Serilda
I stand under the pitiful gazes of everyone present in the restaurant. Tears didn't stop. I could never understand what I had done in the first place to Serena to make her react that way. My first thought had always been that she just wanted the best of all the worlds and that is why she painted me black. However, I had never realised that she hadn't ruined my life only once but again and again until I became this revenge-seeking person. Erik hated me and I had always thought that he had the right. Not in million years, I have thought that my sister had been the mastermind behind all this. In reality Erik was just a puppet. Everything that I had suffered had come straight from the hands of my own blood, my own sister, Serena. She had been my idol once, someone who I had once in my life looked up to but she had always hated me, loathed me to the limit that she had wished for my death without any reason known to me. I hadn't stolen Erik Away. I had never wanted him. She had pushed me into this situation and hated me for it.
"Serilda," Chyna calls with her hand on my arm making me flinch away. I look at her and all I could think was she could have saved me from all of this but she didn't because she cared too much about her brother, loved him too much. Was there anyone who cared about me? Three years I have endured the humiliation pain and everything and that too because my sister had made sure it happened to me. I had hated Serena but now I just couldn't even look at her. She was worse than an evil spirit. She was a monster who ate her own. I felt betrayal from her but somehow I had accepted that fromher but hearing her words I didn't feel so hurt. It was like my heart expected that from her so long. It wouldn't have come to shock to me even she had been trying to stand with a knife in hand trying to kill me. She had emotied me from the inside. There wasn't much left that she hadn't give me. She had already pushed me in the well once, destroyed me enough and made me suffer. However, I felt content in the fact that the world knew it well that what kind of woman she was and it wasn't surely a good one.
"Serilda, calm down. Remember what you are here for," Chyna whispers in my ear and I reel back from my drifting thoughts. She was right I had to remember what I was here for. It hurt not only badly, burning me from the inside. My eyes turned to my mothers and I couldn't see anything there. Neither wasn't there remorse nor guilt all there was nothing. Her eyes were empty like every other time. My dearest father on the other side glared at me as if this was my fault. What a lovely parents I had, didn't I? The gossipers looked at me with pity in their eyes. At least someone pitied me even if it wasn't my parents. Nathaniel walked into the restaurant while holding Serena hand and all my eyes could see were there joined hands. How could he still be with her? Why? Serena didn't look a damn guilty but stood with him with her chin up high. Erik stood beside her like he was guarding her which was lame if you ask me. The devil didn't need anyone to guard her.
"Whatever just happened wasn't meant to happen. It's personal and in between family. Every family has its own differences that shouldn't be out in the public. It would be really nice if we all forget what happened and didn't talk about it," saying that he walked towards his parents who had walked towards my own. My sister was embraced by mother as soon as she was in walking distance. Nothing changed for her. How could mother love such a daughter? How could her wrong be so right?
Chyna rather than staying with me walked up to her family. Nathaniel eyes met mine but I stood with my chin high, shoulders back. They all stood together as a strong family front whose enemy was me. Walking towards them my eyes were settled on Nathaniel. He was right about one thing this was between family because I was family. His eyes closed one as I came closer to them and I could see in them the uncertainty, the unhappiness and disappointment. It was a bitter pill to swallow to see those things in his eyes but it wasn't enough to stop me. I don't think anything would be. What my dearest sister and husband has said had made me realise that there wasn't any space for forgiveness or letting it go. Her words fuelled a fire in me that fed my desire for revenge and it was enough for me to destroy her without any guilt and remorse. I stopped right in front of my dearest sister who looked at me with hated eyes while looking wounded as a people. I turned around and looked at Erik his eyes were set on me like of everyone else. Turning around her I focused solely on my sister.
"I don't have it in me to hate you or him even after you said. Unlike you, I don't hold grudges or wish my own blood to die. You had hurt me, made me bleed out and have someone abuse me all in the name of hatred that you hold for me. I should harbor the same inside of me for you if I would have been anyone else but I'm me, the woman who you had brutally destroyed for last three years and made sure was hated by everyone." I turned around and looked at all the faces who curiously looked at the scene unfolding.
"You made all their eyes turned down on me, had me hated in a way that could have died and none would have even cared. Three years abused by a man whom I called husband, crying in a room with no one to hear, dying day by day from the inside until I had turned empty with bruises on my body that no one cared about all done because of you. I have lived in a hell that I wouldn't even wish upon you but still, I stand here in front of you telling you that I don't have it in me to hate you," my heart bled as I let it all out with non-stop tears down my face.
