Chapter 4

OLIVIA

When I was in the orphanage, I never imagined that there would be a family willing to adopt me. Every Christmas, I recall some people who visited and gave us gifts. I was super excited especially in November, the month when we normally prepare some presentations that we would perform at the Christmas party.

Then one time, someone gave me a gift. It was a Christmas card that was given by a lovely couple, and I kept it in a shoe box. Whenever I feel sad, I would see myself bringing it out from the box and read it. Even though it had only a generic happy Holiday message with my name written in front of it, it didn't fail to give a smile on my face. It was the only Christmas present I got when I was a kid that somehow made me feel special. The truth was, I imagined that it came from my real family.

Now in a turn of events, I was sitting with my 'parents', with my 'fiance' sitting next to me and of course his family on the other side of the table.

And guess what? We were discussing the plans for our marriage— Chase and mine.

We were all here in the dining area of Chase Maxwell's house. I never imagined that I would find myself in this situation, at least not until today. Reese Jones, for God's sake, why do we have the same face? Well, let me play your role for a while then once I get what I want, they will no longer see me anymore.

I can't wait to get my three hundred thousand dollars from Chase. That money is enough for me to change my face entirely so that this idiot would no longer run after me.

"Reese, I am glad that you're able to join us today. How are you?"

I came back to my senses when Chase's father spoke. At this moment, I wasn't sure what they thought of Reese. Due to the fact that I was unfamiliar with her, I've decided to provide just plain responses to his family, just to be on the safe side. The less I say, the less likely it is that I will make a mistake, and if I can perfect the art of pretense, I will be able to avoid any suspicion on their part.

Earlier when we arrived, his father, whose name is Ernest, looked at me as if he saw a dead person, which I thought was strange. He even dropped his newspaper and then proceeded to hug me. My mind couldn't help but wonder how close he was to Reese.

"I'm fine, thanks!" I faked my smile just like how I pretend to be someone that I'm really not.

"That's good to hear, sweetheart. All of us were worried about you," Chase's father replied, still gazing at me with an odd look.

"She kinda has amnesia and forgot our wedding," Chase said to my family.

Everyone at the dining table burst out laughing. They looked at me and kept shaking their heads. Then they proceed to bombard me with a lot of questions. I was trying to be as polite as possible with them but they started to get on my nerves.

To avoid their questions, I always end up looking at Chase, giving him a look, signaling him that I can no longer accommodate and answer all their queries, especially those interrogation of his parents.

His mother had a lot to say about this swimming competition, like I didn't have even the slightest idea what she meant by that. "I'm rooting for you Reese. You're the pride of the Jones's family!"

What did she say? I don't even know how to swim!

Then, I recall those medals from Reese's room and some portraits of her wearing a one piece swimsuit holding a trophy. So the missing bride-to-be is a swimmer?

"Perhaps, you're getting overwhelmed because of your wedding, then here comes this upcoming swimming competition you must attend and you're still trying to recover." Mrs. Maxwell glanced at her son. "Chase, I guess you should postpone the wedding for this year so that Reese will have more time to prepare."

Chase's mom then reached for my hand that was resting on the table. Chase, who was seated next to me, caught my attention. I saw that he had a gloomy expression on his face. His oceanic eyes were filled with disappointment as he listened to what his mother had to say.

"Chase, I guess your mother is right. We can't force this wedding since Reese is still recovering. We don't even know what happened to her. We need a specialist to check on her."

I'm not sure whether I would be happy or not that I am hearing all these damn excuses from his family. One thing is for sure, both of his parents don't want me to marry their son. If the marriage would not push through, I wonder if I would still be able to get my money back . . .

But of course, I am already here in this madness and I already made a decision to play along with it, so in order for me to ensure that I would be getting money, I have to marry this billionaire, by hook or crook.

"I'm sorry, Uncle Ernest and Aunt Claudia, but me and Chase would like to be married as soon as possible," I uttered.

His parents were both staring at me with a blank expression on their faces before they threw meaningful looks at each other. I'm not sure whether they're enraged or just confused.

Chase, on the other hand, smiled at me. "Mom, dad, you heard Reese. We want this wedding to happen as soon as possible. In fact, I wanted our wedding to be done today but you intervened with our initial plan. If it weren't for your complaints, Reese would have been my wife by now." He then glanced at me and winked.

