His Adopted Brother Turned To Be A Girl !

2 Marge

Laraine had been walking for a while – this part of the town was unfamiliar to her. Someone had to have been looking out for, she thought sarcastically, since she had not encountered a single person as she roamed the streets in the dead of night.

A neon sign told her that an Internet café was coming up. As she walked closer, she sighed in relief to find it open. The man at the desk gave her a weird look but said nothing as he took her money and nodded towards a computer at the back. Laraine grabbed a coffee from the machine – God only knew how much she needed it.    

Her head had been pounding since she woke up. Flashes of memories – memories that seemingly did not belong to her kept racing through her mind. Laraine took a sip of her hot coffee and placed her head on her desk. What was happening to her!?

Suddenly, Laraine felt an explosion in her mind. She clenched her eyes shut in order to stop the flashes flitting through her head. She frowned when it all came back to her. As bizarre as it was, Laraine knew it made sense.

She realized that she lived in another girl’s body now – a girl named Laurence!

Laurence, Laraine, so similar!

From Laurence’s memory, Laraine learned that last night, Laurence had gone to meet a guy she had met online. However, the guy thought Laurence was ugly (with her short-cropped hair and boyish physique). Hurt and confused, instead of seeing the red flags of the situation, Laurence stupidly drank a drink which had been laced with something in order to knock her out.  

“Ugh! What a mess!” Laraine grumbled to herself.

As for Laurence’s identity, she was the sixth child of the Jones’ family. Laraine struggled to think where she had heard that name from, but a sharp pain stopped her.

Her brain was still a mess so, she stopped thinking and turned on the computer to check the news.

There, in big bold letters: “Laraine White, the famous actress, was found to have died of a sudden illness at her home”

Below the title, there was a video of her ‘family’ crying. Laraine watched it for a minute but could not stand it. 

“How could my daughter die? I am absolutely heartbroken. How can we live without her?”

“Don’t worry, mother. Laraine is in a better place now.” Tiffany replied sadly.

Laraine clenched her fists tightly. Wasn’t her sister badly ill and desperate for her heart?

She seemed quite healthy in the video!

After almost her whole life living with the Whites, Laraine had never realized how toxic they were – how dangerous they were that they could be so calm after murdering someone! 

Laraine scrolled further down and was shocked to see something else! When did Nathan, her fiancé, hook up with Tiffany?

Laraine gritted her teeth and turned off the computer. She felt like going to ‘her’ house to knock some sense into her so-called family but she stopped herself when she saw the strange face on the blank computer screen, staring back at her.

Even if she did manage to go there, she could do nothing. The White family was heavily guarded so they would not even let her in through the security gates.

Call the police? Everyone would think she was crazy. She could not possibly prove anything without sounding like a maniac.

Laraine took a deep breath. She should calm down and think of an idea, rationally. Since she had switched into Laurence’s body, why not treasure it and live her life? It was better than being dead, right!?  

Laraine sat in the café until the sun started to break through the horizon. She knew the address of the Jones’ from Laurence’s memory, so she decided to visit their (her) house.   

Laraine was aware of the Jones. They were a famous family residing in the rich neighborhood, Harbour. Andrew Jones, the third son, was the most famous out of all of them.

He was a young, tech-savvy, entrepreneur who had dominated his line of business – Laraine scrunched her nose as she tried to remember what exactly he was involved with. She had heard he was a brooding sort of guy even when he had been younger. Oh yeah and did she mention he was hot!?  

Under Andrew and his father their firm, Boom, prospered and every member of the family was in one way or another, involved with it.

Of course, Laurence, the young adopted daughter, was not one of them.

The Jones were a big family with six children, five were biological and only Laurence was adopted. So, Laurence had always kept a low profile.

Thinking of that, Laraine sighed. It seemed like Laurence’s life was very similar to Laraine’s.  

As the taxi neared the gated community, Laraine’s heart started to beat faster. Would they believe her? Or would they recognize her and throw her back to her wretched family?

Swallowing her anxiety, Laraine took a deep breath and got out of the car and stared at the huge mansion in awe. The gate was already open as there was a car inside. So, she started walking inside with trepidation.   

“Laurence, are you blind? Didn’t you hear me?”

Laraine looked back and tried to recall who the pretty girl was in front of her. From Laurence’s memory she remembered that this girl was Marge Jones, the fifth daughter of the Jones family. Marge was the little princess of the Jones family and had always bullied Laurence.

Laraine took a deep breath and replied, praying her voice had changed along with everything else, “Hello, sister.” 

“Come and carry my stuff that is in the trunk,” Marge opened the trunk.

Laraine looked at the things Marge was pointing to. They were bags, all from expensive boutiques.

God, the Jones were rich!

She used to be rich as an actress, but she had never bought so many things at once.

Marge told the driver to stuff everything into Laurence’s arms and warned her not to dirty them. Then she got into the car, which entered the house.

It was a long way from the gate to the villa. Laraine gritted her teeth as she realized Marge deliberately told her to carry the things to embarrass Laurence.

Looking around, Laraine noticed that even the guards and maids looked at her with a sneer. Everyone knew that Laurence was an orphan under the care of the Jones family. According to them, her status in the family was just a little better than the common workers.

Laraine looked at the bags on the ground and turned around to the villa.

Everyone around was shocked. 

What was wrong? Why was not Laurence carrying the bags!? Usually she did everything Marge ordered her to do without question!

Laraine knew that she should behave like Laurence, who did not have it easy in the family. But she had just been almost murdered by her own family and then raped by a stranger; her legs still trembled and she could not lift so many things.

After walking for more than ten minutes, she finally arrived at the front door.

Marge was already waiting impatiently and when she saw Laurence’s empty arms, she became angry, “Where is my stuff?”

Laraine ignored Marge and was about to enter the house. 

“How dare you ignore me, Laurence? You are an orphan! You live in my house! I just asked you to carry my stuff and you dare to defy my orders!” Marge screamed, red in the face. She looked like she wanted to tear Laurence into pieces.

Laraine looked at Marge like she was a spoiled child. Marge was twenty and Laurence was eighteen. But Laraine was twenty-five. To her, Marge was just a little girl. So, she did not care about her rudeness.

The words could not hurt her. Besides, she was not Laurence and did not care about Marge.

Marge was confused by Laurence’s reaction – or lack of it. Laurence had always been hurt when she used the ‘orphan’ line and would struggle to keep her tears at bay.  But she did not see any change on Laurence’s face today.

Marge gritted her teeth and was about to say something else even ruder when the housekeeper came in. Cautiously, he looked at Marge and said, “Mr. Andrew is back, Miss Marge.”