COUNTRY Y, PLATINUM PALACE
SUITE 204
....
A woman came out of the bathroom wearing a white bathrobe. Her brown hair was damp as little drops of water fell from it to the floor.
Her face was milky white like that of a baby and her lips were plump and had this reddish taint on them. Her emerald eyes shone with purpose and a hidden determination in them. Her cheeks had a mild blush on them, making her face perfect.
Her body was perfect, curvy in the places it was supposed to be and her height of 5'4 complemented her well defined shape.
With her damp hair, right now, her beauty could put even the goddess Aphrodite to shame.
Despite looking like an angel, a frown rested on her face. She walked to the vanity mirror and sat down. She stared straight at her reflection and sighed.
"What's happening to you, Evie?"
She heaved a sigh and picked up her body lotion. She put some on her palm and was about to rub it on her skin when her phone dinged with a notification.
She tried to ignore it and returned her attention to the lotion.
'Ding!'
'Ding!!'
'Ding!!!'
Evie glared at the phone as a barrage of notifications suddenly pumped into her phone. She gave up and put the lotion down.
"What the hell?"
She picked up the phone angrily and unlocked it. The first thing she saw made her scowl in disgust. There on the screen was a piece of news headlines that glared at her in bold letters. It read,
NATION'S MOST ADORED COUPLE FINALLY TYING THE KNOT: THE UNION OF COUNTRY J'S YOUNG PRINCE AND THE HAYES HEIRESS
Her scowl deepened as she scrolled.
"They're getting married?"
All the headlines were the same, all talking about their marriage. One even read,
WEDDING OF THE CENTURY: OUR PRINCESS IS FINALLY GETTING HER PRINCE
Under the article were the details. It was talking about the marriage of the Heir of DEMA Corp, Lance Pierce, and the Hayes heiress, Melina Hayes.
Melina Hayes is currently a B-list actress. She had won several awards and there wasn't a single movie of hers that didn't have one. She wasn't an A-list actress but the public already considered her one.
She was the pride of her agency and of course the pride of the Hayes family. She was perfect.
And now, she was marrying the Young Prince of Country J who most people admired and most women wished to be their husband.
Lance Pierce.
Only the thought of his name made Evie wanna gag. She exited the article and put her phone down.
"What a great way to start my day. As if this day could get any worse..."
Just as she finished that sentence, her phone began ringing. She picked it up and she groaned as she stared at the name on the screen.
"But then again, the universe always has a way of proving me wrong", She mumbled
Reluctantly, she swiped right to accept it.
"Hello-—"
"What the hell is wrong with you?! Are you even a human being?! How can you be so cruel-—"
Evie drew the phone away from her ear as her father's voice boomed through the phone speakers. She winced and cleaned her ears with her left index finger.
Her father kept screaming until he stopped abruptly and cleared his throat. Evie frowned. Why'd he stop?
But her question was soon answered as she heard a woman's voice echo faintly in the background.
"Honey, we're home! Oh goodness, shopping for your daughter's wedding can be really exhausting-— Oh! You're on the phone? Who is it, Evie?"
There was a brief silence before her stepmother squealed. She heard Melina's voice echo faintly in the background saying something about meeting Lance.
She scoffed. It had been three years but they still hadn't changed.
Her stepmother, Alice, chuckled as she said,
"Evie, it's been such a long time dear. How have you been? Have you been okay there? Oh how I wish you were with us right now.
Evie dear, have you heard? Your sister is finally getting married, dear. Isn't that great?! You should come home for the wedding. When are you coming home, dear?"
She heard her father scoff and say, "I was just scolding her for that. Can you believe this girl? Her sister is preparing for one of the biggest days of her life and she didn't even call to wish her well.
As a matter of fact, I'm sure she wasn't even planning on coming. She's probably still bitter that Lance saw the better choice and chose Melina over her! How did I raise such a daughter?!"
Evie simply put the phone down on the cabinet and put it on speaker. She picked up her lotion and continued her routine whilst listening to the pretentious couple who were trying to sell themselves off as disappointed yet supporting parents.
Alice's voice echoed over the phone as she said,
"Oh, honey, what are you saying?! Our Evangeline isn't like that. She got over Lance long ago. She understood the situation and handled it majestically. I'm sure she's very happy that Lance has found his match, and in someone she knows. Our Melina. What could be better than that...."
Evie smiled sadly at herself.
"Majestically", she thought.
Back then, she had clung to Lance's trousers, crying and begging. She had begged him to tell her why he had suddenly decided to call off the engagement.
She had cried a river of tears but all he did was kick her away and announce that he was with Melina. Everyone, instead of being on her side and consoling her, congratulated Lance and complimented Melina.
She was left to cry all alone.
Evie would never forget that day. Afterall, that day was her 20th birthday.
Evie blinked and stopped herself from thinking about the past.
"I want you home by this weekend. The wedding is on the fifth of next month but we're having dinner with the Pierces before that.
I don't want to give an impression of a broken family. Come home or I'll come over to drag you here myself!"
After saying his piece, her father, Richard, cut the call.
Evie simply stared at the phone blankly. After a few minutes, she moved to get dressed and start the day.
....
Evie came out of the room in a brown blazer, white pants and a cream top all paired with a cream sun hat and a huge brown pair of shades that hid most of her face.
She locked the room with her card and kept the card in her limited edition Genie bag before making her way to the elevator. Her cream stilettos clicked the floor with every confident step she took.
Right now she looked nothing less than a model.
Once at the elevator, she glanced around to check if anyone was near. Once she was sure no one was near, she waited for the elevator doors to open.
Once they did, her heart sank at the sight of the people in it.
She didn't want anyone here with her. Why now?! She groaned inwardly but maintained a neutral expression as she stepped in to join the people in the elevator.
The doors closed and she hit the number for the ground floor. But someone else beat her to it and hit the button before her. Evie didn't need to look up to know it was a man.
His hands gave that away.
She heard the man say,
"Miss, you're also going to the ground floor right?"
Evie assumed he wasn't talking to her and ignored him. But deep inside, she knew he was.
"Um, Miss?"
This made Evie much more conscious and she brushed some hair to the front to hide her face, despite the glasses. She then heard a woman's voice say,
"Gosh, so rude. She won't even respond to your question. Babe, let her be. She's not worth your attention."
Evie kept her head low and a hand up to cover her face. Why should she talk with a stranger? But it was expected for his girlfriend to defend him and belittle her.
But what shocked her was the voice of a girl who defended her. Judging from her voice, she was probably the same age as Evie.
"What's wrong if she chooses not to talk to a stranger she literally just met in an elevator? And shouldn't you handle your boyfriend properly?
Or are you so useless that he needs to talk to random girls in elevators just to satisfy his insatiable desires?"
Just then, the elevator dinged indicating they had reached the ground floor.
Evie didn't linger to know the outcome of that argument and quickly escaped the elevator.
She rushed to the reception and checked out. When all checking-out procedures were done, she quickly rushed outside the hotel and boarded a cab which took her to the airport.
No one must know she had ever been in Country Y.
...