Twisting a Storyline

Prologue

I lay down in bed reading the webnovel on my phone.

A frown was stretched out on my face. I'd had enough of those cliché plots.

There was always the sweet female lead who came from a broken family and had a cruel half-sister. This half-sister would be the mistress's daughter and would take away all of the female lead's familial affection and take away the love of her life.

I realised that this was the kind of person I was in someone else's life.

I tossed my phone aside and lay on my back staring at the sky.

My room was the best room in our mansion with a large panel of tampered glass as both the ceiling and the roof. It was in actual fact many layers because my mother fretted over how fragile the glass might be so my father ended up having many panels installed.

Being the daughter of a mistress had it's perks in the house or at least it did for me because it meant that father doted on me the most.

Originally this room belonged to my step sister and best friend, Laura who I met at a boarding school three years ago. Little did I know then that the two of us were already on a path that led us to become true family, well true family in name anyway.

It all started when my mom began dating Jonathan Lee. The relationship was serious so I ended up being introduced to him as well. He was a real darling and for someone like me who had never had a father, this was utter bliss.

Together we did all kinds of fun stuff and hung out like a family of three.

We would go shopping and fishing, we'd do manicure and pedicure for each other's feet. Jonathan even accompanied my mother for a consultation day at my  school once.

I looked up at his serious face as he nodded to every word my teacher said to him about me and felt a warm feeling. He looked at me and winked before scolding me lightly and making some threats to get me to pull up my performance.

My eyes watered and I wondered if this was how it felt to have a father.

Later that day Jonathan told me the truth. He loved my mom and wanted to marry her. He wanted to bring her into his home and he wanted me to be his daughter. Looking into those clear dark eyes, I suddenly felt a feeling of familiarity from them as if I'd seen them somewhere before.

Emotion brimmed in those eyes making me so comfortable that before I even knew it I had plunged myself into his embrace.

I accepted him on my mother's behalf and in that way our fates were sealed.

The following month I was sent to boarding school. Jonathan declared that it was time he took my studies seriously and said that he would only marry my mother if I graduated with flying colours. This threat worked wonders because I immediately assented and left for the boarding school. That's where I met Laura Lee who became my best friend and sister at school.

Together we studied for our finals and became eligible to go for tertiary. To celebrate, Laura invited me to her house to meet her family.

I agreed and so did mother.

I arrived at the Lee home and felt a sense of belonging that was foreign to me as I looked around curiously at the unknown surroundings.

Laura yelled out to bring her family's attention. The first to descend the stairs were her older brothers Lionel  and Leslie. For some reason I felt very familiar to these two boys and suddenly got engulfed in a wave of jealousy. I wanted the brothers to myself and wished they were my brothers instead of Laura's.

Behind them was a handsome young man in a business suit and a briefcase.

Laura  whispered to me that this person was special to her before openly hugging the said person. The brothers cheered making Laura blush. I found out later that he was actually her fiancé that she was always talking about. They'd been betrothed since childhood. Once again I felt envious.

The next person to appear was Laura's mother, Rea. I hated the woman at first sight. Even though she was beautiful I couldn't help but decide that she paled next to my mother. I didn't think she liked me at first sight either judging from the way she sized me up from head to toe. She put on a pretentious smile and invited me to join them for lunch.

I spent lunch with Laura's family and couldn't help but wonder how nice it would be if this was my  family instead of course together with my mother in place of Rea.

I spent that afternoon in Laura's room. After she gave me a tour of the house we went to her room and played. She showed me the nice room with a glass panel wall for maximum sunlight. I grew green with envy when I saw all the beautiful dresses in her wardrobe.

I couldn't help but ask and found out it was her father who had bought them for her. My mind immediately went to Jonathan and I wondered if he'd fill a wardrobe with pretty dresses for me too.

At that time the bell rang and we headed down for supper. Since we had to wash our faces and hands first by the time we got there, the rest of the family was seated.

I opened my mouth to say a greeting but my words stuck in my throat and I froze. This was because right there sitting at the head of the table was the father of my dreams, Jonathan Lee.

He also noticed me at the same time as I noticed him. He probably had never imagined in his wild dreams that I'd show up unexpectedly like this at his house. He looked at me nervously wondering if I'd throw a fit and start yelling. For some reason my heart was calm and I was extremely clear-headed. A wicked plan began to take form in my mind.

I greeted him properly and took my place at the end of the table beside Laura's brother Leslie.

