The air stilled as no one dared to speak.
A tint of self-doubt slowly creeps up my neck. Did I go too far?
Is he sold on my mean girl mind? The lie I just spun up?
I glance at father and Aiden to decipher their reactions, both stand still, wearing a blank expression.
Slowly, a barely-there smile creeps up father's lips, he quirks up an eyebrow and says, "Good to see that you're using your brain Genny"
I finally release the breath I didn't know I was holding. But, just as I was secretly jumping inside for outsmarting the second-most smartest character of the book, just as I thought I'd won, he spoke again...
"But, it's unfortunate. Unfortunate that you always land second to Lily"
What?
"Father—", Aiden subtly warns , his brows knit tight together.
But one stern look of father's ice cold blue eyes, and it didn't take long for Aiden's lips knit together too.
"Just think about it Genny, you were always second—at school, on the ground, in the college fests, and not to mention....demeanour"
I open my mouth to say something —anything, but he doesn't give me a chance
"Even Aiden here thinks the same", he huffs menacingly, "To think he would choose an 'acquaintance' over his own sister. Tch"
I stare blankly at him. Something tugs in my chest, as my heart bobs in my throat.
Is this how Genevieve felt? When she was always weighed beside Lily, the perfect heroine. I'm only new here, a short-term guest in the body of a fictional character.
But even if I'm feeling the slightest bit of disappointment from the words of someone who I've never even known, the original Genevieve would have felt a thousand times worse, wouldn't she.?
Sleeping on a bed of roses only to find out the roses weren't strong enough to hold your weight, and the thorns that remained were your only companion as they pierced through your skin.
My jaw ticks and my fist tightens as I try to smother away all the bitter emotions. He's playing cat and mouse, and I know it. No wonder Genevieve secretly hated Lily, all this while, getting compared to her best friend does it.
But these are just plastic people to me and yet that stung. Because loosing to anyone whether you know them or not, hurts your ego.
And the gods know how ego can be a vicious little thing to vicious little humans.
This man is dangerous.
So, I raise my head and ask firmly, not giving him the satisfaction of seeing me slip, "Comparing me to a mere 'acquaintance' is folly, Father"
"Is it now?", he muses smiling unfriendly
He takes a round around the couch with slow, measured steps as he speaks, "You know Genevieve, even if we were to assume that Lily is indebted to us, would that really change anything?"
He locks eyes with mine, "After all, a servant can't outshine its master only by tricking them to wear a pretty little leash"
My nails dig further into my palm, as I swear I hear my blood boiling. Nothing other than the gritty gust of fury emanates from me.
I breathe in but can't breathe out.
This man doesn't even know I'm not his Genny, and yet all his arrows launched in the dark, pierce straight through its target anyway.
It's not even about Lily, because who the hell cares about a fluffy nonsensical heroine of a shitty romance novel.
But the way this man unintentionally reminded me that I was a nothing but a side character in that same shitty novel—
I've never loathed my fate any more.
I couldn't hold it in anymore, with blazing fury coating every syllable of my mouth, I spat, "Get to the point, Father"
He tilts his head slowly, lips twitching upward in a wide-wide smile with all teeth bared as if he receives some twisted satisfaction from setting his daughter off, he speaks, "You should have let her die. Her mother"
I don't break eye contact even as my heart stills
"Lily's heart rested in her mother's soul. Without her mother, Lily would have undoubtedly broken, in a way that couldn't be undone for weeks, if not years", he walks towards me, "And you my daughter dearest would have finally gotten your moment of glory. A chance to outshine your master forever"
His voice drops to a heavy whisper, "That interview at NexaCore Pharmaceuticals would've have been yours. But now, I wouldn't get to see my daughter as a lawyer, would I? It would be Lily. Again"
He sigs as if the thought physically hurt him to say out loud.
Interview? At Nexacore Pharmaceuticals? As a lawyer? Why can't I recall any plot line like that?
Aiden bursts, "That's not fair Father, that's your dream, not Genny's"
The voice inside me speaks. Maybe not Genny's, but becoming a lawyer was my dream for sure. But it's too late for that life, isn't it?
Father tilts his head towards Aiden snapping back, "Doesn't change the fact that she made a mistake by letting the wolf in just because it was dressed as sheep"
Ring, ring, ring
The tense atmosphere is shattered by the shrill sound of a phone ringing. Father immediately straightened up, a mask of calm slipping back on his flawless face as he went ahead to attend the call picking up his phone on the glass table.
He takes the call aside leaving me and Aiden alone in the hall, the weight of what's just happening heavy in our hearts.
Because Father was right, wasn't he? If it weren't for the happiness meter, Lily's mom would've have died, and she would have lost her heart with her mother.
Is that why I was forced to make things right, because the novel was pushing on me a certain direction? If that's true, then it makes Mr. Laurent way more terrifying than he already was.
Because then he'd predicted the future, despite being just another character in its little universe. This man was dangerous.
***
Father walks back in the phone resting on his palm at his side, but his eyes.....his eyes , they held a menacing gleam that was not present before.
He clutches his phone a slightly tighter and then he smiles again, but not like before, no—this was an actual happy smile.
He was looking at me.
Finally, he stared right into my soul and said, "I was wrong. Maybe you'd bang that interview anyway Genny"
Who the hell did he speak to?!