CRAZY

The sudden ding of the doorbell startled Evie and one of the plates she was holding dropped to the floor. She grunted as she bent over to pick the pieces of the broken plate. She dumped the pieces in the trashcan and went to open the door.

She was to host her family for a meal that day. According to Edwin, her dad was happy that she was making an effort to lead a better life. He was impressed that she had gotten a job and was no longer going after Joanna. He wanted to meet her so he could assess her lifestyle and decide if he would give her his support.

Evie knew she wouldn't go back to the house if he asked her to but she valued her family and more so, their support. They always had her back and she missed it. Besides she missed being able to afford anything she wanted and her car.

She opened the door with a big smile on her face expecting to see her family. Rather she saw a young woman dressed in expensive clothes and excessive makeup. Evie eyed her suspiciously as she recognised her as the woman she saw clinging onto Mike at the mall.

"Hello. You're Evangeline, right?" The lady spoke, revealing a set of white teeth.

"Yes. And who are you?"

"I'm Theresa Suarez. The future Mrs Martinez. I'm here to warn you to stay away from Mike. He's mine." The lady said as she looked straight into Evie's eyes.

"Is that what you really came here for?" Evie asked coldly. Annoyance was beginning to build up in her.

"Yes. And am I clear?" Theresa replied confidently.

Evie was filled with anger and disgust as she glared at Theresa. After a few seconds, she hissed and shut the door at her face. She ignored the ringing of the doorbell and stormed off angrily into the kitchen where Tori was cooking. As soon as Tori noticed and asked about her sullen face, she narrated everything to her.

"You know she's lying, right? Mike has eyes only for you. There's no way he could've promised to marry her."

"That's not the point. The point is she dared to come to my house to warn me." Evie said angrily as she filled up a large bowl with water. The doorbell rang again and she was about to make her way out of the kitchen when Tori stopped her.

"Calm down, Evie. Today's a good day. Don't let her ruin it for you. I'll go talk to her." Tori pleaded and Evie reluctantly put the bowl down. "Thank you."

Evie pressed her lips together as she watched Tori lower the heat of the stove and then leave the kitchen. She tapped on the counter impatiently as she waited for her to come back. After what seemed like eternity, Tori walked in with a smile.

"All settled."

"What did you tell her?" Evie asked doubtfully.

"That my best friend is a little crazy so she should leave while she still had the chance. And that if she rang the doorbell after I walked in, she would have a bowl of water poured over her." Tori said as she raised the heat of the stove.

"Great. But a little crazy?" Evie said, raising her brows and folding her arms across her chest.

Tori chuckled. "That was an understatement. You and I know that."

Evie glared at the smiling Tori. "I could pour this water on you." She said as she placed her hand on the bowl.

Tori bit back a giggle as she watched Evie with amusement."And confirm my words." She teased further.

Evie pouted. "Whatever. Yeah I'm crazy. But crazy is cool."

***** ***** *****

Evie sighed as she leaned back on her chair. Just a few more minutes and she would be free to go home. Since Eris had refused to assign any job to her and made her run errands for the team, she had grown bored of her new job. Her workmates hated her and she couldn't blame them. She should have expected it when she used her familiarity with the Martinez' to get a job in the company.

Isabel and Mike knew she was well qualified and that was why they hired her. But Eris and others saw her as a gold digger that had climbed her way up using connections. She knew she could prove herself to them and she wanted to but no matter hard she tried, they just wouldn't give her a chance.

She shifted her gaze to the door and she saw Martha, Isabel's secretary, walk in. Evie wondered who Isabel had sent her to. She watched as Martha walked pass Eris that had gone up to meet her and walked to her.

"Ma'am Isabel wants to see you right now."

"Me?" Evie asked as she looked around. There was no one around her that Martha could possibly be talking to. Or maybe Martha had mistaken her for Eris. "My name's Evie not Eris."

"I'm pretty sure she was sent to call Evangeline Rivera."

Evie heard a familiar voice and as she looked to the door where the voice was coming from, she saw Edwin. Squealing excitedly, she rushed to him and wrapped him in a tight hug, ignoring the murmurs and stares of her colleagues. When Edwin faked a cough, she released him and looked up at him.

"What are you doing here?"

"I missed you, Babe. So I came. Or don't you miss me?" Edwin asked teasingly.

Evie rolled her eyes at him."You're crazy. Let's go talk somewhere private."

"Not so quick. I brought invitations." Edwin said as he held up a bunch of cards. "Don't you want to invite your friends to your big day?"

"I do." Evie replied sadly.

"That's great." Edwin smiled as he wrapped his arm over her shoulder as they walked to the person closest to them and he handed her an invitation. "Don't miss it."

Eris scowled at him as she opened the invite. She intended to read it out for everyone to hear what a slut Evie was. First, she had hooked their boss and now it was the heir to Rivera Inc. But she was wrong. The invitation wasn't to their engagement or anything related.

