Alisha looked up to see small stars trying to outshine the moon, barely visible because of the street lights. She sighed, her face messy because of her tears and snot. They both got up, he had glazed eyes too, both saddened for different reasons.
"Do you think some people aren't allowed to be happy? Like the universe just decided that some people have to be sad, that that's all they deserve? Why do some people always have to suffer?" And those questions were returned with silence, Richard squeezed her and thought.
They sat in his car when he started. "I don't believe that the Universe or Fate or something decides our life. That would mean that no one's life has any real purpose, we're just pawns for some higher being. Instead, I believe that my fate is in your hands, in everyone's hands and in my own hands. We all control each other. Everyone deserves happiness, but it's your decisions and the people around you's decisions that determine whether or not you ever get the happiness you deserve. We suffer because of circumstance." He seemed to piece parts of it together, starting slow and getting more confident by the end. He was so sure, Alisha believed him, she wanted to and she chose to.
"Alisha, I know that you're giving yourself up, but please remember that you're not a sacrifice. We all will help you take down Bryan. Tomorrow, let's have a group meeting. Today, take some time off, okay?" Alisha nodded at him and then she turned to the window.
After a moment she realised that she had done all the answering. "Richard, why were you at the jail with George?" She interrogated.
"I thought you'd never ask. Bryan apparently refuses to come anywhere near this jail, so George and I decided to meet here. But it's odd that Bryan sent someone to go after me already… he shouldn't have any reason to suspect me yet. Let's call George." Alisha once again nodded, it seemed like a good decision for them to call George since George apparently knew everything.
"Richard we just talked. What's up? You can't get enough of me?" Alisha sighed. "Who just sighed? Who else is there? Alisha?"
"Hey George." She responded curtly.
"George, I'm 100% sure our… movement is being... topically, raspily, airily, crappily, kindly emblemized dutifully. And it has been… emblemized by the Tiger."
"..." George sighed. "Then we should buy roasted telephones."
"What?" Richard asked.
"He, Bry- The Tiger can emblemize you guys so you communicate with," she lowered her voice to a hiss, "burner phones you idiot."
"Oh? Ohhh!" He took a second to realise what she was saying, suddenly his death made a bit more sense. He was a gullible idiot. Alisha sighed and wondered what really went on when Richard died. Was he killed because of his closeness to her or because he got too close to the school? She knew that Bryan couldn't track her or Eliza's phones, but it was different for their friends.
Alisha turned from staring at Richard with slight disgust at his lack of common sense, to staring at the bluetooth attached call, she had worked out their code because of how terrible it was. "George, meet tomorrow at the place where you met Eliza the first time at the same time as when you had met her." She cut the call before he could respond. Then, she called all her friends and told them where to meet and they all agreed.
Then they had reached home, her home. "You're coming to this party with me. Buckle up!" Richard nodded, kissed her cheek and rolled away to get ready. Her parents liked Richard, because Eliza liked Richard, so if he came along they wouldn't mind.
The party would start at 8:30pm, so they naturally reached there an hour and half later. They were the last to arrive by five minutes, which was accepted naturally. It was a formal event, so Eliza donned a champagne backless dress, it was slightly warmer than her skin tone and hung off her neck. It ended at her ankles, and was loose near her chest and tightened around her waist before loosening around hips and legs. She looked like a Goddess, she donned a delicate bracelet on her bare hands, also champagne coloured, it glittered with diamonds. Alisha was dressed in a wine red spaghetti strapped crop top with a skirt of the same colour that went to her ankles. Her midriff was exposed but the dressy gold choker , dressed with diamonds, made her seem elegant. Both girls wore the same heels but in different colours to match their dresses. Their makeup matched the colours they wore, champagne lips and bronzed eyes for Eliza and a deep wine lip and winged wine liner for Alisha. Contour and toning on Eliza's cheeks while Alisha had more blush, making her look slightly tipsy and love-struck. Richard on the other hand wore a casual suit with topaz cufflinks and a wine tie. His suit was black and his shirt white, he had a champagne watch on and his arms wrapped around the princesses of the elites.
Diana and James greeted them once they had been greeted by a crowd of others, which was after everyone was dazzled by their charm and looks. Why were the rich always so beautiful? The genetic lottery was unjustly choosing those that had everything already, but no one wanted to stop it from doing so, no one wanted such beauty to live a hard life. The world was truly a messed up place.
"You two look beautiful. Hey Richard, glad to see you here too." James greeted with his game face on, everyone put on their happy family pretense, and the entire room believed it. They truly believed that they were watching the perfect family, reality was truly cruel. Diana had her signature smile painted on her face, she took away everyone's breath. Even in her forties, she was such a beautiful woman. She wore a light pastel lilac gown that matched her eyes, her hair tied in a bun with a few hairs framing her face. Her dress had a slightly thick material, but it hugged her body before smoothing out at her long legs. It had a beautiful slit that showed her pale sculpted leg. Even James was blown away every time he saw her dressed up, shocked that he had married someone so beautiful but still couldn't be good to her. He saw her wearing shimmering amethysts in her ears, delicate earrings. He knew that she hadn't bought them, and he knew he hadn't, he saw their heart shapes and deduced that a man had given them to her. No woman would ever buy anything with hearts. A suspicion grew in his heart.
Alisha was shocked at her clothing, in her last life Diana had donned red on this occasion, she remembered because Diana had never looked better than when she was in that red dress. In her last life Diana never wore purple, she always wore clothes that weren't completely white and they never had purple because she didn't like doing that. If she had no one would be able to look away from her, she looked like an angel.
