The Romance Of Lies

Opal’s soul left her body at the sight before her. “Cousin,” a blonde girl said and tried to walk over. “What is all this?” Opal asked. This was her family home. Her entire family was here. The halls were decorated for an engagement and the names on the banners were her cousin and her boyfriend. “Opal…” Andrew, her boyfriend tried to speak. “Don’t throw a tantrum, can’t you see we have guests?” Opal heard her grandmother scold her and her heart turned cold. The guests in question were confused as to the drama. “Guests? I travel for work and return and my cousin is getting engaged to my boyfriend and you are worried about guests? Are you really my grandmother?” Opal asked. It was as though a bomb had gone off in the hall. The guests were shocked by what Opal had revealed. “We will talk about this later. Go to your room for now,” Her grandmother raised her voice. “So grandma, you have shame, yet you let this happen?” Opal asked her. “Don’t make a fuss!” her grandmother scolded. “Opal, I love Erica,” Andrew started to say. “Who cares if you love Erica? Couldn’t you break up with me first? At least pretend to be moving on for at least one month before jumping ship. And my family John this farce, are you all joining him to mock me?” Opal exploded. “Cousin…” Erica started to say. “Shut up! Your character needs studying. Either you are doing drugs in college, stealing other student’s projects, or now, stealing your cousin’s boyfriend. Science needs a special microscope to understand you, cause there is no way you are human,” Opal scolded. Erica saw how Andrew’s face fell when he heard Opal’s words. She already looked bad to the guest and was looking even worse to Andrew’s family. “Cousin, Ah…” Erica started to say, then held her lower stomach with a frown. Seeing her action, everyone knew what that meant. Andrew threw aside what he had just heard about Erica and rushed to her side. “That’s enough, Opal. Erica is carrying my child,” Andrew said and Opal felt her head buzz as though it would explode. She watched as her family quickly hurried to Erica’s side in worry when they heard this. “From this moment, I am no longer a member of your family,” she said and started to leave but her father panicked. If Opal left, how could he arrange her marriage? Opal still had shares left from her late mother that he could access if he arranged her marriage well. “Don’t misbehave. Isn’t it just a man?” Her father said and Andrew’s family frowned at this. “That is your concern. You are all dead to me,” Opal said, rushed up the stairs, and packed her bags. By the time she came down with her things, she found that the event still went on without care, as though her pain meant nothing. She walked out of the house and picked a taxi to a hotel to stay the night. While there she became restless and went down to the hotel bar to have a drink. One drink turned to two and three and soon she could barely walk. She stumbled her way up to a floor above her own and walked towards a door. The door opened and a maid walked out after cleaning the room and she walked in before the maid could stop her. “It’s fine, this is my room,” she told the maid. The maid saw Opal flash her room card. When she saw some number similar to the room, she respectfully left. Opal took off her clothes and climbed into bed. The next second, a man dripping wet, seeming just out of the shower walked out and stared right at her. “How did you get in here?” he asked Opal. “That is my question. This is my room!” Opal insisted. “Check again, wrong room!” the man said. “Really?” Opal asked in confusion and climbed off the bed, slamming into his rock-hard abs. “Oh…” she said, her hands roaming all around him. “Spend one night with me,” Opal suddenly said. She had kept herself all these years for marriage yet Andrew slept with Erica. What was she waiting for? She took could sleep with random people. The man looked down at her and raised a brow. For some reason, he was not irritated when she touched him. His lower part reacted. He wondered if a business associate had sent her over. “You won’t regret this?” he asked. “I won’t” Opal declared and he picked her up and threw her on the bed. When morning came, Opal woke to find a man next to her. The memory of the last night flooded her brain. She did not bother to take a good look at the man. She slowly got up, dressed, and left the room. She returned to her room and dressed when she received a call from a classmate Lily, claiming to want to meet her. “I don’t have time,” Opal said and Lily begged, saying she needed help, so she agreed. They made an appointment to meet in the hotel restaurant. Alright day, Opal made calls to send cleaners to an apartment her mother had prepared for her before her death. When she was done, she had the hotel call movers to send her luggage over before she stepped down to the restaurant for her appointment with Lily. Opal had only walked into the restaurant when she froze by the door. She locked eyes with those whom she was meeting, and a sneer nearly formed on her lips. Lily was seated with a few friends and her cousin Erica. “Opal, hurry up and come sit with us,” Lily invited her over with a mocking smile, while Erica sat there looking wronged. Yesterday’s humiliation was not enough. She had brought her friends to anger Opal some more. Opal marched over in anger. She wanted to see what they could do to her. “Opal, why are you acting as though you are meeting enemies?” Lily asked, her expression slightly twisted. “Are you not enemies? You invited my cousin who crawled into my ex-boyfriend’s bed and her friends who don’t have a good relationship with me to meet up. If someone said you were not an enemy, even you would not believe it,” she answered loudly and those around glanced at them. “What do you mean? I haven’t seen you for a long time, and I wanted to…” Lily started to say. “You wanted to do what? You can’t claim to not know. I saw these girls at her engagement party last night. How could they say nothing? Opal asked. “I just thought since we have not seen..." Lily turned red because of the stares from the next table. “Ah, so you have not seen me in years, so you thought to bring my enemies into one room to reconnect. You could not find any of my friends? Or, it can’t be that you want to help us reconcile, right? If so, your soul must be as pure as that black coffee you are drinking.” Opal sneered. “Opal, there is no need to talk to Lily like that; she had good intentions,” Erica said. “Your Korean idol makeup mixed with bad plastic surgery makes you look more like a geisha doll than a pop star, the odor from your mouth is drowning the food,” Opal said to her, and Erica’s face distorted slightly. “Close your mouth; people are trying to eat here. Flies are about to gather. Have some decency; don’t destroy someone’s business.” Opal gave her a disgusted look. But she was not done. She turned her attention to Lily and the rest. “You all feeling we should reconcile when I am doing just fine means this pile of rubbish must have said something, right?” she pointed to Erica. “I don’t know if you are all just bold or your brain melted that day you had to stand for four hours under the hot sun to beg for your final project when the lecturer’s wife caught you in bed with her husband. I can see why you are friends,” Opal said in one breath. By now, Opal’s words had long attracted other tables to watch the show.