Alisha grinned fakely as Bryan tried to analyse her. Of course, she had no idea he was doing so, she assumed he believed her, at least she hoped so. She knew that she had failed if by the end of the night he had asked for her number, and she knew she had changed fate if he chose not to.
Well, is fate easy to change? The answer is: it depends. Small actions can lead to huge consequences, the Butterfly Effect. A small change she made now, such as leading her sister to George, had changed Eliza's fate forever. But perhaps her fate was set in stone, perhaps she was always fated to meet Bryan, and perhaps it was in her fate to lose everything.
After they ordered food, she had purposefully chosen foods that Bryan disliked, she also didn't enjoy them but it was worth the sacrifice. "Sorry tum-tum..." she whispered to herself, soft enough that Bryan didn't catch it. But he did see her lips move every so slightly and wondered what she had mumbled to herself.
He stared at her, brimming with curiosity and confused by her abnormal behaviour. He loved puzzles, open books were boring, women who had every emotion and feeling written on their faces had never excited him. He preferred a woman that needed to be conquered, a woman with too much hidden. "Alisha, what do you think of the food?" He asked upon its arrival, he saw that she wasn't eating much and ate quickly whilst squeezing her knife when she did so. She hated the meal but was trying to show she loved it. He noticed her eyeing his meal, his deep laughter filled her ears and she hastily glanced up. Fear was written in her eyes but an amicable expression was drawn on her face.
"I-I think it's wonderful! I love... pea soup! And sardines! Delicious!" She exaggerated as she munched on her sardines and sipped her soup, pretending she was eating vanilla cake. She saw as he ate some grilled chicken and ate a slice of his half of Margerita pizza and gulped. She wished she could grab it from his hands and eat that slice of heaven, but she munched on her sardines and felt like crying. A small sacrifice for a life of happiness, she kept telling herself.
He began conversing with her, he wanted to know more about her and figure out why she didn't like him. He knew that he had never bet the girl before, but she seemed to know more about him than he thought. How would she know his least favourite foods, something he had never even told his mother! He was someone who usually just went with the flow, but something about her made him hesitate and want to tell her everything about himself. Tell her that he liked how she looked in the jumpsuit, tell her she should always wear her hair down, tell her that she was the prettiest woman he had ever met. And he had met *a lot* of gorgeous women. He wanted to keep her all to himself, never let anyone take her from him.
He was shocked at his feelings, and noticed that the more affectionate he was, the more nervous she became. She kept fiddling her thumbs when she noticed his stare, and tried to focus more on her food. In her last life, Bryan had told her everything there was to know about him in their four years together. She knew where he hated being touched, what things he hated that people said to him, why he killed everyone she loved.
Perhaps the reason he wanted to tell her these things was because she didn't seem to give half a crap about him, he craved her attention, and he wasn't getting the attention he wanted. She simply tried to ignore him for the rest of the night, hoping he would leave her alone; unlike last time where she had conversed with him through the night, she simply minded her own business. He wasn't annoyed by this, instead he found it intriguing that a woman was so uncomfortable around him.
On the other side of town, at the Grand Orchid, fate had changed. Eliza entered the grand halls of the elitist club, she donned a plain black, body-hugging dress, with long open sleeves. It cut three-quarters down to her thighs, showing off her long, sculpted legs. Her black heels clicked on the tiles as she strutted down the cream coloured hallways and into the main lounge.
The club was a place where the rich could go and relax, like La Delta, there was only a certain tier of people that were allowed in. Eliza and Alisha were at the top of society, they were the elites that everyone envied and respected. Of course, for Eliza her father's status and wealth was a single factor that contributed to her status, she had been the princess of the elites since she was born. She had been trained to be elegant and perfect, which had ended up a burden for her. This was why she wasn't terrible to Alisha, instead she saw her as someone who shared her burden, someone who had lightened her load. Eliza also was a model for many fashion brands, she had been trying to force Alisha to do so as well, but Alisha always said no. If the second-generation elites had a queen, it would be Eliza and the princess would be Alisha.
