????HIS BALLERINA????
THEME: {What the heart sees}
✍️Written By Precious Pinky✍️
???? Chapter Fifty-Three ????
~Eva~
“If you want the divorce then I’m fine with it but just know this, I won’t let you have Nelly!”
“Excuse me?”
“You heard me. Nelly is my daughter and I won’t let you or anyone take her away from me.” Margaret said angrily.
“Good news, there is another one of her.” Peter, Margaret husband said.
“Who? Naomi?” She asked in irritation.
“Why do you sound that way?” He asked, glaring at her.
“Of course you know why. I don’t even know why those two decide to come into this world as twins. They are very opposite from each other.” She remarked.
“That’s normal, Margaret.”
“I didn’t say it’s abnormal but…Nelly is better than Naomi.” She stated, staring at the close door just to be sure that it was perfectly closed.
“MARGARET! Why will you say a thing like that?” Peter questioned angrily.
“What? Am I lying? Every term…Nelly comes back home with a good grade while Naomi comes home with a bad grade, who will want a child as dull as Naomi? I know she’s still my daughter but come on, let’s be truthful to ourselves. If that child doesn’t look so much like Nelly, I would have said she was switched in the hospital.”
“You can’t say something like this, Margaret. What of the kids are hearing you?”
“They can’t.” She scoffed. “I’ve put them to bed.”
“You talk as if you are intelligent…last thing I remember, that child takes after you.”
“Impossible. She might take after some of my characters but there is no way she takes after my brains. Maybe it’s yours but it’s definitely not mine.” She said, folding her arms over her chest.
“If you think she’s dumb then put her in the right path, Margaret. Make her find joy in reading her books and stop encouraging nasty behavior she took from you.” He said.
“Is she stupid? Can’t she tell right from wrong? Do I have to teach her everything?”
“That child is just five years old, Margaret! How do you expect her to tell right from wrong?”
“But her sister can. And guess what, she’s just five years old!”
Peter shook his head in disappointment over his wife’s behavior.
How can she keep this kind of thought in her mind about her child?
How can she call her own child stupid?
A mother’s responsibility is to look after her child, choose her the right way, put her throu-ghand help her differentiate right from wrong…but his wife won’t do anything like that.
Either she criticize Nelly for her niceness and ask her to be more like her sister who is very rude and mean or she criticize Naomi dullness and ask her to be as intelligent as her sister.
What mother does that to her children!?
They are kids and they are easily open to hurtful words.
Comparing kids is very wrong and shouldn’t be practiced in any home because it might lead to hatred between the two kids, division and other negative things.
He have talked to his wife severally about how she treat the kids and how she always compare them to one another.
But being the stupid person that she is, she wouldn’t listen.
He wanted a divorce.
He was tired of living with a woman as crazy, mean, heartless and wicked as Margaret!
But his kids.
He don’t want them to experience a broken home.
He don’t want to separate them from one another.
He wouldn’t mind talking Naomi along with him but what about Nelly? Will she be save with her mother alone?
If the two kids can’t satisfy her or neither can he…then who can?
He stood up from the bed, grabbed a pillow and headed for the door but she stopped him by grabbing his wrist.
“Where are you going to?”
“Let go of me, Margaret.” He pulled his wrist from her grasp. “I can’t believe I got married to a monster.” He shook his head. “And neither can I believe I will spend the rest of my life with someone as despicable as you! And listen to me,” He pointed a warning finger at her. “Don’t ever compare Nelly to Naomi or Naomi to Nelly ever again. They are my kids and I love them with the way they are…and if you don’t, tell me so I can peacefully take them with me after the divorce.”
“I won’t let you take Nelly.” She said.
“Fine. Then there’s no divorce because I definitely can’t leave Nelly with you. So make sure to stop comparing!” With that said, he walked out of the room.
As soon as he walked out, he heard the sound of a door from the far end of the hallway.
Was someone listening to their conversation? He wondered.
But then shrugged and walked away to the guest room, pushing every other thoughts away.
_
_
_
#Present
????NAOMI????
“I’m sorry.” Naomi said in a whisper, calling the attention of Nelly and the girl she was talking to.