"I wish I had it in me but I don't because you have turned me empty. There isn't a heart inside of me because you had made sure that it was so broken and shattered. I sadly I have no idea what happiness or love is because there is only pain and hate I have seen in the eyes of everyone for me. Not even a single person to sympathize or pity because of you, even my own parents," I look at them as I cry out my pain. My mother's eyes unable to meet mine while my father glared at me.
"Everything all because of you and I still won't pray for you to die when I should. I'm not you, Serena and I hope to god I never will be a woman like you. I wouldn't give you the satisfaction of having my hatred but I let me tell you one thing, your times over and of your lies too," her eyes widen at my words.
"Serilda," Erik yell out and I turn around with my hurtful teary eyes making him stop in his steps.
"I wish I could have in it me like all those other abused women to love you but I don't, not anymore after hearing you say those things. I was never your first and pray to God that I would never be your last because you don't deserve me like every other person here doesn't." It hurt deeply to say those words. He may have been the victim but no one put a gun on his head forcing him to abuse me. He chooses it like he always chooses her.
"You both deserved each other and still do," I said to him looking straight in his eyes. A hand wrapped around my arms. I knew by that hold and Goosebumps rising on my skin that it was him. I didn't stop him or fought him as he dragged me out of the room. We didn't stop until we had crossed the resort and were out on a secluded beach under the shades of trees hiding away from everyone.
"Why? Why do you have to do this?" he asks me angrily gripping both of my arms.
"I might ask you the same question," I reply haughtily freeing myself from his hold.
"Your question doesn't matter to me" Nathaniel yells out.
"Then yours doesn't too," I answer back punching fingers in his chest.
"I need you to fucking stop trying to ruin my wedding Serilda. Just stop it damn it," His hand goes around my neck as he pushes me towards him.
"Then, you should fucking drop the idea of marrying my sister!" I heave out.
"I'm marrying her, Serilda and that's final," his face just a few inches away from me as he whispers out those words. "She comes first for now" his words tear me away feeling like a knife scraping away my skin.
"Why?" I shout out. "How can you be marrying her after knowing what she has done? Don't you believe in me? She ruined my life and hated and you still are adamant on marrying her. Why Nathaniel? Does she have something on you? A got damn hold that you can't escape? Tell me why she has to come first always? Why?" I burn in agony each time knowing that she always came first and even for him she came first. How could he say that after knowing everything?
"It's my choice, Serilda," I want to believe it to be a lie but it is n't. I could see in his eyes that he wasn't lying.
"If it's your choice then why do you love me?" I asked placing my hand over his heart while stepping into his personal space. His breath fanned my cheeks as his neck rubbed up down my neck.
"How could you be even in love with me if it's your choice to marry her? How could you torture yourself like that if it's me who your heart beats fast with? How could you, Nathaniel?" My question gets unanswered as he stares down in my eyes.
"How can you even kiss her if it's my lips you want to taste to? How?" I cry out in agony that I suffer from. He closes his eyes and the man standing in front of me breaks. Tears roll down his cheek through closed eyes.
"How can you be with her if it is me who you want?" Nothing stops him as he places his lips on mine and kisses me. He doesn't stop. He doesn't wait. His other arm wraps around my waist and pulls me in. There is nothing else I can feel but only him. It's only him. His scent envelopes me as a blanket of warmth. His lips are no longer seeking for my permission they are taking away my permission. It's raw, everything feels raw as if we have been stripped down being ourselves and he is touching my heart from the inside with his lips. I lose my senses with him. He doesn't have to demand or control anything because my whole self just submits to him. His kisses me with a primal need as if it's only me who wanted. It's only me who is made for him. He might be touching my skin but I can feel him in deep inside of my soul. Our lips don't move in sync they move in undeniable pleasure. My hands keep on tugging on his hairs asking for more. I just can't stop asking myself for him. His taste isn't my nectar it feels as it's a drug that I can't give up. Everything inside me just feels only me, be it my heart or my soul. It's only him. His lips leave mine and feel a loss greater than my broken heart.
"I can't explain it to you, Serilda. I hope I could one day but not now. Just please stop making this hard for me. Just please," he cries out and it hurts seeing him this vulnerable. I can't see him hurting. I just can't because it hurts me deeply. It doesn't break me but shatters me.
"Nathaniel-," I couldn't say more because he pushes himself away from me and walks away.
"Nathaniel!" I call for him but he doesn't listen. He runs away from me leaving me in tears.
How does he have the power to hurt me this much? I ask myself as I feel his loss and the betrayal for him. More than ten minutes had passed.
"I loved the speech," I wipe my tears away and look up to see Chyna standing there with my bag and hers.
"I loved delivering it," I replied back making sure I had dusted away all the sand from me at my best.