Upon realising I had no intention of embarrassing him, Jonathan relaxed and pulled me into the conversation.

The whole dinner was harmonious and homely. I felt a warmth in my heart I'd never felt before. A father, a mother, and brothers- I immediately spun a fantasy in my head. This was my ideal family. Only my mother was missing for the meal to be perfect.

After the meal Laura's brothers offered to do the dishes in our stead so we went to sleep early.

I slept in Laura's room on the floor with her since I couldn't bring myself to ask her to share her bed.

Laura quickly fell asleep while I stayed awake and thought slowly trying to process my new discovery.

At that time a message popped in from Jonathan.

"Sweetie, are you asleep?" it read.

"No, not yet" I immediately replied.

"Whoa, that was fast, Ok"

Then there was silence. Several minutes later he finally typed,

"Can we talk? Can you come out?"

I laughed to myself. He was probably in fright afraid I'd ruin his marriage. I refused to talk to him and instead asked him to send me home the next day and talk on the way. He readily accepted.

The next day Laura had no qualms about her father dropping me off on his way to work and stood on the porch waving goodbye oblivious that her fate as my sister would soon be sealed.

Unable to contain himself anymore Jonathan immediately began blurting out excuses for himself to me. I laughed and told him to slowly explain himself. We stopped at a coffee shop and he told me his truth. He was about to get divorced. Not only because he loved my mom but also because he had caught his wife cheating. I asked what he planned to do about his children and whether or not they would accept it. He said that he didn't really care and if they didn't accept my mom he'd wipe them all off the family register.

The idea of having two brothers to myself  was exciting to me and together with Jonathan we set about to make my dream come true.

He married mother and adopted me and finally at the age of nineteen I had finally found myself a father.

Rea was surprisingly calm about it as if she'd seen through it all the whole time. All she requested as alimony was that her children get their fair shares of the inheritance and that she'd be allowed to stay in the house until they all got married. My mother didn't refuse so in the end both women stayed in the same house together.

They were civil towards each other and did not actively seek trouble with each other unlike Laura and me.

Laura hated me to the core but I was determined to become part of the family no matter what it took.

By being pretentious and using all possible scheming methods I won the brothers over one by one and even won over Grandfather Lee and Grandmother Lee.

They doted on me like I was their real flesh and blood.

Laura hated me and in a fit of rage called my mother a mistress and a homewrecker in my presence. I got upset because of these words and retreated to the backyard to cry. I lost track of time hiding in the shed and didn't realise how worried I'd made the family. I ended up falling asleep in the dusty little shed.

When Jonathan returned from work he was worried about not seeing me and asked everyone if they knew where I was.

Laura admitted to being the last one to see me that afternoon and also confirmed that I'd left the house upset and in tears.

The boys were disappointed in her for being hateful towards me and conducted a full blown search for me all over the city. After not finding me for a few hours Jonathan freaked out and  he got the police to bring their search dogs to find me. The dogs traced my scent back to the shed and found me there twelve hours after my disappearance on the cold floor and passed out from insufficient oxygen supply.

Jonathan carried me on his back and rushed to the hospital like his life depended on it. The rest of the family followed in the car. When I finally regained consciousness in a hospital bed I found several worried faces staring down at me. My throat was dry so I could not speak. Leslie passed me water to drink. I shot him a grateful look and relieved myself of the pain in my dry throat.

After realising I was fine they could finally feel relieved. My mother wiped her tears, the brothers joked at Jonathan's serious face running to the hospital and the man himself grabbed my hand and patted it in assurance. It was then that I noticed Laura hanging around at the door. I raised a hand slowly to her but she ignored me. Just as she intended to leave, Jonathan called out to her and  scolded her for being careless with words.

It was at that moment that I actually realised the truth, I had stolen Laura's life. Her father, her grandparents, siblings and even her place in the household. Seeing all that I now had, I gloated and thought about it quietly: what next should I take?

As the villainess of this typical story I decided that it was too ordinary a plot and nothing was interesting.

I thought back on all this as I lay on my bed and before I knew it I was dead asleep.

I had a strange dream.

I saw a beautiful woman dressed in white. She spoke to me.

"This is one of the only two times you'll ever see me Miss Lee, since you think the plot of your destiny too dull, why don't we see you change it?"

With a smug look she snapped her fingers thrice and disappeared.

I woke up in a cold sweat