A Deal With The Devil(Devil’s Bargain)

Chapter 1 The rays of the morning sun and the annoying sound of my Alarm woke me up. I lay on my bed lazily silently cursing my alarm for being so noisy. I stretched my hands to get my phone and I checked the time. It was already past 7 am. “f**k” I muttered as I immediately jumped from the bed. I rushed inside the bathroom to shower. Within minutes I was done and I headed to my wardrobe when I recalled today happens to be my birthday not just mine anyway, it was also Tessa my twin sister’s birthday. I let out a forced smile hoping this year would be different from the previous one even though I knew it was a foolish thing to hope for. “Nessa” Mother’s sharp voice broke into my thoughts echoing through the mansion. I hurriedly put on my clothes and rushed towards the poolside where I knew Mom would be. In less than three minutes I was already there, I spotted Mom and Tessa looking so expensive even in the morning their skin looked so flawless. I saw the diamond necklace Dad gave Tessa on her birthday last year while I received nothing he told me I should be a little more like Tessa. I’ve never received any gifts from Mom and Dad for as long as I can remember. Tessa and I are twins but not identical, though we are twins our facial features are different. While my hair is straight and short, Tessa’s hair is long, wavy, and curly with her white smooth, and spotless skin giving her the look of a goddess. Sometimes I wonder why we look so different given the fact that we’re twins. Dad was also there reading his newspaper as he does every morning while Tessa scrolled through her phone sipping her juice while one of the maids did her morning face care routine on Tessa’s face, the other maid worked on Mom's face as Mom sipped her coffee. No one looked at me or even wished me a happy birthday. “Nessa” Eleanor Whitlock called me without lifting her face. “Is Tessa’s dress Ironed, remember she has very important guests coming for her birthday today?” “I... I...I thought you did it already.” I said “I didn’t ask for your thoughts Nessa, did you iron it or not?” Mom’s voice was harsh this time. “I’m sorry, I’ll go and do it now.” I lowered my gaze Tessa let out a sigh “Mom, do you really think after all these years she’ll simply get better at house chores? That’s pathetic.” “I’m sorry.” I apologize Mr Whitlock folded his paper and looked at me for the first time since I got here. “You apologize too much.” He said For a brief moment, my heart skipped with joy as I thought Dad was finally going to defend me this once, his next statement shattered my heart completely. “If only you were more competent and even more graceful like Tessa then you wouldn’t need to be apologizing every day.” “I’m sorry Dad.” I apologized again as that has become the only thing I know how to do best. I turned heading back into the mansion when Dad called out. “Nessa” I stopped walking and turned. His eyes were still glued on the newspaper. “Don’t embarrass this family today in front of our guests, it’ll be better if you stay in your room and avoid ruining anything.” “Understood, Dad,” I said and walked away before the tears in my eyes could fall. Beyond anything, I don’t want my parents to see my tears so I always acted strong in front of them. Behind me, I heard laughter from Mom, Dad, and Tessa. They truly are happy without me. The trio looked like the picture-perfect family. I stood in the laundry room with the iron and I held Tessa’s expensive blue dress. It was custom-made. Dad had the designer make only one. The dress was designed with real and expensive diamonds. Memories of our previous birthdays came through my mind. Every one of our birthdays has been the same. Tessa always received grand and expensive parties, luxurious gifts, customized jewelry, decorated rooms, money bouquets, etc while I only received polite nods from guests. We shared the same birthday but somehow only Tessa was celebrated. The time I asked my mother why it was like that she replied “Because your sister shines naturally and you should learn from her, stop making everything always about you.” Since then I started working harder, I studied harder, I learned not to complain and I became the exact daughter I believed Mom and Dad wanted but nothing changed, instead they became more and more cold towards me. It became clear to me that no matter how I tried I would never be like Tessa. My phone vibrated on the phone bringing me back into reality from my thoughts. It was a text from Damien. I immediately found myself smiling. Damien has been the only one who genuinely cared about me. Ever since we met two years ago, Damien has always had a way of putting a smile on my face, his constant gifts and Lunch/dinner dates, his good morning texts, and the compliments I get from him gave me reasons to live and be happy. I opened the text and it reads “Happy Birthday My World. I love you so much babe but I’m really sorry I won’t be able to be with you today because international clients landed and I’ll be busy all day, I promise I’ll make it up to you. I love you, babe.” My smile faded away slowly. I read the message multiple times and the more I read the more I became hurt because Damien had always made sure I didn’t celebrate my birthdays alone for two years. He made me believe birthdays were meant to be a happy moment. He bought flowers and he baked cakes that tasted terrible, he sang happy birthday songs for two years but today was different. “It’s okay babe, work comes first. Good luck, baby.” I stared at the message before sending. I smiled. At least he remembered unlike everyone else. “Nessa” Mom called my name “Coming, Mom,” I replied and I hurried, slipping my phone into my pocket as I headed to the living room where I saw Mom checking her reflection in the mirror. Her sense of fashion always makes me proud of being her daughter. Mom is a woman of class, an epitome of beauty sometimes I wish I looked like Mom instead. “Tessa and I are leaving for the salon” “Okay, Mom.” “There are guests coming tonight” “Guests?” I asked and Mom nodded “You know we’re celebrating Tessa’s birthday today.” The smile on my face disappeared. “Our birthday,” I whispered and Mom looked at me like I said something I wasn’t supposed to say. “Tessa has business partners attending the party tonight, don’t ruin things for her, and don’t make any of this about yourself.” “Yes, Mom!” Dad came down the stairs looking dashing in his black suit. “Don’t mess things up and know your place. With that they all walked out together and no one looked back. They left and I stood still in the living room. My eyes looked around the decorations made with fresh flowers. Tessa is indeed lucky. I quietly ironed Tessa’s dress and I went on to have my breakfast in the dining room alone. Hours later I stayed in my room alone while downstairs was bubbling with different guests who Al came for Tessa’s birthday, some were Mr Whitlock’s business partners while some were women from elite families that my mom, Eleanor Whitlock invited. A tiny cupcake with a small candle I had bought earlier stayed on my bed. I lit the candle and I closed my eyes to make a wish. “Please let something good happen today. I wish Mom and Dad would love me just like they love Tessa.” With that, I blew out the candle. My phone vibrated and showed a text from an unknown number. I opened the text, it read. “Meet me at Sterling Hotel in two hours, I have a surprise for you. A laugh escaped my lips. I knew it was Damien. He was the only one who would pull up a surprise for me. Damien won’t let me be lonely on my birthday after all. He was preparing a surprise all along. The idea of him texting with a different number made me laugh cuz it was a very childish prank. I quickly jumped from the bed and went to the wardrobe to pick the perfect outfit for the night.