“Yeah, we’re okay. Listen, I have a condition.” she started, lowering her voice down. “I’m going to take this job but you have to promise me something.”

“Anything!” Krister was quick to answer, his face lit up. “I’ll do anything.”

“It’s Lucas and my parents. Are you going to protect them too? And how are you going to do that? Assure me.”

“I have men to guard your fiance and your parents. You have nothing to worry about. They’re the best of the best money can get.” he responded a little too enthusiastically. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”

“Well… okay. I was just thinking, you know? Since I do look like that Sei chick, and you said that other people still don’t know that she’s gone, they’ll come after me and the people around me.”

Krister nodded as if she could see him right now. “Exactly. You have to pretend to be her to scare the people who are after you, thinking they didn’t do the job right. It’s good, it’s good news that they still haven’t gotten a hold of you. It’s good you live a lowkey life because if you’re a person of any significance, we’re not going to go through this smoothly.”

“If I’m known?” her eyebrows furrowed at his statement before nodding her head whilst looking back to see if Lucas was still there in his seat. “We can talk more tomorrow. I’ll go to the office.”

“Okay, okay. I’ll look forward to that, thank you, Rojean.”

“Roj, Roj is fine.”

Krister found himself smiling like an idiot. “Okay, okay. I look forward to seeing you again, Roj.”

Once Rojean ended the call, Lucas was behind her as he wrapped his arms around her waist, putting his chin on her shoulder lovingly, her heart was ready to jump out of her chest when he spoke. “You look worried, baby. Something on your mind?”

She calmed herself down first before nodding her head, trying to force a smile. “Yeah, of course. I just took the offer.”

“That’s great! Wonder why you took a while before you took it. Companies won’t wait for you that long for an answer. Guess you’re really special then. You are.” he kissed her cheek before tightening the hug. “You’re my special baby.”

Rojean was fighting the smile that was coming. “It’s a good opportunity. I can save up more money for our wedding. He offers a car.”

He nodded his head before kissing her cheek again. “I’ll cook for us, what do you want to eat?”

--

“G-good morning, sir.” Rojean wanted to be early to take a good look at the office she’ll be working at but she had seen that Krister was already there so her plans were foiled. “Am I late?”

“I told you to come at 7 and it’s half past 6. You think you’re late?” he chuckled a little, something that Krister didn’t do often so he surprised himself as well but his reaction was subtle before sitting up. “You’re sure you’re okay with the job?”

She nodded her head. “I’m just going to pretend to be her. How hard could it be?” she smiled a little before closing the door of the office. “What job am I going to do today?”

“Hm,” he looked at the tablet he was holding, scrolling through a few pages before looking at her. “Your schedule is packed Ms. Calixto.”

“Am I really starting now? I don’t even know what she does! Like… her mannerisms or something. Don’t people know that about her?” Rojean panicked, looking around the room if there was something she could base Gizelle off from.

“Sei liked her black clothes. Do you fancy wearing black clothes? Are you okay wearing black clothes?” Krister asked, looking at his tablet still before walking to the back room. 

“Black? She doesn’t-- I mean didn’t wear anything else?” she asked, her eyebrows meeting in the middle confused. “Don’t tell me she’s one of those people…”

“Yes, specifically black clothing. They’re hot in the day but you disappear in the night. That’s what she always said to me.” Krister disappeared in the back to get something whilst Rojean was left there to contemplate on her own how she was going to pull the act off if she was a bad liar herself.

Sighing, she took the frame from the table where there was a picture of Sei in it. Typical Sei with a frown on her face. She swore if they age, Sei would look so much younger seeing as she wouldn’t have wrinkles that formed over the years due to her not knowing how to smile. But it was too late, Rojean thought, Sei was gone and she had put herself into this situation because she somewhat felt connected to the woman she’s never heard of her entire life.

Snapping out of her thoughts, she looked over to Krister who had just gotten back as he nodded his head. “The car is ready. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going? We’re seriously going to those meetings now?” she asked, panicking again because she knew damn well she couldn’t keep up with the act.

“No, of course not. I cancelled them all for the time being. Do you have black clothes?”

She nodded her head. “But I don’t know how she styled her clothes.”

“That’s fine, we’ll buy clothes for you to wear.” Krister said before taking the things he needed from the table before gesturing towards the door for her to move along as he followed closely behind. “We’re going somewhere more private. I don’t trust anyone here. We’ll have you practise Sei for a bit. Learn what she was like. I’m going to hire a different driver because I don’t trust the previous one, for now I’ll be driving.”

