Obsession

Ten Years Earlier.

GABRIELLA.

I've always known Elle hated me but knowing just how far she'd go just to hurt me really scares the hell out of me. After what happened a few weeks ago, I've been living in fear wondering what kind of stunt she'd try to pull next just to hurt me. I've tried avoiding any conflicts with her, but strangely, she seems to find our fights somewhat amusing, and she even goes as far as instigating them just to have a reason to insult and bully me.

Flashback — Two Weeks Earlier:

"I should really get you a puppy, so you don't always feel so alone at home," Martin says as if he’s sorry.

I frown. "I already told you I can't have a puppy. Mom would kill me if I got one. She hates having pets around and Elle also happens to hate them. And you already know that they practically rule the entire house," I remind him, and I can hear him sigh on the other end of the phone.

"You come from a family of very shitty people, except your dad. Isn't he home?" he asks.

"He had something to do so he went out. I also can't keep bothering Dad every time I'm bored at home. He has loads of work to take care of and it would be unfair of me to interrupt him just because I'm bored," I reply, and he sighs again.

"You need to try to make friends, Ella. You can't keep avoiding people,” he repeats the same thing he always says whenever I call him to complain about being bored and alone.

"Correction, Martin. I don't avoid people, they avoid me. Nobody wants to be friends with the girl whose twin sister is widely known for her nasty personality and her wickedness." I can imagine him rolling his eyes right this moment.

"Then try to stand up for yourself and let people know it's not fair of them to avoid you just because they fear that stupid sister of yours,” he replies. I sigh. He definitely makes it sound like it’s the easiest thing in the world when in actuality, it isn't.

Gabrielle hates me and she wants everyone to feel the exact same way, so anyone that actually dares to make friends with me gets on her bad side, and no one wants that.

"Can we just…" My bedroom door suddenly flies open.

"We need to talk," Elle's voice booms in her usual annoyingly rude tone and a sigh of frustration unknowingly escapes my lips.

"I'll call you back," I quickly tell Martin before hanging up.

"What do you want, Elle?" I ask tiredly.

"You don't have to make it so obvious that you don't want me in here. Trust me, I don't want to be here either, but I was preparing to go to a friend's birthday party and Mom asked me to invite you,” she says, and I frown.

"Why would mom ever ask you to invite me to one of your parties?" I retort in obvious disbelief, earning an eye roll from her.

"She claims you need to go out more and since I obviously have a more vibrant social life compared to yours, unfortunately, she wants me to take you with me,” she responds but I wasn't buying it.

"I don't believe you, Elle. The Elle I know would have adamantly refused to do me a favor. Leave me out of whatever it is you're up to," I warn her, hoping she'd just leave but she doesn't.

"Listen, you fool, I don't plan on begging you to come with me because I don't even want you coming, but mom actually threatened to ground me. I can't get grounded just because of you. If you don't believe me, go ask mom. You have an hour to get ready, okay?" she threatens furiously before storming out of my room.

I confirmed with mom that Gabrielle wasn't lying and when I tried telling mom I wasn't interested in going to any party, she completely went off about how I should stop depriving myself of having a social life by staying home all day.

I told Martin about it, and annoyingly, he agreed with my mom but did not forget to add that I be careful since my twin isn't exactly the most trustworthy person in the world.

So, I'm currently standing right in front of Kerrie Jones's humongous mansion where she's throwing her sixteenth birthday. Judging from the loud music, flashy lights, and the horrible stench of whatever it is these kids are smoking, this party is definitely not going to end well for me. I could already tell that more than half of the people in there won't fit my criteria of possible friends, and frankly, I'm not too excited about being here.

"Listen carefully to me, Ella. When we go in there, you're on your fucking own and whatever happens to you is solely your responsibility, not mine. Understood?" Elle warns and I reluctantly nod before watching her head in and tailing right behind her from a distance.

Unsurprisingly, she's immediately swamped by her friends, who don’t even notice when I pass right by them.

The extremely loud music hits me hard and I can already imagine myself throwing up sometime soon. I watch as girls about my age shamelessly sway their bodies to the music seductively, while some were too focused on flirting with the boys.

I find a quiet place to sit, which happens to be the kitchen, and since I normally don't trust any of the drinks offered at parties, I refrain from drinking anything.

I pull out my phone and start texting my dear bestie, Martin, who immediately replies to me.

M: You good?

G: Yh, just bored!

M: Have you even tried having any fun or did you already condemn the possibility?

