Angelique Spencer - Lauren's best friend.
I was friends with Angelique for a brief time after Forest and I started Highschool.
She liked clothes as much as I do and, unlike me, she could afford all the fancy clothes I saw in magazines. She seemed to be as unapologetic as me about what she wanted and she also seemed uninterested in playing dumb or naive or scared just to stroke someone's ego.
Kids at school claimed we looked so much alike that we could be twins. We were the same height, had the same body shape and skin tone and we had similar hair. She has the same long, thick curly hair as me. Her hair was always darker, but in a certain light, it could pass off as being the same shade as mine.
Our faces looked completely different, but everything else looked so similar that at times people thought I was her or that she was me. Forest even beat up a few guys by accident when he thought they were making out with me when they were actually making out with Angelique.
Like most girls, she only wanted to be my friend to get close to Forest, but I didn't mind it. Forest has always looked like he was sculpted by a god who favoured him and no one else. On top of that, he's always been kind, brilliant and has a certain charm that can convince an Eskimo to buy ice from him.
I knew that every girl who ever saw him would ultimately end up wanting to be with him. I wasn't too bothered by it because he always made it clear that no one but me could ever touch him, ride in his car, borrow his things, sleep over at his house or get even remotely close to him.
My friendship with her was quite shallow and didn't consist of anything meaningful, but for purposes of Highschool, it still qualified as a friendship.
Soon after she and I became acquainted, she became one the groupies who went to all of Forest's football games, followed him to different countries whenever he had an international science fair or engineering fair or maths Olympics to attend and always tried all kinds of things to get his attention.
There were times when she tried to brush his shoulder when he told a joke, but Forest always took a step back before her hand could find his shoulder. When he hugged me and she joked and demanded that he also hug her, his deadpan face made her realise that he wasn't going to do that no matter how much she wanted him to hug her too.
Our shallow friendship only lasted a year because she overstepped.
In the nineth grade, I watched Angelique approach Forest from behind and wrap her arms around his waist. Forest thought it was me. At least that's what he told me after the incident.
Till this day, I still don't understand how he thought it was me.
Back then, Angelique could afford the most sensual and expensive perfumes while I could only afford to use soap and deodorant. Her scent alone should have made him realise it wasn't me.
I expected him to immediately tell her to let go of him, but instead my best friend looked down at her caramel coloured hands, smiled, turned around and then planted a kiss on her forehead.
I cried that day.
I ran to the bathroom and I just cried and cried for the next two periods. I cried because I knew that I could never do that. I could never let anyone but Forest touch me and he also knew that.
But I realised that day that it was different for him.
I never had a choice when it came to Forest. The thought of anyone else looking at me the way he looked at me or touching me the way he touched me, made me want to throw up. I knew his scent, his touch, his voice, his everything. A boy wouldn't even have been able to brush up against me and have me thinking that maybe it was Forest.
I just always knew when it was him.
But that day, I realised that I was a choice ... a preference for him and that realisation killed a little part of me. He would be able to go and kiss other people and be in relationships with them, but I wouldn't be able to be with anyone but him.
After school, I heard a bunch of girls talking about how Lucas Greyson made Angelique Spencer cry. Apparently Forest pushed her after he realised what he had done and told her that if she ever touched him again, he would reveal every single one of her mother's lovers to her father and the rest of the world.
Her mother's affairs weren't as commonly known back then, so him saying those things shocked everyone. A rumour even started in school that her father wasn't her real father.
I tried avoiding him the entire day, but he found me after school and told me everything that happened because he didn't want me to believe any of the rumours that might be spread about him and Angelique because of that incident. He couldn't stop apologising even though I told him it wasn't a big deal and that he could go around kissing anyone because he was single and we were just friends.
He pinned me against a wall that day and told me he and I are not just friends and that I'm not allowed to ever think that, let alone say it.
After that day, Angelique and I stopped being friends because Forest didn't want her going anywhere near him or me.
I didn't think much about her after that day. Even when she befriended Lauren a few days after that incident, I didn't think about her.
I always had the impression that she kept Lauren grounded.
