Twisting Destiny

"I gave everything you asked of me! I gave you all my fortune, the prestige you dreamed to have, my love, and my whole life! I gave everything to you! How can you do this to me?!" Rhianne Cartel shouted at the man standing in front of her in despair. "I... I even sacrificed my relationship with my family just to make a stepping stone for you to succeed! Andrew, you're heartless!"

Andrew, the man in a black suit standing in front of the weeping woman was looking at her with a cold look in his eyes. He's looking at Rhianne as if he was seeing a nasty pest lingering in his sight.

"After all the things I did for you, this is how you are going to pay me? Andrew, I love you with all my heart! How can you be so heartless and brutal like this to me?!"

This woman was once a beauty that every man loves to have by their side. Her long, silky hair was now too short and looked like a bunch of shaggy fur of a boar. Her fair jade-like skin was now full of ugly scars and bruises. Her caramel-colored eyes that can stir the hearts of every man had become like those of a rotten fish in the trash.

Rhianne felt bitter, betrayed, lost, and hurt. She only wanted to be loved by this man.

Rhianne once dreams to have a happy and peaceful life with the man who loves her as much as she loves him. She thought she finally saw the man of her dreams in Andrew. He showed her compassion and love which moved her feelings. But who would have thought that it was just an illusion made to make her fall into deep despair?

Andrew only used her to get everything he desires. Money, fame, and prestige. Andrew accomplished all of the things he desired. And it was all thanks to a foolish puppet he obtained named Rhianne Cartel.

"You're disgusting." Andrew said as he kicked the woman away from him. "Your presence is just making me sick."

Rhianne whimpered in pain, but she ignored it as she tried to stand up again and stare at Andrew. She truly regrets it all. If she did not fall for his lies, maybe Rhianne is still living happily up until now.

If only she did not force her family to accept Andrew, maybe her parents were still alive and her brother will not be in jail. If only she did not blindly follow this man, maybe she is now truly living full of peace and happiness just like what she once dreamed to have.

If only she did not love this monster...

Maybe she is still living her life in peace. Maybe she is still the precious daughter of her parents and the beloved little sister of her brother. She will never be in any kind of situation like this if only she did not meet this monster in human skin in front of her. Maybe she is not in despair and living a life where those people who are truly over her are surrounding her.

She is regretting all of it. How she wishes she can turn back the time and fix all of her mistakes.

If she can only return back in time, Rhianne will never choose him again. She despises his whole existence. He ruined her. He destroyed her life! She put her bony hand inside her pocket to get the pocket knife she brought with her today. Andrew deserves to die! A monster like him does not deserve to live! She runs towards Andrew fast with the idea of killing this monster in her mind. But the reality is really disappointing her.

Andrew grabs Rhianne's free hand and twisted it on her back. Before Rhianne can react, she felt something that stabbed on her abdomen. She lowered her eyes only to see Andrew holding her hand that holds the knife. He gave much force from his hand to stab the knife deeper into her abdomen before he lets go of her.

Rhianne staggered in her step before dropping on the floor with a thud. Her warm blood kept on flowing from her open wound. Her breathing was getting harder every second that passed. Andrew kneeled his one knee in front of her just to give her a sneer.

"Let me tell you something. There is one more thing I benefitted from when I met you." Andrew said. His eyes are almost twinkling while saying these words to her. He did not wait for Rhianne's response and continued to talk. "It is when you introduce Donna to me.

That woman is different from you. She is the one I truly want, not some foolish and dumb woman like you. So please, you should die now and give us a happy future."

'After all the things that I had given to you? You will still choose another woman?!'

How foolish.

Rhianne chose this monster over her loved ones. Why did she become so blind in the past? Why?!

"I will not try to ask for your blessings. Anyway, it is still thanks to you why I finally get what I want." Andrew said with a smile.

Then Andrew stands up and removed the dust from his black suit. He walked towards the door and closed it without turning his head to look at her dying figure. Rhianne was left inside the room alone. Rhianne knows that she was near the death's door. She lost literally everything. No one is now standing at her side. This may be the punishment for being a foolish woman.

'This is the end of my life. After my long existence, only hatred, despair, and bitterness is what I only gained in this life.' This is what Rhianne thought before her consciousness completely disappear.

'I regret it. All of it. How I wish that I... I...'

Before she can finish her thoughts, Rhianne finally closes her tear-stained eyes.

