As Ivy exited the audition room, she put her glasses back on and smiled all the way to her car.
“Are we going back to the villa, Ma’am?” The driver asked as he tapped his hand on the steering wheel.
“Yes, but let’s first stop by the flower shop,” she replied. ‘It’s June 28.’ Her mind trailed off when she thought of the reason she wanted to buy flowers. It was her parents’ anniversary, and since their death, she had been buying flowers to mark the occasion. She sighed and tried shaking off a lingering thought popping up in her head. She promised herself not to dwell on the thought, but it was unavoidable. June 28 brought a lot of bad memories that weren’t supposed to be considered a special occasion. She refused to let the particular date bring her sadness, which is why she continued to buy flowers and turned it into the complete opposite of what it truly was.
The car drove off, leaving the audition venue, and a young woman stepped out of the building with a dimple clearly visible on her cheek, waiting for her own driver to pick her up. A few minutes later, a car squeaked in front of her, and she got in and glared at the driver.
“Are you stupid or what?”
“What did I do?” Kate asked, avoiding her gaze.
“Be careful how you drive this baby; it’s quite expensive.”
“I’m sorry I…” Kate bit her lip. “I mean, Ivy, it won’t happen again. So how did it go?”
She smirked….
Back at the audition room
When the director heard her name, he could only say, “What a rare coincidence.”
“I don’t understand, sir?” She pretended to be clueless.
If not for the color of the dress she was wearing, he would have been inclined to trust his instinct. The young woman standing in front of him is the same person who left a while ago. Still, what made it hard to believe was that they bore the same name and were identical.
“Who is the doppelganger among the two?” The assistant director was intrigued by the matching identity. “She is also auditioning for the role of Daisy.”
“The only difference in their names is the surname; anyway, let’s see what she’s got. Open page 25 and act out the scene.” The director sat back to see what the replica could do. They may look the same, but the acting should tell the difference. Now, seeing the same face twice, he slowly remembered where he had seen her before.
“Isn’t she….” He paused as he noticed she had already started playing the scene, trapping him in a state of indecision. Her acting was not any less remarkable than the other replica, but the head scratcher was, who is the real Ivy he remembered. He skimmed through both resumes, but he still couldn’t figure out anything. If he really wanted to find out, he needed thorough research.
“Are you thinking of changing your mind?” The assistant director observed his indecisiveness. He, too, was having trouble deciding who was the best among the two. “Next, please.” He looked at his colleagues. “We’ll decide later.”
Kate was amazed at how far her friend could go to get what she wanted. She didn’t remember her taking classes, so how was she so good that she impressed the judges on her first audition without flaws.
“Wow, does that mean you got the role?”
Irene scoffed, “Surely.”
Kate shrugged; it seems her friend could pull anything off; she doesn’t have to be so surprised. She looked at her phone and gasped. “It’s June 28, gosh, how could I forget, urgh….”
Irene gave her an intense look as she was tempted to hurl her through the window.
“What did I do, did I say something wrong?” Kate still couldn’t understand this friend of hers; they’ve been together for as long as she could remember. Every little thing riled her up, and she kept acting strange, keeping secrets.
“Don’t you ever say that again.” It was obvious she was almost at the feet of rage as she struck the steering wheel and grabbed Kate’s arm.
Kate was speechless and couldn’t explain herself that she didn’t do anything wrong; she only said the date, what’s so wrong about saying June 28. But her eyes told something else…
“Are you okay?” Kate asked, concerned. Although she was in pain from her grip, she had to ask as Irene’s eyes contained a mix of emotions. Anger, pain, and resentment were visible in her eyes as her hands trembled, still gripping on.
“Don’t ever say that date to my face ever again, or I won’t be able to contain my anger, do you hear me?”
“Ye.. ye.. yes.” Kate shuddered at the frightening gaze of her friend; she had never seen this side of her before. “I’m sorry.” She apologized immediately so as not to offend her; she wouldn’t want the same thing to repeat itself again.
As she started the car, she peeped at Irene to see if she had calmed down. Surprisingly, she was back to normal as if she didn’t blow up a moment ago, her lips curling up and down as if she was inwardly scheming something.
Her heart skipped a beat when she met her gaze.
“What are you waiting for? Start driving.” She yelled, but this time, it was the normal Irene.
“Where should we go?”
“Follow my direction.”
“Where are we going?” Kate pressed her lips, but it was too late; she had already blurted the question.
“Don’t ask me; just follow!”
Kate could only flinch from her yell, “I’m sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry.” She had gotten into her bad side too many times in a day.
When they arrived at the location, Kate raised her eyebrows at the building in sight. It was a small bungalow that was almost at the peak of ruin.
“What’s this place, I’m sorry.” Kate kept making the same mistake; she couldn’t help it. Why were they at the outskirts of the city visiting an abandoned house.
“Stay here,” Irene said as she got out of the car. “I might stay long.”
Kate nodded, ‘stay long, it might take a whole day,’ she sighed.
Ivy arrived at the flower shop; she didn’t forget to wear her black glasses, though; you never know who was lurking around.
“I want a bouquet,” she told the shop attendant.
“Any special request, ma’am?”
“Daffodils.” She smiled as she replied but dropped the act. She shouldn’t be smiling over Daffodils that brought back bad memories.
“Here you go, ma’am.”
Seeing the yellow Daffodils, her eyes welled up; she gripped onto the bouquet as she fought to hold back her tears.
Meanwhile, Irene gripped onto the bed and tore the bedsheets as she groaned furiously.
“I hate you!”