Unwelcome.
This all too familiar feeling is creeping up on Diana once again, as she looks at Chantal's birthday invitation. Her sister will be turning 22 this year, and once again, will host a grand celebration as if every birthday is her debut. Weird enough, this should have also been her birthday celebration, and yet again, her name is absent in the invitation.
Chantal has always been the one who loves to throw parties, she's always been the one to show off their wealth. And Diana is quite the opposite. She is more practical, but a little rebellious. She does love to dress up just like any girl, but she prefers functionality more than fashion. Whereas, Chantal is just one Fashion diva, which is why their family supported her career as a Fashion Designer. For Diana, it's enough that she gets a College Degree, that way it won't be as embarrassing when introducing her to the public. With how different the two women are raised in the Winchester Family, nobody would assume that they were twins.
Winchester Family is a wealthy family in the country, Great Blackhampton. Vergil Winchester is the Patriarch and Regina Quentin-Winchester is the Matriarch of the family. They only have two offspring, their son, Osmond, who married Vanessa Carlton--also from a rich family who owns businesses in the entertainment industry. And Osmond's sister, Cassandra Winchester-Barnes, who married Winston Barnes, an owner of a famous restaurant overseas. Cassandra is a chef in Winston's restaurant, which is how they met. They live overseas with their son Harlan who is 20 years old and is studying Culinary.
Diana is the eldest daughter of Osmond and her sister Chantal is only younger by 15 seconds. But growing up, Chantal is the favored child in the family. Whatever Chantal does is right. Whatever Diana does is disappointing. Perhaps, in the beginning, Diana tried hard to be favored just like her younger sister. She tried to act cute and even would cry so the adults will pacify her the way they do with Chantal, but when it comes to her, they scold her for being an attention-seeker. As she grew older, she developed immunity against their criticisms.
She feels closer to Cassandra and her family at Maconia more than her grandparents, parents and sibling.
There were times when she doubted whether she was adopted instead. But that was impossible, since she was Chantal’s twin. They may not look identical but they were born on the same day and from the same mother.
Now as she stares at the paper with Chantal's name, she knows what to expect. She is expected to attend and appear joyful on her sister's occasion. Presenting a unified Winchester family in front of strangers.
And like a psychic, she guessed that her phone would ring.
Vanessa is calling Diana which the latter picked up on the second ring. She decided not to let it ring for too long. She didn't want to suffer an hour of a rant from her today.
"Yes, mom," Diana answered.
"Hmph!" Vanessa sounded annoyed. "Where are you now?"
"I'm in my apartment." She responded briefly.
"Have you received the invitation?" Vanessa asked coolly.
"Yes. I have it here."
"Okay. Remember to come. Get rid of your miserable face, do you understand?" Vanessa reminded Diana. Her voice was laced with displeasure.
"Yes, mom," Diana answered, waiting for Vanessa to hang up. As she did, Diana leaned against the couch, closing her eyes. She looked miserable, causing her roommate Heather Bennett to worry.
"Di? Are you okay?" Heather asked her, giving her a cup of chamomile tea.
"Mmm--Same thing." Diana sighed as she showed Heather the invitation card.
Heather frowned at the print on the paper and snorted. She has always been unimpressed with Diana's relatives. Winchester Family may be rich but they are nothing compared to the Great 7 that dominate the major industries. But for the members of the Winchester Family, they're living as if everybody else is beneath them. Except for Diana. She has always lived as Chantal's shadow so she never got to feel like she is from one of the wealthy families.
Heather and Diana have gotten along well together since High School so they decided to share an apartment as they studied at Henhall University, one of the top universities in the country. They have studied different courses in College, Heather earned a Criminology degree and Diana earned a Medical Technology degree. They shared a few similar subjects back in College so they pretty much can understand each other's work lives. Heather knows all too well how the Winchester Family treats Diana, they treat her as not less than an orphan.
"Cheer up. Don't let yourself get affected by their nonsense. Since there will be a blast of a party, just enjoy it. Eat. Drink. Dance. Maybe hook up with a guy." Heather joked. Diana snorted at this.
"As if. All guests are Chantal's friends. And you know the kind of company she keeps. I'd rather get dried up than make a mistake by getting involved in one of those peacocks."
Heather plopped herself on the couch close to Diana and turned on the remote.
"You and me both." She smirked. "But don't forget to take some food, especially desserts."
Diana laughed at this. "That's the plan."
They’ve been best friends for a long time and yet not once was she able to invite Heather to a grand birthday celebration like Chantal can to her friends. Usually, they would just celebrate it whenever they have free time.
On TV, a news channel popped up, showing the news at a conference talking about the new vaccines. The camera showed the scientists from all over the world zooming in on the President of Forrest Research Institute, the leading research institute in Great Blackhampton.
Diana glanced at the powerful figure on the screen before reading her mailbox on her phone, not even sparing a thought whether the person on the screen is handsome or not. After all, she will never get a chance to meet him in person. Although the Winchester family is considered wealthy, they were nowhere near that person.
What use is there to dwell on such thoughts?
At the age of 22, Diana would never have imagined she would be thrown into a life of passion involving this man. She would never have expected that soon, her life without the feeling of belongingness that one could get from their family would possibly happen to her.
