Lilly Syndrome

Lilith and Eve

Saanvi believed Lilly's use of the phrase 'did you know?' was completely superfluous. Whenever Lilly started a sentence with the phrase 'did you know?' Saanvi could always be completely certain that she didn't know.

"Did you know," Lilly began, stretching her arms over head and yawning dramatically, "that Lilith was actually Adam's first wife?"

"No," Saanvi said, paying a great deal of attention to the Economist. Lilly cracked her elbows and let her hands fall to her sides.

"Lilith refused to lay beneath Adam," Lilly continued. "She demanded that she would either beside him or on top. He tried to force her to have sex with him, so she left Eden and became the first demon. God made Eve out of Adam's rib as a replacement."

"Cool," replied Saanvi. "Very feminist. Puts your namesake in a far better light."

"That's not the point," Lilly continued irritatingly, sitting up in her recliner."Eve is like the opposite of Lilith. And winter is the opposite of summer, so the opposite of my name is Eve Winters."

"Ok."Saanvi gazed in front of her, taking in the stunning view of the Mediterranean in the afternoon sun.

"I'd like to have a nemesis called Eve Winters. We could have been friends from childhood, and maybe fall in love, but then Eve would be called by her inner evil to the dark side, and I, the hero, would have to stop her. In the end, she would die tragically and I would hold her lifeless body in my arms, mourning the bond we once shared."

"Very dramatic," Saanvi smiled. "As you're an assassin, though, most people would tend to consider you the villian."

"Nah," said Lilly, sipping a glass of wine. "I am an incredibly good-looking, intelligent woman with a tragic past. I'm just misunderstood."

"Looks don't atone for crime."

"Says the girl who manages my money, which, by the way, I kill people to earn."

"I never claimed to be a moral person. Coming from an environmental point of view, you're actually in the right. The world is unsustainably overpopulated, and you're culling the population."

"Not really culling. I kill mostly old rich men, and more old rich men step up to take their place." Lilly took another sip of wine and sat for a moment in thought. "Women keep having boys, and bringing them up to be old rich men, who oppress the women. Why don't women abort the boys and just bring up daughters?"

"You think the old rich men would let their empire collapse like that?"

Lilly sat quietly, drinking wine and watching the sea sparkle in the sun. Saanvi took the opportunity to finish the Economist. She left a little while later to sort out some transactions back at the hotel, taking the bottle of wine with her. When she left, Lilly was still sitting motionlessly in her recliner, face as passive as the ocean she stared at.

(A/N: Please vote if you like the story! Thanks!)