Rhianne slammed the book back inside her bag after reading the middle part of the story. She tried to calm herself down by grabbing her bottle jug and drinking the content of it. She can't believe that the character with the same name as her met that tragic ending. After finishing her work as a saleslady in a department store, one of her workmates asked Rhianne to join her in a bookstore to buy a romance novel to read.

Since she does not have anything to do after her shift, Rhianne agreed to join her workmate. While waiting for her workmate, Rhianne randomly browsed the bookshelf in the bookstore to kill some time. A black, hardbound book caught Rhianne's attention so she reached for it. When she discovered that one of the characters in the story has the same name as her, Rhianne decided to buy it without looking at the book's title or synopsis. And besides, that book is on sale so she does not feel like buying it on impulse.

Although Rhianne knows she is just trying to justify her actions.

Anyway, after buying their books, Rhianne and her workmate had separated at the bus stop and bid goodbye to each other. She rode a bus and sat on the seat behind the bus driver. Rhianne opened the book she bought and started reading it. Heavy traffic at night is already a phenomenal thing in her life. Because of it, Rhianne quietly read the book and did not notice that she already reached the middle section of the story.

The plot started when the main female protagonist, Candice Dy, was adopted by a kind couple who will face a lot of financial problems in the future. Because of her intelligence and good character, the male lead will slowly fall in love with her. However, the male lead's family will oppose their relationship because of Candice's poor background. Keith Lancester's family will cause a lot of trouble for Candice until she decided to break up with the male lead and grabbed the exchange student program that their school will offer to her and goes abroad.

And this is the most irritating part of the story for her.

In the middle of the story, the novel introduced Andrew Gartin. He is a character who is good at hiding his thoughts and emotions. Andrew is an ambitious man who wants all the best he can have. He came from a family that is not rich enough to enter the high society so all he can do was to endure for now.

He has a childhood friend named Rhianne Cartel. Andrew acted like a perfect gentleman whenever he was with Rhianne. That little girl got blinded by her favorability towards Andrew and he instantly becomes her favorite person. Because of it, Rhianne fell in love with him and does not want to marry any other guy aside from Andrew.

But the truth is, Andrew just wanted Rhianne's fortune and family's name for his own ambitions. Rhianne is the little princess of her family. Rhianne gets whatever she wants with the help of her family. They cherished her so much which makes her a spoiled young lady. When the Cartel family discovered her relationship with Andrew, they were against it, but when Rhianne threatened her family that she will kill herself, they can't do anything but to reluctantly approved of their relationship.

When Andrew entered the Cartel family, that is when the tragedy in Rhianne's life has started. He used the Cartel family's connection to enter the high society. When he got a stable position by befriending a lot of socialites, he planned a gruesome crime for Rhianne's parents and make her older brother a main suspect for it.

Since Rhianne had no clue how to manage a company, Andrew became the new person in charge of their company. When Rhianne realized what is truly happening, it is already too late. All of the Cartel's fortune is now under Andrew's name. Rhianne is banished from her own house and branded as a madwoman by those people around her. Those people were hired by Andrew to worsen all the rumors about Rhianne Cartel. And when she tries to kill Andrew, she ended up dead instead.

It brought a sour mood to Rhianne after reading that part. The character named Rhianne in the novel is just an extra character used to make Andrew more powerful in the story.

What is the author of this book thinking while writing the plot of this story? It's too much! And why does that stupid woman in love has to be the same name as her?

Even though she has zero experience when it comes to love and romantic relationship, Rhianne is not that desperate to love someone to the point of her own destruction. Rhianne still has a lot of goals and dreams that she wants to achieve. If she will be in a relationship, Rhianne wants to have a man that will encourage her to do better in life.

After calming down, Rhianne decided to continue reading the story. It will be a waste if she will stop reading the book. Not to mention, it will be a waste of her money if she did not try to finish the book that she just bought impulsively. But before she can reach for the book inside her bag, an accident suddenly happened.

The bus driver shouted at the passengers to grab onto something stable. He hastily told the passengers that they are losing control on the road. Then the bus ran at too much speed. Rhianne can't catch up with her current situation. She was about to hold the pole tightly when the bus crashed straight with a heavily loaded truck.

It all happened so fast. Rhianne felt immersed pain in her chest before her head clashed on the pole with a great impact.

All she can see is a blinding white light before Rhianne closed her eyes.