Once again, she just nodded her head before pulling her phone out once they got into the elevator and just searched on her phone what popped into her mind. ‘CEO at this age as well? What are with these rich people doing nowadays?’ she thought to herself, coming across Theo Valencia’s profile as Krister was taking a peek at what she was doing. 

“She trusts him, I think.” he finally broke the silence when they got out of the elevator, him having a hand on her back to keep her near. “I see him around, not too often. But they always hang around one another.”

“She knows him?? Figures, they’re around the same age so probably it was better to hang out with people your age range rather than old people. Yeah?” she smiled slightly. “Then he knows her face? Whoever killed her knew her face… Do you get what I’m implying here, sir?”

“I am suspicious of him but if Sei trusts him, I wouldn’t doubt that.” Krister said before opening the car door for her. “I’m the only one who knows she died. I don’t think they know.”

‘Of course whoever killed Sei knows what her face is. There’s a bigger chance that it’s someone she knows… or someone closer to her. Poor woman went through that.’ she thought to herself before climbing the passenger seat. She figured her thoughts weren’t needed at the moment because she lacked information and was unaware of what happened before coming to a definite conclusion. “Do you think I should have her phone then?”

“Oh her phone,” to say the least, Krister didn’t think to give her the phone as there were people calling Sei’s number on and about but he felt like he could trust her with that task if she really was going to pretend to be Sei for as long as she can without getting caught. He pulled the phone out of his bag before giving it to her, saying its passcode. “She had a lot of important investors and they’d call to check occasionally. Take the time to look over everything that’s in there.”

Immediately, Rojean went to the gallery if there were any pictures there which Krister had noticed, causing a chuckle to come out of him. “If you want her pictures, it’s in my phone.”

“Oh, right, of course. You were her lover.” she teased before taking his phone to look at Sei’s pictures.

There were a lot of candid pictures of Sei and Rojean could laugh at the fact there was none that she smiled or even a hint of smile on her face. She looked undoubtedly annoyed with Subin taking pictures of her all the time. “It’s really weird for me. She looks exactly like me but she looks so angry at the world.”

“It was odd when I saw you too. I never saw her smile too often, rather it’s a very rare occurrence. Her smile was beautiful. I wished she showed it more.”

“I don’t look like I have a lot of problems going on, that’s why I smile because I don’t.” Rojean chuckled a little whilst looking at Sei’s pictures.. “I can’t blame her though. I bet she had a hard life that she found no reason to smile.”

“I would always cheer her up. She was always so sulky about it.” Krister reminisced. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”

‘It really is a pity,’ Rojean thought to herself, thinking that Krister felt guilty he couldn’t do anything about Sei’s death, avoiding all possible circumstances from the first time he raised suspicions. “Does this really mean I’m in more danger than I was before? That’s why you want to pay a hefty amount.”

He nodded his head slowly, smiling slightly at her. “I know they’re a powerful group. There are a lot of people who don’t like Sei.”

“I want to help but my parents and Lucas shouldn’t get involved.” she just said before looking back at Sei’s phone to see its other contents.

“That can be assured.” he said before pulling in front of a certain building. “We’re here. We need you to dress up like her.”

“Don’t you think I should use her car?” she asked, just wanting to be cautious if there were people following them. 

“Good thought, the car’s parked here.” he just said, the first one getting out of the car before opening the door for Rojean. 

She tried to frown to herself, still feeling iffy about it but nevertheless, she slipped out of the car, following behind Krister quietly. She was working on her facial expressions but just ended up cringing when she really couldn’t imagine herself like that.

Krister had his hand on her back to guide her to the room. “All the clothes are ready.”

‘Is Lucas going to get angry?’ was the first thought that popped into Rojean’s mind when she saw the clothes, not really paying any attention to them or the details even if she liked dressing up.

He led her to another room where there were more black clothes which was overwhelming for Rojean, seeing as she’s never seen so much clothing in her life. They all look too expensive for her. “Can we cut your hair?”

“No!”

Even though Rojean’s mind was floating somewhere else, the moment she heard that he was going to do something with her hair, she snapped back to the reality she was in.

“Okay. Can you try them on? If it’s okay with you.”

