THE BILLIONAIRE'S LOVER Twisted fate

"Daphne dear, are you awake? Audrey is here to see you," a calm female voice, belonging to a woman in her late forties, resounded just outside Daphne's room. Daphne's closed doors were the only obstacle preventing them from seeing each other.

Turning in her bed, Daphne reluctantly rose to sit up. She looked at the clock and sighed inwardly. "Isn't it too early to visit someone?" she thought, but she didn't let the thought linger. After all, the person in question was Audrey, her childhood friend, known for her unusual behaviour.

"Baby, are you awake?" The calm voice of Daphne's mum came again, snapping her out of her reverie. "I am, Mum. Wait a second!" Daphne replied as she unhurriedly climbed out of bed. She walked towards the closed door at a normal pace and unlocked it. Greeted by the beautiful smile of her mother, which masked her fears well, she smiled and greeted her warmly. Her mother stretched out her arms in response to welcome her in a warm embrace, and she happily accepted the invitation.

"Pardon me if I don't join in your little family moment," a rather deep sensual voice came from just behind Daphne's mum. Raising her head over her mother's shoulders, she could see well who the voice belonged to. It was Audrey. She was dressed in a white shirt and denim shorts, her long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail. She was 5'7" tall with bright hazel eyes. Audrey was more of a wild card compared to Daphne, but she was always supportive, and Daphne couldn't ask for a better friend.

"Oh, sorry, didn't see you there, " Daphne said sarcastically with a smug smile on her face. "Oh, no problem. Are you done with your 'inside life' yet?" Audrey replied, returning the smug smile and folding her hands to establish her point. Daphne scoffed and looked away in annoyance.

"Okay, young ladies, I'll leave you two to yourselves. I'll inform you when breakfast is ready. Have fun!" Daphne's mum excused herself immediately as she made her way down the stairs towards the kitchen to make breakfast. It was already heated between Daphne and Audrey, and it was solely because of Audrey's last remark. Though Daphne wasn't surprised, she wasn't too happy about what she said either.

Turning around, she walked into her room in large strides, with Audrey following. Sitting on her bed, Daphne raised one of her eyebrows inquisitively. "Don't give me that look. I know it's too early to visit, but what I'm about to tell you simply can't wait. It might just be what you need to get yourself out of this hole you've been hiding in," Audrey said with enthusiasm.

Daphne, on the other hand, wasn't too excited to hear what she had to say. "Audrey, we've spoken about this. You never listen to me, do you? I've made it clear over and over again. Don't you understand? I don't want to go outside!"

Audrey didn't reply but instead brought out her phone swiftly and started to type away. Soon she gave a satisfying smile and turned to stare at Daphne. "I'm not going to listen to anything you have to say, young lady. You've always said what you wanted to say. Now listen. I'm your best friend, and we've known each other for years. Best friends don't just chat and make trouble, but they look out for each other too. Let me look out for you, Daphne."

She was satisfied seeing that Daphne was not protesting any longer. With a pitiful look on her face, however, she lay back down on the bed, lying partially on it. Letting out an exasperated sigh, she said barely audibly, "Okay, what is it?"

"It's about your health..." Audrey started but was interrupted by Daphne almost immediately, who had a startled expression on her face. However, Audrey didn't stop this time. She continued talking, not paying Daphne any attention."It's not a complete dead end, Daphne..." she said with her eyes glued to her phone screen.

"Wait a minute, Audrey..." Daphne protested, rubbing her numb eyelids with her fingers.

"You know how Google has all the answers these days, right...?"

"Can you please listen..." Daphne managed to utter with clenched jaws, clearly suppressing her rage.

"Your fate is not yet sealed. There's this website I found. They said there's still hope for..." Audrey said determined to finish what she started.

"You're not listening to me, Audrey!"

Daphne shouted in response."Not me, you! Listen, it says here, it says there's a way..." Audrey tried to show her the phone.

"You can't keep cutting me sh..."

"There's a way you can live to forty years!" Audrey shouted persistently. "You heard right!" she continued with a calm voice. "That's like a big boom for us, right?!"

"Enough!!!!" Daphne shouted in frustration. "Enough! I have heard enough! I understand that you're trying to help, but I don't need it, at least not anymore! I don't want your help! All those solutions you have, do me a favour and keep them to yourself. I don't want to ever discuss this with you..." She continued angrily, standing up from her bed.

"I can very well see the situation I'm in, and I don't need your help to assess it. Thank you, but I'll pass! I'm the only one who can relate to what I feel, no one else and definitely not you. So please, I'm begging you in the name of God, can you stop trying and leave me alone? Can you do that? Please," she concluded, her eyes glistening with suppressed tears.

After a few moments, Audrey folded her hands and tilted her head. She gradually made to leave the room but stopped just in front of the door. Slowly, she turned back to stare at Daphne, who was currently fuming and desperately wiping the defiant tears that managed to escape her eyes. She looked away when she realised she was staring at her.

