Our Hearts Entwined

by Lilliana Anderson

  “Who? Your parents?”

  “Yes, they died in a car accident a few years back – when I was nineteen. So they never told me, I wonder if they were ever going to…”

  Cayd smiled at her kindly, not having the words to help her right now. He felt that if her parents were going to tell her she was adopted they would have told her long before now or at least provided some way of her finding out in the event of their death.

  “I’m sorry Mia,” he said quietly.

  “I can’t go home can I? I mean, I don’t know what to do… What if she’s there? Is she stable? Oh god, this is madness,” Mia said, raking her hands over her head.

  “Listen, it’s already late, why don’t you just stay here for tonight, try to mull things over and then we can perhaps figure this out in the morning.”

  “Stay here? In your office?”

  “No, in my home. I live here as well.”

  “Do you think that’s appropriate? I mean, you’re a doctor.”

  Cayd let out a chuckle, “I’m not your doctor Mia, and there’s nothing happening to you that requires a psychiatrist’s help. Although, I would very much like to help you as a friend, if you’ll let me.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Well, it’s not every day that you meet someone who’s long lost twin has resurfaced and tried to insinuate herself into the other’s life. If you don’t mind I would like to be there and see this one through.”

  “Is that the only reason?” she asked, staring into his eyes as he sat in front of her, staring straight back. Electricity sparked in the air between them, drawing them toward each other until they were no more than a hair’s breadth apart. Suddenly Mia’s breath hitched and she turned her head, fighting the pull that was forcing them together. “I can’t do this, I have a boyfriend,” she gasped out, breathing heavily, her head swimming from his nearness.

  “I’m sorry,” Cayd said, pulling back from her, “I shouldn’t have done that – I just…”

  “I know, I’m sorry too. I really am, I feel this…. pull around you. But I’m supposed to be with Eric.”

  “Of course you are. It won’t happen again,” he said, clearing his throat and lifting himself off the table to standing. “Come on, you can take the guest bedroom.”

  “Are you sure that’s wise? I mean after we almost – ”

  “It won’t happen again Mia. I assure you, you can go home if you’d prefer but the offer still stands – you can spend the night here, get some rest and then we can talk about the next move in the morning.”

  “I think I’d like to stay,” Mia said, feeling calmer with him near her. The thought of going home to a flat that had been intruded upon didn’t sit well with her at all and her options were limited while Natalie was in the picture.

  “Alright, follow me,” he said, leading her out the door towards the entry of his home.

  ***

  Meanwhile, a silver Ford Focus with New South Wales plates sat parked at the curb outside Mia’s block of flats. Its sole occupant was starting to feel very nervous when her twin hadn’t arrived home at the expected time.

  “Shit! She should have been home hours ago!” Natalie said to herself as she sat, staking out Mia’s block of flats. From what she had witnessed, Mia was a creature of habit, who was dedicated to her job. She was always home before dark. Where in the world would she have gone today?

  For a while Natalie had started to panic at the thought of Mia being with Eric, but breathed a sigh of relief when he texted her to ask where she was. She felt trapped between her want to be with Eric and her need to make sure that Mia was passed out beforehand. So, Natalie returned his text, saying that she had a headache and needed to stay home tonight.

  She had managed to keep Mia and Eric apart for most of this past month, bar a few chance meetings. She’d spent almost every night with him ever since they ran into each other at the 7Eleven that day and he had kissed her.

  Although she didn’t dare sleep over, not after the first time when she was nearly caught. She had only just made it out of the bathroom window in time and was thankful that she had taken her handbag containing her toiletries in with her or she would have been busted for sure.

  The sleeping tablets she had been using were strong enough to knock her out within half an hour, but they weren’t strong enough to make sure she would sleep the entire night undisturbed. It was stupid of her to think that she could get away with sleeping over when she knew full well that the tablets weren’t fool proof. They were her prescription after all.

  But there was something about Eric that drew her in and made her feel willing to do anything to be with him – even pretend to be someone else. At first, she just wanted to know what it was like to be Mia, but then he kissed her…

  She sighed audibly as she leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, remembering the sensation his lips against hers evoked in her body. She had now fallen heavily for him and didn’t want to risk the truth coming out before she was ready. Somehow she had to find a way to tell Eric who she was without ruining everything they had.

  Her psychiatrist, Evelyn Butler, had advised her to come clean, saying that the longer she pretended to be someone she wasn’t - the harder it was going to be on everyone when the truth came out.

  Natalie moved uncomfortably in her seat as she thought, she had omitted telling Evelyn that she was drugging Mia. She knew it was wrong, she knew she could get in a lot of trouble for it. But she just kept on reasoning that she was doing it to buy herself some time. She wasn’t ready to come clean yet, she wasn’t ready to risk losing Eric…

  Checking her watch impatiently for the hundredth time in ten minutes Natalie huffed out her breath in frustration, drumming her fingers rhythmically on the top of her steering wheel as she stared out into the night. Eventually, she decided to return to her serviced apartment, annoyed that she wouldn’t get to see Eric. She would try to find Mia tomorrow.