"I just love theatrics and the way you said those things with those tears. Wow! I just can't tell you how good it felt," Chyna sighed in happiness.
"Yeah I had to have tears and try to be a saint. I mean if I didn't then everyone would have easily known it was me who was behind all this and I surely couldn't have move forward with the knowledge that people might be looking at my every move like a hawk. I have got two more strikes and this all would be just over but until then I want to gain everyone's pity and unveil her real colours step by step. How would people believe me if I just blurt it out? I would do it slowly just like cutting a living Serena slowly," I explain it to her with a devilish smile on my lips.
"That's the most beautiful and heinous thing I have heard," she says chuckling and I get in ease with her. Maybe it's because of us both sharing devious minds.
"What do you want Water or Vodka?" She asks me rummaging in her bag.
"Vodka please. Everything is giving me a headache," I mean Nathaniel was being reclusve, my parents were still shit and Erik, he was just her slave.
"Yeah me too," she replies as she hands me over the bottle.
"How was it back there?" I ask unscrewing the bottle cap and taking a gulp. It burned the throat but it felt good. It was a relief.
"Lovely, if my brother wouldn't have taken you away, you waould have enjoyed the show. My parents sadly didn't stay for long. They were surely disappointed in Serena but they didn't voice it out. Everyone glared at Serena and your lovely mother. They had to walk out of there with your mother running on her toes, Serena was right after her. Your father decided to stay but with the rising gossip and hatred being spew out for your sister, he had to walk out too and after everything I had to find you and my brother," She tells me with great joy and her very word brings a content and satisfaction to my heart with a great happiness.
"The uproar has been created, now its time to just bring out the dirty laundry," I say smiling as I pass her the bottle of vodka.
" I found Nathnaiel in just between and he told me where you were. He looked in a bdad shape. Was my brother crying?" she asks taking a gulp. I nod to her.
"He was also kissing me like his everything," I loved the sound of those words as I could still feel him on his lips.
"I'm glad I wasn't here to see that. He is my brother you know. It would have been eww," I just laugh at her statement and the face she makes.
"Why was he crying?" she ponders.
"Basically, I asked him how could he marry Serena and shit like how could he do this if he loved me and a lot of things which will make you puke," I smile and Chyna glares at me.
"Well that aside did you get anything out of him?" she questions as we share the bottle of vodka.
"Nope, nothing. Serena isn't really blackmailing him. There is something else though he said that he hoped to explain me the reason behind him marrying her one day but unfortunately that day wasn't today," I explain it to her.
"Damn, I thought that you could get something out of him I mean it was the sole reason I messaged him to get there asap," she told me and that eventually explained to me the fact that how did Nathaniel reached there.
"I had no such luck but it is surely something that revolves around Serena and my family. We just have to get what it is exactly,"
"Well I have two years trying to fit Serena into the equation but I have always come to a dead end," she explains to me plopping down next to me as we look at the glimmering water.
"Did Nathaniel go silent since Serena ran away I mean around the time I got married?"
"Hmm, it was around two months after your wedding. Why are you asking?" Her eyes looking at me with curiosity.
"I thought it could be related to it but its two months after Serena ran away and I got married so it can't be something related to her running away," I point out and she agrees with me. We drink away in silence until I realize I'm forgetting something.
"Oh shit what's the time," I ask out of the blue making Chyna jump up.
"Could you just tone it down? Scared the shit out of me," she glares. "It's around ten," she says looking at her watch.
"How quick can be Feddex," I question as I fish out for my phone.
"It depends how much you are willing to pay," she tells me as I call for one of my favourite persons. With every second that passes and the phone isn't picked up my heart starts sinking in my stomach.
"Hello," she answers the call and I breathe in a sigh of relief.
"Kelly!" I yell out of happiness as I walk out of distance hearing from Chyna.
"Serilda?" She questions in disbelief
"Yeah, it's me," I was just fucking glad she had picked up the phone.
"Is everything alright?" she asks away.
"Kind of. I have a job for you and it's important," I tell her.
"What kind of job is it? I'm so not clicking photos for you again," she points out.
"No, its not that kind of job. I just want you to send me some things here,"
"Will I get paid a big amount for it?" the greedy her asks.
"Yes, and the quicker you will be the bigger the amount would be," I wish she could just shut up and listen to me.
"Okay, what do I have send," At last she asks.
"There is a big pale blue box and I small one of red colour in my closet I just want you too send both of them to me. One has a wedding dress and other has just a pale pink old dress. Want you to take my car and go find a prank store where you can get a fake pregnancy test stick too. Put them all them in a box and Feddex them to me at priority mail. I don't care how much money it takes just send it and I would deposit five times the amount taken in your account. I need these things here by tomorrow morning at all costs. My life depends on them," I speak the last sentence slowly and clearly for her to understand.
