Chapter One

Amelia woke up, she was late for work. She worked in a mini fashion design company as a part time fashion designer and she had a very strict boss, she hoped her boss had not yet arrived, if not she was doomed. She washed up quickly throwing on the first clothes she laid her hands on, took her keys and was out of the apartment she lived in. The apartment belonged to her best friend Mel. Mel had been the only one she could fully call family, Mel was an angel sent to her, ever since her mother had abandoned her some years after her father’s death, Mel had been the one taking care of her. Mel was very rich...well her father was the wealthy one and she enjoyed daddy’s money.

Amelia packed her car in the parking lot and walked to the building which was kind of old fashioned, the place was named “Granny Fashion” as the former owner of the business was an old woman who was called ‘Granny’ and thus the place was named, that has been the name ever since, even after the old woman had passed away and her daughter now owned the place.

Her boss had not yet arrived, ‘thank God’, she was not ready for the bickering Miss Rose would throw at her if she caught her coming late to work. She greeted the passersby and colleagues as she entered the building and got a warm welcome from all.

Luke was cutting some materials when she came in, as soon as he saw her his face lit up, “Hello Amelia, How was your night beautiful?” he asked

 “It was fine,” she responded. She was about to say something when Luke began:

“are you ready to have the worst day of your life as Miss Rose will be coming with a hot temper....She found out that some work had not yet been done, it was actually her fault, but she called me and she sounded like an angry bull” he said and Amelia smiled, 

“Oh, please, Miss Rose always sounds like and angry bull, even on the good days, thinking about that, Miss Rose actually looked like a bull, an old one and don’t you mind at all, tolerating her is what I’m good at, in fact I should get a certificate for that” Amelia responded and Luke nodded,

“Wait have you seen Mel, she was not at home, she didn’t call or anything, she just left home...weird” Amelia said and Luke shrugged,

“give the girl some space, maybe she went off with a guy or something, you worry about Mel a lot, more than you do yourself and Mel is a big girl, she can handle her own stuff” Luke said, Amelia tried to ignore the feeling that was gnawing in the pit of her stomach, maybe she was being overprotective and paranoid,

‘happy thoughts only’, Amelia whispered to herself, picking up some already sewed outfit for ironing, she began work.

Hours passed and there was no sign of Mel, she tried calling twice but her number was switched off, so as soon as Amelia heard her phone rigging, she ran quickly and picked it up, seeing that it was Mel calling she breathed out the worry from her tensed body, she was sure going to give Mel a lecture of always keeping her phone on and informing her of her whereabouts, but when she heard Mel's voice all those plans skipped away from her mind,

“Oh, Amelia” came the voice of a crying Mel, that put Amelia on an edge,

“What’s wrong, what happened, where are you?” Amelia asked, 

“I’m at Jacob’s” she said sobbing, and non-too-quietly,

“Did Jacob do something to you, speak to me Mel?” Amelia demanded and the line went silent for a few seconds that felt to Amelia like a lifetime,

“It’s not Jacob... I was just informed that my father had died due to a heart attack Amelia, my father is gone!” Mel cried more and Amelia bolted from her seat,

 “I’m coming, stay put, I’m on my way” she said as she dashed out of the building like a crazy woman. Miss Rose was arriving at that time but she did not bother exchanging pleasantries. In a few minutes she was on the road driving to Jacob’s house.

The car's engine had not fully gone off before she dashed out running to Jacob’s apartment and slamming her little fist on the door, a young boy opened the door immediately, she gave him no attention as she ran passed him to Mel who was sitting on the couch, her legs folded beneath her, her eyes puffy and her face red, tears had made her makeup a great mess. Amelia hugged her friend, she knew that at this point words alone were not enough, “Where is Jacob?” Amelia asked and Mel cried louder, Amelia looked at her best friend, worried. “Where is Jacob?” she asked again,

 “I’m sorry, I’m sorry.... I didn’t tell you, I just never wanted to bother you... I was informed yesterday that Jacob has been in an accident which cracked his spinal cords. He is cripple....Jacob is cripple.....but he just needs an operation, the doctors said that if a surgery is done on him, that they were 70% sure that he would be safe.” She said, Amelia tried holding back her tears, when one was weak another had to be strong for the both, two crying people will not be able to solve anything.Amelia held onto Mel till Mel fell asleep. The boy who opened the door for her turned out to be Jacob’s friend and he left a few hours later leaving only the both of them. It was a very sad day.

Amelia never met Mel’s father, James Jones, but he never stopped supporting her financially since his daughter told him about her. When Mel was fully asleep she wept for her friend’s loss and the loss of the man who had helped her, a man who never knew her but chose to help her.

A phone call woke Amelia and Mel up, Amelia didn't remembered when she had fallen asleep, it was already sun down. Mel let the phone ring for some time before picking it up, the phone speaker was ‘loud’ so Amelia could hear all that transpired between the caller and her best friend. “Am I speaking to Amelia James Jones?” an unknown voice asked, Mel and Amelia looked at each other surprised. Mel and Amelia were namesakes, but Amelia’s best friend shortened her name to Mel when she met Amelia, so there will be no confusion, but there still was. Amelia was surprised at her strong resemblance with Mel, their only difference was while Mel was tall, Amelia was Average with a petite form. They were both original blondes with almost the same shades of hair, some thought they were almost identical twins, except from their heights and few other things, like she was more busty than Mel. The strange thing was that they both had the same names, sometimes it was....creepy, strange. They met randomly and they became such tight friends that no one would have suspected that Amelia just met Mel on the street.

