"Plum. Plum!" Her mother, Emily Ashlyn, tried to wake her up, but she was fast asleep. "Plumeria! Wake up or you're going to be late for your blind date!" She told her and slapped her butt.
She groaned, waking up.
"Mom… I told you not to smack my butt." She whined.
"Then start waking up early. What do you even do the entire night?" Emily asked, shaking her head at her.
Plumeria sighed and got up. She looked at her mother.
"When is the blind date?" She asked her.
"In about 4 hours from now." Emily told her.
She looked at her, dumbfounded.
"Wait, are you serious? But there's still a lot of time left. I'm not anywhere near late." She complained.
"Oh, shush. Early bird catches the worm. Now make haste, my love. Take a shower, have breakfast, and then I'll help you with the dress." Her mother told her and walked away, but she stopped right at the door and looked back at her with narrowed eyes. "Don't you go back to bed." She warned her.
Plumeria nodded at her, and then she left.
She groaned and fell back onto the bed. Picking up her phone, she checked the time.
She put her phone away and rubbed her eyes, letting out a huge, exhausted sigh.
Her parents had arranged a blind date for her today. It was with a man, Levi Adler. She knew him since they were kids. They used to be good friends when they were young and would often play together. But then he was sent abroad for studies and they moved away from them because of her parents' business, which caused them to drift apart. Their parents were still good friends and business partners, though.
Levi and her were born two months apart, so they were the same age and Levi was older than her by 2 months. When they were born, their parents agreed to let them both get married at a proper age. Now that they were both 25, their parents decided that it was time.
Plumeria didn't like the idea of her getting married to someone she didn't love, but she didn't want to ruin her parents' years of friendship because of her, so she agreed.
She figured that she might fall in love with Levi if she went out with him because, from what her parents told her, it sounded like Levi had a warm heart and was a good man.
Truth be told, she remembers nothing from her childhood. Her parents told her that she was in an accident and that caused her to lose her memories. So everything she knew about her childhood was from what her parents told her.
She got out of bed and took a warm shower before she went to the dining table to have breakfast with her family.
She saw her father, Owen Ashlyn, sitting at the table and walked up to him.
"Good morning, daddy." She greeted her father happily, who was scrolling on his phone, and gave him a kiss on the cheek.
He smiled happily and caressed her head.
"Good morning, my little bundle of joy. Did you sleep well?" He asked her.
"Yes, daddy." She said, sitting down beside him and then leaned in to whisper to him. "Mom, woke me up 4 hours before the blind date."
He whispered back to her.
"Sweetie, I would love to fight for you, but your mother is a scary woman."
She giggled.
"What are you two talking about?" Emily asked, joining them as the maid brought their breakfast.
"We were talking about Celia. When is she coming home again?" Plumeria asked.
Owen winked at her, to which she secretly gave him a thumbs up.
"The doctors said that if everything is fine, then she'll be allowed to come home tomorrow." Emily told them.
"That's great. It's been so boring without her around." She told her.
Celia was her twin sister, and she was very weak from the day she was born. She had a weak heart, so she couldn't play with the other kids or do anything that would strain her heart because she would end up in the hospital. A few days ago she was having pain in her chest, so they admitted her to the hospital.
"I just hope that you girls will live longer than us." Owen told her.
"Oh, dad. Don't talk like that." She told him, patting the back of his hand.
Owen pinched her cheeks gently.
"Why did you grow up so fast?" He asked her in a loving and sad tone.
She took his hand and kissed it.
"I'll always be your baby girl, daddy." She told him with a smile.
"That's right." He told her.
"Tsk, tsk. What about me?" Emily asked, pretending to be upset, looking at the two being so loving towards each other, but she was happy seeing them so close.
"Of course I love you too mom, but I love dad more." She told her.
"Oh, I miss you Celia. Come back home soon because these two don't care about me." Emily said, pretending to be pitiful.
Owen and Plumeria laughed at her.
After breakfast, Emily followed Plumeria to her room and picked out a sexy dress for her.
"Wear this." Emily told her.
It was a purple colour dress.
"Mom, this isn't my style." She told her, taking the dress from her and looking at it with a troubled expression.
"This is a perfect dress if you want to make him fall head over heels for you." Emily told her and then made her wear the dress.
Plumeria looked at herself in the mirror, feeling uncomfortable.
The dress was tightly fitted and was showing her figure clearly. On top of that, it was showing her cleavage as well, and it was shorter than the dresses she usually wore.
"Mom, I don't know about this one. It's too flashy and uncomfortable for me. I wanna wear something simple." She told her.
"Nonsense. You look breathtaking in this dress. Here, wear these heels with it." Emily told her.
She pursed her lips and did as she was told. Her mother was a stubborn woman and no one could change her mind once she decided on something.
Emily then made her hair and gave her a necklace and a nice hand purse to her.
She gave her one last check before she looked at her approvingly.
"You look stunning, my dear!" She told her cheerfully.
"Thanks, mom." She told her even though she was not a least bit happy with her looks.
Everything she was wearing was really expensive, and she liked to wear inexpensive and simple clothes even though she was rich.
Plumeria wasn't like those spoiled kids who would wear branded things only. She knew the value of money and knew that there are people who need money more than her because she had more than enough. Her father used to take her to shelters and orphanages so she had seen the life of those who weren't as lucky as her and because of that she wanted to help those needy people as much as she could.
"The driver is ready for you downstairs. Go and catch that man's heart!" Emily cheered for her.
•••
Levi was sitting in his office reading a document with a slight frown on his face and was completely concentrated on it.
His father, Logan Adler, came inside his office to check on him.
"You're still here." Logan said disapprovingly.
Levi looked up and blinked at his father.
"Was I supposed to be somewhere else?" He asked him slowly.
Logan sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration.
"You're supposed to meet Plumeria today, son." He told him in frustration.
"Oh." Levi said.
He completely forgot about it.
"Go before you get late. You can do your work after you come back." Logan told him.
"Okay, dad." He told him and got up from his chair.
He took off his coat that was resting on the back of his seat and wore it.
"Do you want to have the driver take you there?" Logan asked.
"Nahhh. I'll drive there myself." He said, walking up to his father.
"I know you two have been apart for so long, but do make a good impression on her. Bring up your childhood if you can't find anything else to talk about. Take her to a mall and pay attention to what she likes and doesn't like. And be sure to drive her home after." Logan told him.
"Don't worry about it, dad. I'll see you at home then." He told him and left.
Levi's expression completely changed as he stepped out of the office. There was anger in his eyes and hatred in his heart for Plumeria.
'I'll make you pay for what you did, Plum. You'll never have a happy time with me because of what you did. I'll have my revenge on you.' he thought angrily as he left the building.