“Excuse me?” Nelly asked.
“I’m sorry.” Naomi apologized again, crying.
Nelly was right. She did her wrong.
She have been the problem from the very beginning.
She have been the dullard, the stupid one, the rude one, the mean one, the one who wants attention by all means.
And Nelly? She was the opposite of her.
She was the intelligent one, the smart one, the nice one, the one who wants to make things right all the time.
Yeah, they were twins who looked very much alike but yet so different.
She remember telling Nelly that she was her shadow and that no one liked her but she was wrong….so wrong.
Or maybe she knew that from the very beginning and that’s why she kept telling Nelly that.
She was Nelly’s shadow.
Her father, her mother, the maids, guards…everyone liked Nelly.
She had even tried pretending to be Nelly just to get attention and she really did got the attention!
Nelly would always be better than her in every way.
Honestly, Nelly wasn’t to be blamed for anything…she was.
She unleashed the beast in her.
She snatched away her(Nelly) source of happiness.
She stole her man from her and claimed to have done the right thing when it was obviously the wrong thing!
Nelly never wanted to harm her or anyone…she only wanted her to admit to her wrong.
*Just admit to be wrong!* She once told her.
*I wasn’t wrong.* And that, that was her stupid reply!
Her mother….
She was the problem… she was their problem.
If only she listened to her father. If only she listened to Nelly. If only she didn’t let jealous take the better side of her… maybe all this wouldn’t have happened.
Maybe Nelly would have been happily married to Stephen Reyes and possibly have a son as beautiful as Ace.
Maybe she would have married someone else. Someone better. Someone that will love for who she is and not because of her twin.
But she was just too greedy. She was just too selfish to care for anyone but herself.
She was afraid that when her parents divorce, she will be left alone… because clearly they only wanted Nelly.
She pa-ssed all of her aggressions to her innocent poor sister. Made her life miserable and took away her happiness.
The one who deserve death was her and not Stephen.
The one who deserve a beautiful family of trio was Nelly and not her.
Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell Ace or Paulo anything. Maybe that’s why she kept quiet about what she knew concerning the crime of fifteen years… she was dying of guilt.
“Leave us.” Nelly said to the girl and turned to look at Naomi. “Are you apologizing right now?”
“You are right…” Naomi sniffed. “I did you wrong.”
“What?”
“I stole your man, I stole the family you deserve, I made you feel lesser than yourself…I caused you so much pain… and it was all because of jealousy.”
“Jealousy?” Nelly questioned in confusion.
“YES!” Naomi yelled at the top of her voice. “I WAS JEALOUS OF YOU. YOU WERE THE LIGHT OF THE FAMILY. DADDY LOVED YOU MOM, MOM WANTED YOU, YOU WERE THE SMART ONE, THE NICE ONE, THE ONE WHO GETS ATTENTION EVEN WITHOUT TRYING. AND ME? I WAS JUST THE SISTER OF THE INTELLIGENT GIRL!” Nelly didn’t say anything, she just listened to Naomi. “Mom and dad planned to divorce each other but they couldn’t and it’s not because they thought of us but it was because they both wanted you.” She cried. “Mother called me the stupid one, the useless child who can’t tell what’s right and what’s not. And dad called me the crazy, mean, vixen.”
Nelly shook her head at that. “Daddy never called you that.”
“No, he didn’t. But he doesn’t have to say the word, Nelly.” She gulped down. “Whenever he looks at me, I see the words in his eyes. He looks at me like he was looking at mother. He hate me.”
“What are you saying? Dad don’t hate you.” Nelly stated.
“He does! I possessed mom’s character… I reminded him so much of mother and guess what, he referred her to as a demon. That makes me a demon also.” She paused. “Stephen wouldn’t have had se-x with me if I didn’t pretend to be you. He never loved me…the one he love is you.”
“Was.” Nelly corrected in anger.
Naomi shook her head. “Is. He still love you, Nelly.”
“He died because he was trying to protect you.”
“No. He died because he was trying to protect you.”
“What?”
#Past
“Why are you acting this way?” Naomi asked, walking inside her husband’s study room.
