Snowfall

12 - Snežana's Doppelgänger

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When Lucca and Svetlana arrived at the table, Johannes and Ivana stood up to greet them.

Johannes looks like he is enjoying something with the way he looks between Lucca and Ivana. Ivana on the other hand has a stoic face beneath the mask but Lucca knows her blank expression mirrors the opposite of the wrath she is trying to suppress.

'Johannes, this is Madame Svetlana Volkov- Orlov. The birthday celebrant. Madame, this is Johannes Chevalier. Owner of Chevalier Wines and one of my business partner as well.' Lucca introduced.

'Pleased to meet you, Madame.' Johannes greeted with a firm shake in the hands.

Ivana noticed he didn't kiss Svetlana's hands like what he did to her. She gathered the guy doesn't like the witch.

'Pleased to meet you too, Mr. Chevalier.'

'And this is Ivana Ravalli.' Lucca took Ivana's hand and beckoned her beside him as he continue with the introduction. 'My fiancée. Sweetheart, this is Madame Svetlana.'

'Fiancée? This is embarrassing. To think I tried seducing him on the dance floor. So that is why he keeps looking this way. Damn!' Svetlana scolded herself. She felt humiliated. She returned to the current situation when the woman spoke.

'Delighted to be on your birthday, Madame.'

Svetlana stared at Ivana like a deer caught in the spotlight. Her face showing surprise and terror at the same time. When she realized that the three people are watching her, she camouflaged her whirlwind emotion into a happy guise.

Svetlana is looking at Johannes that she didn't see the woman beside him. Almost behind him actually, like she is watching her discreetly. When Lucca took her beside him that was when she saw her fully.

The woman is beautiful, she admitted. A perfect half to the handsome hotelier. The couple looks mysterious and alluring. A sight to enjoy.

She knew that the woman has captured almost all the men's attention on this event from the evident stares the men around them are giving her.

'She is taking my spotlight.' She told herself.

Then she look into Ivana's eyes and that is when the nightmare became real. Her face morphed from surprise to recognition to rage to panic to terror.

In front of her stood Ivana Ravalli. The perfect twin of her dead stepdaughter Snežana. Other than the fact that the two women have different hair color and persona, there is something that tells her this woman is Snežana.

Ivana sports white blond hair and has an air of confidence and regal aura around her while Snežana had black mane and a soft yet spunky personality. Nobody will think that the two women are the same person but Svetlana saw how Snežana bloomed. She knows that if Snežana didn't die, she will become someone like this woman in front of her.

And when she looked into Ivana's eyes, she saw Snežana. Their eyes are alike. Piercing cobalt orbs encased in a thick eyelashes. Almost identical if not for the way Ivana eyes her. She can't see the recognition reflecting in the younger woman's eyes. She looks curious as to why the older woman stares at her like she is a ghost.

'Madame, are you alright? You look pale.'

Ivana said as she hold Svetlana's arm and guided her to a chair then she sat in front. Johannes and Lucca gave them space and sat on the opposite side of the table.

Ivana's voice is full of worry but her eyes danced in delight. Svetlana didn't see that and Ivana intended to keep it that way until the right time.