Chances of Fate

(Disclaimer:  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.) *** Amirah wanted to write drabbles, poems and whatnot on a piece of paper, binge watch her favorite series and wait until the clock strikes four in the morning before sleeping. But no, she wasn't doing any of that for tonight. Instead of wearing comfy pajamas, a puffy, sleeveless pastel pink ball gown wrapped her figure. She'd be mistaken as a princess if she had a crown on. People would notice a delicate scent of strawberry and look at her from head to toe whenever she walks by. The guests couldn't resist admiring her. Everyone in the spring charity ball either knew that she's a special guest or the daughter of the hosts. Being on the charity spring ball wasn't unusual for her. It's like a tradition for her and her family. Her family hosts it every year and she's forced to chat with people around her. At first, she really liked the idea of balls. She could feel that she was living in a fairytale. But as she grew up and was given orders on what and how to act like the others, she grew bored of them. This year was new for her though. Her sister wasn't around. But it's not like she'll have fun even if her older sister was here. For her, it just felt different without noticing a threatening aura. Amirah stared at her nearly empty wine glass before placing it down. She looked below and admired the ruffles on her gown, trying her best to avoid any attention. But her appearance wouldn't cooperate since she's the most eye-catching person in the room with her pastel rose gold hair and pretty posture. Though, if someone would take a closer look, they'd know that she's tired. She was introduced to boys around her age by her father who was hoping that she'd click with someone during the ball but she'd just nod and fake a smile. It would've been great if Amirah was with her personal assistant, Laura, but unfortunately, she couldn't come. As she stared at the lively visitors with their ball gowns and tuxedos, she couldn't help but feel sad. She tucked away the stray locks that bothered her sight as she tried to regain her confidence. Amirah ran a finger up on her nose as if trying to fix her glasses, completely forgetting that she wasn't wearing it tonight. Contact lenses weren't really her thing but because it was a special occasion, she wore them. Her head snapped at where the band was as she heard music playing from their place. It was time for some ballroom dancing. If her cousins were here, she would definitely dance with them. She regretted coming here but she had no choice. Now, men around her age are gonna come and get her like some prized possession. She wasn't wrong. A few guys did get the courage to ask her for a dance but she'd awkwardly decline them all. But a boy caught her interest when he randomly came up to her for a little chat. "So, you're the Amirah Hearst. You're really hard to track since your name and whereabouts are in secrecy." Amirah turned around, a little surprised at the voice. "Uh, yes, I'm Amirah... and you are?" She awkwardly smiled, trying her best to hide her discomfort. "Zodel." "Huh." Amirah eyed her suspiciously. He looked like he wasn't from here. "If you're here to give a proposal about your family's business for me, then I'm not interested, sorry." He chuckled at her reply. "Having a hard night?" "Well... yes." And that's when she poured all of her troubles on a stranger. This is why she doesn't like talking to strangers. She doesn't know what to say or do and just starts talking nonstop about her life. She then came into a conclusion that Zodel was a jerk after he used it as an advantage to tease her. "I'm being serious here!" Amirah pouted at her laughing company. Zodel stopped and glanced at his wristwatch before staring back at Amirah. "My parents must be looking for me." "You should go then." "But I can't just leave you like this." "I'm a strong and independent woman, I can take care of myself, mister." She sneered, crossing her arms. He smiled. "Then, can you promise me something?" Amirah's forehead creased. "What is it?" "Promise me that we'll meet again." He raised his pinkie. "Well, it's a small town so I guess we will."  