“Excuse me?” Mr Reyes questioned, looking up from his laptop to her legs. “You can’t walk in here without knocking.”
“I’m your wife, Stephen.”
“You stole that title.” He said, coming up to his feet. “I’m busy. Leave.”
“Today is Ace’s birthday, are you not going to take him out or at least wish him a happy birthday?” She asked. “And why aren’t you looking at my face?”
“I’ve made plans so you don’t have to worry about that.” He said, turning his back to her. “Don’t you feel any guilt?” He asked after a moment.
“What?”
“We betrayed her. We betrayed her trust… No, I betrayed her trust.” He said in a whisper, shutting his eyes close.
“She has moved on, Stephen.”
“Well, I haven’t!” He snapped.
“Stop shouting or Ace will hear us. I don’t want him to think we are fighting on his birthday.” Naomi said. “Is that why you hardly look at my face unless you want to have se-x with me?” He didn’t say anything. “Why do you even have se-x with me if you hate me this much?”
“Firstly, I don’t hate you. You are the mother of my child and secondly, having se-x with you is more like having se-x with her.”
“Wait…, you see…”
He nodded his head already knowing what she was going to say. “Staring at you is the same thing as stating at her, Naomi. I’m sorry,” He turned to look at her now. “I’m only with you now because of our son and also because of the face you possess.”
“You… you still…love her?”
“I will always do.”
*****
Naomi was just staring at the ceilings. Her son and her husband have already gone out to celebrate his birthday.
Ace had invited her to come along but she had politely decline using work as an excuse.
She thought he have forgotten about Nelly and have decided to move on but she was wrong…so wrong.
He still love Nelly.
And not her.
The ringtone of her phone started playing, filling the empty bedroom.
Naomi grabbed the phone and answered the call, bringing the phone to her ear.
“Hello?”
“Hello, baby sis.”
Baby sis…? That was definitely her sister’s voice but how the hell did she get her phone number and why was she calling now?
“What do you want?” She asked angrily.
“Seems like you know who this is, baby sis.”
“Don’t call me that!” Naomi snapped. “How did you even get my number?”
“I got my ways. Too bad I won’t be able to wish my dear nephew a happy birthday.”
“He doesn’t need it, bit-ch .”
“Ouch, that burns.” Nelly chuckles. “Well, I think I can still wish him a happy birthday.”
“What?”
“Right now, I can see him playing with some friends in an amusement park. And oh, did I forget to mention that Stephen is with him? Tsk, stupid me. I’m sure you know that already.” She started laughing.
“Don’t do anything stupid, Nelly. Don’t!” She warned, grabbing her car keys already.
“I can’t promise, baby sis.” Her laughter filled the line again until the call was finally disconnected.
*****
Naomi rushed out of the car, caring less about how she parked it, she was already making her way into the park but was stopped by a security guard.
“You need to park your…” He couldn’t finish the statement when she hurriedly toss the car keys to him and walked away.
She looked around in search of her husband and son but couldn’t find any of the around.
She was worried.
She was scared.
Her sister won’t take everything too far but hurting them, right?
Can she even trust her?
After looking around, she decided to give her husband a call.
His line kept ringing but it wasn’t answered.
She tried his number once again and on the third ring, it was answered.
“Stephen, where are you?” She asked immediately.
“What is it?” He asked in his not to happy voice.
“Just answer me, Stephen. Where are you, huh? Where is my son?”
“What…wait, why are you here?”
“I’m here to…wait, where am I?” She asked.
“Are you staring at me right now, Naomi…wait, this is not right…you are not on the phone…is that…” He gasped. “Nelly?”
“Where are you, Stephen?” Naomi asked worriedly, looking around. She finally sighted someone in a black dress walking into a building.
“You still remember my name, Stephen.” Her sister voice filled the line. Naomi was going to say something but the call was disconnected.
She quickly made her way towards the building she saw someone entering.
There they were…
“NELLY!” Naomi yelled at the top of her voice, running towards Stephen.
A gun was hold over his friend, Mr Anthony’s head by one of Nelly’s followers, maybe.