Daphne could recognize the expression on her face. She was mad, and for a moment, Daphne felt bad for raising her voice to her. That feeling, however, lasted only for a while. It was her who was going to die soon. No hard feelings, but Audrey can go ahead and do her worst.

With a slight pained smile she resumed to unfold her hands and put it in her pockets. She shrugged her shoulders and said with indifference, "You know what Daphne, you're right. You said the truth when you said I'll never be able to understand how you feel, and heavens! I pray it remains that way."

Feigning a surprised look she continued, "Yes of course, to be able to relate, I can as well be in your shoes like practically but no offence, it kinda sucks to be you right now so yeah right back at ya, thanks but I'll pass."

Daphne gasped, clearly very surprised by her friend's retaliation. Her wide green eyes after a few seconds, squinted and immediately went from watery to burning fury. Her face screamed that she was offended by her own best friend's words and as she opened and closed her mouth repeatedly in futile attempts to give her a comeback, she was dumbstruck on what her friend did next.

Daphne watched as Audrey made to leave the room at least she thought she was going to. Still struggling with her words, she watched as Audrey walked towards the door, shut it and locked the both of them inside.

"What are you doing Audrey? I told you to leave me..." Daphne uttered after managing to find her voice. She was cut short by Audrey who approached her in huge strides, grabbed her by shoulder and made her sit on the chair located at a corner of her room.

"I should leave you, Daphne. Really? Just the same way you almost left me last time..."

Daphne froze up immediately. She recalled the past incident that they chose silently never to speak about. She was 18 then and just like every young adult, wished to see the world and explore it as much as she can. Luckily for her, she had Audrey by her side. She was reluctant in the beginning to 'spread her wings' just like Audrey would say, but on the night before her birthday, she decided to do just that.

Notwithstanding that she came from a Christian family, she resolved that a little too much fun wouldn't be bad. Her parents won't be happy with her decision undoubtedly but they didn't have to know. She felt a little bad about having to lie to them but she equally promised herself to behave and not go too extreme. She promised to stick to her morals and also informed Audrey of her decision. Audrey was already aware of the nature of her upbringing so it wasn't hard to convince her that they would be very responsible.

She resolved to finally pay heed to her friend's endless persuasions to go to a party. It was held by one of her classmates in school. As she went upstairs after that night's dinner, pretending to sleep while already hiding her party outfit beneath her pyjamas. Her mother bought the act, after all what would a mother be expecting from her good timid red-haired daughter who's about to turn 18.

There was a knock on the window and though she had concluded deep within to go through with this, it still gave her a startle. Not wasting any more second, she got down from her bed and rushed to the window. An over-excited Audrey waved at her from below. Smiling back at her, Daphne signalled her to wait a moment. Soon she was ready, her red curls flowed down her shoulders in luscious waves, her lithe body well fitted in black denim shorts, red tank top and a leather jacket to match. She wore her shoes and rushed towards the window.

Opening her window with the utmost caution not to make a lot of noise, she climbed down carefully as not to slip and fall. Audrey helped her down and gave her a tight hug, complimenting endlessly on her outfit.

As they made it to the car, she probably 'borrowed' from her dad, they drove off in safe speed.

"You are in luck because where we are going right now, I heard a rumour that someone special will be there," Audrey uttered enthusiastically, using her last drop of self control to avoid letting go of the steering wheel, tighten her fists and shout in excitement.

"Really? Who?" Daphne asked with glittering eyes, Audrey's excitement was obviously rubbing off on her too.

"Xavier Vanderbilt." Audrey uttered, stealing a glance at Daphne's confused face. She smiled and faced the road once more.

"Never heard of him." Daphne said after a few moments of thinking.

Audrey smiled at her confused face. "Why am I not surprised?" She heaved a sigh and continued, "Xavier Is THE most influential, cool, handsome and rich playboy in the city. Exactly Daphne, you heard right, he is a Playboy. He changes ladies as frequently as he changes clothes. He's an infamous casanova and yet no girl has ever turned him down. Can you believe it?" Waiting for a second to hear an answer, she continued when there was no reply.

"Girls really don't care anymore and it's troubling, even for me. They all fall at his feet ready to be used and pushed aside. Very troubling. But I guess one can still see reason if other things are considered. I mean he's the only son of the business tycoon, Mr. Vanderbilt. You must have heard of him at least right?"

When there was no reply again, she persisted with her brows knitting into a soft frown. "Right Daphne? Common, you gotta know Vanderbilt enterprises, the multi-million fir...m" She lingered on the last word as she turned and saw Daphne fast asleep.

"Hey! Hey, Daphne." She called out to her, shifting her gaze from the road and her. "What girl? Are you seriously so used to getting to bed very early that you couldn't help but sleep?" She asked, finally nudging her with her free hand as the other manoeuvred the car.