She frowned, walking to the walk-in closet to try on a dress she randomly picked before going out not even taking her time to look at herself. She just wanted to be over and done with for the day especially if she had plans after work with Lucas.

It took a full minute before Krister could even open his mouth to talk. The smile on his face already talked for him. “It’s like Sei’s here…”

Rojean grimaced at his statement, thinking how bad it would be that he wouldn’t be able to move on. “Please do not start thinking I’m her. It will be even more weird for me. That’s bad!”

He went to her before pushing her hair to the side, putting one of Sei’s necklaces around her neck.

“Are there any other things I should remember?” she asked whilst waiting for him. “Am I already going to talk to her people? I mean the investors and such.”

He shook his head before walking to the desk to grab the documents she needed to learn before giving them to her with a stern look. “All of them are her businesses.”

“All of these? Don’t you think it’s wiser you hold them? I know nothing about taking care of businesses. For marketing them, sure. Taking care of one, you really can’t count me on that. You know what, I’ll be the secretary. That’s a better decision.”

“You talk too much,” Krister chuckled. “Don’t worry, I won’t let you work too hard. You just need to know her background. I’m in charge of her businesses. You should just know what to say when someone asks you questions.”

Rojean frowned as her forehead creased, causing Krister to smile. ‘I’ll just ask if it gets too complicated.’ she thought whilst looking at him.

“Yeah, that’s it. You got the hang of her expressions.” he smiled.

“It’s hard! And her signature. It’s too difficult--- I won’t get sued when I copy her signature?”

“That will be fine. No one will know.” he said. “She just signed documents.”

When Rojean’s phone popped a notification for a message, she checked and instantly the frown on her face was replaced with a smile. “Can I go home earlier today?”

“Are you going somewhere?” he asked, his eyebrows rose.

“Just for today! I’ll take the documents home.” she pleaded, her hands clasped together. “I just have something to do.”

--

Just like what he said before, Krister had no second doubts about giving a perfectly good car to Rojean. And not just any car, it was Sei’s car. Her and Lucas agreed to meet up at the convenience store to pick up groceries and to stack up their stock at their apartment. 

“Hey, how was work?” Lucas smiled at her when he caught sight of her entering the store, noticing the necklace she forgot to take off. 

“Good! Mom said to have dinner at home.” she just said, linking her arm around his whilst they walk in unison.

“Where did you get the necklace?”

‘Fuck’ her hand was quick to get the necklace before trying to come up with an excuse. “I’ve had this for a while. I just wore it now.”

He nodded his head, feeling guilty that he doubted her. “Was that the car your boss promised you?” he asked, looking outside, not noticing that Theo Valencia just came in with Oswald and Jin.

They were meeting up with people with important packages for them. This was Theo’s style instead of meeting up in suspicious alleyways and abandoned areas. He figured that if it was out in public, there were less chances of him getting killed in the process. Underground businesses worked like that and it’s less conspicuous to be out there in the open, with casual clothes on as if they were just meeting with friends. 

He was always observant of his surroundings that’s why it was easy for him to spot where Sei was, or so he thought was Sei. Confusion was all he felt when he saw her with a man he hadn't seen before. Therefore he came to the conclusion that Sei was living a double life since no other people except him and some people she trusted knew her face. Though, how would she be alive if he killed her?

He felt… kind of terrified.

“Isn’t that--”

“Yeah. We’re not sure.” he was quick to respond to Oswald who noticed too. “Jin, get a better look closer. She hasn’t seen your face yet.”

“Why me?” Jin complained before frowning, putting his hands in his hoodie pockets before casually walking around until he was close enough that he could see Rojean’s face clearly and check out Lucas’ appearance before going back to Theo and Oswald.

Lucas and Rojean were getting chocolates and Theo couldn’t help but think for a moment how Sei liked her chocolates as well. It was Sei, he thought but he still wasn’t so sure. He had no direction here to follow.

“It’s not impossible. She’s done shit like this.” he told the other two who didn’t have anything to say, just that they were afraid of what would happen next. “Do you think they’ve been together for a long time?”

“Impossible.” Jin remarked. “It’s been a short period of time, she couldn’t possibly move on with her life like that. Yohan’s already investigating and there was nothing changed where she was buried.”

“Maybe they’ve been together for years, we don’t know. Let’s see what she does for now. Perhaps, she hit her head? We’ll fight back when we need to. It’s harmless for now.” 

So he left her a text message.