Lauren was always living in a world of her own and I thought Angelique helped Lauren realise that her fantasies weren't real. Whenever Lauren seemed to be having an episode, Angelique and her other friend, Kyle, seemed to be able to calm her down.
It took me years to realise that the foundation of their friendship was based on a mutual hate for Charlotte Ericsson.
So, when Angelique helped Lauren to change her look after I came back into Forest's life, I wasn't surprised. And when she made out with Connor and tried to trick Belle into thinking I had done that, I was also not surprised.
I knew she would help her friend, but I also knew she would never do anything illegal or dangerous just to help her friend.
She was always mischievous, but she always erred on the side of caution. She wouldn't let Lauren talk her into doing something that could ruin her life just so Lauren could get a man that is inlove with another woman.
At least that's what I thought. Until today.
I have let my emotions control me for the past few days and, as a result, that mistake might actually cost me my life.
"I can smell your wig from here." I sneered when I finally looked up at Dr Shetland and her assistant. "It smells like the bedsheets your mother shares with your father and her many many lovers, Angelique."
She narrowed her eyes behind the large fake glasses she wore and with a calm grace, looked at Dr Shetland who left the room like an obedient dog.
I've been shaking the entire day because no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't find the love of my life, a man I consider to be my brother and a man I consider to be my father. I have taught myself to hide my emotions without even having to think about it and yet today, when I needed that skill the most, all my training failed me.
I think I let myself show how scared I was because I trust Nigel and maybe a little part of me is also trying to trust Christian.
I let my guard down around the two of them because I know that Nigel cares about me and I would like to believe that Christian, for whatever reason, is trying really hard to also care about me.
I've let my guard down today, but because hiding is second nature to me, the second I recognised Angelique, all my defences and walls went up and my trembling and tears stopped instantly.
"The last words of a dying woman." She replied calmly before taking off her surgical mask. "Does your baby have any last words as well or are you speaking on both your behalf?"
I merely smiled and gave her a look of bored amusement.
"I'm not dying today." I replied. "My husband has assured me that I will live to be an old woman with lots of children and grandchildren. My husband always keeps his word, Angelique. So I'm not dying today and neither is my baby."
If she's scared or excited or angry, she's doing an incredible job of hiding it.
She walked to a window slowly and almost seductively and sat on the lush couch nearby.
Once seated, she tilted her head and then furrowed her brows in mock confusion.
"Your husband ..." She tapped a finger on her lips. "Where is this amazing and invincible husband of yours? For all you know he's dead, Char."
My heart dropped.
Does she know where he is?
He won't die. He can't die.
He is so much smarter than me; so much more prepared than me. He's probably the reason why Christian is so friendly all of a sudden.
He wouldn't leave me.
He promised he'd never leave me.
She's lying. She's just trying to get in my head and I can't let her.
She smirked when I didn't respond.
"You know, Char" she opened a magazine on a small table next to her, "I could never understand the hype around you. You have this entire city convinced that you can walk on water when the truth is you're just a little girl who's afraid her father is going to walk through that door and give her a proper spanking."
Her grin grew wider and the look of amusement just kept growing on her face.
I'm ready for this.
If Brian Kim walks through that door with a crowbar in his hand, I'll be ready for him. I'll take the flower vase on my left, throw it at him and then I'll take the other vase and throw that at him as well. Then I'll stab him with the broken pieces before running for the door.
I won't freeze. I won't hope that he'll tell me he loves me and that he's proud of me.
I've been preparing for this moment for years.
If he somehow managed to hold me down, I would tell him his wife and son will die before the day is over if he hurt me. I'd be lying, but considering that the man has already buried two sons, he'll believe me and reconsider killing me.
"That sounds like something Lauren would say." I smiled at her.
"No." She shook her head slowly. "You of all people should know that Lauren isn't smart enough to come up with a plan that can take you down all by herself, Char." She gave a heavy and very lazy sigh, as if she was disappointed that I hadn't figured this out earlier.
"I planted the idea in her head." She said lazily. "For MONTHS she tried having you drugged and raped, but you were too smart for such things. You're too suspicious of people and whereas most girls just try to smile their way out of an awkward situation, you pepperspray, kick balls and scream your way out of an awkward situation with a man."