She eyed his lifted finger. "What are you doing? A pinkie promise?" "Nah. I'd rather call it 'strings of fate'." "Why do you say so?" "Just do it." Amirah sighed, doing it won't hurt anyone so she decided to play along and raised her pinkie. "Fine. But technically, this is still a pinkie promise." After bidding his goodbye, she couldn't help but wonder who he really was. He never stated his surname which she found quite odd. For her, Zodel was different and it perked up her interest. She strolled from place to place, trying every delicacy in different tables, drinking sweet liquids, and hiding from her father who had a guy trailing behind him. As Amirah was casually sipping juice in a corner, watching people dance, she heard two ladies gossiping about some family. "Have you heard? The Lowells are coming here tonight!" "The Lowells? They own an accounting firm like the Hearsts, right?" "Yes! And I heard that the Lowell's son is here too." "I wonder what he looks like." "Hmm, I think he'll look handsome!" Amirah almost sputtered out her drink at the mention of the Lowell's son. The Lowells were coming and that meant Alec was also coming. Alec Lowell is Amirah's ultimate crush ever since she stepped in the academy's grounds. For the whole school, it wasn't surprising to crush on him since he was entitled as the academy's king. "Excuse me," Amirah tried effortlessly to catch the girls' attention from behind. "I'm sorry to interrupt but I heard that the Lowells were coming?" The ladies turned to face her and was left enchanted by the unexpected person. The two looked like they weren't from here and just came for the ball. "You're Amirah Hearst, right? I'm Crystal! Nice to meet you!" The girl with milky brown hair said and reached for Amirah's hand for a handshake. "Oh, um, yes... nice to meet you too?" Amirah replied, a little perplexed at the girl's attitude towards her. Crystal's eyes sparkled in excitement. "Oh! My friend right here is Skylar." She said as she pulled the other girl beside her. "Hi!" The said person waved at her with a smile. Amirah wasn't used to conversing with enthusiastic people at the ball. Everyone seemed too formal for her. But the two were different. Just like Zodel. "About the Lowells, Crystal's the one who said that they're here." Skylar informed. Crystal nodded in agreement and did a thumbs up. "That's right! I heard it from Mary!" "Why does Mary know random people?" "The Lowells are partners with her husband's business and so are the Hearsts. That's why we're here, Sky. We're here to have a little meeting with both of the families tomorrow." "Wait, I thought we were here for a field trip?" "You really believed it when Sir Aiden told us that?" The two didn't notice that they left out Amirah and started their own conversation. "Of course. He's our adviser." Skylar widened her eyes when she realized that they were talking to themselves and gently held Amirah's hand. "Oh gosh! I'm sorry." "Oh no, it's okay." Amirah's dark, brown eyes darted at a familiar figure approaching her. When she recognized who it was, she felt like fainting. It was the Alec Lowell who spotted her first. "Skylar, I saw Rannie at a table full of sweets!" Crystal yelled, pointing at a person who was choosing which cookie to eat in the bowl of sweets. She brought her attention back to the two. "W-who?" "Oh, Rannie's our other friend. Have you visited Valley of the Lilies already? The beach there is amazing!" "The public library there is huge too." A redhead with white glasses joined the conversation. Amirah guessed that the three know each other. She did visit Valley of the Lilies once when her family went there for business purposes. "Eura!" Crystal hugged the newcomer. The said girl fixed her glasses. "Sir Aiden's looking for us. He said that we shouldn't split up." "Fine. It was nice meeting you, Amirah!" Crystal said and handed her a piece of paper. "Call me!" Eura faced her in disbelief as they slowly walked away from Amirah. Though, their conversation was still audible. "Why are you handing out your number to strangers?" "What are you talking about? She's my friend, Amirah!" "W-wait, Amirah as in Amirah Hearst?" "Hehe, yep!" Amirah flinched when she saw Eura turn around to stare at her. She scratched her head, still baffled at the weird encounter. A tap on the shoulder made her jump a little. "As I suspected. It is you, Amirah." Alec smiled at the girl who was already covering half of her face to avoid being seen with burning cheeks. "W-who's Amirah? I'm not Amirah." She replied, turning around. Yeah, meeting her crush in such an enchanting place is cool but she didn't want to risk her reputation at school. No one at the academy knows that she's the