Alisha had sent her a photo of the person she wanted Eliza to meet, which Eliza found odd as Alisha had never set her up on a date before. He was quite easily spotted, and Eliza gasped upon seeing him. While he was indeed following the dress-code set by the Grand Orchid, he had taken his own spin on it. A bright green suit with matching pants and a blue shirt underneath, he looked like a clown, especially considering the setting that he was in.
Eliza's laughed in her mind, though he looked odd he still managed to exude the nobility that had been trained into the rich since birth. She didn't know much about him other than his relation to Andrew, and Andrew was a mighty rich man. He was considered to one of the two second richest families, with a net-worth of around one hundred billion dollars. He was one of the few she was allowed to consider to marry, there truly weren't many option though, the worst case scenario would be a political marriage if her father ever decided that fate upon her, and that would be absolutely terrible for her.
So, Eliza sat down next to George, and the men around him, laughing majestically, drinking and joking, all stopped. They turned and looked at the gorgeous model, who simply grinned at them, grabbed a glass and poured some whisky into it. As she sipped it, she raised her brows at the men, who still stared at her like children at a zoo, seeing a peacock for the first time, and she turned to them to speak.
"Hi, I am Eliza Richards," She waved cutely and sipped her drink and continued, "pleasure to meet you all. You must be Mr Fermont's clown of son, George?" She smirked while she taunted him, knowing that he couldn't retort because that was truly what he was called. His friends nodded, still intrigued by her, they hadn't seen such a gorgeous woman in their lives. It wasn't simply her face and body that were incredible, it was the aura she exuded, seductive and sly like a fox but still pure in an unreachable way.
They all immediately recognised her name, there was only one Richards' family, and their eldest daughter was Eliza, the renowned socialist and model. They had never imagined they would meet her, but seeing George they felt like it made sense that she was here. They were both at the tip of the hierarchy of their country, perhaps even the world. They knew that Eliza and her sister were, but George's father perhaps wasn't. There was seventy eight billion dollar difference in their net-worth, so there was definitely room for someone from another country to fit in between.
George turned his head to the beauty next to him, she was certainly his type, but he wondered what she was doing here. "I had a meeting with your sister today, why are you here?" He asked, blunt as usual. He noticed that her smile widened, almost mockingly, making him raise his brows at her, inquiring why she was doing so.
"My sister went to La Delta and told me to come here, to this room, and meet you. She said you were the only man she'd accept for me. How do you know her Mr George, and why didn't you go to La Delta tonight?" She was intrigued by the man that her sister approved of, so she questioned him relentlessly.
"I have never met your sister. Never. I didn't go to La Delta because I didn't feel like it. How did your sister know where I was? Does she know who's waiting for her there?" He answered as calmly as he was given the question.
"My sister doesn't know you at all? I can't answer your questions, except she was forced to go by father. She said she knew who she would meet, a man called Bryan?"
George's eyes widened, at this moment he wished he had sent someone other than Bryan, but Diana Richards had informed Bryan of the date and asked him to go. Perhaps to humiliate the illegitimate child, but it was still terrible to send someone as sadistic as Bryan. Hopefully his arranged date would survive that man, but the guilt kept pounding at him. She was only a young girl, and the one in front of him even younger. They wouldn't be able to survive a man like Bryan, the temptation was too much.
"Oh... Oh goodness. Ms Eliza, can we please head to La Delta immediately? I need to right my wrong. Let's go save your sister from a wolf." He grinned and grabbed her hand when she nodded. They went in Eliza's limousine and arrived thirty minutes later.
At this point, Bryan was asking Alisha many questions, to which she either shrugged or answered 'yes' or 'no'. She didn't ask him anything, hoping he'd eventually lose interest, but the opposite was happening. Eliza and George were let in immediately due to their status, and they went to the arranged table.
George was shocked by the sight, a lady that was uninterested in Bryan, and his friend trying to win her attention. Truly shocking. Perhaps the Richards' women were stronger than it seemed, except Diana, but she didn't have the Richards' blood streaming in her veins.
"Hello, Alisha, I'm George." A man suddenly grabbed a chair, her sister too, and they sat on the table. George next to Bryan, Eliza with Alisha.
Fate had certainly changed.