He's so pissed off…Bradon must have realized that Desmond wanted to talk to us and that was why he made me promise to return home with him. Although I fully intended to keep that promise, I also wanted to live up to the deal that I made with Desmond to support him and his plan. Now that he was king, it was my turn to act out my part, and I needed to know the details of what he expected of me.“Please?” I said pleadingly as I pulled on Bradon's arm. With a displeased look on his face, Bradon decided to sit back down next to me. “We're listening,” I turned to tell Desmond to urge him to explain his plan to us.Apart from the fact that I had to be back in the country to act as his girlfriend, I was certain that there was a more meaningful reason behind Desmond's urgency to return me to the country.“As I was telling you before, I need your help to direct everyone's attention away from me. Then I also thought that as the new king, I need a way for everyone to remember my ascension to
**A Few Years Before**“We should head down now or we’re going to be late for the event…”I said while I struggled to catch my breath. “Already?” he murmured close to my ear. Despite just ending a very passionate round of lovemaking, I could tell that Desmond was eager for even more. It had become almost customary for us to make love before he would attend to any official duties. At least the event was being held at a hotel and that meant that we could do it in comfort on the bed in the hotel room while we were supposed to be preparing for our appearance at the event. Desmond held me in his arms as he hugged me from behind before placing a kiss against my naked back. “We have to go…” I reminded him again as I tried my best to pull up the straps of my dress up my shoulders. “Let's go for another round, Dahlia…” he suggested as his hand moved downwards to caress my bare thighs suggestively.His hand skillfully slipped under my dress before he began teasing the wet mess in between my
Despite how precarious my situation had gotten as each day passed, my parents had no problem abusing the fact that the prince favored me. My connection with the prince was abused in every way possible by my parents whether it be simple boasting at parties and gatherings all the way to manipulating results of business deals. Everything escalated and combined together until my situation was beyond repair and decisive action had to be taken. The day when everything came crashing down, I was allowed to meet the prince one last time so that we could say our ‘goodbyes’. Apparently that was how the king was willing to show his mercy; however, I was certain that Desmond had to pay a heavy price just to see me one last time before I needed to leave the country for good. Despite the king’s promise to let us meet, we weren't even able to have any private time together. Desmond evidently looked distressed and that made me feel that he was taking our parting much harder than I was. With three roy
Apparently, the king didn’t go through the trouble of adding me to the blacklist of people who were banned from entering the country and that probably explained why I managed to fly back to take my sister’s place at her wedding based on my parent’s requests. Either that, or they had somehow managed to get permission from the king. Regardless, it didn’t change the fact that the king made my banishment so public that it was news that everyone in the country knew about at that time. Even if I could return to the country, he made sure that it wouldn’t be an easy return for me. The king’s intentions of protecting his only son and the royal family from further scandal was clear. After officially announcing the end of my relationship with Desmond and my ties to the royal family and this country, we reached an agreement that I would never return to the country. Everything was supposed to end at just that, until Desmond’s genius idea to bring me back. Clearly, all the official announcements t
Just as I was about to answer the question, a voice shouted loudly and drew the attention of everybody including myself.“You homewrecker!!!”I could not pinpoint who was the one who had yelled that out in the large crowd. Right after, other people started yelling out similar accusations. “How dare you come back here?!” “Shameless woman!”“Homewrecker!”I had no idea who in the crowd had accused me of being a homewrecker but those words almost made me break out in a smile. There were just too many people and I couldn't tell where the voice was coming from. Soon enough, I figured out that it didn't matter anymore because that was just the very start of what seemed like an unstoppable wave of countless people screaming out similar accusations. A parade of people poured into the airport holding signs as if protesting against my return. Now that I think about it, something like this didn't happen before when I was banished from the country. I wasn't sure how much of these people's fury
“I guess now that Miss Dahlia is back, we can expect to see the three of you together more often,” another reporter said with a smile. With some effort, I managed to keep on smiling although I knew that what everybody was looking forward to was practically impossible. I should have realized that something like this was going to happen the moment that I agreed to play both my sister and myself at the same time . “Are you looking forward to seeing your sister? It has been quite a while since you came to this country," a reporter asked. They had no idea how much I wanted to see my sister. Despite the complications that she had gotten me in, I still felt a longing to see her in person. It had been quite a while since I had last heard from Diana, and I couldn't stop myself from worrying about her while at the same time praying that she was doing well. “Of course, I miss my sister, but it isn’t like we didn't keep in touch. We are very close,” I said before showing them a confident smil
The crowd chanted the king's name while others shouted questions related to my return and my relationship with the king. Of course, none of us felt even the slightest bit obliged to respond to their questions as we made our way silently to the cars waiting to escort us out of the airport.“I'll take you back home,” Bradon said as he grabbed my wrist quite tightly in his hand. I knew that he wanted us to return to his mansion, but it seemed like Desmond had other plans in mind.“I am here to escort Dahlia back and I have decided to give her a temporary residency in the palace. She should be staying with me until she can find a place of her own,” Desmond replied as he took hold of my other wrist. I glanced from one man to the other before heaving a loud sigh at the conflict that was clearing brewing between them. I felt like heading to the palace with the prince right now while everything was still so chaotic could spark more trouble than good. As for Desmond's plan to stir up chaos a
