A Love Not Mine

Paris Randall or Payton Randall?

Paris lay in her bed crying as she still remembered her mother’s words. Her father knocked on her door which was half open but when he didn’t get an answer, he invited himself in. He sat on the chair beside the bed and watched as his daughter curled under the duvet crying her eyes out.

“What was that supposed to mean” asked Paris between sobs referring to her mother’s earlier words.

His father let out a loud sigh, “In her young age, your mother wanted to have only one child. Even after we got married, she still wanted it that way. When she was expecting, she never knew they were twins until she went into labor. When she gave birth to Payton, the doctor told her that there was another baby on the way. She was surprised and told the doctor that she never knew that.

‘Well, the ultrasound is not always accurate’ the doctor had told her.

‘But I never wanted another baby’ she told the doctor and that’s when she went into labor again and this time it was more painful than before. When she gave birth to you, she wanted to leave you in the hospital for adoption but then I pleaded with her. With the help of your grandparents, she final agreed to bring you back home.” finished her father.

“I never knew that” said Paris.

“Of course you never knew because there was no point in telling you this” answered her father with a soft chuckle.

Paris sat straight, wiped the tears from her face and then looked at her father, “What do you think I should do?” she asked.

“Paris, you are a grown up now. The decision that I’d make for you, might make it hard for you and make you live in regret of what you never chose. But if you choose for yourself, you will fight hard with all your heart. And if it ever brings regret, at least you know that it was what you could be able to choose.” advised her father.

Paris smiled half-heartedly, “Thank you father. At least you can understand me” she said.

“Anything for you, sweetie” smiled her father. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work” he said and stood up to leave. Once in front of the door, he turned to look at Paris and said, “I hope you’ll learn how to fight. Because that’s what life is all about. Fighting!” Paris who was looking at him, smiled and nodded as she saw her father turn to leave.

“Steve!” called Richard cheerfully as he stood up from his office chair with arms open wide to hug his best friend, Steven Carter.

“Hey, Rich!” called back Steven as he hugged him back.

“Man, you’ve been there for long. How long has it been again? Two months. And you said it was only two weeks.” Said Richard as they both went to sit down in the office sofa.

“Yeah, I know. But there, things had gone really bad since dad had fallen sick. So I needed to stay a little longer to put everything back in shape.” Said Steven with a shrug at the end.

“Okay, I get it. Well, I’m going back to work there’s coffee on the table in the other room if you want some” said Richard while standing up and heading towards his work table.

“No man, I’m good. But hey, can’t you take a break?! You’re getting married in a week. You’re supposed to be putting everything needed together not doing some endless work. Considering you’re not even the CEO yet.” Said Steven.

“You don’t have to worry about that. Besides, that’s why we hire wedding planners.” answered Richard eyes on his laptop.

“I don’t even know how Payton keeps up with a workaholic like you!” said Steven with a sigh.

“She has to. Because this is me and I can’t be changed. On that note,” started Richard now raising his head to look at Steven, “She has started minding about that. I mean; complaining that I’m always working and spending less time with her and she hasn’t been calling to ask for some money. Well, she didn’t do that often but now she’s spent two weeks without asking for some money” finished Richard.

“Maybe she wants you to realize that she doesn’t want your money that much but some time with you.” Said Steven.

“No. I think I know the reason.” Said Richard.

“And what is that?”

“Her twin sister is sick and she has gone abroad to their grandma’s to live there while being treated by their childhood doctor until she recovers. And according to their parents they have never been that apart since they were young. So maybe she’s missing her so much.”

“Well, I guess she has to learn to live that way because she’s getting married and she is not going to move in with her sister.”

“And that’s exactly what my mother said. Are you sure you’re not her real son?” said Richard and they both laughed.

Paris took small steps as she went towards her mother’s room. She knocked once, twice and on the third time she heard her mother’s silent ‘come in’.

She touched the door knob, sucked in some air and opened the door to go in. once in the room, she saw her mother seated on a chair with her back towards her. The room was big but not that big. Their parents’ bed was a big one and placed on the upper middle side of the room. On the right side of the bed was a short cupboard with six drawers, three on the right side and three on the left side, and on the left side of the bed was a table with two chairs one of which her mother was sitting on. She didn’t even bother to look at her, so Paris spoke up.

