EPISODE 2

Aurora’s POV 

My parent had informed us that we'd be meeting with a potential suitor for my twin sister, Pearl and also a potential suitor for the family’s business. They had always preferred Pearl to me when it comes to family engagement. They believed she wouldn’t embarrass them as much as I do. 

Ever heard of butter fingers? Well! If butter fingers could be human, that would be me adorned with clumsiness and crowned the snub queen of the year. 

Not like I really want to snub others, but because the words won’t come out when I want them to. So I stopped trying to bring up conversations or even try to continue. I can’t afford to appear stupid to others. When I also realized my parents stopped caring if I associated with people or not, I decided to go completely into my shell. 

I was a little bit surprised when I got invited to today’s event, and I held Pearl’s hand through the whole journey down to the restaurant. I keep telling her that I would fuck things up as usual, and she kept assuring me that I wouldn’t because she wouldn’t leave my side all through. 

We entered the restaurant and met the most amazing grandfather one would ever meet in this world. He reminded me so much of my grandfather as he smiled at us after every word he said. 

“This is Aurora” The sudden mention of my name made me whip my head up so high I almost hurt my neck. Unfortunately, my eye landed on him, and he was also looking at me straight in the eye. 

This is impossible, how did he get here? I looked at my twin sister for help, and she quickly gave me our secret signal. She used her finger to write on my palm, and I tried deciphering the words and putting it together, and then it hit me. 

Grandson!

He’s the man’s grandson and my sister’s potential suitor. No! I can’t possibly do this to my sister. This can’t be happening. I looked over at him hoping for some recognition. I was actually hoping he'd recognize me, but I saw nothing. Either he doesn’t remember me, or he was a really good actor. 

I was getting anxious and scared. What if he suddenly recognized me and called me out for it? What would my parent think of me? I’ll be destroying something with potential for my family. I need to think. Fast!

“I need to go to the restroom” I suddenly announced. 

“Are you okay, darling? You suddenly look pale” My mother asked. 

“I’m fine, mom” I replied and walked to the restroom without waiting for any response. 

On getting to the bathroom, I opened the tap and splashed some water in my face. I looked into the mirror, pinched myself and hope I’ll wake up from this nightmare. Even though it's been a year, I still remember his face. Every second of that day still creeps into my dreams and keeps me awake every night. 

The door suddenly opened, and It revealed my sister looking worried.

“Are you okay, Aurora? Do you want to go home?” Pearl asked with worry evident in her voice. I’m a cancer survivor. I had stage one leukemia just around five years ago when I was 19. After I found out that I had cancer, every ounce of fight and strength within me ran dry, and hope felt more like a fairytale than a promise. But I fought hard, I fought for life, fought for a purpose, and won the battle, yet my family still treats me like a delicate flower.

“I’m fine, Pearl. I've just had a slight headache for a while, and I swear I’m fine. Don’t tell mom, okay? I don’t want to have another session of being in hospital. It smells like the urine of a pregnant horse” I grumbled.

“How do you know the smell of a pregnant horse?” She asked laughing. 

“Do you remember the time uncle Warren came over and told us he had just got peed on minutes before Stallion gave birth? That’s exactly how horrible the hospital smells”, I explained as my twin sister laughed out loud. 

Uncle Warren is our mom’s elder brother, and Stallion had been our mom’s horse ever since mom turned five years old. He died a few hours after giving birth to Uranus. My mom had cried for three days, holding Uranus sometimes and wailing out loud till we all had to cover our ears. She later explained to us that she was holding Uranus so it could feel his mother’s death. 

Even though we were baffled about her mental health at that moment, we had a good laugh about it days after that. 

“Okay, come on, sis. Clean up your face and let us get back to the table” she handed me a tissue paper that I used to wipe off the water from my face. We walked towards the table with smiles on our faces after Pearl told me about how we would mock our mom later on with the horse- wailing ceremony she did. 

I drew out my chair and sat on it. My mom touched my face slightly and turned to face the old man that was talking happily with my father. I sat beside my sister who was sitting directly opposite to Eric. I looked at him and his attention was glued to his grandfather. He was watching the old man talk with so much pride.

“Are you beautiful ladies okay?” The old man asked. 

“Yes, we’re very fine” my sister replied. 

“I’m glad. This is my grandson Sebastian Drew. What! Sebastian! Had he lied about his name too? 

“Excuse me?” I talked before I could control my mouth. 

“Is everything okay, my child?” The grandfather asked. My father was looking at me with so much surprise as did my sister and mother. 

“Nothing. I’m really sorry. Please continue” I quickly apologized and faced my sister who gave me a weird look. I mouthed a sorry to her, and she nodded.

“Victor, since you already know the reason why we are here, I would love to have you as a family and especially one of your girls as a wife to my grandson here. I know you are a very good person, and the way you’ve brought up your girls with so much love is what made me consider picking a wife from your home, and, of course, there’ll be a merging of both companies so as to move better in the business world”, the old man explained. My father only smiles on rare occasions, and the way he was smiling now assured me that he was giving himself a high five in his head.

“Thank you for such an opportunity, Uncle Thomas. But I’ll love to discuss this with the girls and see if anyone of them will have an interest. You know I can’t really choose for them, so it’ll be better to ask them about this. We’ll get back to you very soon, Uncle Thomas” My father said swiftly. Even though he had already chosen Pearl, he still didn’t want us to appear cheap to the family. 

Still, he was selling us out for his business benefit. 

The food was brought and we all started eating, as much as I tried to look at Eric or Sebastian, he wasn’t looking at me or at my sister. He was focused on his food making me doubt it was really him that I met back then.