At the Rags and Riches bar, "Why the long face?" Ricky asked, looking at Alec.
"What does a woman want?" Ricky was surprised to see his friend Alec ask questions about women.
"What makes a woman happy?" Alec asked again.
"Branded clothes, designer jewellery, luxury cars, money?" This is what my El had wanted right? I'm giving her all of it" he said in a drunken voice.
"Why isn't my El happy?"
"What did you do?" Ricky asked.
Alec elaborated about everything he did for El this week from buying her expensive clothes and jewellery to taking her to exclusive places.
Ricky giggled and asked "Why are you doing all this?"
"To confess my love" he said in a sweet loving voice.
Ricky's jaw dropped when he heard that,
"Alec Wilson is in love, I never thought this day would come" he said in surprise.
"I want to do something special for her before I confess, but she is not impressed with anything," Alec felt dejected.
"You'll get there buddy" Ricky encouraged him.
Alec heard a beep on his phone, he checked his phone, it was El's text -' I'm at grandma Alexandra's place' Alec read it aloud.
"What is she doing there?" Ricky asked.
"We visit grandma Alexandra often since she stays alone."
"Alexandra Ford?" Ricky asked
"Yes, that reminds me I had a chat with Michelle Ford the other day."
Ricky's eyes widened, "What did she say?"
"Nothing much, she kept her words limited and was being distant. Can't blame her for it, apparently she lost her childhood memories in an accident. So she doesn't remember us."
"Is it really true?" Ricky asked suspiciously.
"May be, I could feel sadness in her voice when she said it"
Ricky opened his laptop and searched about Michelle.
' Michelle Ford was hit by a truck resulting in multiple scars on her face. There are also speculations of her suffering from retrograde amnesia or amnesiac episodes. After the accident there has been no news or picture about Michelle Ford until the fateful wedding day and when her family disowned her. Even during those days Michelle was nowhere to be found.' Ricky read from his laptop.
"Maybe she was telling the truth," Ricky said.
"See if she is really married, she said she lives in Abon city with her husband." Alec said
"She is married?" Ricky was surprised to know that fact.
"Even I had the same reaction," Alec said.
Ricky searched for further detail,
'accident, memory loss. Michelle Ford was known to have several scars on her face which is why she was kept away from making Public appearances. The Ford family kept Michelle locked in, Michelle stopped making any appearances in any events to hide her hideous face'
"That's rude" Ricky complained.
"These are just speculations. The accident fact is true." He continued to search when he found a photo of hers he quickly minimised it.
"The same information is being repeated, there is no solid information about her after it. Seems like she has been hiding for way longer than we thought."
"What about the guy she married, did she tell you his name?"
"No," Alec replied. "Maybe she is living with a fake identity." Alec speculated.
'She has no other choice' Ricky thought.
"Let me know if you find anything about her." Alec said.
'No way' Ricky thought to himself but he nodded at him. Ricky was apprehensive of Alec regarding Michelle.
Alec gave him Michelle's number and left.
Ricky opened Michelle's picture on his laptop, it was very blurry but she had a prominent scar on the right side of her face.
The next day,
Alec was still thinking of ways to impress El.
He called Mark for his help, to his disappointment Mark said, " We are not that type of friends. We do have each other's back but we don't engage in silly gift exchanges." Alec rolled his eyes at his response.
That evening when El was in the bathroom he took her phone and dialed Izzy's number.
"Hi it's El's husband, Alec Wilson"
"Hi Alec," Isobelle replied, getting curious.
"I need a favour" he said
"Uh..Yeah sure" she was getting more curious.
"Can you tell me what kind of things El likes?"
"Oohhh" she elaborated her reaction.
"She likes the most extravagant or the simplest things. Don't even think that you'll be able to impress her by getting her exorbitant stuff, it's next to impossible, no offense" Isobelle replied full of enthusiasm.
"But have you seen her eyeing something?" She asked.
He remembered how she was eyeing the bracelet and how it cost him way more than Elena's jewellery altogether.
Nonetheless, her eyes were shining when he gave her that making the effort worthwhile.
"Nothing as of now" he replied.
"So it's the simpler things then" Izzy said and suggested something to him.
"Trust me it'll work," she was confident about her advice. Alec found the suggestion absurd but decided to follow through.
At Rags and Riches bar, Ricky received a call from his informant Dave.
"I haven't seen any ruse this perfect in my whole life" Dave said in a baffling voice.
"What are you talking about?" Ricky asked.
"El Wilson."
"I checked all the information I could get about her, all of them checked out perfectly. I still checked again, and had a gut feeling telling me something was wrong. I even went to Valcity to check for everything myself. All documents checked out even the current staff agreed with her details. I reached the old staff, the prominent ones agreed with her details but I even reached those who are usually forgotten, the caretakers and the menial staff. They had no recollection of any El in their orphanage or school. She did a perfect job creating her story"
Ricky was dumbstruck.
"Trust me dude no investigating agency, even high end ones could have been able to get this deep, I hope you'll consider that while paying me. She did a commendable job, I bet that shadow guy helped her with it, but I've no proof for it. But one thing is for sure, she is carrying a well crafted fake identity."
Ricky's breathing stopped when he heard 'fake identity' he rushed to his laptop, he remembered Alec's words, 'she might be living with a fake identity'.
Dave continued, "Finding her true identity will be next to impossible."
"I know who she might be," Ricky said.
He opened Michelle's picture and compared it with El's.
It explained her connection with Isobelle Ford and Mark.
Ricky removed the scar on Michelle's picture and slightly changed some facial features. A striking similarity was clear between the two pictures now.
"Definitely not a gold digger." Ricky smirked looking at the pictures.