"Mother, you look so beautiful." Alisha breathed, and Diana looked taken aback by the respect she saw in Alisha's eyes. Eliza nodded and hugged her mother and father, something Alisha wasn't allowed to do. There were a lot of rules in the family and the media had picked up on a lot of them, though they were portrayed as picture perfect everyone knew that Alisha wasn't the prized daughter. Even so, everyone knew that they had to respect her, she was still richer and more powerful than any of them.
The Richards strutted into the hall, it was a charity raising event, placed specifically for the rich, by the rich. Though the money went to a good place, it was more costly organizing these events than the amount that came out of them. That was unless the Richards were present, if the Richards were at any party the amount raised would blow up, thus they only turned up to charities they found special.
After they had settled in, the greetings ended and instead the girls were approached by parents wanting to get their children married to the Richards, but they were shocked to see them talking happily to Richard, touching his arms as he draped his around the girls. His aura made people swallow their saliva and turn the other way, they already had a man. Amidst all the chaos, a familiar face greeted the trio.
"Alisha, Eliza, Richard, you all look fantastic!" Bryan greeted as he tipped his glass of champagne at them lightly. Only Eliza smiled at him, the other two nodded. Bryan noted the cold responses but ignored it, he was aware of why Richard was cold towards him but he didn't know everything George and him had talked about because he couldn't hear their phone conversations. Thus, the codenames they had spoken were truly rather useless, but it did spice things up somewhat.
"Bryan, it's not surprising to see you here. How are you?" Alisha spoke with a generous smile, she knew what she had to do. She had to become his for some time before she could become herself again. Let him think he has her in his palm before they took everything from him. Everything but his life.
"I've never been better, your smile is really so pretty. You look less like Mr Richards when you smile." He joked before running a hand through his gelled up hair. His smile was supposed to be charming but it made her shiver in her spine, she wanted to destroy his 'cute' smile with a bottle of acid and a lot of time. Instead, she giggled along before winking and greeting Annabelle. Bruce was with his partner, fresh out of the hospital, he had a cast on his arm but he looked well.
Alisha nodded at Bruce, she had called him and told him what she knew. They planned on meeting at the party to enact phase one of the girlfriend plan, which entailed Bruce talking to Bryan about marriage and dating. Then, Alisha would appear and talk to Bryan about the future, followed by Richard talking about his old love for Annabelle.
"Go Bruce, go get 'em." Alisha whispered as she whisked Annabelle away. Bruce nodded at her and Annabelle before winking and strolling over to Bryan.
"Bryan, we haven't really talked! How are you?" He greeted with a grin.
"I��m pretty good. How about you?" Bryan asked back, returning the gesture.
"Fabulous. I think I'm gonna marry that girl. Have you ever felt like you've met your endgame? Like after meeting her that was it for you, no other girl could ever compare?" Bryan nodded, and stared at Alisha that laughed alongside Annabelle. "That's Anna for me, she's it. She's everything. With her, I just feel like everyday would be so different, and I look forward to seeing her just to see her smile. It's amazing what love makes you feel."
Bryan stared at Alisha, and Bruce grinned, knowing what Bryan was thinking. What an open and closed book, he thought as he stared at his Anna, her beautiful curls and eyes. There was truly no one like her in the world. He had proposed to her three months from now in his last life, he knew he could go for it sooner because they both knew they were each other's endgame only a month into the relationship. But he was scared in his last life, this time he knew she would say yes. He knew that she felt what he did, and he loved her more than she could ever imagine. Two weeks from today, a week before her birthday, he would ask for her hand in marriage.
He left Bryan who was welcomed by Alisha, who smiled at him graciously. She leaned on the terrace and stared at the city, he could see her breath leaving her pretty, soft, luscious lips. He gulped, his palms feeling itchy and his entire body warmer. He felt like a teenager seeing his crush, but also how he felt when he was with his first love.
Little did they know someone else was observing them, like a child at the zoo, amazed at what he saw. He stared at the woman in the centre of it all, weaving and mixing with everyone as everyone stared at her in awe. He laughed at the situation as she seemed to hate the man who was intoxicated by her but seemed to force herself to along with his antics. Everyone was attracted to her, but he knew that she had eyes for none of them. She was better, prettier, more graceful and more perfect than any girl he had ever seen, like a swan in a lake she weaved through the party.
And he knew who she was, and surprisingly she did too. Though Alisha was a generally aloof person, she knew who the powerful people in the world were, she had to be weary of them. Especially someone that turned around to become the most powerful person in the world, not the richest but the most powerful. The man that stared at her would become the President of her country, he would become one of the most elite people and the youngest President ever. What Alisha didn't know, however, was that he had taken a random interest in her.
However, not all love stories are meant to be, some are, some simply become a "What if", and they accumulate into regrets. Alisha's life had been filled with regrets, but she had been fulfilled romantically. She had been attracted to people, and she was once attracted to Bryan, they had a child together, but she knew she didn't love him, especially when he killed her. But she cared for him, as people that spend years together do. It was the kind of feeling that you hope is love, that you say is love, but you know isn't. But she knew that it could've been eventually, if he hadn't cheated repeatedly, if he hadn't made her lose faith in loyalty and love.
The two people right now knew of each other, but their paths were parallel in the last life, they were a mystery in this life. Nonetheless, tonight all he would do is observe, she had a plan. However, the future was a mystery for Alisha and her possible meeting with the future President, Jonathan Churchfield.
"Hi Bryan." Her sweet voice shook Bryan, who simply stared, falling for her features.
"Um, uh, Hi-lisha. I mean, Hi Alisha." He gulped, his throat dry as he felt his face heat up. He felt attracted to her, her face, her hair, her arms, her body, her voice, her eyes, everything. He hadn't felt himself feel so much in so long, it astounded him, and it would haunt him one day. Haunt him as he would regret this night for the rest of his life, the night he fell completely in love with Alisha Richards.