Rewriting Us

Meeting Family

"Dad, I don't want to start at your company, I want to make a name somewhere, you know, I want to be known as Bethany, not just Bethany White." Bethany Explained.

The whole family was having breakfast, except Alice who had woken up late, Normally it was supposed to be a personal moment for the family, a breath away from work but due to the tight schedule of Mr David White whose only family time is breakfast if he was in the country, it became a time to report, ask for permissions, complain, make requests and other things they needed their father's approval for.

Bethany had just graduated from school and everybody thought she would immediately start working in her father's company but to everybody's surprise, she was asking to be independent. David White listened to his daughter's request as he ate silently.

When he perceived she was done, he looked at his son who just waved his credit card at him.

"It's the usual" Bethany commented with a chuckle which was cut short when her brother kicked her leg under the table.

David looked at his wife who just shrugged.

"How long is it going to take for you to get used to the fact that your eldest daughter is back in the house?" He inquired quietly.

Emma White was taken aback.

'My eldest daughter?' she asked herself.

She glanced at an equally stunned Bethany and an irritated peter.

"Alice?" She voiced out .

"Do we have another daughter before her?"He asked, now his control was faltering and his irritation had began to sip into his voice.

Had she truly forgotten about her own daughter?

Suddenly, Alice barged into the dining room, panting.

She had woken up so late only to be told the whole family was having breakfast.

She had taken her bath brushed her teeth and arranged her room in a record time of 20 minutes, after which she asked one of the maids to give her directions to the dining room only for her to get lost in the mansion.

She had to take so many turns, open so many doors and just when she was about to give up, she finally found it.

"I am sorry, I slept late" She whispered too timidly for her own liking.

All eyes were on her, and atleast 2 of them looked angry while Bethany's held indifference, her father's was difficult to read.

"Take a seat." Her father ushered her.

Alice looked at the table confused on where to seat. It is a 6 chair table with 1 chair on each end and 2 on each side.

David sat at the head of the table, on one side was Bethany and Mrs White and on the other was a very irritated peter. He definitely didn't want her close to him. To ease both of them, she sat at the other end of the table directly facing her father.

"Good morning father."

"Good morning mother."

"Morning Bethany, Peter, How was your night?" She asked, a wide smile on her face.

"Obviously not as good as yours."Peter mocked, a smirk on his face.

Before Alice could reply, David interrupted.

"I heard you are done with school. What did you study?"He asked .

"Fashion designing sir." She replied ignoring Peter.

"From which school?" Her mother asked looking at her.

This made Alice heart jump, Mrs Emma White was finally speaking to her, quickly, without thinking, she replied proudly.

"Fashion institute of technology New York." She only bit her tongue when she finished her statement.

That was Bethany's College!!!

She was too eager to impress her mother and now she was going to have alot to explain.

"Isn't that the same college you finished from Beth?" Mrs White asked looking at a stunned Bethany.

"Of course Mum,and I have never come across her or a person with her name."

"I studied fashion design AAS for 2 years which was exactly 3 years back and I furthered to do a BFA online so I'm sure we wouldn't have met even if we studied the same course." Alice explained as politely as she could. She was starting to believe Bethany really didn't like her.

At first,she was able to view her indifference as her trying to adapt and maybe she just didn't get the opportunity to speak to her since they had only met at the party and half of the time she was avoiding her but now, she seemed to want to prove she was lying and she didn't bother to answer her greeting earlier.

"Maybe." Bethany simply shrugged and returned her attention to her food.

"That's good."David said cutting short whatever protest anybody had.

He dropped his spoon, pushed the plate farther away from himself and used his napkin to clean his mouth after he had gulped down the water in the glass. He then cracked his voice, attracting everybody's attention to himself before he continued.

"You should look for a company you want to work in or you can work in mine if you wish. Just prepare your resume and submit it."

"As for you Bethany, if that's what you want, you can go ahead, I don't want you whining later on though."

"Then peter, I'll have somebody attend to your cards. If that's all I'll see you all in 2 days time."David concluded giving his wife a quick peck on her cheek, he walked out with his chaffuere right behind him.

The whole family watched David walk out before they continued their meal except peter who happily excused himself.

On seeing that her nemesis was gone, Alice scooted closer to the table and tried to make conversation with Bethany.

"What do you think I should do about the Job?" She asked Carefully.

At first nobody responded to her, then her mother looked up and saw her eager eyes watching Bethany.

"Beth."Their mother called.

Maybe it was her hormones or it was the way Mrs Emma called Bethany's name with love or the way her voice Involuntarily relaxed or the way she calmly tapped her, everything was what Alice had dreamed of, so she found herself tearing up and without warning she begged.

"Mother, I'm sorry I didn't wear the dress yesterday, I'm really sorry, I know you are upset I'll make sure to do as you say next time." Not only her lips were begging, her eyes had joined in too. Begging their mother to see her pain and treat her with the love she so desired.

Blinded by pain, Alice didn't see the triumphant smile on her mother's face neither did she notice the snigger on Bethany's face. All she saw was what she wished to see what she knew would be there, what the writer had described this two characters as. She saw her angelic sister and her Caring mother, she was the bad one, the rebel.

She should have considered the dress.

'if mother had chosen that dress, then it must be of some value to her, maybe it was from some special designer or she had made it herself or maybe it was her mother's dress. Rich people do that.

Pass their clothes to their offsprings as some ancestral valuable and without thinking I had adamantly refused and ended up breaking mother's heart. If she's nonchalant to me I'm responsible for I know her more than she does herself'

Or so she thought.