Chapter 2 Twins' Fight

Florence, six years later.

"Oh come on, Shery, my beautiful lady, there's no way you're going to camp with all that!"

I am being chased by a deadline today, by my editor, Lea Mirzani, and I still have to fight with my twin kids Shane and Shery, who are leaving for camp at their school.

Shane Richard Lou, my first child, is a calm child, tends to be quiet, a genius, who can never be separated from books and gadgets.

Early in the morning he woke up and packed up everything he needed to camp for two days at school.

He even chooses the clothes he will bring himself including his uniform, the books and board games he likes. He arranged everything neatly in a backpack.

When I had checked his bag, I  smiled broadly and nodded in satisfaction with my son's efforts.

In contrast, his twin sister who was eight minutes younger than him, Shery Davika Lou, was a very lively and restless child, crazy about all kinds of outdoor activity and sports.

She caused problems when asked to show the contents of her bag.  It only contained one set of sportswear, a set of garden tools, a plastic basketball that would expand when blown, a fishing set and a skateboard.  Everything was piled together, so the backpack was bulging wildly.

"But, Mom, it's a camp and I'm sure we'll be doing a lot of outdoor activities. These will all be necessary by then," Shery said in a confident voice.

"Shery, you're camping on school grounds, so when are you going to be able to garden and fish, honey? The ball might be used later when playing on the field, but a skateboard?"

"You also forgot your uniform," Shane said.  "We will wear it during the opening and closing ceremonies."

I could only sigh when Shery finally took out all the things in her bag and put whatever she needed to bring, following what her twin brother had prepared.

"Shery, don't keep glaring at Shane," I said in as gentle a tone as possible.  "He just wanted to help you because he had prepared everything in advance."

Shery lowered her head and muttered an apology under her breath, but I could still see her drying sharply with the corners of her eyes at Shane who seemed to remain calm and cool.

In the midst of the commotion, as usual, Alana, my savior, came to help.

"Come on, kids, I'll take you to school today. There's still a few hours left, so we'll go outside for breakfast," said Alana cheerfully.

Shery's face immediately became cheerful again.  "Can I have matcha ice cream and gelato?"

"Choose one, Miss," said Alana.  "You'll get the other one when you get home from camping."

I sipped the coffee that had gone cold while checking Shery's luggage, and double-checked the proposal on the laptop.

"Have you read the proposal?"  Alana asked while pouring mineral water into a glass for herself.

"Yes," I said.  "I think the offer is quite attractive, but there are several points that I have to discuss with them first, especially regarding the production schedule which is too tight."

"Hm, I think Lea would say that you can do it without difficulty, because you're used to working on a tight schedule all this time," Alana said thoughtfully.  "That's why she made that proposal to you, right?"

Alana Mills is my best friend and personal assistant.  Yesterday, she brought news that one of the scripts written by Lauren Lou caught the attention of a large cosmetics company and they wanted to buy the copyright for them to use in the advertisements they would make.

They also wanted me to be directly involved in making the advertisement, so that the results would be more perfect.  That made me think a little because there are still several scripts I have to work on for other clients.

Lauren Lou is the pen name chosen by me and Alana, after I started my scriptwriting career.

Yes, I am a scriptwriter and work at a fairly large entertainment company here.

At first it was just a desperate attempt because I almost ran out of my savings after several stays in Florence.

I had applied to medical school at UCLA, after graduating from high school and at my messy engagement party six years ago, I had surprised my extended family about my acceptance as a medical student at that university.

But, I had to bury my dream of becoming a doctor and making money by working, after I landed here.

However, it was not an easy matter because I was a foreigner here, plus my pregnancy was getting bigger.  My last job was as a cashier at a bakery and the owner started to look a lot worried when I was a little slow moving.

I felt that soon, I might soon lose my job as a cashier at the bakery, so I started looking for another job that would still allow me to do it while pregnant.

When I was almost desperate, I saw an internet advertisement that said that a production house was looking for a freelance scriptwriter for advertising and asked those interested to send writing samples to their company address.

