"Hmm," Heather leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. We were in her magnificent room, telling her all that had happened yesterday.
"So, Mrs. Jenson is planning an extravagant party for your birthday?"
"Yes," I breathed out. "Can you tell her not to do that?"
Heather rolled her eyes. "As if she'll listen to me. That woman is more stubborn than me. Unless you yourself tell her that this is not what you want, I doubt she'll change her plans."
"We did try to give her subtle hints about that." I admitted.
Olivia snorted. "If you call randomly shouting at the breakfast bar that you don't like lavish parties subtle, then sure."
"I didn't know how else to tell her!" I defended.
"You could've said something like lavish birthday parties are getting too boring and that's not your style anymore," Olivia said and I kept quiet because I didn't know what to say to her.
"Listen you two, I know what to do to make her stop this. When yo
I ran into Ethan that afternoon. He seemed frustrated and in a hurry. For a second he looked annoyed with me for bumping into him but then he managed to calm himself down and grabbed my hand in his."You come with me," he ordered, dragging me with him while I stumbled confusedly behind him."What? Where are you taking me?"He didn't answer and I didn't resist although I should've. We were already out of the mansion and he was ushering me inside his car. He got in right after me and asked the driver to take him to his office."Where are we going?" I asked once the car had started and we were out of the mansion gates."My secretary, Jeremy Walls had a family emergency and I have a very important presentation today, plus other important events to attend. It's an important day. A Chinese company is interested in investing in us and I'm sure our joint ventures will be very successful. So I need a secretary today and you'll have to be just that."
It had been five days since my dinner with Ethan. In those five days there was a phenomenal change in Ethan's behavior towards me. Although he still got irritated with me sometimes but it was nothing major. We would greet each other and let silence settle between us before one of us made attempts at small talk. We weren't harsh or rude towards each other anymore. I knew he still thought of me as some type of a rich, stuck up brat but I could see that he was getting to see a whole new side of me. A side which had a large part of the real me and very little to nothing of Juliet.Just two days before my real and my fake birthday which would strangely coincide coincidentally, there was a huge uproar in the Jenson household. I had gathered from Olivia that Mrs. Jenson had cancelled all her previous plans and now there would only be a private dinner celebration with close friends and family.Charlotte was summoning Olivia every day for even the tiniest detail for my birthday
My mind skipped to the upcoming birthday bash. No doubt, there'd be a lot for people. The Jenson family was well known all over the world as I learnt from my stay here. They had a lot of connections, a lot of friends, family friends, cousins, sisters, uncles, aunts, granddaughters, grandsons, grandmothers, grandfathers. It was a huge family. Plus, the people they had professional connections with.Roughly saying, I'd expect a little over five hundred people present at my birthday, I meant Juliet's birthday. Whatever, it was the same day anyway!I gasped. Five hundred people?! Holy cow. Would they even find a hall big enough to fit all those people in.But still even if they lessen two hundred or something people, it was still a huge party of people. Even with Heather by my side to prevent anything from going wrong, there was still a slim to no chance of everything going fine.There were five hundred people. What was the possibility that one of them wouldn
It took me some time before I snapped back to the present and looked around the dark van. The windows were tinted black and it felt like I was being kidnapped all over again.I felt a presence next to me and turned my head to see a heavily built man. I hadn't seen the man before and didn't know who he was. He was probably the one who pulled me into the van.Right in front of me was another person. I noticed it was a female. She was typing away something on her phone, barely acknowledging my presence.Just as I was about to speak, or yell for help, she put her phone down and grinned down at me."Hi, you must be Julie James, am I right?" She asked. I was dumbfounded. She knew who I really was? But I didn't know her at all.I hesitated before responding. "No."She waved a hand in the air. "Don't bother lying to me, please. I very well know you are Julie James.""Who are you?""I'm Amelia! Didn't Heather say anything about me?" She
After that all of them started to pour out of my room slowly. Antonio ruffled my hair before going and Rachael hugged me once more. I gave Rebecca a kiss on the cheek. I hadn't expected her to wish me at twelve but I was glad. My parents kissed my forehead before they retreated back into their room. Ethan was already long gone.Now it was only Olivia, Amelia and Heather in my room."I didn't wish you a happy birthday because it's notyourbirthday," Heather said with a blank face. "I already wished my real best friend right at twelve.""Okay," I said awkwardly. Why was she telling me this?"Well, it might interest you to know that Julie's real birthday is today too and I wished her a happy birthday for her real one, not her fake one," Olivia retorted, "right at twelve." I was starting to think she wasn't much fond of Heather.Heather looked surprised for a moment before quickly composing herself. "Oh, I didn't know that."
