1 How it Began

Dark. It was so dark. I could hear the murmurs and the mumbles nearby, but I could not see.

Darkness surrounded me. I could hear light voices incessantly calling out a name...Julia. Just hearing the name brought stabs to my heart, Julia, my twin sister whom I've loved so much and cared for so much. This taste of betrayal is so bitter. She made our family turn their backs on me, stole my fiance and attempted to make me disappear from Earth surface countless times. This time, she has almost succeeded. Again. But she has paid a huge price for it. But. This time, He has come to Me.

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*Two Months Ago*

"Linda! Hurry up, we're gonna be late! Your wedding is coming up and you haven't chosen a proper dress yet! Kevin is already waiting at the studio to try the outfits on with you!"

"Yes, yes Nanny Mo, I'm coming~"

As I was about to head downstairs, a pair of of warm hands covered my eyes and a crystal like voice resonated by my ears:

"Hey Linda! My dear sista~~ ouuhh you're dressed so fancy! Where are you headed right now?"

"Julia! you're back from your trip to Australia? I've missed you so much! I'm headed out to try my marriage gown with Kevin. Wanna join us to add a dress to your collection?"

"Kevin? Ahh you're rich boyfriend you always bragged about? Yes!! I'll join you guys downstairs in a minute!"

And this was how it all began. At the boutique, I presented her my boyfriend for the first time and they got along very well. Although we have the exact same looks, exquisite and refined features, our personalities greatly contrasted. She knew how to talk and please people and was a great artist, while I was always the more direct type and more clumsy.

For the following two months since that day until the accident, Julia always tagged along whenever I would be going out with Kevin. She would always say that she was going to miss me too much once I married off so she wanted to spend more time with me, and that she had to make sure that Kevin was a good person for her to feel comfortable with me being with him. Like always, I would let her do as she please and let her tag along. Sometimes, she would even go out with Kevin alone by claiming that she was going to help him create surprise for me. However, little did I know that this was all her scheme. From Day 1, she had fallen in love at first sight with his wealth and his looks and has been trying to win him over. She took advantage of our similar appearances to fool him at several times and "accidentally" made me look bad several times.

Over time, she had successfully brainwashed Kevin who fell for her but remained loyal to me as this would have damaged the business relationship between the two families. Indeed, because the two families had already agreed on my marriage with Kevin, it would look bad on both parties to switch out the bride for no reason for her twin sister.

As such, she set me up in the scheme and locked me up in the basement for the whole week of the new house's basement (which was supposed to be MY dowry) and announced to both families that I had a last minute marriage fright and that I ran away from home. Upon heading this, both families were extremely angered. Some were deeply disappointed in me while other began to hate me. Kevin was also extremely hurt and disappointed in me. He thought that we got along quite well and that even though the original purpose of this wedding was to establish a business relationship between the two families, he was not such a bad catch himself. So me "running away" was like a big slap at his face and his family's.

Neither side knew what to do and they could no longer cancel the marriage as it was happening in less than three days and families had taken time off from their daily schedules and came from all over the globe to assist to our wedding. Just at this time, everything went according to Julia's plan. She offered herself as a substitute of her sister claiming that this way, the faces of both families could be saved. As such, both families agreed and while she pretended to be me, Kevin and her went on to get the blessings of their families and friends while I was starving in their basement.

Just at the moment I thought that they had completely forgotten about me and that I was just left to starve, a young man appeared. Peter. He was my neighbour before he moved away and my first love.

"Peter! what are you doing here?!"

With a stern face, he did not reply me but he quickly untied me and brought me out.

In the backyard under the sunlight, he eas first worried, then seeing that she was fine, he only said:

"I only let you go because you seemed to like him so much. I thought that Kevin would be a better match for you and that he would treat you nicely. But why are you here in the basement with your sister claiming to be you and marrying that man!?"

Then, his ramble just went on and on, until I realized that we should leave the premises of the house before the newlyweds and the families show up. Otherwise it would be a disaster to try to explain! They would pin the fault on me if they saw me with another man after missing the wedding.

As such, dragging a still rambling Peter, we ended up in his place since I could certainly not return home at such a time.

Once Julia came back home, the first thing she did was to head to the basement to mock her sister and brag about her success. However, she only found a rope that was undone. She went hysteric. Kevin heard her and came to check on her. He then asked about the rope on the floor. Not willing to let him find out, she told him that she had kept a surprise for him, a puppy, but that it had escaped.

While she maintained a calm facade, her mind had gone frantic. For fear that her plan was discovered, she had planned on getting rid of Linda that night. She thought to herself,

"Sis, you cannot blame me for being this hearltess, you've always had the first dibs at everything and was always everyone's favorite. All I wanted to do was to steal your man, be more successful than you and make you jealous of me too. I had no intentions on harming you. I was just going to keep you here in this dark basement until you turn crazy. Then I would have let you leave. But now, you've escaped. How dare you go against my will? I will find you tonight and make you disappear so that no one will ever find out about this. If you want to blame anyone, then just blame yourself for having been more favoured by everyone."

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This was how it all began.