Substitute Bride

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 -  Trouble In Paradise

"Ah yes, Mr and Mrs Hale. Welcome to the Kanui Hotel, the number one hotel in Maui! Please let us take your bags and show you newlyweds to your room." the receptionist beamed as he handed me the room key. I graciously thanked him with a small smile and we were soon offered leis and pineapple drinks with little umbrellas on the side. Our bags were taken by the bellhop and I grasped Ivan's strong big hands with mine.

We have finally reached Hawaii. Right after the wedding we were quickly brisked away to the airport, where we were soon welcomed by the hot summer sun and deep blue oceans.

Truth be told, I don't really like Hawaii. I would have rather preferred to go to Europe as a dream honeymoon, but Anna had already chosen this as her destination. But it didn't matter, as long as I was by Ivan's side, I was fine.

That was all that mattered.

I held onto his hand and we were soon led into our room. The room itself was huge, and it had everything to accommodate us.

"Is the room nice Anna?" Ivan asked me as I led him into the bedroom.

"It's very nice, and the view is pretty as well. But what makes this moment so beautiful, is that I get to spend this moment with you." I squeezed onto Ivan's hand and beamed at him.

He laughed.

"Since when were you so cheesy." Ivan's hand traced my face and he began pinching my cheeks. I blushed. I thought these were the things married couples would say to each other.

The rest of the day was peaceful. Ivan and I spent the morning on the beach and soaked in some rays. Then in the afternoon we went a cute local restaurant that had the best food and had some champagne. The highlight of the day was probably getting back to our hotel room, putting on the song "Fade Into You" and slow dancing in the living room. Ivan's warm hands held my waist as I put mine around his neck. We both smelt like the sun as I placed my head against his chest while slowly closing my eyes. We didn't say a word to each other, and we didn't need to.

Everything was fine just like this.

This very moment felt so right. If I could, I would wish to just slow dance with him for eternity. Being with him made me complete, so right. He was the first man I ever loved and I know he will be the last.

When the song was over I gave Ivan a great big hug.

"I love you Ivan." I whispered softly.

"I love you too, Anna." he picked up my hand and pressed it against his lips.

Tears dripped down my eyes as I squeezed his hand.

"Yeah..." I plainly said.

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It was nightfall and both me and Ivan were laying in bed. I had the worst runny nose in the world and it just so happens that we ran out of NyQuil. I couldn't sleep and my nose would just not stop producing snot. I slowly got out of the bed and grabbed my jacked and purse. I headed out the room making sure not to wake up Ivan and decided to go to a nearby convenient store that ran open late. As I was paying for my NyQuil, something caught the corner of my eyes as I looked through the store's window.

I didn't even bother taking the bottle as I rushed out of the store. At first I was fast walking, but then it turned into a jog and then into a sprint. Cold air ran through my lungs and my legs hurt from all the pressure I was putting onto it. I couldn't give up, no way in hell was I going to stop. I needed to capture it, I needed to hold it and make sure it was actually real.

I needed to know if what I was seeing was actually real, or was my reality just crashing down and I'm just crazy and it's just my imagination.

When I finally got close to it, when it was finally close to arms reach, I screamed my lungs out.

"Anna!"

The "it" I was chasing turned.

Right then and there I saw my sister. 

It was the real Anna.

When she saw me, I could see shock and tears in her eyes.

"E-Eliza..." she gasped

She bit her lip as she took a couple of steps towards me.

I took a couple of steps back.

I took a deep, long look at her face. Her eye bags were dark and her face was pale. This was in face Anna, but she was different from the Anna I used to know. As much as I wanted to yell at her, blame her, hurt her, punish her... I couldn't. Instead I walked straight up to her and held her in my arms. I held her as tight as I could, for as long as I could and I cried my heart out to her. She cried back.

We did'nt need words to explain how much pain we were going through right now. We could both tell just by looking at the tired expressions we had.

We were twins, we knew each other like that.

After we spilled the last drops of tears and wiped away the last bit of drops, I looked her straight in the eyes.

"We need to talk." I told her.

"Yes, we do." she replied.

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Hello my readers! I am so terribly sorry for the long wait I have put on this book and you, the readers. I have been caught in the realities of life that I have seemed to drift away from writing. It was amazing that I was able to even finish writing this chapter. But it's all thanks to you my readers for supporting this book and commenting below. I appreciate your feedback and I will try and write as frequent as I can.

~Mika