Love or Fate?

Natalie and Kashmine were the kind of sisters people stopped to look at—both striking, yet carrying their beauty with completely different energies. Natalie, the older sister, was a force of nature: rebellious, careless, and magnetic. She lived loud, often drifting into her own chaos. Kashmine, the younger sister, was the anchor. She was the "good" daughter—reliable and deeply observant. While Natalie drew every eye in the room, Kashmine was the one who truly saw everything happening in it.

At school, Kashmine’s day was a series of predictable boxes checked. She sat in the front, her notes were perfect, and she navigated the crowded hallways with a private, calm focus. She loved movies but never believed them to be true—especially the romantic ones. To her, they were just scripts, far removed from her quiet, realistic life.

The morning started exactly like the one before it.

The alarm rang at the same time, and Kashmine was already awake, her room neat, her books stacked by the door. She moved through the house like a ghost—never the one to wake anyone up, never the one to leave a mess. To her, "good" meant staying out of trouble and keeping the peace. She was observant, private, and perhaps a bit too shy to notice her own potential.

At the breakfast table, she was the silent observer. She watched Natalie’s whirlwind energy—the messy hair, the loud complaints about being late, the frantic search for a missing earring. Without being asked, Kashmine simply slid her own toast toward her sister.

The night before the shift began, the scene had been set at the dinner table. It was a familiar tableau: the smell of home-cooked food, the rhythmic clink of silverware, and the heavy atmosphere of expectations.

Kashmine sat straight, her plate neat, listening as her parents turned their focus toward her. "The midterms are coming up, Kashmine," her father said, his voice steady but layered with the pressure of her 3.79 CGPA. "We know you’ll keep the streak going. You’re the one we don’t have to worry about." It wasn't a compliment so much as a command to stay perfect.

Across the table, Natalie was being pampered. Their mother fussed over Natalie’s plate, asking if she’d eaten enough, while her father laughed off a story about Natalie nearly getting detention again. Natalie was the whirlwind, the one who required constant hovering and "fixing."

Kashmine didn't feel a flicker of jealousy. Instead, she looked at her older sister with quiet adoration. She loved Natalie’s magnetism—how she could break a rule and still be the favorite. Kashmine was happy to be the anchor that kept the family grounded so Natalie could fly. She didn't want the spotlight; she preferred the safety of the shadows.

The next day, the atmosphere felt the same, yet everything was about to change.

When the last bell finally rang, the school started to empty out. Kashmine walked out of the building at her own pace. She wasn't in a rush to get home; she liked the quiet of the afternoon. As she walked toward the edge of the school ground, she saw Natalie sitting on a side bench. Natalie was laughing, her rebellious energy making her stand out as usual, surrounded by a small group.

Kashmine decided to head over. As she

approached, the group came into focus:

Natalie, looking striking and rebellious as she leaned back, clearly the center of the conversation.

Natalie’s best friend, nodding along to whatever story was being told.

Zack, a guy Kashmine had seen around but never actually spoken to, sitting with a relaxed, observant posture.

Theo, well-known for being the professor’s nephew—a detail that usually kept people on their best behavior around him.

They were all deep in conversation, talking and joking. Kashmine didn't say much; she just walked up and sat down on the bench right next to Natalie. For the first time, Kashmine actually looked at the guy sitting across from them. She had seen plenty of boys around the school, but she had never noticed Zack until this very moment.

She sat there quietly, just listening to them talk, her private and calm nature making her a silent observer in their loud circle. She didn't know it yet, but her quiet life was about to be disrupted by her sister’s secret: a hidden relationship with someone whose younger brother was sitting right in front of her.

They sat there for a while, the group chatting and laughing about the day. Kashmine stayed quiet, content just to listen. She didn't feel the need to join in, but she didn't realize that Zack had been watching her from the very beginning. He had been waiting for her to say something—anything—but she never did.

Finally, Zack decided to force the conversation in her direction. He looked at the others and then shifted his gaze to her, a teasing smirk on his face.

"Does she not know how to speak?" he asked, his voice cutting through the other conversations. "Or should I just assume she can’t speak at all?"

The comment was a direct challenge.

Kashmine didn't flinch, but she suddenly turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were sharp and filled with a sudden, cold anger. It was the kind of look a mafia boss might give someone who had just threatened them—a look that showed she knew she could destroy him in a second, but she was choosing to let him speak first. She was curious, but she was also dangerous.

She didn't say a word. She just stared at him, letting the silence between them get heavy and suffocating. The tension was sharp. Kashmine could feel him watching her with a look that was a mix of a challenge and a flirt, but it felt insulting, as if he was trying to provoke her on purpose.

She didn't give him the satisfaction of an argument. Instead, she looked away, turning her attention entirely to her older sister.

"Why are you even having him here?" Kashmine asked, her voice calm but ice-cold. "Does he do anything besides taunting people?"

Zack didn't look offended. Instead, a small, knowing smile grew on his face. "You can say that to me directly as well," he said, his voice smooth and untroubled by her glare.

Natalie looked at both of them, sensing the heat in the air. She quickly stepped in to break the tension.

"Zack, she’s my sister," Natalie said, before turning back to the younger girl. "And Kashmine, he’s a good friend of Theo."

She mentioned Theo because she knew Kashmine recognized him. By saying this, Natalie was letting her know that Zack belonged there as Theo's classmate. It was a simple explanation, but nobody else at the bench realized that Natalie was hiding something much deeper about why they were all really sitting there together.

After that afternoon on the side bench, the atmosphere between Kashmine and Zack didn't magically soften. They had noticed each other—really seen each other—for the first time, but the spark hadn't ignited yet.

Instead, it was like a cold war had begun, one fought with lingering stares and quiet observations.Over the next few weeks, the "accidents" started happening. Kashmine would be walking to the library, her mind deep in her study plan, only to look up and see Zack leaning against a corridor wall, talking to Theo. She would be heading toward the school gates, and there he would be, sitting in the distance, his eyes finding hers before she could even look away.

These moments were brief, but they were frequent. It felt like the school had shrunk, pushing them into the same space over and over again.Slowly, the group from the bench became a regular fixture. They started meeting more often—sometimes by the grounds, sometimes near the canteen. Natalie was always the one leading the way, her carefree laughter acting as a magnet for the others.Natalie was the one who kept pulling Zack into their circle.

To everyone else, it looked like a group of friends just hanging out. But Kashmine, the observant anchor, began to sense a pattern. She didn't realize that Natalie hadn't found Zack out of nowhere. She didn't know that Natalie was intentionally keeping Zack close because he was the brother of her new secret boyfriend. To Natalie, Zack was the bridge—the perfect excuse to stay connected to the family she wasn't supposed to be part of.