Rather, it was a welcome party for the lost daughter of the Rivera's. Evie was to be announced as an official member of the family and a coheiress with Edwin.

Eris was dumbfounded. "Evie's your sister?"

"Yeah. Same parents, same DNA and similar looks." Edwin said smilingly as he ran a hand through his hair and held it up. "I know I'm more attractive but we do have similarities."

"It can't be." Eris muttered as she noticed the subtle likeness of both of them. She had been blinded in her belief that Evie was a gold digger that she had failed to notice that even her surname was Rivera. The Rivera were way richer than the Martinez. Evie didn't need Michael, in fact he needed her.

Edgar Rivera was one of their biggest investors and she had made life difficult for his daughter. And there was a rumor that his daughter had bought a large share of the company. If that daughter was Evie then she had the power to dismiss her from her job. And with the way she treated Evie, she knew she surely would be fired. The only way to save her job was to ask for Evie's forgiveness.

She turned around to see her workmates all gaping at Evie with disbelief. They believed she was a slut because she had said so. They had treated her badly in an effort to frustrate her because she had told them to. And if they lost their jobs, it would be her fault too.

She looked at Evie who was smiling nervously. She didn't seem to be enjoying the look of remorse on everyone's face. She probably wasn't as bad as she thought. Maybe she would accept her apology and forget everything she had done to her. Or maybe she won't and instead embarrass her in front of everyone. With that thought she walked out.

Evie sighed as she watched Eris disappear into the elevator. All she ever wanted was to get along with her colleagues but that seemed impossible. They all hated her and they hated her even more now.

She was about to go after Eris to try and explain things but Edwin stopped her. Some things are never to be forced. One of them was friendship.

***** ***** *****

Evie scrunched her nose up in disgust as she watched Tori and Edwin acting all cozy together. She had known of their relationship from the first day and she had supported it. And she had made that known to them when they tried hiding it from her.

But supporting your best friend's decision to date your brother didn't mean you wouldn't get that awkward feeling when they kissed or did something romantic in your presence. That was exactly what Evie was feeling.

She now regretted letting them know that she was aware of their relationship or even inviting Tori to her supposed lunch date with Edwin. She groaned as she saw them both laughing to a not-so-funny joke Tori had made. She was really happy for both of them but she didn't wish to be their chaperone.

Muttering an excuse that she wasn't sure they heard, she made her way out of the restaurant. As she was about to leave the restaurant, she bumped into someone. Immediately she apologised but she received a scowl from the woman. As the woman raised her head to glare at her, Evie recognised her immediately. It was Eloisa. And from the look on her face, Evie was sure that she recognised her too.

"Oh my goodness!" Eloisa exclaimed sarcastically as she eyed Evie. "Who do we have here? Isn't this the high and mighty ex Miss of the Martinez household, Evangeline Carlos?"

Evie smiled slyly as she feigned ignorance. "I suppose. And who the hell are you supposed to be?"

Eloisa frowned and threw a glare at Evie. She wasn't supposed to forget her. "You should know who I am?"

Evie stared bluntly at Eloisa and pretended to think. "Maybe but I don't take note of insignificant things. So remind me again, who in the world are you?"

Eloisa managed to smile even though she was annoyed. "Eloisa. Eloisa Delgado. The.."

Evie cut her short. She knew that Eloisa wanted to embarrass her in public but she was determined to beat her at her own game. "Insignificant mistress of David Garcia? Rings a bell. So are you here for an autograph?"

Eloisa scoffed. "You must be kidding. I'm here to eat. By the way, how did a vagabond get into a five star restaurant?"

Evie widened her smile. Eloisa wanted to shame her by all means but she had no idea who she was dealing with. "I have no idea. Would you please share with us how you managed to get past the security?"

Eloisa was angered at Evie's statement. People were now looking their way and whispering to each other. "I was talking about.."

Evie cut her off again. "You. I know. It's hard, right? To show up after all these years without accomplishing anything."

"I accomplished a lot okay. This restaurant and that car outside are proof of that." Eloisa blurted out as she pointed to a random car.

Evie scoffed at her. Her father had just transferred the ownership of the restaurant to her and the car Eloisa was pointing to was hers. "Oh! Really? So you own this restaurant?"

"Built it from the scratch." Eloisa said with a smirk. Even though it was a lie, it felt great to be better than Evie.

"And you own that car as well?" Evie asked again. Her intention was for everyone to hear Eloisa lie.

"Exactly."

Evie feigned remorse. "I'm so sorry, ma'am. For embarrassing you in the presence of all these people. For doing this." Evie said as she walked to the car and entered it. She lowered the glass to see Eloisa's face. She smiled slyly again as she saw Eloisa's jaw drop in surprise before she signaled to the security guards present.

"Drag that crazy bitch out of my restaurant." She said coldly and drove off slowly, watching through the rearview mirror as Eloisa struggled with the guards. Revenge felt so good.