I went back and buried myself under the covers for the third time and fell asleep well until nine in the morning. Everyone had had their breakfasts by then and when I came down for my own breakfast I was greeted by an excited unison of 'happy birthday's. Again.Everyone seemed to give me special attention today and I was surrounded by everyone, all of them talking to me at once and telling me about their plans for me. I smiled at everyone and before I knew it, all of my favorites were doled out in front of me. Keith stood quietly in the corner, watching me with an amused smile. I grinned back at him.I could sense he wanted to say something to me, probably wish me on my birthday but he held himself back for some reason.After I was finished with breakfast, I walked into the kitchen to talk to Keith. When he looked up and saw me there, he about jumped down from the counter he was sitting on and rushed to me. But before he could say anything to me, he was cut off
I must have gone deep and it took me a long time to resurface. I gasped for air."That was so fun!" Amelia screeched in the distance."Yeah, I missed this last year," Heather added, both of them swimming towards me.I didn't even know when the girls jumped. They must have immediately jumped after me.Strangely, I felt really good. I think it was the thrill and adrenaline and I wanted to do it again but I wouldn't because at the sight of the water, I was sure I'd chicken out again."You guys shouldn't have pushed me. I was going to jump in," I said."It was Heather, not me," Amelia said."You were taking too long and I didn't have all the time in the world.""Took you long enough. I though you weren't going to jump in anytime today," Ethan said, swimming closely."Whatever. Can we go now?""What's the hurry, birthday girl. Can't squeeze in some time for a little water fight?"Just as Ethan said that, my face
I could describe Juliet's birthday party as overwhelming and extra. A lot extra.The dinner was hosted at a five star hotel,SereneSerenade'sballroom. The whole place was decorated from top to bottom. It looked like a palace.If this was Charlotte's 'simple' dinner party, then I never wanted to see what her extravagant ones were like.Getting into the ballroom had posed a great challenge. When our cars arrived at the hotel, the entrance was crowded with the paparazzi. They were going crazy over what the celebration was about. I knew they had a slight inkling about it. Today was Juliet's birthday. The Jenson's are hosting a secret dinner party. What could be the reason?It was too obvious. Only a fool would not be able to guess that this was their daughter's birthday party.With that, rumors would spread. The paparazzi would speculate and try to find more information. Not everything would be in our control. Somehow
♡five years later♡I bent down to examine it through the glass. It was beautiful but so were all the others. I nudged Olivia next to me."What do you think about this one?" I asked, hoping she could help me out with choosing something.She examined it closely. "Like I said about everything you showed me, it's really pretty.""That isn't helping me to choose only one!""Julie, how am I supposed to know which one is perfect? Everyone has different tastes and what I like isn't necessarily something that Ethan might like. You know him the best so you choose one."I sighed. "Fine, fine." I looked at her hand to stare at her wedding ring glinting on her finger under the fluorescent lights."Hurry, we've been here for an hour now. I'm going to go sit down somewhere.""God, I'm sorry. Yeah, sit somewhere. I'll make it quic
"I assume she must've retaliated?"He grimaced. "Yeah, she dumped an entire pack of flour over me and it was okay because it was powder until she started chasing me around with the hose turning me into a man dough."I chuckled. "Don't hate her too much. She's still my sister." It felt weird to think of her as my sister. "Oh and is it still true that you used to envy her because she did whatever she wanted and didn't give a shit?"He grumbled under his breath. "Don't you ever tell her that.""So thatistrue.""I'm serious. You're not allowed to tell her. She'd bring it up every time we bicker.""Okay, I won't." I said, thoroughly amused."Good. So now that we've got all problems out of the way, I think you should tell me about yourself, Julie Jenson.""Well that's a hard thing to do. What do you want to know?""Just tell me everything about your life from as long as you can remember. I want to get to k
It had now being a week since I visited my aunt. I was settling comfortably into my college schedule like before and there was no difference even in my routine with the exception that I no longer woke up at five in the morning to get ready and go for a jog. I now woke up at eight for classes at nine like a sane normal college student and Olivia was proud of that. She was just happy that I'd no longer knock on her door at the crack of dawn demanding for her company while I jogged. I had to admit it felt pretty good to get three hours of extra sleep everyday.It had been a week but Ethan still did not come to meet me. I wondered if I should just lose hope and move on but it was too soon to take that decision but it would certainly be considered late if he showed up now. But I missed him. I missed him too much to the point where every brown haired guy made me think it was him, only to be disappointed.Olivia and I had been getting along pretty well. Amelia had called the
