could be fate

Chapter 2

On her walk back home, Vivian replayed the day's events over and over in her head. It all made sense: the weird looks, they all thought she was someone else. Someone they grew up with.

Isabelle Walker would be the same age as Vivian today, that was if she was still alive. She had lived in New town for most of her life and went missing when she was only fifteen; two years ago. They say no stone was left unturned, the search for her went for months, she was all over the news, posters were everywhere, there's nothing her parents, friends or the authorities didn't do.

Over time, people gave up, accepting the only plausible explanation: Isabelle was murdered by someone who knew how to dispose of bodies very well.

And that didn't put Vivian's mind at ease.

Vivian was still baffled by how two people could look so much alike without sharing the same biological parents. She had spent her whole lunch break looking at this girl's pictures, they had the same cashew skin tone, the same oblong face, the same kinky hair, even the same smile!

She couldn't help but feel grief for Isabelle, her family and friends, studying her pictures, she could tell Isabelle was happy when she was alive. She had the biggest smile amongst all her friends and the brightest eyes, so bright they'd make the stars shy away.

The feeling of someone watching her was in her head, she knew it, but it didn't help knowing that a girl, let alone her supposedly doppelganger was killed in this town. She resorted to putting all her faith in her ability to run.

The bell rang as Vivian walked into the coffee shop, it was where her big sister Mia was working part-time before she could return to College, all across the country. Vivian didn't want to think of how she was going to miss her sister when she leaves. That was another family member gone. It'd just be her and her mom.

Upon stepping foot in the shop, the smell of chocolate cake, strawberries and coffee beans found it's way to Vivian's nostrils, immediately causing her mouth to water. She helped herself to a table and started scanning the menu the moment she sat down. Before she decided what she'd get, a waiter stopped by, pen and notebook in his hands, ready to jot her order down. "Good afternoon ma'am. Are you ready to order?" He sounded robotic, having said that a couple thousand times.

Vivian looked from the menu to the waiter, she didn't like how the way he addressed her made her feel. She studied him, he was probably a few years older than her and she thought he was very good looking. She read his name tag, Kai.

Kai was 5'7" with a lean body and light ash blonde hair sitting ruffled on his head, his eyes were dark brown and his lips a shade of pink. "I'll um," it took every will power for Vivian to strip her eyes off of the boy and look at what she should've been looking at, the menu. "I'll have a red velvet cake and-"

Kai must've took pity on her struggle to choose what to eat, "I'd recommend the brownies," he told her in a friendly tone, "and for the beverages double chocolate hot chocolate is our most popular."

Vivian smiled at her savior, "I'll have that, thank you."

"Anything else?" Kai asked as precaution before leaving.

Vivian thought doing homework while waiting for her order would be a great way to kill time so she took out her mathematics books and dived into the science of numbers and signs. She got so into her school work that she didn't notice when Kai had brought her food, she just saw it sitting there when she lift her head to grab her eraser.

The brownie was good, so was the hot chocolate. She'd definitely give both a ten out of ten. The way the dessert melted in her mouth felt like heaven- or what she imagined it'd be.

Both Mia and Kai were about to go off work, their shift had ended. Vivian saw her sister had changed out of her uniform and was saying farewell to her coworkers so she put away her books and prepared to leave.

The bell rang, signaling another person had walked in, the shop was almost empty with a very few customers. The boy, looking as mysterious as tomorrow, with muscular features that accompanied by his messy dark hair, dull colored clothes and empty gray eyes made him look rather dangerous than handsome. "Ready to leave?" At first Vivian thought he was talking to her sister, though he wasn't Mia's usual type, she shipped them anyways. She thought about the awkwardness she had to feel being the third wheel and the disgust she had to suppress when they started making out on the drive home. She shuddered at the countless memories.

But Kai was the one who answered, "sure, we should go get some real food first-" he threw one arm around his friend's shoulder and they begun to leave.

Vivian had locked eyes with Kai's friend when he was walking in as he glanced casually across the room, he must've seen her but at the moment he didn't notice her until they were at the door when he turn to her with a confused frown appearing on his forehead. His frown deepened as he shortened the distance between them. As he got closer, Vivian could understand why his face looked familiar; he was among Isabelle's friends. Him, Jaxson, Caily and another girl were Isabelle's closest friends.

Vivian was expecting another weird interaction, like a hug, or something. But to her surprise, the confusion got wiped off his face, replaced by a comprehensive look only he could understand. "Hi, I'm Shawn." He introduced himself outstretching his long arm for her to shake, all along looking into her eyes.

"Vivian." They shook hands, she was astonished by how her hand became so tiny in his.

"Hey man, we have to go." Kai said to his friend.

"I'll see you around." Shawn said, sounding like he looked forward to seeing her again and she didn't know why.

"He totally likes you!" Mia excitedly announced once they were outside walking to her car. Vivian rolled her eyes, only she knew that the only reason Shawn was talking to her was because she looked like his friend.