  Chapter Fourteen

  “She’s still here?!” Cherry asked Cayd in hushed tones the next morning. “You could lose your license over something like this Cayd!”

  “Why is this so hard for you and Evelyn to grasp? She’s not my patient Cherry, I’m not treating her,” Cayd replied, attempting to reason with her.

  “Yes, but she came here as a patient Cayd and you’re continuing contact with her. I think it’s unethical,” Cherry reminded him, looking at him pointedly.

  Raking his hands through his dark unruly hair, he huffed out his breath. “It will be fine Cherry. There’s nothing untoward going on here.”

  Cherry placed her hands on her hips and continued her pointed look, “So a patient comes to you with a suspected alter ego, and you find out that she has a twin, so now you’re hanging out after hours PLUS she spent the night in your home? Not only does that sound ridiculous, but it sounds untoward as well – like she was the damsel in distress, and the good doctor saw an opportunity to save her.”

  “It’s not like that! I met her before she came here. Besides, is it so wrong that I want to find out who this other twin is and why she’s trying to take over? This is the stuff that movies are made of Cherry – you don’t ever get to see this stuff in real life. I’m more than curious here. I have a burning desire to know.”

  “A burning desire to get in that girl’s pants,” Cherry mumbled under her breath.

  “What was that?”

  “I said why can’t Harry’s guy help her? Why do you have to do this? We’re trying to build a practice here and Evelyn and I can’t do that on our own.”

  “And we still are Cherry. But what am I going to do right now? I have two patients – that’s it. I’ve got a stack of time to kill.”

  “So you’re going to be a psychiatrist slash private investigator until business picks up are you?”

  “Something like that,” he conceded with a grin as he leant against the door frame behind Cherry’s desk.

  Shaking her head, Cherry sighed as she studied her boss’ han
dsome face. “You know what your problem is? You have entirely too much money at your disposal.”

  Cayd broke into a grin that set Cherry’s heart aflutter. She found him to be devastatingly attractive, especially on days like this when he didn’t have any patients booked and hadn’t bothered to shave. He was dressed casually in a fitted bonds t-shirt that showed off his lean build, a pair of slightly worn jeans, with bare feet.

  “How is that a problem Cherry? If my father views love as unquestioned access to his funds, then I don’t have a problem with that, neither should you.”

  “You know they say psychiatrists are the most messed up of them all right?” she pointed out.

  “I do know that Cherry,” he laughed, pushing his weight off the door that led to the back of the building and his home.

  “Just be careful ok?”

  Cayd responded with a wink as he punched in a code and opened the door. “Tell Evelyn I’ll be out today, but call me if I’m needed,” he shot over his shoulder as he entered the hallway, padding quietly down the length of it until he reached another door that opened into his lounge room.

  “I guess I’ll just stay here and man the phones then,” Cherry said to herself. “I can’t believe I gave up my old job to sit around all day doing nothing,” she continued to grumble as she opened her web browser and brought up Yahoo 7, so she could catch up on some tv shows as a way to occupy herself.

  ***

  When Mia woke up, her head was pounding, and she still didn’t feel like she had slept much at all. Her body felt heavy with lethargy as she tried to move. Had she been at home in her own bed, she would have actually contemplated staying in it and calling sick to work that day. It was something she never did, knowing full well how hard it was to cover her classes. Normally, they needed to hire a substitute teacher and a translator, so she only called in sick when she absolutely could not work.

  “Shit!” she exclaimed sitting bolt upright, as she realised that she was probably already late. Frantically, her eyes searched the room for a clock, finding one on the nightstand that read six-forty-five. Sighing in relief, she threw the covers back and stretched her arms above her head before standing up and gathering her clothing from yesterday. Having slept in her camisole and underwear overnight, she quickly slid her legs into her tailored dark grey pants and shrugged into her pale mauve button up blouse.

  Turning around, she twisted her hair up in a messy bun and secured it with a hair elastic. It was something that she always made sure to keep around her wrist for when her long hair became too unruly or hot for her to wear out.

  She then moved towards the bed, taking hold of the covers she had thrown back and securing them again, neatly in place before looking once more at the clock on the nightstand. Six-forty-five.

  “What!?” she exclaimed, scrambling for her bag to remove her mobile phone. Immediately, she pressed the home button to activate the screen and read the correct time. “Ten twenty-seven! Oh my god I’m so late!”

  Throwing open the bedroom door she raced out into the living area where she found Cayd sitting on his sofa, reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.

  “You’re awake!” he exclaimed, immediately setting the paper aside and rising from his seated position. “Can I get you anything? Coffee, juice, water?”

  “I can’t. I’m so late and I have to call work. Thanky–.”

  “I already took the liberty of calling your work for you.”

  “You what?”

  “Well Cherry did actually. She let them know that you were unwell and wouldn’t be in today.”

  “Why would you do that?” she asked, not sure how to take this new intrusion into her life.

  He took a step towards her, and suddenly his proximity caused her breath to catch in her throat as her heart beat wildly. Her emotions were so raw at this point, and she didn’t know if she should be afraid or incredibly attracted to him.