"If you are unable to do so then I promise you would have to be with me for the ret of your life until I grow old and die," I warn her.
"Just send me the address and deposit the money. I'm so not staying in this house for the rest of my life!" she screams out through the phone. I never realized that option of staying with me could be so bad.
"Then do it quickly,"
"On it," saying that she hangs up the phone.
"What's going on in that pretty mind of yours?" Chyna asks sneaking up on me making me yell and jump.
"Seriously?" I ask her and all she does is smile as she hands me over the bottle.
"Why do you need a fake pregnancy test?" She asks as I gulp down the vodka.
"You will know tomorrow," I gave her one of my dashing smile. "But for tonight I have a special work for you,"
"For me?" she asks in disbelieve.
"Yeah. How do you feel about asking Serena some scandalous questions?"
"I'm listening," and I know it right then and there that I have it. Serena your demise is going to be so beautiful that you wouldn't even realize.
..........................................................................................................................................
"Serilda," he calls me as I step out of the bathroom freshly bathed.
"Not now, Erik," I warn. He is already dressed for the rehearsal dinner while I, on the other hand, am going to take my sweet time. It was going to be a very entertaining show tonight.
"If you ruin this wedding, I will ruin you," he was trying to scare me.
"I don't have to do a damn thing because you yourself with her did a wonderful job to ruin it," I just blurt it out. I carefully take out my dress and laid it on the bed. I had the perfect dress for the perfect occasion. It was black, sexy and dangerous.
"If I came to know that you were behind all this then I will-,"
"What will you do?" I interrupt him with all my attention on him.
"You have got no power, Erik. Have you ever thought what would happen to you?" I ask sauntering towards him. He alughs at my word.
"Nothing would happen to me, ever," he replies confidently. I look at him for a minute too long and start laughing out loud.
"You really think so?" I ask trying to control my laughter. "The wonderful words you spewed out today in front of everyone puts you in a very dark place. You have multination company working in most of the industries but you have reputation nothing better than that of a street dog. I mean you abuse your wife, have affairs which you yourself had accepted. Thanks for that it just clears my way for everything. I can hurt my own self and blame it on you. Your reputation would just help me in making the authorities believe that you are dangerous and abusive. Umm that would make you end up in jail and if I play it right I might end up with your millions besides all your property with company," he glares at me as I speak each word but it doesn't matter to me. I'm just showing him the mirror of reality.
"Oh, and I might add you would be remembered as nothing but Serena's slave," I gave Erik a dazzling smile as I let out those words. His hands raise to slap me but I hold it in between.
"I dare you to do it, Erik because it would be small step in making you lose your everything," I snarl out jerking his hand away. His face flares up with anger but I just don't mind. In my eyes I see him as nothing but a weak man. I step away from him and sit down to do my makeup.
"I wish I would have killed you," he seethes out and I just smile.
"I surely would have but really I don't want my hands dirty with your filthy blood," I say applying a coat of foundation over my skin. "If you don't mind I would like to get dressed without any interruptions. Why don't you find someone else to cry in front of? Just make sure there aren't any cameras near," I look at his seething face in the reflection and see him walk out of the room banging the door. Why don't men like him understand the power of a victim and scorned women. We are just like wounded tigress we do damage worth never coming over.
Exactly twenty minutes later I was ready to enjoy the show of today's evening. I walked out of the room without Erik anywhere in sight and I was so glad about that. I didn't want to ruin my mood in any way. I was excited about tonight. Everything was set for dinner, places being distributed making me sit on the family table just between my mother and husband. What a luck I was having? Chyna sat near my dearest sister. Joyful ride it was going to be. Chyna looked at me and we just smiled at each other knowing very well what was going tonight. Nathaniel didn't dare look at me making sure to give his special attention just to my sister dearest. Erik sad beside me with nothing but anger rolling of him. Women of all ages gave me a pitied look and some even tried to talk to me. It was a very stark change to the fact that none of them they ever tried to talk me ever in last three years. I just hoped that tonight ends up with me getting more pity and sympathy.
The rehearsal dinner started out good. The food was really great and the atmosphere, just wow. Dirty looks being sent Serena's way. Pity being taken upon me. There wasn't anything that could say this was a wedding rehearsal. It felt more to be like a funeral. The five course meal was coming to end and I was settling in for the show. Serena looked towards Chyna with such a big smile that I hold myself up from laughing at her. She would have never thought that Chyna could ever be her enemy too.