"Atty. Rutherford, thank you very much for accepting that case, now, our firm has finally become a well known one thanks to you and your skills."
Alia only shook her head and smiled at his superior, accepted the hand held out for her to shake and said her thanks.
"We all know it wasn't only my doing, Atty. All of us here have their fair share in making our firm well known. We all worked hard."
It has been almost ten days since Alia's last case, which she by the way, won. Ever since then, more and more clients come running towards their firm asking them to take on cases of different kinds. All her superiors think that it's because of her which causes a gap between her and the other lawyers in their firm. Some of them agree to what their superiors say but not everyone can accept that right? One of the reasons why she's got numerous competitors when it comes to this field both in other firms as well as their own firm.
"Now, now, Atty. Rutherford, let's not be humble shall we? It's as clear as day that you were the largest contributor. Now, would you allow us to express our gratitude by buying you dinner today?"
She only smiled at how pushy her superior is. As much as she loves this firm that she's working for, she hates her superiors when it comes to this things. Why can't they understand the fact that she hates socializing that much? She even said that on her introduction five years ago before entering this firm. Such forgetful lawyers.
"I'd very much love that, Atty. It's just that I have a family dinner to attend to so, I can't come."
She said apologetically and bid her goodbye to her superiors and some of the other Attorneys that are with them.
It was true that she couldn't come to the dinner celebration her superiors are hosting but not because of a family dinner but because she's preparing for her two months vacation from work effective tomorrow onward.
The night went by fast and her vacation has started. She took her bags out of her penthouse and headed straight to the airport for her flight to Boracay where her vacation will be held.
A lot is going through her head while on flight. She's thinking about what she'll do when she reach Boracay. This is her first long vacation after entering her firm five years ago. And yes, instead of spending this vacation of hers by going to their family's ancestral house, she chose to have her vacation elsewhere. Away from her family.
Alia and her family is actually not in good terms. Many years ago, too long ago that she can't even remember, she and her parents had a huge fight. So huge that it made them came towards the decision of disowning her. Yes, Alia is disowned by her parents because of the fight they had.
Even though she and her parents ended up in a wrong path, she and her sister still are in good terms. They talk and meet every once in a while. They share informations about what's going on in both their lives, excluding the topic about their parents. They tend to leave their parents out of their topics because they know that they'll end up in a bad mood once their topic comes across that.
Alia looked out the window of the plane, seeing city lights below her. The flight to Boracay is quite long so it's already night time by the time her plane landed at the airport.
She chose to have her vacation on Boracay because it's the farthest away from home, and because of her researches about the place. It is said that Filipinos are one of the most hospitable and generous people there is. Also, Boracay looked so beautiful in the photos and there are a lot of good reviews on the place. Her first pick was definitely Maldives, but she heard that her sister and parents were going there so she abruptly changed her mind and went to another place.
She can't afford seeing her parents. Not now, not in the near future.
But fate definitely wants the opposite.
Alia has just arrived at her hotel room when she received a call from her parents. Unexpectedly.
She intentionally didn't answer her parents' call the first time. Although it seems as though her parents won't stop calling her if she won't pick up.
She rolled her eyes and went to reach her cellphone placed at the bed side table of her hotel suite. Upon reaching her phone, she didn't mind the number of missed calls from her parents posted on her phone screen and hurriedly turned off her phone. Why the hell would they call her? Do they need something? Or are they going to criticize her once again? Like they always do?
She brought her phone back to the bed side table and continued unpacking. She'll be here, in the Philippines for two months and she doesn't want any distractions. For the first time in her life, she wanted to not mind anything nor anyone around her.
She's got already everything she'd ever want in her life. Her life is almost perfect for her, if not for her parents who disowned her, she wouldn't be where she is now. It's all thanks to their pride and narrow minded selves.
She spent her entire evening preparing for her itinerary for tomorrow. Even though she hates itineraries, she's slightly OCD, and she can't stand anything unorganized.
After making sure that everything that she's going to do tomorrow is perfectly planned, and after making sure everything in her suite is organized, she went to the living room of her suite and decided to watch television.
Thankfully, they have cable channels so she isn't stuck watching movies she doesn't understand. She reached for the remote and started flipping channels when she came across a news that broke her.
Alia run towards her room searching for her phone. She didn't mind everything getting messy because of the nervousness she was feeling.
Only one thing was going in her mind as she looked for her phone.
'It can't be. It can't be. It can't be me.'
The moment she found her hone, she immediately turned it on and waited for it to function properly. She hurriedly went to her contacts and even though she didn't want to do it, she called her parents.
After three rings, they picked up.
"You stupid motherfucking idiot! Why weren't you answering our calls?!" her father's voice boomed from the other side of the line.
Tears pooled from her eyes hearing his voice. Not because she missed it, but because she's getting the idea of what actually happened.
"W-what h-happened, f-father?" she asked stuttering.
She heard someone sighed from the other line and also a sniffled cry.
"Go home. Come home, Alejandria this instant. We'll talk once you're here." his father said sternly.
She shook her head multiple times even though she knew her father won't see it. She doesn't want to go home. She doesn't want to go back to that house.
"I-i d-don't want to, f-father. P-please, just t-tell me what's going o-on?" She said though her hiccups and cries harder.
A long silence enveloped them both after she said that. Only her cries and a muffled one from the other line were heard.
"You killed her, Alejandria. It was all because of you. Now, come home this instant and atone for what you did!" that was all his father said, before hanging up.
Upon hearing that, her heart broke. She cried and cried and cried while thinking about her sister.
Her sister, died. Because of her.
She closed her eyes as the news she saw earlier continuously plays in her head like a broken disc.
'Flash report! A famous international lawyer, Atty. Quinn Alejandria Rutherford was shot in the head while having her vacation with her family at Maldives. The family says that maybe it's because of the cases she's won or maybe it's because of her competitors in her field of work. We send our most sincere condolences to Atty. Rutherford's family.'
She died, and they made it look like it was me who died. My sister fucking died because of me! And my parents covered up for her death by using my name. In everyone's knowledge, she's dead. Now, how will she live? She's got a clue as to how, but she doesn't like thinking of that idea.
She hurriedly packed everything in her suitcase and changed her clothes. She called her father's assistant regarding her flight. She can no longer use her name and she can no longer board a plane using her passport. So she called her father's assistant for immediate assistance.
Upon entering the airport, she immediately went to their family's private plane and boarded there. She made her father's assistant do everything on her behalf because as much as she want's to do everything herself, she's too exhausted and too broken to do so.
So with a heavy heart, She flew back home, burying her name along with the death of sister.
Alia came home, not as Quinn Alejandria Rutherford, but as Queen Alexandria Rutherford, her twin sister.