“Tomorrow is going to be another hassle…” she said before heaving another sigh.“More love letters asking you out?” I made an educated guess.She turned to me and nodded her head before shaking her head and rolling her eyes upwards at the same time. I ended up laughing whenever Diana made that funny face. I liked the fact that I seemed to be the only one who knew this side to my sister. After all, she couldn’t show off all the nasty, playful, and truthful sides of herself to anyone else without being judged. Sadly, that also meant that she couldn’t be herself in front of anyone, our parents included.“Dahlia, can you be Diana again tomorrow? Please…” she asked with pleading eyes.For me, it wasn’t that challenging to act as Diana. The effort was well worth it mostly because I knew that Diana could relax more on the days when she was acting as Dahlia. Fewer eyes would be on her and she wouldn’t have to spend her days living under such crushingly high expectations. The truth was that I
“Umm…” I murmured as I tried to pull my arm back.“Don’t just reject me like this, Diana. Why don’t you take some time to think about it properly?” he suggested as he closed the distance between us.I sensed immediately that this guy wasn’t simply willing to back down just like the other guys that I’ve rejected. I could smell trouble coming my way, but I wasn’t sure how I should deal with it.“I truly feel happy that you feel this way about me, but I don’t think that we can start dating…” I said while trying to remain calm.“Let’s start again. Do you even know who I am?” he asked with clear displeasure.I looked up into his face and had to admit that he didn’t look so bad. Most girls would probably find him quite attractive. He was probably a little older than I was. He was tall, well-built, and had attractive determined eyes. Since the love letter he sent didn’t have a resume attached, I didn’t quite know who he was in the sense that he wanted me to understand, and it wasn’t like I c
“Why are you here?” Bill growled with a scowl on his face.“I have date with my fiancée today,” Anthony replied smoothly before turning to offer me a charming smile.Oh, that’s right. I’m supposed to meet with Anthony today…Wait, but didn’t Diana mention that it wasn’t supposed to be a date?I was too captivated by Anthony’s attractive smile at first to remember that we still had a problem on our hands. By the time that I came back to my senses, Bill had already closed the distance between himself and Anthony.“Watch out, Anthony!” I yelled out.It was too late because Bill had already grabbed onto Anthony’s shoulder to turn him around. I was so shocked that violence was about to break out. Anthony is a kindhearted guy who would never resort to violence, and I immediately got scared for him and his safety. Everything moved so fast that at first, I wasn’t sure what exactly had happened. The next thing I knew, there was a cracking sound followed by a thumping sound and then Bill was sp
This all happened because I failed to control the situation and the things that I said to Bill must have angered him. I recalled the way that Bill looked at me and the feeling of his tight grip on my wrist. Thankfully, Anthony showed up when he did and saved me because I wasn’t quite sure how I would have handled Bill otherwise.I hated how helpless I felt and how that weakness of mine led to Anthony’s injury.“You don’t have to do this…” he said softly but he did not attempt to pull his hand away from mine again.“I want to do this,” I said before glancing up from his hand and smiling at him.It felt like the least that I could do apart from thanking him repeatedly. I could feel Anthony’s eyes on me as I cleansed his wounds and applied medicine on them before sticking bandages on them.“I think that’s a bit much…” he said as he looked at the result of my handiwork.The bandages did make the condition of his hand look much worse than it actually was, but I thought that it was best to
I liked how he talked to me in his gentle and soothing tone, the way he smiled at me, and the way he always handled me with care as if I might break. Then there would be times like earlier where I could get glimpses of other sides of him that never failed to intrigue me.“Anywhere is fine…” I replied as I felt myself blushing for no good reason.“Should we just run off? Just the two of us?” he suggested as his eyes widened with apparent excitement.“We’ll get in trouble if we do that,” I replied while worrying more about Anthony than myself.His wild suggestion was unexpected and didn’t seem to fit his character but that only made me feel special for getting to see this side to him. I ended up giggling at just the idea of making a run for it together even though I was supposed to be against the idea.“We’ll get in plenty of trouble already as it is…” he pointed out before winking at me.I knew immediately what he was referring to. He did just beat up someone, and even if it was for my
“Hmm…is that so?” Anthony replied while sounding extremely unconvinced.I wished that I could come right out and tell him honestly that I wanted to see him in action but because I couldn’t quite tell him that, I decided to ask him something instead to change the direction of my conversation.“How did you find me?” I asked curiously.“I asked around for you and someone told me that you’d gone into the back garden…” he replied before grinning at me.I could tell that he had also learnt from that moment on why I had gone to the back garden, and I couldn’t blame him for not being impressed.“Does it happen very often?” he asked, and I knew that he was referring to those confessions.“Yeah…too often…” I replied honestly before pressing my lips into a regrettable thin line.“Diana…” Anthony said after a moment of pause.It looked like he had something that he wanted to tell me but before he could say anything, the loud sound of thunder roaring in the distance disturbed us. The wind picked u
