FATE

The dark red rose

It was supposed to be the happiest day in her life, well, who doesn't like birthdays? Instead, it was the worst day ever.

From the early morning, her father made the worst decision in his life: he preferred a company meeting over his daughter's birthday. Moreover, she was forced to attend that meeting instead of the celebration she planned with her friends in her favorite Café on Bromley Street.

Lola a bad mood. She wasn't able to put a good makeup for the first time nor to choose the best dress for that occasion, so when her younger sister came into the room at half-past four, she was amused seeing her elder sister sitting on the bed and looking at the opened wardrobe with clothes, still being in a nightie.

"Lola!" Monika screamed, closing the door after herself and hurrying to her sister, "It's almost time to go and you're not ready! Father will kill you!!"

"Am I looking like I care?" Lola asked, still looking at the opened wardrobe, but her thoughts were flying away from that place, somewhere on Bromley Street. 

You can celebrate your twenty-fifth birthday only once in your life and she's gonna miss all the joy.

"Lola get up now! I don't wanna have a dead sister!" Monika took her sister's elbow and tried to get her up, however, Lola just sighed in response and stood up by herself.

"Give me five minutes..." she went to the bathroom with a gloomy face.

"What's wrong with her today?" Monika thought and left her sister's room, running downstairs in her high heels. It felt like a thunderstorm hit the house while she was running down to the first floor, where her father and mother were already waiting.

"Lola asked for five more minutes. She's not ready yet!" she complained and pouted her lips, "What an example!"

"She's not in a mood today," admitted Rose, their mom, and stroked her husband's shoulder, "It's okay, Adam. We still have some time saved."

"Depends on how long that girl is gonna test my temper!" Adam burst into a flow of anger, then calmed down by a kiss of his beloved wife.

"Yeah, we still have some time", Adam agreed, looking at his watch.

The room was full of rich people dressed in their best suits and dresses full of Swarovski stones. Lola sighed silently and turned her look back to the window. Her thoughts were wandering alongside her favorite Cafe, probably full of people, due to the upcoming weekends. 

It was the place she won't be visiting today, so the girl turned away from the window and tried to find interest in this room. Her light green eyes started wandering all over the people sitting on the table right now; they were all supposed to be her father's co-workers, owners of smaller companies that bear her father's company name. They were all forming "The Fowkes Industry", and today all of them gathered with their families here to talk about the future directions of their business and cooperation with "The Fowkes Industry". That's all she was able to catch from her father's speech, then her mind turned off, refusing to listen. 

"Can you make a little bit happier face?" her younger sister slightly hit her waist, trying to bring back her sister to reality. Lola took her eyes away from her plate full of untouched food, and Monika already regretted she woke up her sister.

"Can you get lost?" Lola whispered, then put the fork back to its place near the plate, and stood up, leaving the restaurant and heading to the W.C. She needed to cool down to prevent the big drama: that will be in the first place tomorrow's morning news. 

When she got to the toilet, there was no one except one woman dressed in a red cocktail middle dress, with Swarovski stones on her V-like neckline. The woman had white curls and a small red hat on the top of her head. She was checking her makeup, and when Lola got inside the toilet cabin to cool down, the woman left the room, clicking with her heels.