  Noticing her change in demeanour, Cayd halted his movement and spoke softly to her. “I did it because you have just spent a month being drugged by something, and your body was obscenely tired. I think you need a day or two to recover from your ordeal. It may be wise to go and consult a doctor about your health as well.”

  “I’m fine. I just have a head ache,” she stated.

  “Then let me offer you something for it. Do you prefer Panadol or Nurofen?”

  “Nurofen please,” she answered as she followed him into the kitchen.

  When he reached up to retrieve the tablets for her headache, she found her eyes admiring his form as his shirt rode up and exposed a strip of skin. Her fingers itched by her side, longing to reach out and touch him, but she instead stepped back to give him more space as he moved again to select a glass.

  Gratefully, Mia accepted the tablets and water to take them with. Her heart leaping in her chest as his fingers grazed her upturned palm. Sliding the pills in her mouth, she lifted the glass to her lips, carefully watching the man in front of her over the rim as she swallowed them down.

  “I need to go and see Eric,” Mia said when she finished. “Can I use your phone to call him?”

  “Of course,” he said producing his phone from his back pocket and handing it over to her without question.

  “Thanks. It’s just that I think she has somehow managed to block my number from calling him,” Mia explained as she dialled her boyfriend’s number and took a couple of steps away from Cayd so she could talk more privately.

  “Eric Dundas,” came the answer as the call connected.

  “Eric, it’s me.”

  “Mia? Why are you calling from a private number?”

  “My phone won’t connect with yours, I’ve told you that,” she replied.

  “You called last night Mia,” Eric said, feeling slightly confused.

  “No Eric, you’re not listening to me. My phone is blocked from calling yours,” she insisted.

  Mia could hear Eric sigh over the phone and realised that to him, she must sound crazy. Tears pricked her eyes as she was suddenly overcome with the longing she felt for what her life was a month ago. “Don’t worry about it Eric. It’s not important right now. Listen, can I see you today? I need to talk to you about what’s been going on lately,” she started.

  “Can’t we talk now?” Eric asked.

  “It’s important that I talk to you in person Eric.”

  “Alright,” he conceded. “I’ll knock off work early if that helps. Where do you want to meet?”

  “At the café near the library. Does that suit you?”

  “Sure, I’ll see you around three then.” With that he hung up, and Mia found herself staring at the phone, feeling glad that she could finally clear the air with Eric. She felt sure that he would help her confront Natalie and that soon everything would return to normal.

  “What do you plan to do?” Cayd asked as she handed it back to him.

  “I’m going home. I’m going to have a shower and get some clean clothes on, and then I’m going meet Eric and tell him what’s been going on.”

  “I’m coming with you,” Cayd stated flatly.

  “No, I don’t think you should – what if he notices?”

  “Notices what?”

  Shifting on her feet, Mia’s eyes started to water from the confusion and frustration she felt over her life right now. Averting her eyes so she didn’t have to look at Cayd dead on, she spoke in a small voice. “This,” she said, moving her hand between the two of them.

  Clearing his throat, Cayd now shifted on his feet. “I’m not going to try to ruin your relationship Mia. I simply don’t think you should return to your apartment on your own now that we know about Natalie. We don’t know what she’s capable of.”

  A small flutter of fear leapt about in Mia’s chest as she considered her situation. “Alright, come with me. But I’m going to meet Eric alone.”

  “Anything you want,” Cayd said as he pulled some cereal from the cupboard. “Here, you need to eat first. Then we’ll go.”
/>   Chapter Fifteen

  “Hey babe,” Natalie said immediately as she answered Eric’s call, her stomach doing excited flip flops the moment she spotted his name on the screen.

  “Hey, listen. We got an emergency call out, so I won’t be able to meet you for coffee at three like we planned.”

  “Ok,” Natalie replied carefully, knowing full well that she did not ask him out to coffee.

  Quietly, she seethed about the fact that Mia had managed to contact him. Eric was hers. She knew he was happier with her than he ever was with Mia. She didn’t need Mia ruining things before she’d managed to find a way to tell him who she was without him being angry at her for deceiving him.

  “Do you want to grab dinner instead? I should be finished before then.”

  “Yeah that would be great. Call me when you’re finished, and I’ll meet you wherever you want.”

  “It’ll probably be close to six, and we’ll just go to that pub near your place so we don’t have to worry about reservations. Is that cool with you?”

  “Sounds great, see you then,” Natalie said, disconnecting the call and breathing out a sigh of relief before turning her attention back to watching Mia’s apartment. She was starting to feel very nervous about her sister’s whereabouts. Why hadn’t she come home yet?

  ***

  After spending a day and a half in the same clothes, Mia desperately wanted to get back home, take a shower and change. Cayd had assured her that all of the monitoring equipment had been removed and that no one would be watching her anymore.

  With the thought of a possibly evil twin out there who was trying to take over her life, Mia wasn’t sure if that was a comfort or a worry. Perhaps she needed to be monitored right now?

  As she pulled into her parking spot she waited, watching in her rear view mirror as Cayd’s silver Mercedes pulled in behind her. When she saw his car door open, she followed suit, standing next to her car until he reached her and then walking up to her flat together.