Chapter 47: Chapter 47

Athena’s P.O.V.

“How’s the plan, Helena?” Daddy asked me as soon as I sat next to him in front of our long dining table.

Mouth-watering foods and spectacular decorations were prepared for my birthday, but those would no longer matter to me anymore now that the atmosphere had begun to change. It looked like a thick and black mist was starting to cover the whole place.

He was sitting at the corner while I was on his right side. Using the elevator, I came down here on the ground floor because I took care of the stuffed toys first—the ones that Cristoff gave me. I made sure that they were properly displayed on my bed. I wanted to hug them the moment I slept.

“I—I’m working on it, D-Dad.” My lips twisted as I stuttered, and my hands clasped under the table… moistly trembled.

A sudden pang of mixed guilt and pain had struck my chest, prompting me to bite my lower lip and bow my head. I also scrunched my fingernails due to unforeseen anxiety. All the bliss that I felt for my sixteenth birthday when I was with Cristoff earlier… was slowly fading away.

The surroundings felt like I was on a court trial rather than a birthday dinner. I was waiting for Daddy’s response until I got startled by what he managed to do. I cringed, shrugged my shoulders, and closed my eyes when he suddenly raised his voice. At the same time, his palms made a raucous contact as those intensely slammed on the table.

“Stop making fun of me, Helena! You’re working on it, huh? So, how come that you are still in second place?” Daddy sardonically chuckled like I was a kind of big joke to him.

As endless hurt began to cover me like a dark cloak, I swallowed the imaginary lump on my throat before I tortuously looked at him. It was making me hard to breathe. I knew that he was seeing me as Athena now, but it wouldn’t make me feel happy.

“Dad, if you must know… Cristoff is so smart. Apart from that, he is indeed diligent when it comes to his studies. He is hardworking, assiduous, and versatile. I can’t easily beat him and what you’re asking me is so hard. I distracted him so many times already, but he still managed to study and prepare for our exams.”

During the times I studied with Cristoff, I saw his positive attitude and infinite perseverance. Most of the time, I had already given up on doing and formulating solutions for our Physics and Geometry assignments, but he would still succeed in manipulating various formulas to solve them. I couldn’t even know how he did that. I didn’t have any idea where those formulas came from.

Sometimes, I would end up sleeping in the library, but Cristoff was not even a little bit lethargic. He was always energetic, and I wanted to think that it was all because of me.

There was one time that he was on set A and I was on set B, and we were given different problems. But when I woke up in the library, he already had answers for set B too. He was exceptionally superb, and I guessed that he was even smarter than my twin sister.

Daddy smiled wryly, even looking at me like I wasn’t his own daughter. “Or maybe, you’re the one who’s being distracted? Am I right? Tell me, do I need to pay that school for you to become the valedictorian? Tsk, if only my real Helena is here…” he devastatingly said after pointing his finger somewhere pertaining to the location of my school.

He was incontestably disappointed, to the point that he couldn’t even continue what else he would say upon remembering his favorite daughter. Just the thought of Helena could make my father crush into pieces, and just seeing me here could make him feel damn so distressed.

“That’s the point, Dad! I am indeed Athena, who you just requested to live as Helena. I conformed to your orders even though it was against my will, but it has to stop now! You could never change the fact that we are two different persons—two different individuals!”

I didn’t know anymore where I got the courage to speak those words in front of him. With the way I yelled those words, I wanted to slap the truth to his face while unstoppably pointing my fingers on top of the table.

“Things would never be the same anymore, so we have to move on. Helena was already dead, so can’t you just let her rest in peace? And can’t you just be happy for me, Dad? That being your black sheep and rebellious daughter whose hobbies were too far from being studious, I still managed to be on the second-highest spot? It wasn’t even easy to attain that!”

But Daddy was blind in a rage. My heart got filled with mixed emotions, but dismay took up the highest percentage.

I was trying to persuade him by being Helena, but I knew for a fact that he would never be contented for my twin sister to land a second place. Helena should always be on top of everything! She always deserved to be the first, even beyond the grave. I began to ball my fists, and I didn’t care anymore if Daddy would see it.

“Enough with this, Helena! I don’t want you to become just the second—I needed you to be the first! You are born to become the first, do you hear me?” Daddy uproariously shouted, and his indignant voice almost shook the entire dining area.

“But for Christ’s sake, I am Athena…” I still tried to object, but he refused to hear me.

After that, he took a small envelope from the cabinet behind him and outrageously dropped it in front of me—right next to my plate. I was quivering in an unknown fear the moment I touched the brown envelope. I slowly untied the string to open it, and I was beyond stupefied from what I saw. My eyes would almost come out of their sockets, urging me to crease my forehead into a furrow.

What I was staring at right now were stolen photos!

As I browsed the photos one by one, I realized that these were the fun and sweet photos of me and Cristoff in and out of the school, even from the one we went to recently. Most were surprisingly taken on the Ferris Wheel and in the other parts of the Enchanted Realm.

It was as if I was sitting in front of my father like a statue. I just opened my mouth, but no words came out of it. I was even blown away when I saw one photo where Cristoff kissed me on the lips.

“Did you really think that I would never know, huh? How dare that fool lied to me that you only stayed at school? I haven’t yet checked all the CCTV footage here in our home because I didn’t want to be disappointed with you even more! I won’t give a big deal over those photos because it’s your birthday today, but you must get rid of that pauper real soon!” Daddy commanded me sternly.

This argument would only go nowhere. It would only build us barriers even more, not bridges. I was on the verge of crying, but I did not let my tears flow in front of him. I would never give him the satisfaction of seeing me crying.

“But, Dad? Please… please hear me out. If I ended up being just a salutatorian, then it’s actually fine. There’s no big deal on that. You don’t have to go far and do this—” I even touched his right hand to convince him, but he soon cut me off by shoving my left hand away. I was starting to beg for him again, but even before I started, I already had no chances of winning… or even the odds to be heard.

“There’s no big deal? It was a damn big deal for me, and it would never turn out fine that you will only become the salutatorian, Helena! You don’t understand, *mierda! I told you to distract him, but I didn’t tell you to have a relationship with that bastard.” His nerves were throbbing out of frustration and anger, summing up his entire expression to dark.

He then continued, “I really don’t care if he once saved your life. And if you don’t obey me this time, I will destroy him—his family, his future, and everything that revolves around him! Everything, my dear daughter… and I won’t spare even one! You know me, Helena. I can do anything, and I don’t even have to repeat myself here for you to understand what I am talking about!” Daddy threatened me as he narrowed his eyes while gritting his teeth.

Why does he have to do this? What would he gain if I become the class valedictorian?

_________________________

Mierda* is a Spanish term for ‘bullshit.’