Intertwined with my twin’s lover

Beautiful decor, beautiful guests, my dad who left us when we were still in elementary school, the priest that was to conduct the wedding, and a party spirit. Everything was present at my twin sister's wedding, but her. Ten minutes after the priest asked her to be ushered in, she was still nowhere near the venue for her wedding. Necks were beginning to turn, and tongues wag. People wanted an explanation for the case of the missing bride. "She must have disappeared with one of her boyfriends." I heard someone say in a whisper, but I couldn't  trace the voice. Another said, "Who doesn't know Helen to be loose?" A voice that I suspected to be her best friend's added. "Helen was still seeing her ex. You know right?"  Although I tried scanning through the audience, I didn't see anyone's mouth moving. It was sad how the ladies who were meant to be in her bridal train were the ones speaking bad of her. I stood camouflaged by the thick curtain that separated the guest room from the dressing room. My heart bleeding for my sister. "Who knows? Maybe she eloped with him."  "Sad how the family of the Gordon's would be put to shame because of her greed."  They could have rattled on. Taking turns to speak against my twin sister if I hadn't walked in. After I made myself known to them, I left them nervous that I might have heard them and strode back into the dressing room. No one but my mother and I knew what was going on, and we were more confused than scared at this point. You wouldn't blame us for letting Helen go. If she didn't, the life of my older brother was on the line. But this was not part of the plan. According to the plan, she ought to be back by now. Or at least, on her way home. My mother called her phone for the third time since she left the venue, but this time she didn't pick up.  When my mother made an effort to call again, the service provider read that her phone was switched off. Beads of sweat broke out on my mother's face. She turned to me for motivation, or maybe for a suggestion that would save us all from the hot mess, but I had none. We were out of lies. We had earlier announced that Helen collapsed and was resting. But that lie wouldn't buy us much time. Soon, we would have to either come up with another lie or tell the hundreds of people out there what was going on. "Try calling again," I said desperately. Using my left palm to wipe the sweat off my face. "She isn't picking up my calls." I exhaled deeply. Standing from the mattress I was seated on, and beginning to pace around restlessly. "It says here that it's off." My mum was almost in tears now. "I hope my baby is okay." Her voice had so much pain in it, it shook like she was crying. She was, I knew it. It just wasn't visible for me to see. She continued speaking. "First kodren, now Helen. Of all days, on her wedding day. We shouldn't have let her go." My mum put both hands on her head, obviously distraught by everything going on. She  "And risked the life of kodren?" I asked kindly. Trying to help her feel less guilty about everything going on. Mum was fond of blaming herself even when she wasn't wrong.  Right now, she is in no way at fault. She and I let Helen go because we all wanted the best for Kodren. It was a bit suspicious when those kidnappers asked Helen to come with no ransom. We should have known it was all a plan to double their bait. Deep down, I wished I was the victim of this second kidnap. In my absence, the wedding would go on. But with Helen being absent, everything was going to flop. "Who ever heard of a wedding without a bride?" I banged on the wall, pleading silently with it to provide me with solutions. This was not just about Helen and our family name, but about the groom and his family. Pedro was one of the wealthiest men in the entire city and his name was one that we wouldn't dare drag in the mud. His family was royal, and a lot of Billionaires were present at the wedding as well. An incident as this was a threat to both him and us, all we wanted was to exonerate his title. "Jasmine." My mother sighed deeply, using her left hand to clean the tears off her eyes, and unintentionally ruining her makeup. "Mum." I swallowed. Hoping that she had come up with a solution to this. "Can you think of that anything we can do?" Her eyes were desperate, she equally hoped I had a solution. "Nothing, mum. My mind is completely blank. I think we tell them she was abducted?" That didn't sound like a brilliant plan, but I had no other suggestion. Telling them that the people who had earlier kidnapped my brother asked her to bring them ransom on her wedding day would earn us blames. "No! That's not going to help Pedro's career or family name." My mother nodded in disagreement, pouting her lips in thought. "Baby I think the only way out of this is that you dress up as the bride and fill in for your twin sister." I gasped when she said that, and she paused to note the look on my face. "Ma?" I was hoping she didn't mean this because that was a stupid idea. What was she thinking, telling me to get dressed like my sister and go out there pretending to be her? I knew nothing about Pedro and didn't even know how to act during a wedding. Besides, what if the priest asked Pedro to kiss me? He was going to do that for sure. And what if she didn't return after the wedding? Was I to also follow Pedro back home and continue impersonating Helen?  "Did you even think about what you have just said?" I finally spoke up. My mind was made up, I wasn't going to do as she had asked me. "I know absolutely nothing about Pedro, and you know how the master of ceremony can be. What would I do when I'm asked to kiss, smooch or lap dance him? I don't think I want to do this, Mum." I looked away from her and continued racking my brain for another way out. "Jasmine!" My mother called sternly. Her voice was only that cold and direct whenever she wants to issue an instruction. "Mum," I turned to face her and retorted with a shaky voice. "I'm going outside to get the makeover artist and the tailor. I want you to sit down on that bed, and get dressed by them." "But mum!" She ignored me and strode hastily to the door. She attempted to push it open but realized it was locked. She sighed. Dipping her hand into her apron, she retrieved the keys. I sat silently on the bed, tearing up until she was out of sight.  I was a twenty-one years old undergraduate with big dreams. Getting married was the last thing on my life goals. And even if I was going to get married, I didn't want to marry my twin sister's husband. If after the wedding, Helen was not found, my mother was going to ask me to go with Pedro. How would I cope with him?  A few minutes later, my mother returned with three ladies. Interrupting my train of thought. "Helen!" She called me by my twin sister's name. I wiped the tears that had gathered out of my eyes and turned hesitantly towards the trio. Still wondering about the possibility of the plan working.  what would happen if my sister didn't return by the end of the wedding? Or what would happen if she walked in during the wedding?  I was an over thinker and this gave me enough reason to freak out. There was so much about this plan that could go wrong. Yet I couldn't think of a better way out of this. Lucky for my mum and me, the makeover artist was no close relative. She was a distant friend of my mum who didn't know Helen from me. People who are close to us could tell the slight difference. I was the chubbier one, and I had a more oval face. My dimples were deeper than hers, my smile more attractive than Helen's. So people said, I never really saw the difference. I had darker eyes too. Hers was closer to brown than black. I sat calmly and didn't move until after she was done masking my face. I was beginning to look like the bride my mother wanted me to be. "You don't seem happy, Helen. I thought this was all you could think of for days. Why do you suddenly not want to even look in the mirror?" Candy the makeover artist asked kindly. "I'm fine ma'am." I started, tempted to say more than expected. The cruel glare my mum shone at me was enough to make me shut my trap. "I'm just a little nervous," I added, exhaling deeply.  "A lot of people are out there, and I'm going to be dancing in front of them all." I continued, pausing to tactfully weave my words. "I'm just really scared of being called a wife after today." The lady gave me an understanding smile and pat my back calmly. She was trying to make me believe that she understood how I felt, but I knew that no one understood how I felt at this moment. If my mother wasn't so selfish, and desperate to belong to the royal class, maybe she would understand how it felt to move from the position of the maid of honor to the position of the bride in a little while. "I understand that feeling, dear." The makeover artist said naively. "When I was your age, I already had two children." I don't know what she was trying to do by telling me her pathetic story. But if she was trying to encourage me, it wasn't working. She stopped talking for a moment, she was carving my brows and needed extra caution. On a good day, even while I was wearing makeup, I hate to carve my brows. And that alone was enough to make me give up on the whole plan. But I was doing this for Helen, and my older brother. Besides, my desperate mother gave me no choice. I sat calmly. My eyes shut. I knew she was done carving when she resumed speaking. She droned on, boring me with tales of her first love, and her wedding day. I opened my eyes and glanced at the lady in the mirror. She was looking more like Helen than Jasmine. More like a bride than a maid of honor. Sadly, she was me. She had pretty dainty eyes, thin attractive lips, arched carved brows, and a pointed nose that complimented her face. I forced a smile and a satisfactory nod when I noticed that she was waiting to see my reaction. "I knew you would like it!" She exhaled with relief. "Your mother told me how much you like heavy makeup." A satisfying grin was plastered on her face. Helen loved heavy make-up, Jasmine barely ever wore make-up. I said in my head. Cursing her and my mother for masking my pretty natural face.  "Where's your twin sister?" She broke the momentary silence, causing me to shift my gaze from the mirror to my mother who was perched at the edge of my bed. We shared a glance, and somehow swallowed a hard lump simultaneously. "She needs to be here quickly, the guests are getting impatient. Or is someone else doing her makeup?"  "She won't be attending the wedding," my mother said curtly. Winking that I keep my mouth shut and play along. "She has an exam this morning at school." She concluded. The makeover looked at my mother, then at me. "Who will be the maid of honor?" If that was all that bothered them, they had no problem. They should rather be bothered about me. Because I was planning to escape in the middle of the wedding.