It felt like our parents only ever saw her and her achievements. She would always receive praise while I would be blamed for not being good enough. That was why when it happened, I was so confused and didn’t quite know how to take it. It was a normal evening after we had both returned home from school. Just as scheduled, our art instructor was there to give us supplementary water painting classes.
“Wow! This is coming along very nicely. The way the color blends here makes these flowers look so serene,” our teacher complimented.
“Thank you...very much...” I replied softly.
It was extremely rare for me to be complimented and so her comment took me by surprise. I glanced over at Diana who also had just finished her painting for the day and found her smiling quite proudly at me. It was even rarer for me to be complimented when my sister was also there.
“You’re such a fast learner, Diana. I truly believe you have a gift,” the teacher said to me before showing me a bright smile.
It took all my effort to maintain the smile on my face and my body from recoiling from her touch when she placed a supportive hand on one of my shoulders. When I looked at my sister, our eyes met, and I could read her silent message for me not to correct our teacher. Little did I know that that tiny incident of misunderstanding would lead to so much more.
Everything started from that moment of misunderstanding because it gave Diana the brilliant idea that perhaps people had a difficult time telling us apart. If we put in just a slight effort to mimic each other, perhaps we could fool everyone. Diana put that theory to the test one morning when she took my usual seat at the dining table for breakfast instead of her own. While wondering what she had in mind, I silently sat in her seat. To my utmost surprise, our parents acted naturally when they arrived to take their usual seats at the dining table.
“Good morning, Diana. Did you sleep well last night?” my mother turned to ask me with a gentle smile.
“Yes...I did...” I replied in a soft mumble as my mind struggled to handle the shock.
To my utter disbelief, both my mother and father did not realize that I wasn’t Diana. For the rest of breakfast, my parents spoke to me sweetly and complimented me numerous times on my table manners. It felt so strange yet I kind of liked it at the time. Diana ate silently while seated in my seat and she seemed oddly happy and at peace as well.
From then on, countless occasions presented themselves that made us naturally swap places so that life would be better for us both. Small pranks where I would pretend to be Diana to get myself out of trouble started at my sister’s provocation. Posing as Diana did not only save me from punishment on various occasions, but I also learnt what Diana was truly going through.
Born and raised as the first-born and heir to the Alnault family, Diana was living under constant pressure to be the perfect girl who would grow up into the most perfect lady. My sister seemed good and talented at everything. It felt like there wasn’t anything that the adults demanded from her that she couldn’t accomplish and in such an effortless way. However, I soon found out that that was so far from the truth.
Diana suffered tremendously to meet our parents’ expectations of her. For everything single thing that she was good at, she had put in tireless effort and practice in secret for her to appear that way. I should have known that but the foolish version of me did not realize it until Diana’s body started showing signs that it was breaking.
“Pretty please, Dahlia. You need to help me out with this one...” she begged again when she saw that I had drifted off into silence.
Her pleading voice snapped me out of my thoughts, and I was faced with an almost teary-eyed Diana standing right in front of me. Whenever she was too tired from living up to our parents’ expectations, Diana would develop various symptoms of allergies. I was reminded of the first time that I actively took her place to do something. Surprisingly, I was the one who volunteered to take her place after seeing her suffering from fever when she had a dance recital the next day. Although I wasn’t as skilled as she was and lacked even more practice, I managed to pull it off since it was just a recital and not a competition.
“But...this is very important, you know? Like...you’re going to marry him so you should meet him yourself,” I pointed out.
“Why do I have to meet him? It doesn’t matter whether I like him or not, I’ll have to marry him anyways,” she argued back with a shrug of her shoulders.
“That’s true...but...” I muttered.
“I’m not feeling well. First impressions are important, so I don’t want him to see me like this. Please go in my place, Dahlia...” she requested again as she grabbed my hands into hers.
“I don’t know...” I mumbled while still thinking that it was a bad idea.
“You can go and let me know what he is like. You’re a better judge of people’s character than I am,” she said before smiling a little proudly at me.
I still thought that it was a bad idea, but I was also worried about my sister’s health. Also, Diana had never begged me so desperately for anything before. Diana always helped me out and covered for me, so I always wanted to do something to return the favor.
“Fine...I’ll go...” I finally agreed before letting out a sigh.
“Great. I’ll just sleep in while pretending to be sick while you go out with mum and dad,” she suggested as if she had already thought out the whole thing.
--To be continued...