heiress of the biggest company here at Lilac Valley except for her bestfriend and personal assistant and she liked it that way. She heard a chuckle from behind. "I already know the real you a long time ago, Amirah." He said, placing a hand on her shoulder. "I think it's cute that you hide your true identity at school. It's just like in the movies." "C-cute?" Her mind went into chaos. He just called her cute and this is her first time having a real conversation with him. Alec nodded. "The music hasn't stopped yet. Can I have a dance with you?" He presented his hand for her. "Can you excuse me for a second?" She muttered before turning her back to cover half of her face from blushing violently. She wished for this in her dreams and even wrote a poem about it. Now, it's all coming true. "S-sure..." She faced him again and was about to accept his hand when someone pulled her away from him. Amirah wasn't sure what just happened. They waltzed their way to the middle of the room and everyone's attention were instantly brought up to them. Thank goodness she knew how to waltz. He didn't say a word which only made her nervous. She couldn't even look at him in the eye. When he raised their arms for her to spin, that's when he decided to talk, "I'm back." He smiled as he perfectly caught her waist. She was found astounded for a second when she finally gazed at his orbs. It was colored in amber and glowed as bright as the moon. His eyes bewitched her for the first time. She knew who it was. "Zodel?" She finally snapped into her senses. "Yep, that's right." "I was supposed to dance with Alec. Let me go." "Not until the music stops." "What are you trying to do?" "You looked so lonely after we talked so I thought you wanted some company." Amirah was taken aback. He was observing her the whole time and she didn't know if it was creepy or sweet. She decided to stick with it being creepy. "Were you stalking me?" She squinted her eyes. "What? Of course not! Why would I stalk someone as short as you?" "Excuse me? You're as short as me!" His chuckle dazed her. "Touché" "Look, I don't know why you're doing this to me—" "I'm doing this out of pity." "You're honesty offends me." Zodel barked out a laugh. "Well, honestly, I thought the rumors about you at the ball were true but it turns out you're the complete opposite." "What rumors?" "The rumors say that you're classy, charismatic and fun to be with but in reality, you're clumsy, awkward and wait—in the bright side, you're still fun to be with." Faint hues of red appeared on Amirah's cheeks. "Y-you think I'm fun to be with?" She asked. Zodel smiled warmly. "Of course. I wouldn't be laughing if you weren't fun." Maybe her thoughts about him being a jerk was a little mean and judgemental. The two stayed silent until the dancing was over. She was about to thank him when he leaned in for a whisper. "It's really sad that you still don't have a boyfriend. I mean, you're short and awkward. Who'd want a girl like that?" A smirk that annoyed Amirah appeared in his face, resulting a good punch from her. "Jerk!" She yelled before dramatically leaving him. Her energy had drained and all she wanted now was to go home. "I can't believe that guy." Amirah mumbled as she scanned the room to look for her parents. Her eyes lit up once she saw her mother talking to a group of people. She grabbed some of the fabric from her gown and scurried her way to her mom like a lost puppy. "Mom, can I go home?" She whispered. Her mother, with the same pastel rose gold hair, turned to face her daughter, a little dissapointed. "I thought you were having fun? Everyone saw you dancing with someone." Amirah's cheeks burned at the thought of what happened earlier. "Y-yeah but, I'm kind of tired." Her mother released a sigh and excused herself from the conversation to fully talk with Amirah. "Okay. I'll tell the chauffeur to drive you home." She was glad that it was her mother whom she found instead of her father. Her mom's easy to convince in certain situations while her dad... she's afraid of him. She doesn't know when she started to fear her father but it just happened. Amirah started to follow her mother outside the ballroom of the hotel and kept quiet until her mother started to ask. "So, who's he?" "Just some guy..." She answered, immediately ending their conversation. Her mother didn't bother to continue asking questions. She just wanted to get things over with and give Amirah what she wanted. Amirah