G: …

M: ?

G: I'm just bored.

M: *sighs* You'll be fine, just don't drink anything that has alcohol.

Just when I'm about to reply to Martin, I'm interrupted by the familiar figure of Lucas Galloway, who not only happens to be one of the most popular dudes in school, but he's also the guy I've had a huge crush on for a while now. I know it's foolish of me, but oh well.

"Hi, you're Gabriella, right?" he asks, and I deadpan.

"Uhm, y-yeah. Hi, I'm Gabriella," I stutter a reply nervously.

"Nice to meet you, Gaby. The name's Lucas. I'm sorry to bother you like this, but I was just about to get something to drink and you kinda caught my attention, so I just wanted to say hello,” he replies. As usual, my tongue suddenly freezes, and I don't know what to say next.

"Would you like something to drink?" he asks, breaking the awkward silence.

"Uhm, not really," I reply, still visibly shy.

"How about water? I just don't think it's proper that I'm having something to drink, and you don't have anything,” he says, and I reluctantly agree to get water even though I didn't actually want anything.

We talk about the most random things for a few minutes. He tells me about his love for football, what it's like being the star player of the club, and his likes, dislikes, and interests. Since I had nothing fun to share, I decided to focus on just being a listener.

I suddenly start to feel tired and dizzy, and I could not help but yawn tiredly every two seconds.

"Are you bored? Am I talking too much?" Lucas asks with a weird expression on his face.

"No, not really. I just feel really tired, that's all," I reply, and I could have sworn I saw him smirk lightly in an unusual manner.

"Are you sleepy? Should I get you a room?" he asks but before I could reply to him, I could already feel his hands around my neck as he helped me get up, leading me upstairs to God knows where.

I could barely see or hear anything other than the extremely loud music that made my head throb even more. I could not even keep my eyes open, when suddenly I start to feel masculine hands, which I assume belong to Lucas, place me on a soft surface that feels like a bed.

"Where am I?" I drawl tiredly, but he shushes me up and urges me to go to sleep. As much as I tried fighting off my urge to close my eyes and drift off, I couldn't help the feeling of tiredness, and the last thing I remember seeing is Lucas's face briefly before everything suddenly went pitch black.

***

An Hour Later…

My eyes fly open as soon as I realize that my body is lying in an unfamiliar environment. I try recalling everything that happened, and when I do, my heart drops.

I check myself to see if I notice anything different about my body, but when I realize that my clothes and underwear are still intact, I heave a sigh of relief.

The room door flies open, and a tired-looking Lucas walks into the room, immediately locking the door behind.

"W-what did y-you do to me?" I stutter in fear, hoping and praying that whatever it is that happened had a very sensible explanation.

"Does it look like I did anything you?" he retorts.

"Then why am I here?" I question furiously.

"Listen, girl, I'm honestly thankful you're awake. I'm going to keep this simple for you. I actually just saved your life whether you believe me or not. Your sister asked me to drug you up and then mess with you while you were passed out, but that's not how I work. I didn't touch you. I figured it'd be better if I agreed to do it, so she wouldn’t go and find someone else who'd actually be willing. So, in other words, I just saved you from getting raped,” he explains and I completely deadpan.

"R-Rape me? S-She actually asked you to do that to me?" I ask, finding it hard to believe and when he reconfirms his explanation, my heart drops even lower.

"Here's my advice, you better act like something actually happened between us, so she doesn't get someone else to come after you. That sister of yours is determined to watch you walk out of here with tears in your eyes. Stay safe,” he adds quickly, leaving the room before I could even get a chance to thank him for his help. I'm left to ponder just how horrible my own sister really is.

Gabriella.

"Mom, it's not fair. I worked so hard for this position. You can't just demote me for no reason," I cry out to my mom, who didn't even look back at me to understand how I felt.

It's honestly not fair that Elle and mom kick me to the curb every time I try to get up and do something for myself.

"THIS ISN'T FAIR!" I scream again hoping this time, she'd actually look at me and understand me, but she didn't, she just left.

***

If you're reading this, then I suppose I should properly introduce myself.

Hi, I'm Gabriella Johansson, daughter of famous model, Rebecca Johansson and famous designer Derek Johansson and also sister of Gabrielle Johansson, and she's not just my sister, she's my identical twin but don't think too far cause we're so very different.

I unfortunately just got demoted in the company that I've spent five years of my life working for and guess what, I got demoted for no reason. Hold on, scratch that thought, there is a reason and it's none other than Gabrielle, my dumb twin sister.