The thing was that only Mel’s father still called her Amelia and from the look on Mel’s face, the caller was a stranger, “Yes” Mel responded to the Stranger

“I am Leonard Perry, a lawyer sent by your father, that was before he died and he had signed his Will before his death” the man responded, “So...?” Mel questioned, she already knew her father’s wealth was going to be transferred into her possession,

“Your father, Mr. James Jones told me to inform you of this as he suspected his death was quickly approaching.” The man said and Mel was silent, “Your father had arranged for your marriage to Xavier Daniel the C.E.O of Neon Fashion Trends Company” he announced.

Amelia watched as Mel's hands shook and her face twisted in disgust, “Don’t call this line again” Mel growled angry as she was about to cut the call, 

“I’m not kidding” came the voice of the lawyer, “you can ignore it, but soon you will be the one calling” he said and that made Mel hesitate,

“What the ‘crap’ are you talking about? This is not the nineties, marriages are not arranged, and besides I know my father....he just can’t do that” Mel said not sounding so bold, Amelia listened, shocked, she had a feeling that the lawyer was not lying, “Well thank you for informing me, but even if that was my father’s dying wish, I will not do that, we all have right to live our life and fulfill our destinies, he lived his life and I also will” Mel said angrily, she was shocked that her father would ever do that to her, Amelia pitied her friend, she was suffering from too much and it was like life wanted to make a mess out of Her.

“The problem Miss Amelia is that the marriage is a ‘must’ as your father had tied down all your inheritance and kept it on hold. You will not be able to get anything.....and when I mean anything.....i mean even a penny from your father’s account, until you choose to marry Xavier. There are no exemptions” he proclaimed

The next thing Amelia saw was her friend on the floor, the phone too had slipped from Mel’s hand and landed on the floor beside where Mel now laid. Mel had fainted.

Amelia rushed to her friend, “Mel!, Mel!... Someone help me! Mel!!!” she screamed rushing down to the kitchen returning with a glass of cold water, she did the first thing she thought of and splashed the glass of water on Mel’s face and Mel jerked up awake.

“Please don’t do that to me again, we will find a way, you will not marry Xavier, I will help you” Amelia said holding unto her friend, tears she had tried to hold finally pouring down her eyes, she lifted Mel and hugged her tightly

“I cannot live like this Amelia, my life is over, I need the money for Jacob surgery, his situation if delayed will get only worse, I will never be with him if I marry Xavier” Mel cried out silently, “How could my father do this to me, I thought he loved me... I thought he truly cared, I never bothered that he never visited me, but I thought he had good reasons...i thought he loved me” Mel cried and Amelia had nothing to say. She knew James as a good man, she never knew that he could be this cruel, she never knew that he would do this to his own daughter. She had nothing to say, no words of comfort because she too was lost and confused. “I will help you” she swore to Mel, but Mel shook her head

 “Don’t give me false hope, you are a good person but you aren’t wonder woman, Amelia” Mel replied helplessly, 

“I will find a way, I promise” Amelia said again but Mel shook her head, “Don’t, you cannot help me, how do you want to help me, the pennies you make from Grammys Fashion?, the connections you don’t have?, you cannot help me Amelia” Mel screamed out to her in frustration.

She understood that Mel was in so much pain and she needed to direct the anger at someone, she understood Mel and so she hugged her tightly, Mel could direct her anger at her if that would make her more stable.

Amelia finally stood up, she needed to clear her head.

“I need some air, I will be back soon” she said as she walked out of the house into the dark night. Her phone buzzed and she took it out of her jacket. It was Luke and Miss Rose, her boss. She was sure Miss Rose would be pissed and Luke would be worried, so she kept her phone back in her pocket not bothering about replying to their numerous messages.

'How could she help Mel?'. Mel had been the only family she had since her father died and her mother abandoned her, Mel was worth her own life...if she could just suffer all these instead of Mel, if she could just stand in place of Mel....Wait maybe she could.

Amelia ran back to Jacob’s house, Mel Was lying on the couch like a hopeless wreck but Amelia came with good news. “Mel, you will not have to marry Xavier” she said confidently

“Please stop all these” Mel said,

“You don’t understand, I can pretend to be you, I can fake it, I will marry Xavier instead” and this instantly silenced Mel, understanding dawned on her

“Please..” she said, “Don’t make me...why would you suffer all these for me” Mel said, but Amelia could see the hope in her eyes

“The same way you cared for me”, Amelia replied

 “No, you don’t have to, I will...” but Mel cut herself as she sobbed, she really wanted this but she didn’t want to hurt Amelia.

 “Don’t worry about me, you have gone through so much, let’s go through this together, you know we can do this, you know we look alike and since your father is no longer...alive, no one would ever know, your father just has your pictures at most, not your fingerprint or anything that could give us out, we just need to plan wisely” Amelia said and this made Mel to cry more, 

“I owe you one...in fact not just one, I owe you a million, I just can’t give up Jacob '' Mel said looking at Amelia guiltily,

“I understand, I will be fine. We will all be fine” Amelia said and Mel hugged her tight, too tight “Okay...let’s not get all ‘squeezy’” Amelia said struggling out of Mel’s grip.

The phone rang again, filling them both with dread, this time Amelia picked the phone, “Hello Sir Leonard” she said trying to fake Mel’s voice which was not at all hard to accomplish.

“I will be traveling from London to Australia where you live as I have been given the location by your father, I will be there to finalize the issue and show you the proof of the entire signed documents” Leonard said. 

“I need a favor from you, can you also bring along some information concerning Xavier?” Amelia asked,

“Yes, I can supply you with his basic information, although he is quite popular. Adding to that, I needed to tell you the main reason I called again” Leonard said, Amelia lifted her eyebrows, it was an expression she did rather frequently. 

Mel watched as Amelia played her role and she was a great actress, but the feeling of guilt, she believed will never leave her.

“I have called to inform you that Mr. Xavier had set the date....There was nothing I could do to squeeze out time and he would like the marriage to be done three days from now”.