"Rhianne, can you hear me? Rhianne!"

Rhianne feels like there is a fire burning in her chest. She forced herself to take a deep breathe a few times which made her cough dry, which result in her feeling pain in her throat. There is a rough feeling in her throat as if she did not drink water for a week. Not to mention that her head Is also hurting so much.

When she heard that someone is calling her name in a panicky voice, she forced herself to open her eyes. But Rhianne's body is not cooperating with her so she closed her eyes again and motionlessly laid her body flat on the floor. That made the people around her to let out more panicking voices.

Rhianne tried to recall the things that happened in the accident. When the bus suddenly crashed with the truck, her body was squeezed so much in her seat and her head was hit so hard on the pole. At that moment, Rhianne guessed that she will die in that accident. But maybe luck was on her side this time since she can still feel herself breathing even though it is kind of hard to do for now.

"Quick! Francis, help me to carry her in the car! The ambulance is taking so long. We will bring her to the hospital!"

Rhianne heard a lot of footsteps near her. There is also a voice of a woman who continuously gives her orders to their surroundings. She struggles to open her eyes again to see the faces of the people beside her. Rhianne sees a middle-aged woman and a teenage boy beside her.

'Ah. Maybe they are part of the rescue team.'

"Rhianne, don't close your eyes! You should be awake until we reach the hospital." The teenage boy said to her.

Rhianne did not know how did they learn her name. Maybe because they saw her company ID inside the old shoulder bag she is using at work. But that is okay since being called by her name instead of calling her with random names is better.

Then Rhianne feels that someone is gently lifting her body. She wanted to struggle since it is a little uncomfortable, but she feels like her energy is fully drained. In the end, Rhianne lets the teenage boy to carry her body. Maybe it is best for her not to struggle in his arms anymore.

Rhianne tries to keep her consciousness alert even though she has already forgotten half of the things that are happening in her surroundings. All she can remember was that the teenage boy carried her body and it seems like they ride in a car. Then after a few minutes, they get out of the car and heard several people asking about her current condition. The last thing Rhianne can remember was that the teenage boy who carefully placed her on a bed and a doctor and several nurses get near to her.

-//-//-

The cold, fresh air is the first thing Rhianne feels when she opens her eyes again. She can feel her body is still weak, but not to the point that Rhianne wanted nothing to do but to sleep just like earlier. She blinked her eyes a few times to adjust her eyesight. She then observed her surroundings.

The room's walls are all white. There is an open window in it with a simple but elegant blue curtain. There is also a carpet on the floor that looks like a fluffy cloud. Two big sofas were placed inside the room and there is a small coffee table at the center of it. When she turned her head to her right, she saw a table with a vase full of artificial flowers beside her bed.

'This does not look like a room in a normal hospital.'

She quickly worries for the hospital bills. She really hopes it is not too expensive or else her savings will be in danger. Rhianne tried to sit up but stops when she noticed something. An IV drip is attached to her right arm. Rhianne carefully moved her left arm to support her body to sit up when the door suddenly opened.

Seeing that her sister is finally awake, Francis stands at the door in a daze for a while before running out to call her doctor. Rhianne was confused to see the familiar teenage boy who just opened the door and ran quickly to disappear. After a while, the teenage boy entered the room again with a doctor behind him.

Rhianne thinks the doctor is still young but he looks professional and trustworthy. He checks up on her condition for a while. He also asked some questions to Rhianne which she answered quietly. After the doctor checked up on her, he talked to the teenage boy before leaving the room. Soon, the teenage boy comes inside her room again.

"I am so glad that you are fine. I told you not to swim in the deepest part of the pool! Look at what happened to you! Rhianne, you almost died! Do you hear me? You made my heart stop for a few seconds! The next time you will do that again, I will really hit you. You really scared me!" The teenage boy said as he continued scolding Rhianne in a harsh voice.

Rhianne, on the other hand, can't understand what this teenage boy is talking about. Is he even talking to the right person? Maybe he mistook her for someone he knows? Obviously, the person he wants to talk with has a similar name as hers.

'And what pool? What is he talking about? I was in a bus accident that almost took my life. Fortunately, I am still alive.' She thought.

But before that, there is an important question that Rhianne really wanted to ask from this teenage boy.

"Excuse me, but... who are you?" Rhianne carefully asked.

A huge silence suddenly filled the room.