Since middle school, I have loved writing and have won several writing competitions at school.  Based on that, I started to find out how to write interesting advertising scripts and send the script I wrote to the company. I tried not to get my hopes up and forget about it.

I went back to living my days behind the cashier's counter at the bakery, waiting for the owner to call me and say that he couldn't bear to see me working and asked me to rest while waiting for the birth.  A dismissal in a smooth and elegant way.

However, unexpectedly, the company contacted me and asked me to come for an interview.

They found my script interesting and when I came to answer the call, one of the most comforting things was that they didn't mind my being pregnant at all, because I could work on the script at home.  They only set a time for submitting the script according to the agreement.

I submitted my resignation to the bakery and started accepting script writing jobs from the company.  The salary is not bad, especially considering that I don't have to go anywhere and can do my work while sitting stretched out on the sofa in the living room of my rented house or in my own bedroom.

Two months after the twins were born, I received an offer to become a permanent employee at the company and that's when I met Lea Mirzani, who was assigned to be my supervising editor.

Finally, after more than a year of struggling with various problems and difficulties, I began to build a career, living a better life with my twins and Alana, my best friend since junior high school, who also moved to Italy, three months after I gave birth.

Alana has been helping me since I made plans to escape six years ago.  She knows everything I've been through and fully supports my decisions.

She decided to follow me to move to Italy, after finding out that I was giving birth to twins.

Her father had just died two weeks before I gave birth, so there was nothing to stop her from going anywhere after that.

I let Alana and the twins went first, then tidied up the house a bit and went to the office in a relaxed manner.

I stopped by my regular cafe near the office and accidentally saw news about the Arshen family which apparently had recently started expanding its business area to Europe, when I was surfing the internet looking for writing material.

The news also discusses that David Shane Arshen, the famous playboy, is rumored to be ending his adventures soon and is engaged to Halley Adam, a model and also the daughter of a famous designer who will be working with the company owned by the Arshen family.

Suddenly I felt bitter.  Since childhood, I have always idolized David. He was my first crush, but the man only saw me as a little sister and that made me choose not to say anything about my pregnancy to David after our one night stand, because I wasn't even sure David remembered who he slept with on that dark night.

"Hi, Lea," I said to Lea, my senior editor, when I arrived at the office.  "Did you receive my email this morning?"

"Hm," said Lea as she pushed aside several sheets of paper on her desk.  "I just took notes and will ask Sandra to draft an email that I will send to the cosmetics company."

"Thank you, Lea, for accepting my proposal," I said with relief.

"Tsk! Of course I have to. You have quite a lot of work and we also need to have a high bargaining value, right? I don't want my writers to be battered with results that aren't worth it."

I laughed and felt grateful to have Lea as my editor.

"Ah, I haven't told you about our company's plans to open branches in Los Angeles and London," said Lea excitedly.  "I think, tomorrow or the day after, the board of directors will soon determine who will lead those branches."

"Uh, I hope you're not the one being sent there," I said a little worried.  "I can't imagine having to work with Mr. Devon or Mrs. Virnie, if you weren't around."

The two people I mentioned were other senior editors and I meant what I said.

Leah laughed.  "Don't let them hear what you said, Loreine. They will be very disappointed. You know, Mrs. Virnie has tried to take you from me several times."

My phone rang while we were laughing.  I took the thing out of the bag and saw Ms. Petra, the twin's homeroom teacher is listed there.

"Lea, I'll take this call first," I said to Lea while showing her my phone screen.

Lea nodded and I left the room, touching the green phone image on the screen.

"Good afternoon, Mrs. Lauren, I am sorry to bothering you," Ms.  Petra said.  I heard her voice sound worried.

"No, of course not, Ms. Petra," I said quickly.  Suddenly I felt anxious.  It's unusual for the twins' homeroom teacher to call me.  "Did something happen to the twins?"

"Err, yes...," said Ms. Petra nervously.  "Actually, I don't want to bother you, but this can't be resolved before you come. The twins, uh, they're fighting."

I leaned against the corridor wall, a few steps before reaching the door of my room.

Good grief!