“I didn’t expect you to be here, baby sis.” Nelly laughed.
“If you didn’t then why did you call me?” Naomi asked, shooting daggers at her sister.
Nelly shrugged. “Just wanted to try your patience?” she smirked.
“What are you doing here?” She asked.
Nelly took out a gun and pointed it at Naomi. “Did you know why I called you over here, dear sis?”
“Because you wanted to try my patience? Why are you still asking? I mean, you just said that now.”
“I lied.”
“What?”
“I’m here to end everything, baby sis.”
“What?”
“Mom always asked me to be more like you, remember? Well, I want to do that now.”
“You can’t do this, Nelly.”
“Why not? Because we are sisters? Well, fu-ckthat.”
“Because I wouldn’t do something like this.” Naomi said.
“Right. But you can steal my man.” Nelly said.
“Nelly, please put down the gun and let’s talk things out.” Stephen pleaded.
“Are you trying to protect her in front of me?” She asked angrily.
“No. I’m only stopping you from making a mistake you will surely regret, Nelly. Please drop down the gun.”
“And why should I trust you again? You betrayed me! You slept with my fu-cking twin sister!”
“It was a mistake. I thought it was you. I swear I wouldn’t have done anything if I knew it her and not you.” He said, approaching Nelly slowly.
Nelly shook her head, taking a step back from him. “I can’t trust your anymore, Stephen. I can’t. And i won’t let you stop me from taking my revenge on her.”
“You don’t want to do this, Nelly.”
“And what do you know? You don’t even know me.”
“I know that you are a nice girl, Nelly. I know that you are kind and that you love your family so much especially your twin sister…Naomi. And I know you will regret it if you do this right now.”
“News flash, Stephen. That was the old me. The old me was so naive, stupid…but the new me won’t feel any guilt…come to think of it, if there’s anyone to feel guilty then it’s the both of you!”
“You are right. We should be the one to feel guilty. We are the one who betrayed you…we deserve your hate, your anger… everything. But please don’t do this.” He begged, pulling Naomi behind him.
“why are you protecting her?” She asked angrily.
“I’m not.”
“Then what are you doing! You are protecting her!” She narrowed her eyes at them. “Do you love her?”
“I…” BAM! The bullet flew across the room and hit Stephen right on his chest.
“BELLE!” They heard a child’s voice from behind. Both Nelly and Naomi turned around to find a girl and Ace staring at them.
#Present
????NARRATOR????
“We’ve been waiting here for God knows how long. Shouldn’t we just walk over to that guard and ask for Heather?” Liam asked, while yawning.
“I’m certain she will soon be out now, Liam. And stop opening your mouth like a shark.”
“Am I not allowed to yawn anymore, huh?”
“I didn’t say…”
“Shush!” Liam said, sitting upright now. “Here she comes.” He said.
Kat looks ahead and sighted Heather coming out of the gate.
“Let’s go.” They both got out of the car and walked up to Heather. “Hi!” Kat greeted smiling.
Heather stared at them, confusedly. “Hello? How may I help you, please?”
“We are here to ask you some few questions. But first I should introduce myself… I’m detective Kat and this is my colleague detective Liam.”
“Okay? Wait, are you both detective Paulo’s colleague?” She asked.
“Yes.”
She smiled. “Oh. Um, is here convinent enough for the Q&A?”
“Q&A?” Liam asked in confusion.
“Question and answer, stupid.” Kat explained. “Well, we are fine with anywhere.”
“Alright then. What will you like to know?” She asked, folding her arms over her chest.
“It’s about Claire’s death.” Heather nodded her head slowly, indirectly asking them to go one with the question. “Where were you when the incident happened?”
“With the maids.” She answered.
“All of the maids?” Liam asked.
“Yeah aside from Eva.” She stated.
“Did Eva said were she was going?” Kat asked.
“No. Honestly I didn’t ask her. We are not very close for me to ask her about her whereabout.”
“Why aren’t you guys close?”
“That’s personal, detective.”
“Does it have anything to do with boys?” Kat asked, smiling.
Heather hesitate for a little while before saying. “She stole my boyfriend.”
