"Are you seriously taking me on a date dressed like this?" Ethan asked again.
"Yes, Ethan. I know you're not happy with this right now but trust me, this is going to be a good date. We're going to do a lot of things."
"Like what?"
I rolled my eyes. "Should I spoil it for you? No I'm not going to do that."
Ethan looked down at his old clothes that I had told him to put on. He had on a faded worn out blue T-shirt and sweatpants that he no longer used.
I led him into the garden.
"Are we having a picnic in the garden?"
"No. Today were going to find you a new hobby."
"For me? But I do have a hobby. I like to write."
"But do you ever do that? No. You want to do that when you'll be old and when you'll have a lot of time on your hands. But that's not okay. You need to have a hobby now as well. Don't worry. We'll find something you'll enjoy that also won't be time consuming."
"But why are we in the garden?"
"Were go
"Yeah, I'll do that. So this is not it? You don't enjoy drawing and panting? Nothing in the art department?"He shook his head. "I suck at this.""It doesn't matter. You just have to enjoy it. Besides we always keep improving.""No, I don't really enjoy this. It feels like a task."I nodded and took out the page from my back pocket in which I had listed down all the things we were going to do today. I crossed off origami and painting and rounded gardening because it was a strong contender for his hobby.The next thing on the list was cooking which we had already done but will do it again because it was almost time for lunch and I wanted us to make lunch for everyone today.We got started in the kitchen and after two hours, we were finished. Only my dad and mom would be the judges for our cooking. I wished Keith was here to taste the dishes because his expert feedback would've been very valuable.I knew before we even started that Etha
I wasted no time in responding back. I immediately threw my arms around his neck and his slid to my waist. I stepped back and my back hit the door but we didn't stop. Our lips were hot against each other. We were in no rush. It was a slow and passionate kiss, one that had my toe curling.We pulled back for a bit, smiling at each other before our lips met again. I reached a hand out behind me and opened my door. We stumbled inside but paid no attention to our surroundings although I did hear him kick the door close behind him.We were moving but were unaware of the direction. Our feet moved to wherever there was space to move. For a moment, I was pressed against the study table with my elbow resting on it to support myself and him leaning on me as we continued to ravish each other and then we were moving again.I felt myself lowering down and then my back was met with the soft bed. Ethan climbed on top of me and we continued where we left off. By then I was prett
We immediately sprung apart from each other. I couldn't stop staring at her while Ethan started scratching at the wall with his finger as if examining and finding some fault in the layout of the wall or the paint."God, I'll be late. I need to have breakfast." He said and briskly climbed down the stairs.Samara shook her head and she closed her mouth. She looked down and gasped."I'm so sorry." She said, bending down to hastily pick up the broken pieces.I walked towards her and crouched next to her. "It's okay." I said although I wasn't sure if it was. I didn't know how much this antique piece must have cost.We awkwardly began piling pieces together even though she said that I shouldn't."Samara, about what you saw, can you not tell anyone about it?""I saw nothing. Don't worry.""Thanks.""It's just that I was so shocked. I thought you two hated each other.""Not anymore.""Go have breakfast. I'll clean
"Care to tell me why you're kidnapping me at office hours for no apparent reason?" I asked once I was seated in the passenger seat. I looked up at the bright sun scorching down at us, right above our heads.He shut my door for me while looking around sneakily."I'm taking you on a date." He whispered into my open window."Right now? Aren't you supposed to be working?""Is what your parents think but I already told my manager to clear my schedule from this afternoon."He rounded to the driver's seat and slid in."Wow. You chose something else over work? That's new. That's good. You should do that every now and then.""Yeah, it was you who has made me want to not be in my office lately. I'm yet to decide if it's a good thing." He said, pulling away from the house."It is. There was going to be a breaking point soon anyway. You have been working hard for many years, making us feel as if we are good for nothing." It was true. I fel
"I'm hungry too, you know. And I can't eat while I'm driving." Ethan said as soon as we were on the road again.He eyed the food in my hands as its delectable aroma spread throughout the car. He licked his lips and turned back to face ahead."I know. I've an idea. Let's go to the cliff where we used to go when we were kids.""You want to eat there? I don't know, it's gotten dark now." He said, looking out his window at the setting sun and dark clouds."You took me there on my birthday at four am." I deadpanned."We weren't there to have dinner that night.""Doesn't matter. Take us there.""As you wish, master. Any other orders?"I lightly shoved his shoulders, enough to not distract him while he was driving. "Hey, I never ordered you.""Well you sounded pretty demanding.""Fine.Please, take us there. I want to go there tonight.""Now that sounds a lot nicer, doesn't it?""Oh whatever.
"Olivia!"I gripped at my chest, feeling my heart pound loudly as I started recovering from the near heart attack she caused.Ethan sat up straight, fumbling behind me to put on the shirt he just took off."I-I just wanted to talk to you." She avoided looking at us."Okay, I'll be out in a second." I straightened my clothes.She nodded and left."Can't you two talk tomorrow? It's twelve right now. What is she doing roaming the mansion at this time?" Ethan asked."I need to talk to her right now. I didn't tell her that I was dating you. I'll be back." I went to get up but he pulled me back and buried his face in my neck."Come back soon."I smiled. "I will." I promised as I caressed his hair."Okay. I'll try not to fall asleep. But I'm just so tired." He pulled away and I got up."You should go to sleep. I think it'll take some time with Olivia."This was not how I was planning on breaking the news to
My eyes shifted to Ethan. He was going to leave after a few days?"Yes, sir."I was going to talk to him about this. I just got together with him and now he was leaving."How many more days?" I asked."Just till the day of the launch party of my friend's daughter's new company." Dad said."When is that?""In less than two weeks. Now I'd like to privately talk to Ethan."I took the hint and exited his office, hanging around to have a talk with Ethan after.After ten minutes, he appeared out of the room and I stood up to reach him."What did he say? And what did you say?""He told me that I can date you." Ethan said with a grin. "He still doesn't trust us though. He's confused how this happened when we absolutely hated each other.""Oh that, well he doesn't need to know." I looped my arm around his. "All that matters is that he approves.""Yes, finally I asked him.""And are you really leaving a
Just as I unfolded the papers to what looked like some sort of a receipt, the door burst open and in came Olivia clutching her stomach. She could barely hold herself up."Olivia! Are you okay?" I asked as I rushed to her and held her up.She tried reaching for the papers clutched in my hand but I moved it away from her. She convulsed, slipping from my grasp and dropping to the ground in a fetal position."Oh my God, Olivia. What's happening?"I suddenly felt Amelia's presence next to me and I turned to her for help but she already had her phone pressed to her ear. I vaguely heard her call a doctor urgently as I helped Olivia to her bed.She looked a lot better after a doctor came and checked up on her.I showed him the pills I had found. Heather came after Amelia called her and had initially told us to leave but I wasn't having it."What did you do to her?" I had almost yelled at her, unable to keep the bitterness from my voice.
♡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