“Mother, I have been thinking about what you told me,” she began, but her mother hadn’t looked at her or made any reaction so she continued, “And I decided that I will do what you want. I will marry Richard until Toni recovers.”

On finishing this, her mother was already engulfing her in a huge hug with a big smile. “Now that’s more like my daughter.” She let go of the hug and continued, “Okay, now Toni is so sad and mad at you because I told her that you refused to do it. Then you have to send her a message and tell her that you accepted.”

“Toni doesn’t have her phone. Remember!” reminded Paris.

“That’s okay. We’ll reach her through the phone of the girl she’s living with.”

They dialed the girl’s number and they heard Payton’s voice reply, “Hello”

“Toni you won’t believe what good news that I’ve got for you. Paris has agreed to proceed with the wedding” shouted her mother excited.

“Really! I knew you wouldn’t let me down Paris. I owe you one.” Shouted back Payton happily.

Paris only looked at her mother and nodded with a half-smile because deep down she was scared by her decision and she still wondered if what she did was right or if she won’t regret it even more than she thought.

When she was back in her room she immediately contacted her best friend Shea to tell her what was going on in her life because she felt that she could no longer keep it to herself.

“Shea, I really need to talk to you right now.” Said Paris over the phone.

“Is everything alright?! You sound not okay” asked Shea worriedly.

“Just tell me where to find you and I’ll tell you the rest” answered Paris.

In just a few minutes Paris and Shea were seated in a corner of a restaurant.

“So what happened?!” asked Shea still worried

“Shea I am getting married to my sister’s fiancé” narrated a frightened Paris to her best friend.

End of flashback…

“So what are you going to do?!” asked Shea “and please don’t tell me that you are really going to marry him” continued Shea.

At this Paris only looked at her without saying anything and Shea realized what she meant by that.

“Wait! So you were serious about marrying him?” asked an astonished Shea

“what was I supposed to do?” asked Paris

“I don’t know, tell them that you can’t do it or anything else but that.” replied Shea

“Come on Shea. Have you heard what my mother told me when I tried to refuse?” said Paris. At this, Shea sighed and kept silent for a split second before saying, “You’ve got a point there.” And she kept silent for another split second, “well, aren’t you afraid of the Randalls? I mean, what if they find out about this? And you do know what they are capable of, right.”

“I know, I know. But I have no choice here” said Paris with a shrug. Both girls sighed and went silent for a second, “Well, at least you have me to talk to” said Shea breaking the silence “and don’t worry I won’t tell you to marry my boyfriend too” and they both laughed at her joke.

The next week was a flash in Paris’ eyes. Everything was done quickly that she had to admit that rich people can do almost everything so easily. The preparations were fast like she had never seen and she had to be there to approve if everything was to her liking. As usual, Richard was barely present on each occasion and she thought that it was high time that she learnt living that way though she found it a little difficult.

The night before the big day, Paris kept pacing restlessly in her room. She was wearing pink pajamas with small strawberries drawn on. Every now and then she would take deep breaths to feel at ease. She couldn’t sleep because every time she tried she would start having nightmares in her wedding gown and Richard unmasking her in front of the crowd that had come in their wedding.

She took another deep breath and sat on her bed and closed her eyes. Her phone rang and when she looked at it, she saw the same word that she was used to by now ‘darling’ with a heart emoji next to it. She took the phone, stared at it for about ten seconds battling in her mind whether to take it or not. Finally, she slid the green button and put the phone on her ear.

“Hello” she answered the phone in a silent voice.

“Toni…what happened to you?! You sound too quiet not as the usual” Richard’s voice said on the other end.

“It’s…umm…it’s just that I am tired. I’ve had a rough day” replied Paris feeling nervous.

“Really! ‘Cos you sound nervous.” Said Richard in a mischievous tone.

Paris was annoyed by this that she answered, “could you stop that because I’m not in the mood right now.”