My mom only fired me so she could give Elle my job after she had spent the last five years doing nothing but laze around whilst I did all the work. Does that even make any sense?

I honestly hate my life. It's absolutely depressing and ever since we were children, mom always preferred Elle. Her favoritism towards her was so obvious that I sometimes wondered if she really birthed both of us.

I mean, we look the same but it's like my presence absolutely irritates her. She never once told me happy birthday, but Elle always had a birthday party in her name only and I was always the invisible one.

Ever since my dad died, I've lived hell on earth. I became a total stranger to Elle and my mom and Elle doesn't make things any easier.

She literally bullied me, took anything I liked just to annoy me, embarrassed me all through high school and it was so bad that anytime any guy came any close to me, she would tell him lies to make him run or pretend to be me and embarrass him.

Isn't that some kind mental illness?

A lot of people tend to think that I'm jealous of my sister and hence all the complaints, but I'm not at all jealous. In fact, there is absolutely nothing to be jealous of.

I mean, not only is she a crazy whore, she's also a bully, she's lazy and if you think she's beautiful then I guess I am too since we practically look the same with only slight, barely noticeable differences.

At the moment, I absolutely hate myself. I just got demoted from vice president to the position of secretary to the new VP. I'm not even allowed to design again neither am I allowed to help in anything deeply related to the fashion industry.

I'm a designer and not a secretary, and if mom and Elle think they'll embarrass me like that, then they are absolutely crazy cause over my dead body would I stoop so low and go back to that office.

I need to get a new job and re-strategize for a new life. No more of being the dumb girl or the humble and hardworking girl. I need to rewrite my own life and stop being my mom's toilet paper.

GABRIELLE

"Omg Mom, I'm so happy!" I squeal excitedly, hugging my mom tightly cause she's just the best mom in the world.

"Well, I'm happy you're happy, sweetheart. Congratulations again cause you're officially the new vice president of Elite Fashion and I'm sure you'll make me proud," Mom says, assuring me, and of course, I agreed with her.

I've always been mom's favorite daughter. Mom always chose me over that stupid excuse of a sister I have.

I really have no idea why God gave me a twin sister in the first place. We even have similar names, how annoying.

If you ever met that fool, you'll be bored within ten seconds, not only is she boring, she's tacky, obnoxious, stupid, irritating, and the only reason I won't say she's ugly is because she has my face and I am far from ugly believe me but if you get to know her, you'll understand why I hate her.

She will always be beneath me no matter how hard she works.

"Mommy, I really hope Ella won't ever come back. She won't, right?" I ask with a pout, smiling smugly on the inside knowing full well that mom was always gonna be on my side.

It doesn't even matter if I am wrong, she'll still support me and abandon that stupid idiot.

"Don't worry baby, I already gave her a position in the company that suits her perfectly." My mom stated calmly. Am I losing my mom? Does mom already love that stupid twin of mine? Oh my God I'm doomed.

"Mom, how could you? The plan was to take Ella out of the company completely, so she never finds out about you know what." I screamed angrily at my mother hoping that my sweet little charms can still work on her.

"Relax Elle, remember your father left this entire company all to your sister and you know how much stress I went through to forge another will stating that you own this. I don't want to kick your sister out completely, what kind of mother does that? I still have a reputation to live up to, so I need to seem like I'm a good mother to both of my daughters." Mom explains calmly but I still didn't like the idea.

If only father had been sensible enough to leave everything to me, things wouldn't be this way. My father was an idiot, a hypocrite, and a bad father. He left me with nothing but a couple hundred thousand to me, but then left the real money maker to my stupid sister.

It's not like I'm a good designer, but the fact is this company holds so much power and that power is what I want, what I crave for.

Money wasn't the only important thing to me, I loved the idea of being looked upon like a goddess and for everyone to respect me and for that, I needed this company, so sorry sister but you are never gonna have that power because you don't deserve it. I do.

"So, mom, what position did you give her? I hope it was a janitorial one." I hiss angrily, hoping I was right.

"I'm sorry sweetie but it wasn't. I made her your secretary so she can directly serve you and won't disturb you too much,” she says.

"Her presence in my life alone is a disturbance, but don't worry mom, I can still trample all over her as much as I want." I reply to her with different imageries of me walking all over her at work.

I sincerely hope the dump bitch takes the job. It would be fun to watch her slave around while I sashay all over the place and take what's her without her even realizing it.