"Daphne don't let me get started with the fact you're really going to miss what can be the best time of your life, just for a nap. Are you kidding? Daphne!" She called out once more, this time her voice sounding tensed. She grabbed Daphne's hand and let go. Her face paled as she momentarily covered her mouth with her other hand leaving the car uncontrolled.

Daphne's hand fell back down with zero resistance.

Audrey wasted no time in packing the car by the roadside. She quickly unhooked her seat belt. Every second she spent struggling with it felt like an eternity. Her heart rate accelerated as she grabbed Daphne with both hands to stare at her face.

"Common Daphne don't play with me like this. Daphne?!" She called out once more, her eyes already turning moist as she feared the worse. Grabbing Daphne's face with two palms, she shook her gently and rained her face with soft gentle slaps to try and wake her up.

Her hands trembled in fear of the outcome as she reached out for her neck to find her pulse. She heaved a sigh of relief when she found it and let out an outburst afterwards. Grabbing her shoulders, she shook her violently this time crying loudly.

At a time she was stumped on the step to take. She grabbed the can of water but that didn't work as well. She was afraid of how in the world she would be able to explain what happened to Daphne's parents. Never in her life has she felt this amount of guilt and regret. It was overwhelming. Staring at her unconscious friend lying in her car, not being able to move a muscle, she concluded that her safety came first. She picked her phone immediately and dialled the emergency number. To her every second mattered now, she opened the car doors and waited for what felt like an eternity for the ambulance to arrive.

"Daphne, I was scared out of my mind." Audrey said as she took a few measured steps back to let her back rest against the wall. Her eyes were filled with so much dread and fear that has been bottled up for a long time. The trip down the memory lane she just took was one she's avoided for a long time. But the situation called for it, she had to talk sense into her friend.

Daphne on the other hand had a look of remorse on her face, her eyes grew moist as she recalled the sympathetic manner everyone would look down on her with after each episode of her terminal sickness. Initially when everyone learnt of what was wrong with her, they didn't tell her and she had to leave in oblivion for weeks. Eventually she did and equally wished she didn't. She was diagnosed with Bicuspid Aortic Valve which is a congenital heart defect, where she possessed two cups in her aortic valve instead of the usual three.

In a nutshell, she doesn't have much time to live. Though the disease can be cured through a heart transplant, it required so much money that even with her parents' status, they couldn't afford it. They've stopped trying months ago at least she did, accepting her tragic fate. Her parents might still be working something out but she couldn't care less, it would be all useless.

After the realisation of their secrecy though, she immediately went into seclusion with the sole reason to punish everyone who had hidden the truth from; at least that's what she said and had convinced herself to believe. She knew deep down within, locked inside was a fear she hasn't confronted yet and hope that she won't have to till her little pathetic life here on earth ends.

"Audrey everything that happened was supposed to happen. I have been trying to tell you that but you never listen. There's nothing we can do. It is what it is..." Daphne said calmly with the intention of soothing her.

"Can you stop being selfish for once and actually see things the way they are..."

"Isn't that what I'm doing?! As a matter of fact I'm the only one actually accepting reality. You lot are just blindly living in your world of worthless hope and trying to lock me in that cell with you too. You all should hear it, it is what it..."

"Daphne, that saying could be applied in many situations but definitely not this one. I'm sick and tired of you covering up your extreme selfishness into a nice package of bravery and mental clearance!" Audrey shouted so much that she had no doubt that Daphne's parents would hear her from downstairs.

"You're very selfish and everything you've been doing since that day you found out the truth was hurting those close to you. Is it really how much you don't want us to help? Is it truly because you feel like nothing can be done? I don't buy it, I don't buy any of your presumptuous charade."

"You have a problem and suddenly you think you're very 'special because of it'. It wasn't that we hid the truth from you, you were so pained you decided to take it out on everyone around you. That is why instead of accepting help, you throw it back at us 'miraculously saving us from our delusions'. You want us to leave you alone but actually you feel satisfied seeing us watch you in pity and even more pity that we can't do anything to help."

"You don't want to be helped and it's not because there's nothing no one can do, it's simply because you secretly love all the attention, sympathy and 'Oh how pathetic, she's so young' you get often when people come and you never show up. I get you're in a difficult situation but spreading anger is not a good idea. Don't make everyone suffer with you but help everyone live with you and cherish their little moments with you here. Let us try to help, and not because we're holding onto something to make ourselves feel better, but because we love you and might actually be able to save you."

Calmly she recounted, "If I had to choose between spending the entirety of my short life in a room, making everyone feel guilty and dawdle in self pity AND live the remaining time of my life to the fullest, fulfilling every damn thing on my bucket list and making numerous happy memories... I'm sure which I'm going to choose."