“Oh. Sorry about that.”
She shook her head, waving it off. “It’s alright. It’s now in the past.”
“That means you’ve decided to let things go, right?”
“Yeah. I told him I’ve forgiven them.”
“When did you tell him that?”
“A month ago, if I’m not mistaken.” She replied.
“That means you didn’t forgive them until last month.”
“They hurt me, detectives. You don’t expect me to just let go like that. He even got her a special necklace but never got one for me on my birthday, can you imagine?”
Kat slowly shook her head. “I can’t. Where is the necklace now?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. But i haven’t been seeing it on her nowadays.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know! Maybe she misplaced it or something but it’s ever since Ma’am Claire’s death.” She sighed. “Look, I don’t want to say this but I think I have to…I heard that the necklace was found in the crime scene.”
“Really?” Kat and Liam asked, pretending to be clueless.
“But I don’t think she was the who kept it there but someone else. But i don’t know if I should trust her or not.”
“Why do you say that?”
“When that guard died, every maid was asleep but I wasn’t…I was making sure everywhere was closed and I also went to check after the princess…and when I was returning to the maids’ chamber, I saw Eva.”
_
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????ACE????
“What happened to you, Hannah?” Ace asked, walking inside alongside Paulo.
She sighed. “I was shot.”
“Shot? By who? And why didn’t you report the case to the police?” Paulo asked.
“Please seat.” She offered. “What will you like to drink or eat?”
The two men shook their heads. “We are okay.”
“Alright.” She sat down at an opposite couch. “I’m very sorry for not coming to work, sir.”
“What happened?” Ace asked.
“Like I said, I was shot.”
“And like I asked, by who?” Paulo asked.
“A woman.” She answered, placing her injured arm at the handrest of the couch.
“When? Where?” He asked again.
“Days ago. At the office.” She responded.
“At the office?” Ace asked in disbelief.
She nodded. “Yes. But how is that even possible? Security in the office is very tight so how the hell did an a-ssa-ssin walk throu-ghthose securities.”
“I don’t know but she came in. She walked into your office and started going throu-ghyour things, looking for what I don’t know! I tried to stop her but couldn’t and when I threatened to call the security on her, she stopped and turned to look at me taking off her hoodie.”
“Hoodie?” Paulo asked.
“Yes. A black hoodie.” She replied. “She said she was there to take what was hers and that i shouldn’t try to stop her.”
“What was hers?” Ace repeated.
Hannah nodded her head. “I asked her what she meant and then she took out a gun and held it at me. I pleaded with her not to shoot me and then she said I should have begged when she haven’t taken off her hoodie. I distracted her and ran out of the office, she chased after me and just when I entered the elevator, she fired the bullet. It’s a good things it touched my arm and not my head.”
“I don’t get. Why will someone go to my office to look for something they didn’t keep?” Ace asked no one in particular.
Paulo didn’t say anything, he was just staring at Hannah.
“Why aren’t you saying anything?” Ace asked him.
“I’m thinking.” He replied. After a while he finally said, “They did left something with you, Ace.”
“What?”
“The note. I knew it was a mistake. The handwriting was the thing with Princess, they message to pa-ssed across…everything. The note was the clue we had to take.”
“So they came back to collect it?”
“Obviously.” He turned to look at Hannah. “You said you can recognize the girl’s face, right?”
“Yes.”
“That means you can be able to point her out if you see her photo?” She nodded her head again. Paulo brou-ght out his phone and started going throu-ghit.
“What are you doing?”
“Showing her my suspect list.” He replied Ace.
“The princess’s maids?”
“Who else?” He finally got to a particular photo and handed it over to Hannah.
“Wait, you have their pictures?” Ace questioned.
“Well…yeah. For times like this.” He turned to look at Hannah again.
“But what if it’s neither of the_”
“It’s her.” Hannah said, interrupting Ace.
Paulo grabbed the phone from Hannah and stared down at the photo, Ace too stared down at it.
“Wait, isn’t this…” Ace voice trailed off, as he slowly look up at Paulo.
Paulo.was also staring at him in complete shock as well. “Eva.”
*
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*
#To Be Continued…