When love happens

Chapter Two

Damien must be observant and intelligent if he had managed to figure out in less than an hour that I wasn't Ava.

I opened my mouth to talk but before I could get a word out, the door to the room we were in was flung open and we were now suddenly face to face with both our parents.

"What's going on here? We're all supposed to be heading to the reception right now." Dad spoke up first.

"You tell me," Damien said and went to take a seat in one of the chairs currently in the room.

Mum and Dad looked at me in confusion, but as I wanted to explain what had happened in their absence to them, someone else beat me to it.

"What's wrong son?" Damien's mother, Mrs Robertson went to him and she crouched down in front of him, gently stroking his jaw as well.

"That's not Ava." He simply stated.

"Excuse me? What did you just say, Damien?" His father interjected quickly.

"You heard me right. I don't know who this is," he pointed at me, "but I know she's not Ava. So I don't know who the hell I just got married to." He finished.

Both of his parents turned in my direction, looking me up and down like I had a big sign pointing in my head that I was not Ava.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Let's just go to the reception and call it a day please." Mum quickly spoke up and even turned around in a move to leave the room.

"If either one of you steps out of this room, our contract will immediately be annulled." Mr Robertson ordered and everyone in the room froze.

"Contract? What contract?" I asked ignorantly in a small and quiet voice and I heard Dad suck in a sharp intake of breath.

"Just shut your trap will you?" Mum sneered at me and I quieted down quickly.

"So it's true? She's not Ava? Because I remember Ava was present herself to sign the contract agreement the day we finalised it. So if this person doesn't know about the contract, then she's not Ava." Mr Robertson reasoned out.

A heavy silence descended upon the room and the atmosphere became tense. It was so tense you could almost cut it with a knife. No one knew how they were going to break the silence or diffuse the situation.

"Well, since no one is explaining, this marriage and the contract are hereby annulled." Damien finally broke the silence and stood up, in a move to leave the room with his family.

"Wait!! I can explain." Dad said, effectively stopping the Robertsons from leaving the room.

"We're listening and I suggest you hurry up," Damien said, and I saw Dad's jaw clenched but he didn't do anything, he just nodded in obedience.

"You're right, she's not Ava."

"Then who is she?" Damien demanded again.

"She's Ava's twin sister, Lillian."

"Your daughter is a twin? How come the public does not know about this?" Mrs Rogers questioned, the shock of this revelation was very evident in her voice.

"Lillian has never been social like the rest of the family, she barely left the house or interacted with other people. We tried so hard to get her out of her shell but nothing ever worked, so we just left her eventually. She's the quiet twin, so most people don't know about her."

Dad finished his explanation and everything he said was true to an extent. I was old enough to know what was going on when it all happened. But I didn't suddenly just become quiet, introverted and invisible, something had happened that made me that way.

"So where is Ava at the moment?" Damien asked the question no one, unfortunately, had an answer to.

"We don't know as well. She went into hiding this morning after telling us she didn't want to get married. Everything was already set and we couldn't call off the wedding, that's why we had Lillian marry Damien instead."

"This is unbelievable." Mr Robertson exclaimed, still in absolute disbelief about what was going on.

"This is a clear breach of the contract agreement," Damien exclaimed again.

"No, it's not. The contract states you'll get married to my daughter and Lillian is still my daughter."

"We weren't made aware of the existence of another daughter, that's why we didn't specifically state that it had to be Ava." Mrs Robertson argued further.

"The contract has been drawn and signed, the terms of the agreement don't change and we're not breaching it. If you decide to annul the contract now, you have more to lose than we do," Dad stated proudly and smugly.

The tables had now turned and the situations were now reversed. Damien was now the one clenching his jaw.

The Robertsons looked among themselves, not sure of what to make out of everything Dad and Mum had just presented to them. Another heavy silence descended upon the room again.

Mrs Robertson was the one who broke the silence this time around, "Damien, there's nothing we can do than accept the situation. If you decide to annul the marriage, it will cause us bad press and bad press is not good for the company right now."

"She's right son." Mr Robertson also consoled Damien.

"Meet me downstairs in five minutes, we have to go to the reception together after all." He said sharply to me and finally stormed out of the room and this time, no one stopped him.

"We expect to see all of you at the reception." Mr Robertson addressed us curtly too, and left the room with his wife.

I was finally alone with Mum and Dad. I wanted to speak, but before I could open my mouth and even get a word out, Dad cut me off, "You had just one job to do. Act like Ava, that was all and you couldn't even do that." He sneered at me.

"I'm sorry mum and dad. I really tried my best to be Ava today." I said quietly.

"Well your best wasn't enough and because of you, the Robertsons now think we're a family of liars, all because of you." Mum went on to further blame me.

"This is why Ava is better than you and this is why Ava is the one we're proud of." Dad spat harshly again and left the room afterwards.

Only when I was finally alone did I allow myself to cry. The tears slowly rolled down my cheeks, it was so unfair what they were putting me through.

I didn't understand why they were blaming me for everything that happened, it wasn't my fault that Ava decided for reasons best known to her not to come to her wedding.

It was unfair and there was nothing I could do about it. I wiped my tears and retouched my make-up after I remembered that Damien had told me to meet him downstairs in five minutes.

Ten minutes had now passed.

My eyes widened in shock when I saw how much time I had wasted, I quickly finished my makeup and ran downstairs.

On getting downstairs, the whole entrance to the ballroom was empty except for a black car parked at the entrance. Damien was seated behind the driver's wheel and he didn't look pleased to see me.

I hesitantly stepped forward to the front door of the car, when I opened it and was about to sit down, Damien suddenly sped forward and before I could blink, I found myself on the floor.

"If you don't get up this instance, you'll be walking to the reception." He threatened and I knew from the tone of his voice and the look in his eyes that he wasn't joking.

I stood up quickly and even though I was in pain, I pulled through and limped to where the car was now.

"The next time you dare defy my orders, I'll do worse things to you. This is the smallest of what I can do to you." He said in a cold and detached voice and I nodded in agreement.

I was with my husband who was supposed to be the love of my life. Why did it feel like I was with the devil himself? Most importantly, why did I have this eerie feeling that the worst was yet to come?

And I was right, the worse had truly yet to come.