looked into the night sky, expecting to see stars but instead saw dark clouds, ready to pour raindrops. Her head was resting on the side of the window's car while their chauffeur drove her home. She uncovered the wrinkled paper that was on her hand the entire time, revealing Crystal's phone number. Amirah showed a slight smile. What happened earlier was so strange, she actually enjoyed it and hoped for more weird encounters. Amirah backed away a little when a drop of rain landed on the window. It was one, then two, then three, until the window was entirely covered with raindrops. Soon, she felt the vehicle stop and saw a familiar building outside the window so she started to prepare herself from getting out. The gates opened in front of them and the car started again. They were entering the Hearsts' mansion. The chauffeur opened the door for her, revealing her personal assistant with a large umbrella. She thanked the chauffeur before tagging along with Laura. The cold air made Amirah shiver as they made their way inside the manor. She immediately went upstairs to her bedroom to take a nice, warm bath. -- Amirah covered half of her face in the tub as she let her mind do a series of flashbacks from earlier and his face appeared in the process. At this moment, she wanted to drown herself. "He's so annoying." She unconsciously mumbled underwater, resulting a gurgling sound. - - Dressed in her nightgown, she stretched her arms and collapsed in her ridicolously large bed. "Did you enjoy the night, my lady?" Her assistant sat on the side of her bed. Amirah flopped over to stare at the ceiling and question her existence. "I don't know." "Did you meet someone new?" "I met some, actually." "Oh?" Laura appeared amused, though her expression was vague. She tried to recall the names. "There's Crystal, Skylar, Eura, and... Zodel." "That's a lot." Amirah's eyes lit up, recalling the memory of her and Alec. She sat up and crawled near Laura. "Alec was there! And he was supposed to dance with me! But Zodel took my hand and pulled me away from him!" "That's interesting..." Laura mumbled, putting a hand over her mouth. "I never got the chance to talk more with Alec. Instead, I got this stupid dance with that Zodel." She whined, putting a blanket above her and swayed back and forth. "But you had fun." Amirah lowered her comforter, pouting. "Maybe." "What else happened?" "Well, there were these two girls: Crystal and Skylar. I heard them talking about Alec so I joined the conversation to ask. I guess they were here for a field trip and a business meeting with my family. Then, Eura came a few seconds later, she scares me..." Laura nodded in anticipation and played with Amirah's hair as she continued the story. When she finished, her assistant decided to comment. "This Crystal left you her number, right? Why don't you call her?" "C-call her?! No way!" "But what's the use of her number if you don't call her? Besides, if you don't, Crystal might be dissapointed." "I-I don't know how... what if she doesn't answer? And what if we become close and she'd spill my secrets and tell everyone that I'm an heiress of a well-known company!?" Laura sighed, tucking her cream colored locks behind her ears. "You're over thinking again, my lady." She patted Amirah's head. "Why don't you think about it tomorrow? Get some sleep." "Tomorrow..." Amirah repeated, nodding in response. "Alright." She tucked herself in bed and immediately dozed off after Laura bid her goodbye. -- Her eyes opened at around three in the morning because of her rumbling tummy. She forgot that she hasn't eaten anything heavy at the ball and all she chewed on was sweets. Groaning, Amirah got up and headed to her desk, sitting in an unlady-like manner instead of going downstairs for a proper meal. She gazed at the sky. It was the only comfort that she needed right now. It was still dark but the stars were now visible unlike earlier where dark clouds surrounded the sky. Her eyes wandered off the desk and landed on a crumpled paper. She let out a voiceless, "Oh." Before searching for her phone. It wasn't the best idea to call someone at near dawn but she wouldn't know because Amirah wasn't thinking straight at that time of the day. Anxiety rised within her as she placed the phone near her ear, hearing the sound of reaching the recently added contact. "Dang it, Kaiden. It's three in the morning! If you're pulling pranks on me again, I swear—" "A-actually, this is Amirah..."