Prologue (1) : Eliza

Do you believe in the existence of ‘signs’?

While I wasn’t a fan of the superstitious, something about the ‘signs’ appealed to me. Throughout my life, I’ve always managed to avoid problems thanks to noticing the signs surrounding me. However, it all ended one night when I trusted the wrong sign and my perfect life disappeared before my very eyes.

It was Martinus who invited me to his party. Marty had an ugly reputation because he was arrogant and enjoyed bullying people, not the type of guy I wanted to hang out with. But for me, Marty was kind of fun. He was pretty good-looking, rich, and always kind to me. The point was there was no reason for me to make him my enemy.

However, I couldn’t just accept his invitation. My life was filled with many self-imposed rules, all to make me one of the most popular girls in school, and one of them was to play hard to get when a guy invited me. I know, the invitation to a party did not mean he was asking me for a date, but still, I like to play hard to get. Just to make him more desperate.

“Marty, my parents didn’t give me permission to go out at night.”

“Ancient folks,” he scoffed. “My parents never forbid me. Come on, Eliza. If you don’t come, the party won’t be as fun.”

As soon as Marty noticed my hesitation, he added rather cunningly, “I invited Ferly, too.”

Ferly!

My heart skipped a beat when I heard the name of an extremely handsome senior who I had a crush on for a very long time. Since my freshman year of senior high school, to be exact. And this feeling was not unrequited as he had clearly shown his feelings towards me. He always talked to me at school, called me when I was at home, waited for me to finish my extracurriculars—in short, all the things that guys did when they tried to get close to girls. And all those things did not escape from everyone’s notice, which immediately made us be known as the most popular “couple” at Harapan Nusantara High School.

But sadly, that boy was forbidden for me, and I was forbidden for him – at least for now that is, and it was all because of my sister, Erika —or more precisely, my twin sister, who was only 5 minutes older than me—who always made trouble everywhere she went. Even though physically we were identical, our personalities were very contradictory, like the sky and the earth, fire and water, heaven or hell.

Yeah, I didn’t want to mention this problem. I didn’t like to expose the ugliness of my own family. For me, it was like smearing one’s own face with mud—and as you’ve already noticed, I am a person who takes really good care of her image. But Erika’s bad reputation was well known, to the extent that every other person has heard of it. Even worse, she acted as if the lower her reputation got, the prouder she felt. Diligently skipping class, never doing her homework, often arguing with the teachers, and always involving herself with unnecessary fights. It seemed like her only purpose in life was breaking every rule she came across.

The only saving grace was her incredibly high exam scores. Without ever attending any classes nor doing any assignments, she was first place in class, each and every time… That was the only thing—and the teachers hoped that one day they would be able to “tame” her—which kept Erika from being expelled from school just yet.

With such a personality, Erika had made many enemies – and one of them was me, her twin sister. At school, the two of us didn’t care about each other, as if we were strangers. As a result, despite having such a frightening twin sister, I did not experience social problems in school and remained as popular as usual.

Those of you who do not know me well will naturally think that I hate Erika. But you’d be wrong. There was not a speck of ugliness in my nature that made me think of her badly. After all, Erika was my twin sister, and no matter what she thought of me, I loved her. That was why I used every chance I got at home to reprimand her and give her tips so she could turn into a much better girl. If I avoided her at school, it was only because I didn’t want to be consumed by the problems that appeared due to her extraordinary behavior.

Besides, I realized long ago that everything Erika did was due to her envy and jealousy towards me. I couldn’t take the blame for being loved more by our parents, teachers, and friends from a young age. It was not my fault that I was considered more beautiful, gentle, and fun. It was not my fault that everyone laughed at Erika because she lost at everything compared to her twin sister.

Honestly, I felt bad for Erika, but I was also kinda upset with her. If only she would follow along and be more like me, her fate would not be like this. We’re twins, so it shouldn’t be difficult to pretend to be like me. But every time I suggested this, she would sulk, act annoying, and consider me her biggest enemy. So, this was all her fault, right? 

And now, everything involving Ferly has worsened our relationship.

Honestly, I also didn’t quite understand what happened. Anyway, all that I understood was that the whole school was in an uproar when I got there.