Frankly, it was hard for me to imagine myself living in the palace under the scrutinizing gaze of everyone else there. First of all, the palace feels stifling and I was sure that I would end up feeling unhappy there despite everything that Desmond would do to please me. Secondly, it now felt quite strange for me to leave this mansion, and perhaps it was because I had been living there for quite some time already. Regardless of the reason, it never once crossed my mind that I should move in to live at the palace.“Are you worried that I'm going to leave you all alone in your large mansion? Will you be lonely without me?” I asked teasingly before letting out a soft laugh.One look at Brandon's face and I could tell that he didn't find my joke to be at all funny. I felt my heart beating faster in my chest when he slowly closed the distance between us. His blue eyes held mine intently, and I found it slightly harder to breathe under his intense gaze. The silence that surrounded us only ma
"You should go to bed," Bradon told me the moment that we stepped into the mansion. I knew that his suggestion was spot on because sleep was exactly what I needed to deal with what was to come. The media and everyone had undoubtedly gone wild as they both communicated and speculated on what was the truth and what were twisted lies from all the events that happened in the past that I shared with my sister.I switched off my phone when it wouldn't stop vibrating, without bothering to read the caller ID on the screen. I could already guess who would be calling me and also exactly what they had to say."It feels like my head is ready to explode," I confessed before smiling weakly at Bradon."Which is precisely why you should stop thinking or caring about anyone else and just get some shut-eye," Bradon said as he peeled away the mobile phone that I held in my hand. I let him do so without putting up any resistance because all I wanted to do was crawl into bed and hide under the sheets wit
"My name is Diana, which can only mean that the Diana standing over there is, in fact, my twin sister, Dahlia. In fact, for the past months, I wasn't present, and the Diana that you knew had always been my sister acting out in my place," Diana explained as if it was something to be proud of.The crowd went wild, but I decided to focus my attention on the two figures that seemed so intent on ruining my life along with my sister’s. Our father had officially become our enemy, and at that moment, he looked like he might have started to regret pushing both of us over the edge. Mr. Malton, who, after all this time, clearly never regretted his actions and never realized that he should have been man enough to take responsibility. I was certain that even now, he was willing to destroy our reputation and our future—all for the sake of the money undoubtedly promised to him by our father. Desperate times truly call for desperate measures; that applied to our father but also to us as well.I could
I found myself praying silently that Desmond could bring everything under control, but my prayers probably fell on deafened ears. Instead of Desmond stepping up to the podium, it was my sister who approached it instead."What is she doing?" I asked in a shaky whisper as I felt myself breaking into a cold sweat. It felt like my eyes were about to pop out of their sockets as I continued staring in bewilderment and disbelief at my sister, who stood with a beautiful smile behind the podium, the microphone very close to her lips. I turned to stare at Desmond and managed to lock gazes with him. I could tell that he was staring right back at me, and the way he nodded his head reassuringly was supposed to bring me some relief and keep me at ease, but it only made me even more nervous.I could tell that everyone in the crowd was staring daggers at my sister, even from where I was standing. It wasn't surprising, considering that everyone thought Diana was me. It felt like tight knots had formed
Back to the present"Homewrecker! Homewrecker! Homewrecker!"The violent chanting continued and began seeping into my consciousness, dragging me back to the present. Disaster seemed to be staring me right in the face."Leya..." Bradon whispered my name right beside my ear.His presence close to me reminded me that, unlike that day back then, I wasn't alone. I had Bradon by my side, and, on top of that, everyone was here with me: Desmond and my sister. I suddenly felt a surge of confidence that made me believe that there could be a way out, one that would save us all from this dire situation my father had plotted against us.I had to admit that after leaving the country, I hadn't spared much thought for what would unfold after my departure. I never took care to follow up on any news-not that they would be made public-related to Mr. Malton's wife and child. I had no idea what happened to him or his family after that incident. My parents completely cut me off, and there was frankly no on
"What have you done? Have you completely lost your mind?" my father yelled at me immediately when our family was gathered in private. His face was completely red with anger as his voice echoed in the room. My mother looked like she was on the verge of tears, and I could tell that she was more worried about our family rather than her own daughter. "News of your ridiculous and scandalous behavior is now all over the place!" my father continued yelling. As if to drive his message home, his mobile phone began ringing non-stop. One glance at the name displayed on the screen drove my father to the brink before he switched off the phone and threw it onto the floor. My mother let out a scream at my father's sudden violent outburst before sinking down onto the sofa as if she had lost all strength in her body.I took the opportunity to slowly take a seat, and Diana was by my side in an instant. I knew that the best way to brave out this storm was to keep quiet and not let his words get to me.