“Okay, okay” said Richard in a surrendering tone. There was silence for a split second before Richard continued, “Well princess, even though you don’t want to admit it, I know that you are nervous right now because this is one of the biggest decisions you will be making in your life. But remember, this is the journey that we started together, you’re not in this alone. I might make you cry but then my heart will cry with you. If I break your heart, please remember to forgive me because it won’t be intentional. And my prayer right now is that I grow old with you and I promise that I will still be holding your hand till the end. I Love you!”

Paris couldn’t help but cry. For the second time she wished all this was a reality instead of a lie. She couldn’t help feeling envious for her sister to be having such a man in her life.

“Are you crying?” Richard’s voice brought her back from her thoughts.

“No” she said while sniffing.

“Since when did you become so emotional?” asked Richard once again in a mischievous tone.

“I’m not crying” said Paris as she tried hard to sound normal while wiping the tears that had rolled down her cheeks “Richard I’m tired and I need to go to bed early. Good night” and she cut off the line without even waiting for Richard to answer and once again she cried.

Her phone dinged with a notification which read:

“Sleep tight darling. We have a big day tomorrow and I hope to see my bride looking beautiful in a white gown. Sweet dreams!”

Paris slid under her blanket and cried even more. She cried over her helpless situation, the lie she was living and was about to keep living probably for the next few weeks and most of all the love that kept sweetening unexpectedly, a love that was not hers.

And with that on her mind she cried herself to sleep.

At six in the morning, her alarm went off. She reached for it, turned it off and turned on the other side of the bed to keep sleeping. She then remembered what day it was. The wedding day had finally arrived. She was still thinking about that when suddenly she heard a knock on her door followed by her mother’s voice, “Paris wake up or you might run late. The people who are supposed to get you ready are already here.”

“I’m awake mother” replied Paris.

She jumped out of the bed, looked at herself in the mirror for fear of that her eyes became sore because of all the crying of last night and was relieved when there were no bags under them. She took a shower and put on a light grey silk dressing gown and went out to meet the make-up artists.

3 hours later…

Paris stood behind two big double doors nervous. She was now wearing the dress that she chose herself, the dress that she loved from the very first day she tried it on. She was so nervous that she felt knots tying in her stomach. She was breathless and her hands were shaking despite holding flowers. In that moment her father came and looked at her.

“Feeling nervous?” he asked

“Dad I don’t think I can do this” said Paris with tears draining in her eyes.

“Shhh! Now we don’t want you ruining your beautiful face right before your wedding. You can do it and I believe in you. And let’s just pray that your sister recovers soon and then you can put this burden down. Now let’s get ready it’s time for us to enter. Okay?!” assured her father.

“Okay” replied Paris quietly and sucked in a big gulp of air as she tried hard not to cry. She fixed her veil, held her bouquet tight and upright, looked at her father who raised his arm for her to hold and with a half-smile she held it and looked at the front.

In that moment a medley of ‘Here comes the bride’ and Mendelssohn’s ‘Wedding March’ was played out loud and the two big doors in front of them were slowly opened. When they were wide open, Paris saw Richard at the other end where they were going to head to. He was wearing a black tuxedo, a white shirt with a black bow and a pair of black shiny shoes. He looked handsome and magnificent that Paris smiled without even realizing it. She was brought back to her senses by her father’s low clearing of his throat and they began their slow march down the aisle. Richard looked at ‘his bride’ smiling as he admired how beautiful she looked in the white dress.

Eventually Paris and her father stopped in front of Richard and her father handed her to him and they took a few steps to stand right in front of the priest. They took their vows, gave each other the rings when the priest finally announced:

“I now pronounce you, Richard Randall and Payton Randall, as husband and wife”

A loud round of applause and cheers broke through the church, reporters were everywhere taking photos endlessly and she could here people shouting calling their names. But the priest’s last sentence was still ringing in her ears. She was now wondering about one thing:

She was the one who took the vows, the one who signed every paper involved and the one that Richard had officially put the ring on. Was it still about Payton or was it now about Paris?

Was there a Payton Randall as the priest declared or was it a Paris Randall?