Chapter 4 ~ Meeting The Twin

CHAPTER 4 : Meeting The Twin.

( Beverly Hills, California. )

The party was as hot as flames! The music, the drinks, the girls?? Shit!

Ricky Winterfield chuckled deliriously as he drove into the familiar surrounding. The party mania got all his depression, pain and frustration away....at least temporarily.

He parked his sport car randomly at the driveway and strutted his way up into the deserted mansion where he lived alone, stumbling a bit in the process.

Home, Sweet Home!

Ricky sighed. No business obsessed father. No fashion freak of a mother. No annoying, conventional twin sister.

No one!

Just he, himself and.... him?

Ricky tipsily chuckled at nothing in particular, mentally prepping himself for a delicious hot dip in the jacuzzi! His quiet time.

In his ecstatic state, he failed to notice the figure sitting impatiently on a couch, her legs crossed with her fingers impatiently tapping the armrest.

Immediately the heir came into view, her blazing eyes wandered between his arrival and her wrist watch. Still, Ricky didn't notice the trouble he was in.

"At this time?... Seriously, Rick?!" She shrieked out loud, finally.

There and then, Ricky Winterfield knew that all thoughts of a hot, relaxing dip was gone!

'So much for a quiet time.' He snarled subconsciously...

***

Jeffery Campbell left the club earlier than Ricky, feeling up high on cloud nine! He struggled to remain focused as he made his way to the parking lot.

He didn't drink much.

He had never drank much.

But he had a little extra than the usual tonight.

As he turned the corner, he heard voices. Pretty loud voices.

Probably some tipsy freaks. He shrugged it off and continued on his way to his car. Suddenly, it sounded out of control! Curiosity made him pause and move over to the source.

It felt like a mirage but it was real. IT was Becky O'Neil! His forever crush.

Jeffrey's heart fluttered as his lips slowly curled up. However, something was wrong. Becky's face was red and puffed up. She was crying badly!

Jeffrey's heart gave a tight, painful squeeze. In the history of his casual stalking, there was only one person in school who could get that reaction off her!

He slowly looked over and saw the cocky face of 'you know who' and his fists unconsciously balled...

***

"What are you doing here?" Ricky gritted the moment his eyes met with his twin sister's, Nicky-firecracker-Winterfield.

"What am I doing here?" Nicky mused. "How about What the heck are you doing coming home by this time of the friggin' night?!.... or day! Ricky, it's almost four in the morning yet, you just waltzed in like it's a normal thing!" She snapped. "Woah! Is it a normal thing??" She questioned with an indignantly raised brow.

Brief intro.

Meet Nicky Winterfield, Ricky's annoying twin sis. Quite tall, strawberry blonde hair same as his, almond shaped eyes, fanatic of books, books, books....and yeah, lots of books! Which got her using glasses and getting straight A's.

She's pretty on a solid 88%. ( However, lesser when she starts an argument with him ). Abide by the rules. And what el...oh! An eternal....crush-er?....on Jeffrey.

So that's pretty much everything.

"You're not my mother!" Ricky stated deadpan, narrowing his pretty cat-like eyes to slits. Nicky scoffed viciously.

"Like you listen to her either!" Was her savage comeback.

And was it mentioned she never lost an argument??

Not wishing to push the argument any further, Ricky walked upstairs day dreaming of the delicious dip in the jacuzzi again.

"I'm not done with you, Rick!" She screeched, pounding her angry feet after him. Why didn't I lock the darn door? Ricky thought sourly.

"Well, I am. Now if you don't mind, exit the room because I wanna take a shower." He pulled off his jacket and headed to the bathroom.

"Why don't you get me, huh? I'm always so worried about you, Rick. As absurd as it sounds, you're the only family I have!" A tremor went through her voice.

Ricky froze on his tracks.

"You know how messed up our family is with dad never being at home and with mom never really caring about us. You know how money and lifestyle oriented they both are! Dad earning, mom spending, kids watching. You're the only one I have. And I know we, I, have nanny but..."

Ricky pulled her into a hug. Nicky was telling the truth about their seemingly picture perfect family. They looked like a family but were nothing close to one.

In reality, it had always been the both of them, alone.

Ricky had moved out of the Winterfield's mansion some months after he turned nineteen because he couldn't take the heartbreaking, languid treatment anymore and opted to live alone. It was better knowing he was really alone.

He had left his sister behind thinking she was gonna be alright with having nanny Tess around, since they got along really well but he was wrong.

Deep in his heart, somewhere cold and dusty, her tears hurt him a lot.

"Shhh..." He softly cooed, pulling her closer. "Hey, it's okay. I'm sorry, Nick. I never should've left you behind. Stop crying?"

Nicky's tears reduced to a trickle down her smooth, slightly chubby cheeks and Ricky slowly cleaned them away.

"How 'bout this?" He offered. "Sleep over tonight and at dawn, I'll drive you home to get your stuffs so you can come live with me?"