I hated how sad and lonely he sounded at that moment. His words and the worried look on his face tugged painfully at my heart and that was probably because it wasn’t true that I didn’t want him to kiss me. More than anything, I wanted him to kiss me. I wanted to feel his sweet lips on mine.“I…” I murmured hesitantly.In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to say no to him…or to myself…“Just close your eyes…” he whispered.I let my eyes drift close as I waited to feel his lips on mine. Having my eyes closed made everything even more frightening because I couldn’t see and didn’t know what to expect. I felt his soft and warm lips press gently against mine.That was it.The first kiss that I shared with Anthony was over before I knew it, but it made me realize that the feelings that I’d developed for him was far from over.…**The next day**“How was your date?” Diana asked teasingly.“What date?” I replied as if I didn’t know what she was talking about.“You’re going to tell me all about
I stared right into her eyes as I silently asked her if she did it. She must have understood my unasked question because she nodded her head slowly yet firmly. Diana closed the distance between us and wrapped her arms around me.“I did it for you,” she whispered right into my ear.The smile that she showed me told me that she didn’t have a shred of regret in her body. It felt like something was sucking life out of me and my entire body felt cold and numb.“What is the meaning of this?” the teacher yelled, and it was clear that her question was directed at Diana.Diana slowly unwrapped her arms from around my body before turning around to face the teacher, the staff, and the other students that had gathered at the scene. She lifted her hands to cover her face for a moment before lowering them.“I didn’t mean to. It was an accident…” Diana said in a broken voice before she began wailing.Tears fell from her eyes in streams as her face contorted into a mask of extreme sadness and regret.
My heartbeat thundered in my ears as I approached them. The three of them were engaged in such an intense conversation that, at first, they did not recognize my presence. Diana's voice was the first that came to me. Her voice was shaky, as if she was barely holding herself together."The doctor said that there's no change in his condition. Anthony is still unresponsive, although it's been months, and this whole thing with the snipers is only making it worse..." Diana said.I came to a stop as my mind struggled to process her words. My heartbeat grew even faster in my chest, and for a moment I thought that perhaps I had misheard my own sister. What did she mean when she said that Anthony is still unresponsive?Diana already knew that Bradon had taken Anthony's place, and that meant that the man who was shot was none other than Bradon. Yet how was it possible that Anthony was the one who was unresponsive? Nothing made sense to me at that moment. It felt like I was missing a very key pie
It hurt me more than anything to realize that I couldn't blame him, even if he did that, because I was the one who betrayed him first. I left him without a word or farewell, running away from him as if he were the one who had done something wrong. Memories of our time together came back like waves. The fake honeymoon that we enjoyed together felt more real than anything, right at that moment. I remembered the way that he would laugh whenever he let his guard down on the nights when we enjoyed each other's company simply as our true selves, and the dangerous world outside and our identities didn't need to complicate things for us.There was a time when I thought that love was enough, but a small voice inside of me reminded me not to be so foolish. As time slipped by, I found myself praying that the door would just swing open and that Bradon would be standing there with his arms wide open. I wanted nothing more than to be held in his arms once again. I had to admit to myself that, with
"Where is this?" I asked without hiding my suspicion. I knew very well where the Vulkan mansion was located and also what it looked like, and the place that we had just parked in front of couldn't look more different than the mansion that I remembered."You didn't think that we would take you to our home, did you?" Mrs. Vulkan snapped before looking away with a clear look of disgust on her face."I guess your home would be the first place that Bradon would look when he finds me missing," I replied dismissively."No more chit chat," Bradon's father said as he urged me out of the car.I told myself that it did make sense that they would find a place for me to stay, but did it have to be such a shabby-looking place? The isolated low-rise building looked like it could use a round of maintenance. The room that they led me to was simple, with a single bed, a television, a desk, and absolutely no windows."How long am I supposed to stay here? I thought we made an agreement that you would h
