BY TWIST OF FATE

      "You can take today off. I'll tell Max to fill in for you today."

      "Thanks, Sir. It isn't necessary." The waitress assured.

      "Order for table 19!" Isabella yelled from outside. The girl grabbed two mugs and poured tea inside. When she was done, she placed two stakes on a plate on the tray and held it in her right hand as she strolled outside majestically.

      She walked up to Isabella and dropped the tray on the table.

      "What took you so long?" Isabella whispered.

      "Boss."

      "Oh." Isabella constricted her eyes.

      She looked at us in admiration. This is precisely the kind of relationship she desired. Adorable, benign, loving. "I want a man who will love me like this." She whispered loudly, twisting her arms around.

      "Everything is not like the eyes see." I snarled. I caught her staring at us. "1 year" I began again.

      "Huh?"

      Taking a sip out of the glass of lemonade, my eyes studied the Restaurant then I went on, "We've been married for a year. Our lawyer is coming with the divorce papers. We are getting divorced today."

      Not really what she anticipated to hear. Anyone who saw us would think of us to be the perfect couple. She moved back a little before gaping back at me. "But, you love each other. The news says that."

      "That's what we want the news to think." I could read the astonishment and incredulity in her innocent eyes.

      "How? Why?" I gulped out of my mug before beginning again. She flickered twice.

      "It all occurred one very morning,

                     *****

  A YEAR AGO

      "Here's your change." The cab driver lengthened his hand outside the cab. "If I may ask, why are you in a haste?" he horned for the lady across the road. When she jiggled her head, he returned his gaze to me.

      "It's my boring sister's wedding arrangement." I balled my eyes like they were on a rollercoaster. 

      "Wow! She's damn hot."

      "Asshole," I smirked. "Everyone keeps calling her hot. Asin, if she's hot, I'm frigid." I'm already in a bad spirit and he's trying to get me even angrier.

      "Come on, you know I didn't mean to hurt your emotions. I was just heckling. Is the wedding happening now?" His apology was like sarcasm but I wasn't willing to give it a thought.

      "No. Preparations are being done. She's presumably upstairs testing her makeup or doing a pedicure and manicure. With or without makeup, she looks the same to me." That's if she's even upstairs. She's the waggish one and I have to take the censure all the time. I can't wait for her to leave. I will have the rooms all to myself. I grinned maniacally.

      After we were done conversing, I picked up the purse I forgot in the taxi and the basket of fruits I bought before heading for the door.

      When I got to the door, I turned the doorknob and entered. The place was full of people doing one chore or the other. Taylor, my cousin was holding a basket full of flower designs, my younger sister, Mia held onto the remaining invitation cards while my mum instructed her employees on whatever. I don't care. Some of the decorators I recognized from my mum's second wedding arranged the flowers and even fixed new curtains.

      Just for a wedding of one day. I sighed and sat down close to Mia then patted her on her back gently. "Want some?" Extending some fruits to her with a welcoming smile on my face, my heart leaped.

      "Nope. I'll eat sufficiently at my sister's wedding. Go bug someone else. I'm busy."

      My younger sister and I didn't get along well. Assumably because she was my step-sister and she was directly related to Lisa, everyone's favorite and the most annoying human I had ever met. When I tried to get up from the couch, I bumped into one of my mum's employees. She turned and threw me a fierce look. My mum wasn't really good at concealing her anger.

      The look in her eyes made my abdomen feel as if it was ripped out of my body. It had been that way since I was a kid. Maybe I was terrified of her. I couldn't tell if it was trepidation or love that kept me in that house. Once when I was 8, Lisa and I had a brawl, she thrashed me really hard but surprisingly came back the night after to nurse my wounds. She evidently loved me. But it was a disjointed kind of love. Our mother-and-daughter bond was a beautiful one until Lisa's father showed up on our doorstep with his daughter. Everything changed that instant. All the love and attention meant for me was immediately given to an undeserving person. I could reminisce her once informing me, Lisa didn't get to see her mum. That's why she loved her and took her as her child. But it was only an excuse. Emotional blackmail keeps me grounded.

      Lisa received adoration from both extended relatives. She was everyone's focus. During my high school days, I used to win medals for the most astute pupil. Any child who made such achievements usually went to their parents first to get blessings and likely gifts. Mine was different. Rather than rejoicing with me, they sympathized with Lisa. Festive seasons were the worst in the Browns family. "We are the same age!" I used to yell but all screaming and crying fell on deaf ears as Lisa took the lead in receiving gifts. And today, she was getting married first. Maybe I really didn't care much about her wedding. After all, I wasn't interested in marrying a guy I didn't love. Not especially one with a bad reputation.

      Lisa was going to get married into the Smith family. The Politician's first son. The boy with a bad prestige. Such a good title to give a novel if you asked me. Liam Smith. Affluent, handsome, and had everything a girl dreamed of. Well, I haven't seen him before but the Internet says so.