Nicky slowly displayed a coy smile and nodded. "Can nanny come too?" She pouted and gazed up at him with puppy dog eyes.

Ricky's lips twitched! He was already offering too much inviting the notorious firecracker, his childhood nightmare, into his house!

A part of him, the same cold and dusty side, missed nanny Tess. Their all but biological mother. But boy, did he dread her scoldings!!

His lips twitched again at the memories. "Okay. But ONLY if she agrees to it."

Nicky squealed happily and jumped on him. "You know I love you, right??"

Ricky mentally scoffed and hid a disdainful look.

"Now off to the shower. Jeez! You reek of vodka! I wonder how those bimbos tolerate you. I'll get you some water." She was back to her snotty self. He gagged.

"You should've said that before i agreed to....wait!....did you rehearse this??"

Nicky smiled deviously and slipped away like an eel. "Shower!" She pointed to the bathroom, smirked once more and ran away.

Ricky kept staring at the door.

"Darn!" He muttered. "So this is what it feels like to get played."

***

( Empire Astheria, Australia. )

Breakfast in the palace was going on smoothly as usual. The buffet was exquisitely spread out on the gigantic dining table with different continental dishes, ranging from chocolate filled croissants to coleslaw, cornish pastry and the likes.

The aged Queen Fiona and Princess Alexis were eating graciously and making small talks. No matter how much the princess disliked wearing a formal dress, anyone could tell that she looked her best in it!

Most especially as every dress had a matching tiara! Elva sighed distractedly in fascination. ROYALTY!

The only stand by aides who were permitted to serve the Royals were Lady Rosa, the Queen's head maid and Chef Nico, the resident head cook.

"So, what classes will you be having today?" Queen Fiona asked, after elegantly dabbing her lips with a soft napkin.

"Nothing much. Just economics and botany lessons. Oh! And a bit of dance class as well." Natalia took a sip from her orange juice.

"Mhn." The Queen continued. "I just wanted to announce something."

"What is it, grandma? Is it something important?" Natalia raised her eyes at her grandmother.

Head Chef Nico rhythmically clapped his hands again and other chefs came rolling in trolleys after trolleys of meals in their smart, white uniform. After changing the menu to dessert, they mechanically walked out.

"You're leaving Astheria tomorrow at first light." Queen Fiona announced.

Natalia choked on the fruit cake she was having. Lady Rosa and Chef Nico raised stunned brows while Elva was openly shocked!

No one bothered to hide it despite their professional trainings.

Elva was the first to snap back to reality when the princess's little cough steadily got out of control! She hastily rushed over and handed Natalia a glass of sparkling water. The princess unceremoniously downed it in one gulp.

"Are you alright? You got me scared! Hurry up and have more water." The Queen worriedly waved for the royal assistant to give more.

"I'm okay now! I'm okay." Natalia stopped Elva from pouring out more water. "Grandma, what did you mean earlier?" Her eyes were wide.

"In conjunction with what we spoke about yesterday, I've concluded that you'll be leaving Astheria for a while. But, you won't be going as a Santiana."

Elva was stunned!

How in the mountains was that possible?! A moment ago, she'ld have been on her way to the dungeons if anything bad had happened to the coughing princess!.... And now this??

'Lord, spare me!' Elva muttered inwardly.

"Your identity is delicate so your safety is crucial. You and Elva will be leaving together unaccompanied. Everything needed for the trip will be duly provided. In any country of your choice, there will be adequate provisions for you both. Most importantly, I'll have people watching from a distance in case you run into trouble."

"You need to have some certain experience, firsthand, that will enable you to become a better person and a future Empress when I'm no more." The Queen adjusted her golden rimmed glasses and sipped some water.

"Bu...but Grandma, what about you? I can't leave you all alone. You're still ill a..and what if my attention is needed and you...you... " She couldn't bring herself to complete the sentence.

The Queen held her hand.

"Aish! You're so stubborn. I've told you countless times that I'm not seriously ill! I've lived a long time in this world. I'm just getting old. So it's normal for me to be weak and constantly ill in health.

"And you're leaving...no excuses! If anything important comes up that I can't handle, which I don't foresee happening, I can always reach out to you on those things which make a lot of noise." She waved distastefully, referring to smartphones.

"Besides, you're not leaving forever. Consider it a test of independence and responsibility." Natalia remained speechless as tears fell in torrents down her rosy cheeks.

Everyone was feeling emotional too. The Queen might tag it with all the fancy words she could muster, but they all knew it was a grandmother granting her grand daughter's silent wishes.

"Thank you." Natalia finally found her voice and kissed the Queen. "I love you so very much."

Behind her glasses, Queen Fiona had misty eyes but she blinked repeatedly trying not to let it show. Elva sighed as she looked at the buffet. Yeah. They were definitely going into a trashcan.

She sighed again.

ROYALTY!...