The night was alive. Everyone was dancing to the music the DJ played in front. The mix of swirling lights and the smell of alcohol provided a sense of drunken stupor.Diana would have enjoyed this scene, if only she belongs to the company the party’s celebrant is from.Instead, she busied herself at the buffet table, negotiating with the caterer to prepare to-go boxes for her, planning her escape. The noise was deafening, irritating her mood more. A good thing that all of the rooms in this venue are sound-proof. The more formal diners were situated in the opposite hall, so as to avoid disturbing them.“I’ll be back for it,” Diana said to one of the catering staff. The young man just nodded in understanding.
They have already reached the outside of the building. The man still held her hand absentmindedly. "Ahemm.." She cleared her throat and glanced at their hands. "Oh." The man let go of her hand regretfully. "Thanks for playing along." Diana offered a small smile. "Do I at least get to know your name?" The man inquired with a lopsided smile. Diana chuckled and offered her hand to shake. "Diana" "A pleasure to meet you, Diana, I'm Lucas." He shook her hand with his, flashing his pearly white teeth. "Pleasure is all mine," Diana replied, crinkling her nose. Lucas found the mannerism cute. "Who would have thought I would be someone's knight in shining armor." He grinned. "That's a stretch--" She snorted. 'This guy is easy to talk to.' Diana contemplated.
"Y-you..Where are you?!" Vanessa's voice was loud in the other line. She gritted her teeth. Once she heard what Diana was doing while everyone was dancing at the party, her blood boiled, and immediately decided to call Diana so she could reprimand her in person. "I'm in my apartment, mom," Diana replied calmly though her hand was massaging her forehead. "Why are you there instead of your sister's party?!" Vanessa shrieked. 'On top of embarrassing the family, she dares to escape?!' "I wasn't feeling well, mom. I didn't want to spoil everyone's fun." Diana reasoned. Making up an excuse on why she's avoiding them is already second nature to her. And as usual, Vanessa didn't buy her excuse. She heard from Chantal that Diana left with to-go boxes and even went with a man. "Tell me. Who was the man you're with? Are you with him no
As soon as Diana opened the door, Heather ran up to her. "I saw your GPS notification. What happened?" Heather asked as Diana came inside the apartment. "I was hitching a ride with somebody." Diana put down the to-go boxes on their kitchen counter. "Here's the loot." Heather chuckled seeing Diana come back in one piece and even bringing back food from the party. "Great! I was getting hungry again after using up all my brain cells looking at reports." "Why did you need to turn on the GPS? Was it a creepy guy?" "No. He's not creepy at all. But I thought it was still better to have precautions." "Good. You've done well. Looks like all of my reminders have come in handy. hmm?" "Haha... it does." Diana took out plates from the cupboard. She didn't eat back at the party. "So how was th
Sporting a headache, Diana woke up in the morning. She dreamt of Lucas for the whole night, burning her from head to toe. She had dark circles in her eyes when she got up to get herself ready. That was the first time she dreamt of a man. When she was with Henry, she never even entertained the thought of doing it with him. He looked like a nice guy and it was hard for her to imagine doing anything with him. Of course, when she found out that even nice-looking guys are cheaters, she instantly felt disgusted. That was a rude awakening for her. Not all nice-looking boys are actually good. She should have followed her instinct not to agree to be his girlfriend instead of letting other people's opinions influence her. That incident taught her to listen to her gut. Just like that previous night. Her eyes were drawn to Lucas even when insults were hurled at her. She felt in her gut that he's not a bad man. He didn'
A week passed and Diana has already settled into her routine. She had already become acquainted with her coworkers and the staff at the hospital. Her popularity within the Hopton Research Institute and Hospital keeps growing. Male nurses and doctors would even make an excuse to stop by at the Institute or would take their lunch there just to catch a glimpse of Diana. The beauty herself was not aware. She just thought there was nothing unusual about it. After all, she's only been there for a week. However, Clara, Michelle, and Alicia are increasingly annoyed. At first, they were happy to see the doctors visiting, hoping to catch their attention. They were even trying to become friends with them. These doctors not only work in Hopton Hospital, but they also have patients in other big hospitals, they naturally have contacts in bigger laboratories too. Unfortunately, all of these men are only interested as to Diana's w
It has already been a month since she started her internship. Work went by as usual until that afternoon when Hopton Hospital suddenly got flooded by patients that needed their labs taken urgently. Two groups of people were in a car accident. Most of them needed blood transfusions and several of them needing immediate surgeries. The laboratory technicians were swamped with the heavy workload. Diana tried to keep calm amidst the stressful environment. Her shift was almost at an end when suddenly Bryan came to the Laboratory and looked for her. He had a serious look on his face and one could even detect anger. Diana was confused as to why he looked that way and even looked for her. "Sit down," Bryan ordered harshly as soon as she entered his office, throwing a chart on the table towards her. Diana looked confused with his behavior and just calmly scanned the sheet showing
Diana was already at her apartment's doorstep, keys in hand, she stared at the doorknob mindlessly. She never expected things to turn out the way they did. All the way here, she's been racking her brains about what exactly happened. She swore she followed all of the procedures. 'Did I really take it from the right patient? I swear I did.' She inserted the key and twisted it, opening the door. "Hey Di.. You're back early." Heather greeted Diana as she entered their apartment. Glancing at the clock, it's not even time for her scheduled clock-out. "Yeah. Boss sent me home." Diana replied dejectedly. "Huh? What happened?" Heather asked. "Are you feeling sick or something?" Diana is a hard worker. She won't leave work early if she can help it. "No. Though I might as well be. I made an Incident Report today.