I rolled my eyes, but I stopped midway as her sister seemed to notice it.

"I wish you never came back," she said with her lips pouting in annoyance.

I narrowed my eyes as I threw a dagger at her. I want to give this lady a smack on the face but since she will be my sister-in-law, then I'll let it slide.

"Hey Chandria, quit it." Chase told her warily.

Reese's parents then started to persuade them with the wedding plan but for some reason, Chase's parents would always bring up my condition.

I guess the real problem here was how I would convince these people that I'm fine. Even if I'm in their position, I would also be terrified that someone who has gone missing for two months, ruined her supposed wedding with their son, would show up and have no details whatsoever about what really happened.

It is reasonable for them to think about it first. I got that I needed to be checked by a specialist, probably they are referring to a therapist or some sort. Observing how our conversations went, I already knew that it would not be easy for me to wear Reese' shoes at all.

However, even though the shoes don't fit right now on my feet, I would still work my ass off to be the modern Cinderella of this fairytale.

We exchanged our goodbyes as soon as our lunch was finished. I walked in their hallway, then went downstairs and saw Maxwell's family portrait. My eyes wandered on their walls which appeared to be magical. They had these dream-like paintings, sculptures that I only saw from the magazines and when I reached the end of the stairs, there's this old typewriter that caught my attention. I squinted my eyes as it felt like I had seen it before.

"Do you still remember that thing?" A familiar voice of Chase was heard behind me. He then tapped my shoulders and stood up right beside me.

"It's the first time I've seen it," I replied.

"You gave that to me as a gift," he said.

Oh, alright. I bit my tongue and acted as if my head started to feel a throbbing pain. I guess this is the best thing to do, to disguise that I'm suffering from amnesia so they would stop throwing questions at me.

I know Chase wanted me to share what exactly had happened to me but since I'm a different person, I don't have any explanation for it. I just need to stick with this act until they get tired of asking me a lot of things.

However, I know I couldn't pretend to have amnesia forever. If this continues, Chase' parents will not likely agree for us to get married.

"If you don't remember that's fine," he said.

His face saddened as he tried to tell me some good stories about him and Reese, hoping that any of it would somehow ring a bell to me.

As I listened carefully to him, I started to think that having a relationship with someone is truly difficult. When I was working in the bar, my goal was to earn a lot of money and that's it.

When I was still at the orphanage, every time I saw other kids being adopted, I felt so jealous. Every night, I prayed that hopefully one day, a family would come and adopt me. Now, I realized that family can be complicated too.

"Reese, please don't give up," he pleaded.

He snaked his arms around my waist and pulled me for a embrace. Surprisingly, it's a comforting, warm, tender . . . long embrace, which made my mind calm a bit.

My hands wanted to move on their own and to embrace him too, but my mind reminded me not to do it. I don't want to become too attached to him. My emotions should not have any control of me. If I ended up liking this person, then I'd be in huge trouble, especially when the real Reese Jones finally showed up.

But I had to admit that this guy is truly appealing. The way he embraces me gives me an indication that he doesn't want to let me go. I know I was mad as hell at him last night but at the back of my mind, there's a little demonic voice telling me to enjoy this moment with him.

Perhaps because I don't have any lover? I never had a boyfriend before. Even if I wanted to enter a relationship and entertain some men who showed good motives to me, I didn't have the courage to grab the chance and ended up getting away.

That's how my trauma ruined my life.

I came back to my senses when he kissed my lips. It was so passionate and enticing that even though my mind was telling me to push him, I did the opposite. I kissed him back, parting my lips and felt his tongue inside my mouth which made me moan softly.

Then I realized we were still in his house and his parents might have caught us kissing!

"Ch-Chase, not here . . ." I muttered and slightly pushed him away.

And I was correct . . . someone has caught us in the act.

I saw his sister, standing up a few steps away from our direction, watching us intently.

"Can you guys get a room?" she scoffed and rolled her eyes at me.

A sudden wave of embarrassment filled my entire system. She then walked past us and even bumped my shoulder intentionally. As I turned around, she only gave me an annoyed face.

My eyebrows furrowed with how that brat Chandria acted in front of me. I licked my lower lip and grinned bitterly. What a childish devil . . .