"Why would my son want to keep you here?" Mr. Vulkan asked as his eyes seemed to search my face for the answer that he was looking for. "How am I supposed to know? Maybe he hasn't had enough of me yet..." I replied before showing them a fake yet extremely sweet smile. "Even if he isn't considered a normal member of our family, I still can't have you associating with him," he continued on as if he was lecturing me of my lack of worth. "I just told you that I'm not the one begging to stay here and with him," I replied coldly. I had hoped that by then it had become plain obvious what I wanted the two of them to do for me. With their help, I was certain that they could find a way to get me out of Bradon's mansion. Bradon wasn't around, so the next in command was Zain, whom I did not think could directly stand up against the head of the Vulkan family. At least, that was where I decided to place my bets at that point in time. "So you want to leave but he won't let you? Is that what you
I quickly followed them inside, sensing that the two of them were here looking for trouble. One glance at Zain, and I could tell that he was already informing Bradon of their unexpected arrival. It wasn't like Zain could throw out Bradon's father and stepmother, so I could understand the pitiful position that he suddenly found himself in. I straightened my back and followed them further inside, thinking to myself that I needed to hold the fort until Bradon returned. Whatever it was that they wanted, I needed to make sure to find out.The two of them sat comfortably on the sofa as if they were in their own house by the time I made it to the living room. The fact that neither of us spoke a single word as I sat down on the sofa only made the tension in the room skyrocket."I'm sure that Bradon will be back soon," I said, more to tell myself than to tell them."Why are you still here?" Mr. Vulkan asked as he turned his cold gaze in my direction.The way that he looked at me left no room f
**A few days later**"How many times do I have to tell you? You can't keep me locked up in here!" I yelled at the top of my lungs, my hands clenching into tight fists. I could feel the blood rushing to my face as anger and frustration took over.Over the past few days, I had already lost count of the number of times Bradon and I had had this argument. For some reason that I could not comprehend, my life as a prisoner inside his household had resumed. There must have been a change in Bradon that I couldn't fully understand-something that had led him to decide to keep me under house arrest. Going out was no longer an option, even if I was escorted."You may leave when I tell you that you can," Bradon replied with the same infuriatingly calm response he always gave, his tone ticking me off even more."Listen, I'm not doing this because I want to be selfish. If there's a reason why you can't let me go outside, then please just let me know, and I'll try to be understanding," I said, taking
"I'll try not to come back late," Bradon replied without any further explanations. I only managed to simply nod my head before he was already out of the living room. The look that Bradon gave me told me to hold my tongue and not ask him any questions. I knew very well that asking him anything would be useless because he most likely wouldn't give me any kind of answer. As I stared at the doorway, my mind became even more unsettled than before. Something was definitely going on and Bradon was keeping it away from me. "Probably just work..." I mumbled to myself. It wasn't unusual for Bradon not to tell me much about matters related to his work, and I never minded. A sigh escaped my lips when I realized that I had officially failed once again. The worst part was that I felt very relieved at the very same time. Bradon's parting words, telling me that he would hurry back home gave me something to look forward to and that made me realize just how much I yearned to be with him. "Stop it,
I needed to leave him and as soon as possible, but I didn't know how I could achieve that. My past experiences have taught me quite directly that I couldn't truly run away from Bradon. Escaping from the mansion was unquestionably impossible. I could not run away, so that meant that I needed to get Bradon to agree to let me leave. My legs already felt weak, and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and shut my eyes to escape reality. I knew that I needed to talk to Bradon about ending our fake marriage as soon as possible, although I had no idea how to bring up the topic. Something told me that it might prove to be difficult to get Bradon to agree, and there was always a risk that he might react unpredictably.However, if everything he did was simply him just acting out his role and his feelings for me didn't truly exist, then that might be the solution to all of my problems. If he felt no attachment to me, then he should have no problem letting me go just as planned. After all
The party ended early, yet it was quite eventful, at least for Bradon and myself. I felt like there was a storm raging inside of me all the while that we rode back to his mansion. It felt like there was something right at the tip of my tongue that I wanted to say, but yet I couldn't bring myself to say it. There were times when I thought that I fully understood myself and what I wanted, and yet at the very same time, I felt so confused and lost. The feelings that were struggling to take dominance inside of me did not make sense, and it made me feel as if my thoughts and my feelings were heading in the direct opposite direction of one another.Bradon's words of defiance as he confronted my father came back to me loud and clear:"Dahlia is not your daughter anymore, and neither am I one of the Vulkans. I will never let you take my wife..."I should have known that entering into this contract marriage with Bradon, while taking my sister's place, would somehow lead to blurring the line be