Sweet Twins

Nancy was lost in thought the whole day.
She offered to be an assistant to Jessie before the surgery, and this greatly appeased Jessie's vanity.
She realized that she was a little distracted when she got off work in the afternoon. So, she decided to ask Doris out for a meal to
help clear her head.
She picked up her phone by accident, and it suddenly rang as soon as it was in her hand.
It was a call from an unknown number.
After hesitating for a while, Nancy eventually decided to answer the call.
"Hello?"
"Oh, my dear, dear sister, it's so hard to find your phone number! You've been back for so long, but didn't even call. Even if you
don't miss me, surely you miss father, don't you? You know father had a stroke a few days ago. Now, he can't speak well
anymore. If you don't come back to see him and he dies one day, don't say I never told you!" Fannie said in a barrage of words
as soon as she heard Nancy's voice on the other end of the line. It rang of mockery and sarcasm.
Nancy was never comfortable with Fannie's choice of words.
Nancy remained silent. She felt that she wasn't ready to return to the family that caused her so much hurt. Not while the pain still
felt clear to her like it happened only yesterday.
"My dearest sister, I know that you still hate me for what happened with Caspar. But we love each other very much. We even
have a child, now. I think you'd want for your sister to live a happy life too, right?" Fannie said in the same tone of voice. "If you
even consider me as your sister, you should at least wish for my happiness," she continued.
"A bitch and a bastard always make a perfect couple! But of course, I wish you're happy with what you've both done!" Nancy said
with a viscous snicker.
"Oh, you are so cruel, sister!" Fannie commented. "But it really doesn't matter, my sister. If it will make you happy, you can scold
me or even beat me. I'm willing to be humiliated by you, but don't punish father because of your hatred for me. I hope you would
visit him before he dies. I don't want him to die without seeing you one last time..."
Nancy ended the call before Fannie could finish speaking.

Their conversation made her feel the anger boil up inside her once more, but she felt cold all over. It was like she was inside an
ice cave. Molten anger ran through her veins as frozen indifference overcame her flesh.
She felt like fate had too much sense of humor when it came to playing its tricks on her.
She had a daughter but had no idea where she could be.
Her father, who hated her so much, suddenly wanted to see her once more.
Where was he when she couldn't even afford her mother's medical treatment?
Nancy hid herself in the darkness, and listened to the lonely ticking of the clock.
The ticking felt like her lonely and helpless soul.
Her mind was then filled with the memory of her childhood. Back to the time when she was still so small. She had her mom, dad,
happiness and joy with her. Everything a child could ever need.
Nancy laughed for a while and then cried out loud. She covered her face with his hands as her entire body seemed to convulse
with the intensity of her sobs.
Sometime later, she stood up, walked towards the door and opened it. She stood briefly before finally walking out.
Nancy hailed the first taxi that passed by. During the entire trip, she sat inside the taxi like a lifeless puppet.
The driver broke her reverie when he called her attention at her destination.
She handed the payment to the driver mechanically and promptly got off. The breeze of the late summer night felt chilly against
her fair skin.
She found herself in front of a villa. It was both familiar to her and unfamiliar at the same time. She stared blankly at it. She
couldn't move her legs as if they were filled with lead.
"Sister! I knew you'd come back! We're all waiting for you!"
The red gate opened then Fannie came out wearing a silken cheongsam.
"I'm here to see... ...Dad."

It had been such a long time since she used the word "dad" that it felt odd to her. It felt to her like an unfamiliar word that she had
never used before.
"Yes, I know. Father is waiting for you in the living room," Fannie replied solemnly. She was held aback momentarily by Nancy's
words, but she quickly recovered. Fannie gently stepped aside to let her pass.
Nancy did not want to look at anything in the courtyard as she passed. She lowered her head and quickly walked to the living
room.
Laughter echoed in the living room of the villa as Nancy entered.
Clark, her dad, sat on a wheelchair while her stepmother smiled by his side. She wore a gorgeous dress matched with a
seductive smile.
Clark didn't look like a dying man in the very least to Nancy.
She felt cheated and fooled by Fannie once again.
"Nancy is here! Come on in!" Jill Wang was not indifferent to Nancy this time. She rarely smiled at Nancy and this was one of
those rare occasions.
But Nancy ignored her and went straight to Clark.
It felt like there was a lump in her throat that prevented her from saying "dad" that she had to silently practice saying it before she
spoke out. "Dad, I heard that you wanted to see me?" Nancy asked casually as she looked straight at her dad acknowledging
only his presence and no one else's.
"Oh, yeah... ...yes. Well, I haven't seen you for so many years. You don't know how much I missed you." Although her father
didn't speak very clearly, Nancy could tell the emotion from his face.
But Jill Wang kept winking at him, and Nancy saw it from the corner of her eye.
"Oh, really? It's natural for old people to miss the old days. But the father I knew never missed me before," Nancy said flatly.
Nancy had no idea what they wanted from her, but her intuition told her that it could not be good at all.
"Ahem!" Clark felt a little embarrassed. "I called you here because of your mother's stocks. Now that the company is united,
there is a need for some additional funding in order to expand."

'I knew it! He admits his conspiracy so easily!' she thought to herself. He only wanted her there because of the shares controlled
by her mother.
Nancy smiled coldly and shook her head. "The company has been making a profit for so many years in a row, Dad. Have you
ever thought of giving my mother any bonus? I must remind you that the shares belong to my mother. And even though she is
not conscious right now, I choose not to decide in her behalf. So, regarding the matter of her shares, just forget about it."
"Nancy, don't be so stubborn. I know you feel wronged all these years and have a grudge against us. It's all my fault, but it has
nothing to do with the company. You know how much money we have spent on your mother. The company needs more funds in
order to develop further. And as a daughter of this family, you should not stand against us!"
Jill Wang said. Nancy always thought that she really knew how to speak!
"Didn't you choose to do nothing when my Mom was going to have the surgery?" Nancy said through gritted teeth. Her anger
burst forth as the memory of that day flashed in her mind.
"Sister, you can't say that. The company was almost bankrupt at that time because of the financial crisis. We almost lost the
company. How could we have the money for your mother's surgery?"
"Oh, really now?" Nancy asked in a mocking tone. She smiled viciously. "I'm sorry. Like I said, I refuse to make a decision on my
mother's behalf. As for the shares, you can forget about getting it from me."
She turned around and was about to leave after she spoke. 'They had money to squander on trifle things, but no money to pay
for my mother's surgery?
How dare they say that to me!' she thought to herself.
"Nancy, don't be so stubborn. I know you hate me for taking Caspar away from you. Yes, I admit that it's my fault. But as you can
see, we love each other very much! You should wish us happiness!" Fannie said but her words were met with a mocking look
from Nancy as he rolled her eyes at Fannie. Fannie raised her eyebrows and said finally, "I'll buy all the eleven percent of your
mother's shares of the company. How much would you like to sell them?"
But Nancy wasn't interested in whether they were in love at all or not.
She was glad that she saw the kind of person that Caspar truly was before it was too late.

But regarding her mother's shares, it was something that she was willing to protect with her life. It was her mother's after all. She
would never use it nor sell it.
"Okay, I'll sell them if you give me all your money first!" Nancy knew very well how disgusting they were as people. They valued
money above anything else in the world.
"Nancy, you're pushing this too far!" Fannie shouted as she threw her hands in the air.
"I told you what I want, and I do whatever I want. Now what can you do about it?" Nancy asked as she stared sharply at
Fannie.