"It was you?" The words fell out of my mouth as the pieces started falling into place. "You made the Mitchells use my father to go after me, but you made sure you kept your hands clean."
"Yeah." She chuckled. "You taught me that during the few months we were friends. Don't you remember? You told me that whispering works much better than shouting when you want people to do what you want them to do."
I think I said that to her in passing. Mama Grey used to say that so I was just repeating it to Angelique to sound cool. It was only years later when I realised what she meant and used it to make Brian's enemies focus all their attention on him and his family after what he did to me.
"Why?" I asked calmly.
"To even the playfield without having you suspect me." She nodded to herself. "I got tired of seeing my friend lose to the girl who had it all and decided to give her a helping hand. Can't blame me for being a good friend, right?"
She shrugged when I didn't respond.
I don't understand how she or someone like Lauren can ever claim that I had it all or that getting me drugged or raped or killed by my own father can be considered trying to even out the playfield.
"Char", she continued in the most sincere tone, "girls like Lauren aren't like you and me. She doesn't care about having a career or being admired and respected or even desired. All she cares about is being with the one and only man she has ever loved, having his kids, spending the remainder of her days taking care of that man and their kids and living happily ever after. You've always wanted much more than that. You've always wanted the career, the money, the cars, the fancy properties, the awards and the admiration. You can't want a husband like Lucas Greyson and a baby on top of all that. You're being too greedy, don't you think?"
Nonsense. Everything she was saying was nonsense.
Lauren's lack of ambition is not due to the fact that she wants to stay home and raise kids and take care of a husband. She can't cook, can't clean after herself and she can't even manage people who are paid to do those things. She wants a husband and kids because she believes they will give her something she has never had in her entire life - purpose.
Lauren Mitchell lacks purpose and she goes around making that everyone else's problem. She's trying to make her meaningless existence my problem and in her eyes, I only have the things I have because they've been handed to me.
She clings to unrequited love because loving Forest gives her life meaning; it's the only thing that gives her sad and miserable existence any meaning.
Both she and Angelique know that I have not had a single thing handed to me and yet somehow in their messed up minds, I am where I am because I'm greedy?
This is all nonsense and only one thing was worth hearing from those crusty lips of hers - she mentioned my baby.
What does Angelique know about my baby?
"How did Lauren find out about my pregnancy?" I chose to ignore the rest of her useless speech. "I hid it and I hid it well, Angelique. How did she know?"
She jumped out of the couch qith excitement as if she has been waiting her entire life for me to ask her that question.
"First", she held up a finger like a teacher, "Lauren told me she saw you and Lucas Greyson getting it on and the second she told me that, I knew you two would be going at it like bunnies. And just like bunnies, I knew it was only a matter of time before you would create more bunnies. I talked her into doing some favours for some doctors who really deserved it, Char so that by the time you inevitably got pregnant, those doctors would owe her and her family a few favours in return."
"All of them?" I asked in shock. "Every doctor I went to owed her a favour?"
"Every obstetrician who's considered one of the best in the country, owes them a favour Char. I knew you would only want the best for your baby."
I covered my eyes with both hands and before I knew it, the palms of my hands were wet with tears.
"Your baby is healthy and you are more than capable of carrying your child." I heard her voice while I cried.
They were tears of joy and relief.
My baby is okay. Our baby is okay and I can keep him or her safe.
I thought I had failed this baby before even meeting it, but I haven't. I can carry my baby.
I need to tell Forest. I need to tell Jona. I need to tell the whole world that I haven't failed my baby.
When I lifted my head out of my hands, she was standing next to me with a needle in her hand.
She thinks I'm dying today.
How fucking ridiculous is that?
She stabbed me in the arm before I could react, but I yanked the needle out of her hand, pulled it out of my arm and stabbed her right back with the thing.
Before she could do anything else, I threw my blanket on her head and grabbed the nearest vase while she tried to get the blanket off.
I smashed her head with the vase right before my vision went blurry and men started running inside the room.