22. The Alter Ego.

[Emily]

"Good morning, mother and father." I smiled at them as they opened the door. "I'm here early as requested." I said and moved past them into the house.

"Good morning Mr and Mrs Chesterfield." Jenny smiled at them.

"Good morning." They looked from me to Jenny weirdly.

"What is wrong with her?" My mother whispered to Jenny but I still heard her.

"It's not her, it's Emilia." Jenny replied and she nodded.

"Oh, Emilia is it?" She turned to me and I smiled.

"Yes mother, I know it's been a while." I twirled around.

"Yes it has, Emilia but I bet you remember that we have church today." My father said,

"Oh yes, father, how could I forget, I'll go and get ready." I smiled at him.

Thank you for dropping her off, Jenny." I heard my mother thank her as I climbed up the stairs.

"Emilia is her name isn't it?" My father asked downstairs.

"Yes, she normally prefers Emily but when she does Emilia, you know what it means." She responded.

"Her alter ego." He responded and from the corner of my eye, I saw her nod.

Okay, let me give you a bit of a backstory.

When I was eight, I began to act weirdly according to my parents. I refused to eat some meals and even wearing some clothes saying they weren't fancy enough.

My parents took me to the hospital when they'd had enough and I was diagnosed with SDS.

(SDS means selective behavioral syndrome and it is purely fiction.)

The doctors said a certain part of my brain was damaged slightly and so when triggered, it could select certain behaviors and I could act differently during said period.

I wasn't put on drugs because there was no cure for it and it wasn't life threatening, it was just something that needed to be managed.

Only a handful of people knew about my condition including my best friend.

It was never clear what exactly usually triggered the change so my parents just decided to call it an alter ego instead of a syndrome or a disorder, they did not like to think that something was wrong with their daughter mentally.

The first thing Emilia did when she entered my room was to ransack my closet. She must have been impressed with the new clothes that I bought because she selected a pair and laid them down on the bed to wear later.

A warm shower and a hot iron later, we descended the stairs in a beautiful mid skirt and a crop top, the skirt was quite high waisted so the crop top did not reveal any skin.

My black hair lay in curls around my shoulders and I looked very beautiful and classy.

"My dear, you look very—" My father cleared his throat and started as I descended the stairs.

"Beautiful my dear." My mother finished his sentence and rose up to meet me.

"You know she likes a formal breakfast." She scolded my father and he also rose to his feet.

"Good morning mother, what a nice table." I beamed at her and pecked her cheeks when she reached me.

"Father."

"Daughter." He took my hand in his and placed his hand over it in a formal fashion. "Let us have breakfast." He said and led me to my seat.

***

Service was beautiful and I even shed a few tears after the choir gave their rendition.

"Great service, father." I walked up to the father after the service, took his hand and placed it on my forehead.

"Bless you, child." He smiled at me but he had a brow up because he could tell that I wasn't usually like this.

"Come on now, Emilia, let us go home." My mother rushed to me and pulled me away from him.

"How about I go for a little stroll, I'll meet you guys at home." I flashed them my best smile and my mother looked at my father for help.

"It's no sa- I don't think you should go alone, perhaps take your mother with you." He offered.

"No, I won't be long." I smiled and gave them a hug then I was gone.

I walked outside the church till I reached the alley where Ace had pulled me in the other day.

Just because I was Emilia didn't mean I didn't have Emily's memories, we were one and the same person after all.

I saw a weird man covered in tats looking at me and I frowned at him.

"What are you looking at?" I eyed him and he turned away immediately.

My phone bussed and I picked it out of my purse, I had several texts and calls from Ace.

My heart leaped, even as Emilia when I saw the texts.

Ace

| How are you feeling?

| I've been trying to get in touch with you

| Please call me back.

I hadn't even realized that my phone was on silent, it must have been Jenny yesterday night because she wanted me to rest well.

Jenny's parents were not Catholics, another reason why they were not popular in my parents opinion.

Ace picked the phone on the second ring and I smiled as I heard his panicked voice from the other side of the phone.

"How are you doing, Em?" He asked immediately.

"I'm good actually." I said.

"Okay, that's nice, you don't have to worry about anything, Olivia would never touch you again, I made sure of it." He said and I grinned.

"I'd like to see her try." I said and I imagined him frowning.

"Are you truly okay?" He asked.

"Yes, I am." I replied.

"Where are you?" He asked.

"The alley, you remember it don't you?" I teased.

"Are you teasing me, dear God, stay where you are Em." He said and cut the call.

I never allowed someone to call me any other name than Emilia before, including nicknames but right now I could not understand why I didn't feel compelled to make him call me Emilia like everybody else.

***

"Em, are you okay?" Ace rushed down from his bike and pulled me closer to him.

"Are you sure that you're okay?" He asked, looking at me intently.

"Yeah, I'm fine, what a lovely bike you have." I said and he frowned.

"Lovely bike?"

"Yeah, I loved riding on it the other day." I smiled.

"You're serious?" He asked and I nodded.

"Yeah."

"What happened to it being the most dangerous means of transportation, ever?" He asked.

"Ah, it's the boring part of me that said that." I laughed it off with him but he didn't seem convinced.

"Em, did you hit your head in the pool last night?" He asked, pulled off my heat and began to ruffle through my hair.

"Hey, not the hair." I swatted his hand away and straightened my hair back to its position.

"You're acting rather strangely." He said.

"There's nothing wrong with me, Ace." I said and he hummed to himself.

"Only one way to find out." He said and rubbed my cheeks softly.

"Em." He called out softly when my eyes fluttered close and my cheeks reddened.

"It's definitely you." He said and I expected him to pull away but he just leaned in and pushed me till my back hit the wall.

"I was so scared yesterday when I couldn't find you in the water, I thought I'd lost you." He said and traced my bottom lip with his fingers.

The action was so stimulating, it caused me to bite on my bottom lip and clasp my legs shut.

"Don't do that." I barely heard the words as I felt his breath hovering around my mouth.

He released my quivering bottom lip from my teeth and he ran his thumb over them again.

"Emilia, I want to kiss you, can I kiss you?" He asked.

I did not know what possessed him to call me Emilia but it was the right keyword so I nodded my head and he leaned it.

By the way, Emilia doesn't share some of my sentiments about life and love.

His lips brushed over mine, once twice before I responded, I was a quick learner so I soon responded to his kiss.

It was better than anything I'd ever imagined, my whole body felt like I was on fire and it was a very warm feeling.

I pressed closer to him and his hands rested lightly on my hips, he was not grabbing or squeezing, it was just there.

"Em." His voice was hoarse and his eyes darkened with lust as he pulled away from me.

I touched my bottom lip and felt how swollen they were before I turned to him in shock.

"Y-you, k-kissed me."

Yeah you're right, the slow bitch was back and she'd given me control over the narration.

Since I didn't know anything else to say, I just decided to run, maybe I would be able to avoid the embarrassment I was facing.

No, she did not.

"Ace darling, how about we go for a ride."

I just had to intervene.