Not having the experience of being a criminal before, I wasn't quite sure how one was supposed to be treated, but the experiences that I went through might have indeed been close. I thought that I was used to disappointing my parents and the people around me. I thought that I was used to seeing the look of disappointment and disapproval in their eyes before it became a look of resentment and then complete apathy and lack of care. I thought that I could deal with everything without getting my emotions involved because, after all, I was supposed to be used to this kind of treatment, and that was why I was caught utterly off guard by how quickly things escalated.Thinking back on it, my memories were quite blurry. Either it was simply too much for me to take in at the time for my brain to form any clear memories, or it was simply too shocking and too harsh for me to take. Either way, everything seemed to fly by me and over my head.Although every single teacher and the principal tried to
Just thinking that the fool right in front of me dared to say he was in love with my sister, while he couldn't even tell the two of us apart, made my blood boil. It took a lot of effort to repress the urge to reach out and strangle his neck right then and there. I reminded myself that I had a part to play and quite an audience to impress."No... this can't be..." Mr. Malton whispered hoarsely from a distance, stepping even further away from me. I stood up from the table, grabbed his arm, and pulled him back to my side as I glared up into his face."It's actually quite simple to fool you. All I had to do was dress up in my sister's clothes whenever I met you and talk a little more sweetly..." I said, letting out a hysterical laugh. I could still feel everyone's eyes on us as the attention in the room escalated even more than before.Mr. Malton was speechless as he tried to pull his arm away from my grip, but I wasn't about to let him get away so easily."Well, now I guess the secret is
I had no idea how Diana managed to keep the girls silent up until that point so that the news wouldn't spread; however, I knew that it wouldn't be too long before everyone in school knew about this illicit affair. We would be extremely lucky if this news did not spread beyond the school walls. Despite the gravity of the situation, Mr. Malton was already ready to make his retreat."What if they don't believe us? I feel so scared. I don't want to be alone, and I don't want you to leave me," I said pleadingly just to see his reaction."You know that I would never do that. It would just be temporary until everything blows over. I promise that I will never leave you. How could I possibly leave you? I love you so much," he declared his love for me boldly.The more dramatic things became, the more I felt that his act of adoration was completely fake. No matter how many times he claimed to be in love with my sister, it seemed like he couldn't even tell us apart. I wondered what kind of face h
"Leya, you need to help me find a way out of this. Diana simply cannot make this kind of mistake," my sister told me slowly and clearly as she stared directly into my eyes."You're right. You can't afford to make these kinds of mistakes," I agreed solemnly."No one else must find out about this. We have to do something before word gets out because word is definitely going to get out,," my sister stated calmly, and I could tell that she had returned to her calm and collected self."Can't we tell them that they simply misunderstood and that it's not true?" I asked, daring to harbor a little bit of hope."They probably won't believe what we tell them, but they might believe what we show them," Diana replied, and I could tell her mind was made up.Without using any more words, it seemed like an understanding had formed between us, and once again, it felt like it was us against the entire world....**The Next Day**As I pushed open the back door to the building that was supposed to be off