When Love Struck

Chapter 1

"Aha! Are you blind?!"

She received a few snide remarks like that as she half-ran, and kept colliding with people. Not everyone who was out on the streets was sane enough; some were probably whining about having to arrive at work early every day only to receive a flat pay at the end, and Sarah bumping into them was a way for them to vent their pent-up rage.

"Sorry!" It came out as a yell, earning her numerous glances from passers-by.

The line of sweat that trickled down her spine and her brows was in no way how she had expected her morning to be. She hated being sweaty in the morning.

It wasn't her first time being late to work, but today, she was overly late! Never had she imagined waking up at Past eight in the morning to prepare for work, but, it was happening!

Everything had felt weird when she woke up, she never heard her alarm ring, the house was suspiciously quiet, and her thick curtains had blinded rays of light from entering her room which would have been a warning for her that it was daybreak.

She had thought she was up early but seeing one of her elder twin brothers dressed up neatly for work and the brightly lit compound of her home through the translucent louvers made her dash back to her room in haste and forget about the food she planned on dishing out for herself.

Everything she did after then was in a rush, and now, running with her short legs to work, she could feel the taste of toothpaste mint in her mouth, her long black braids falling from its loose knot atop her head and cascading down her back, thereby, making her run feel uncomfortable.

One thing she was grateful for not rushing about that morning was her choice of clothing. She had picked a pair of comfortable black pants and a puffy, long-sleeved, green chiffon blouse that would make her run to work easier.

Struggling to wear one foot of her flat silver pumps that morning, she had half yelled at her other older twin brother, Ire, about her predicament. He was the first of the twins.

"I thought you were not going to work, I and mom knocked on your door by 5:30 a.m. but you mumbled about not going to work." He only spared her a glimpse once, probably to see what she was wearing, and then, he returned his gaze to his laptop on the brown-matted dining table.

"You should have hit me! I would have woken up."

She struggled to arrange the contents in her black bag in haste as a result of her hands being damp with sweat. Books, her purse, her laptop, stationaries, powder, a bottle of water, her eyeglasses, a roll of tissue, a lilac handkerchief, lipgloss, and snacks were sprawled out on the living room center table, waiting to be packed.

Ire's black orbs looked up at his sister, a smirk playing on his dark lips. "And then receive a smack on the head from one of your hard slippers?"

"Aha!" their mom, a chocolate–skinned woman, exclaimed, "I thought you were not going to work." The surprise was evident in her voice as she stood akimbo at the entrance of the kitchen and stared at her daughter.

The striking resemblance between the two females wasn't one to be overlooked.

"You should know–" She placed the long strap of her bag over her head, across her left shoulder. "–I say crazy things when I'm asleep."

"I also thought you were sick and I was planning on getting some drugs for you." The slim woman adjusted her Ankara wrapper around her bust and took a seat near her son. "How about your food? Morning food is important for the day."

She held her pink perfume bottle close to her armpits. "I'll be back for it in the evening." She looked down at her clothes to spray some parts. "Please, Mommy, keep my food away from brother Ire." She looked up from her clothes to see him eyeing her with a sneer.