"He had already called and demanded the ransom money from your parents when his criminal friend told him about a child trafficking group who was willing to give him twice the amount he had asked for. He didn't want to risk getting traced if he asked again for a raise in the money from your parents so he managed to get two dead girl bodies who had recently died in a house fire and were burnt to the point where they couldn't be recognized and just exchanged your baby clothes with them. He staged a fake accident and the couple was informed. They thought that both of you had died and didn't want a DNA test to verify it. They couldn't bear it." I could see her hands shaking as she spoke but she clasped them tightly together."Was there no mention of all this anywhere in the news?" I was exasperated."He had kidnapped you two before others could be informed that your mother had given birth to triplets. After the couple found the two babies dead, they didn't want anybody to k
I had borrowed Olivia's car for the day. Today was important. It was something I had promised myself to check after I left the mansion.It had taken nearly three hours to arrive. It was a nice sunny Sunday afternoon with birds chirping in the afternoon sun and a pleasant atmosphere. The breeze and the faint smell of the salty sea in the air brought back fun childhood memories spent with my parents and my uncle and aunt.Today was Sunday which reminded me that Ethan was supposed to move out on this day. He hadn't tracked me down and came to talk like he said he was going to on the phone and I wondered if he was just giving me time and space or that he genuinely didn't want anything to do with me anymore. I tried remaining optimistic. There was no way he wouldn't come. On top of that he knew about me from the very beginning and still fell for me so I found no reason as to why he wouldn't find me.We called Heather the next day after returning because we were curio
"Who?" Even I thought Heather's attempts at playing dumb were pathetic."Are you done pretending you don't know anything when I know you've been helping the girl?"Heather sighed, annoyed. "Not yet, no," She grumbled."I just want to see her. Now where did you hide her?""She's not here."There was a pause and I imagined her raising an eyebrow. It annoyed me that I didn't even get a glimpse of her face. Sure, I'd seen her in pictures but I was sure it didn't do her full justice. So I had to imagine myself raising an eyebrow."She ran away." Juliet realized. She was pretty quick at catching on things."She did, just now. Let's leave her alone. Now that you're here, just blend into your role. And how the hell did you know I helped her?""Just when are you going to stop thinking that I have no brain? It's you who's sounding stupid right now by asking that question."I wondered where Ethan was. I already missed him.
I froze. For a full minute I couldn't do anything but gawk at a confused Samara."Are you okay?""Uh," I snapped out of my daze. "What did you say?""I said that a woman is waiting in the living room. She's asking for you and she looks like you. It's unbelievable. I thought you were just messing around but you two really are different people.""I-I'll be right there." My voice came out shaky. I was expecting Juliet to return but nothing had prepared me for this moment.I knew I should immediately find Heather because if Juliet was here then that meant Heather must've known that she was coming. Why didn't she warn me before?But my feet seemed to have a mind of their own as they approached the stairs. I couldn't deny that part of me which wanted to see the woman I had been pretending to be for so many months.I could see the back of her head. She was a redhead but I knew she was a natural brunette and she had just dyed her hair and cho
"That's...strange.""Very much so. Hopefully, there aren't any more clones. I've had enough with you as it is. Once I'm sure everything is under control here, I'll go in search of Juliet.""Will that be necessary? I'm all over the news. Even if Juliet doesn't keep up with the latest news she's bound to hear it from someone, especially when it's about her."Heather seemed to think it over. "Now that I have no idea where she is, that's highly possible.""And before that happens shouldn't I just disappear?""No. At least not yet. Even if she does hear about it, she'll contact me first. I don't think she'd want to come back when she's unintentionally the hot topic right now."I sighed. "What am I to say to the parents?""They're pissed. If you keep being holed up in your room, they'd probably be mad at you for being a coward and that is unlike Juliet."Taking her words into account, I promptly approached them just before lunch.
JULIE'SPOVI shot up into a sitting position once my eyes opened. I immediately regretted sitting up so abruptly because the room spun at great speeds. I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed my fingers into my temples. It took some time for me to recall the last thing I could remember which was the argument with Heather.I sighed. I was again torn between what was the right thing to do and what I was forced to do.I noticed an Advil on my nightstand. I immediately chased it down with water, grateful to whoever put it there for me because my headache had just started to set in.The atmosphere at the breakfast table was tense. I had woken up late and everyone had already had their breakfast. Ethan had left for work and I regretted not being able to catch him before he left.I didn't remember much from last night after my argument with Heather. I just hoped I hadn't done anything stupid but if looking at my parents