MinAera

It had never crossed her mind, that Mandy Gilbert, would live in her imaginary life when the boy she had a crush on since primary school, Justin Bedington, chose her to be his wife. Mandy knew Justin for as long as she remembered. She was only able to look at him through an untouchable wall known as ‘reality’.
         Justin is crazy rich, the son of a CEO in a multi-billion company in the U.S. Being surrounded by countless pretty girls, selected as head of the Student Council, brilliant, a social butterfly, and a highly dedicated person he was, didn’t make Justin got easily overwhelmed by that. Though he lived in a world full of loving gaze in any where he went, he gave zero care in it—even when almost half of the girls on this planet were head over heels in him. But who knew, his final choice was Mandy.
          Since their dramatic and ridiculous meeting, Justin thought that girl is amusing, funny, and known as a trouble maker girl who often gets over-dramatic at school. Justin first encountered her at a party, and from then on, he knew that this girl is one of a kind, so he chose her to be his wife.
           But who thought Mandy would live her new life in peace? The Drama Queen faced countless dilemmas revolving around Justin; from his sexy assistant, a gorgeous widow next to their house, and also, an obsessed teenager. Mandy couldn’t stand all the girls’ hysteria every time they were around him. Adding to that, the trust that was given by Justin, made Mandy feel as if she was ignored and invisible.
            In Mandy’s little mind, marrying someone of her dream would lead her to a life full of happiness—as seen in fairy tales. However, marriage life wasn’t as good as she thought. Problems after problems appeared unexpectedly. Starting from Justin’s anger toward Mandy who ruined the most important event in his life, being shunned by her best friend due to misunderstanding, to the revenge carried out by her school friends that put Mandy in danger. Mandy only had her journal—the only thing she could write her feelings, lies, and all the secrets.
           So, how did the drama queen overcome the problems she faced and admitted all the biggest secrets that separated Mandy from her loved ones?

Confessions of a Drama Queen

"Billy, stop." Justin's forefinger stuck in Billy's face. He gave a threatening look. Instead of keeping his mouth shut, Billy spoke again.

"What? Is there something wrong? You deserve someone better." Billy's hyperbolic smile spread sickly. "Rebekah for example? What's missing from Rebekah? She is beautiful, fashionable, rich, captain of cheerleaders, and everyone wants her. You threw away beautiful girls to defend this creature?" Billy pointed at me without the slightest respect, it made my eyes water and heat even more. "Eww, Dude."

"Enough," Justin's tone rose. "Don't you dare..." Before he could finish his sentence, I turned my body away from them. Walking furiously while wiping the tears that were waiting in the corners of my eyes to fall. Don't cry, Mandy, don't cry. Just let Billy say what he said because what he said was rubbish. Don't Cry.

There were slams and groans of pain behind them, but I didn't want to look back to see what was going on. Without even looking back I could already guess that Justin had landed a hard smack on Billy for his insult. I ignored Justin's defense because I was already hurt by the insult, and chose to speed up my pace while holding my cold arm with tears streaming through the darkness of the night.

"Mandy, stop. Please." From behind, someone grabbed my arm causing me to turn around. The first sight I saw was a pair of honey-colored eyes in front of me, staring at me apologetically.

I lowered my head, hiding my wet eyes or my lips quivering against the sound of sobs.

"He's right, Justin," I whisper, tilting my head to look at him. "You deserve someone better. I'm nothing. I don't even deserve to be your friend." Two drops of tears that fell from my eyelids entered the corners of my lips as I sobbed softly. "I'm not popular, I'm not attractive, I'm not rich, I'm a drama queen." I shook my head faintly, letting another tear roll down my cold cheek. "I'm different. And I don't deserve to be loved."

"Hey, hey, shh..." He touched both of my cheeks, forcing me to look into his dark eyes. Instantly the tight feeling in my chest disappeared as soon as I saw those two eyes. "You're no different. You're unique." He wiped the tears on my cheeks, brushed away some of the hair that was stuck there, lifted my face to meet his gaze more deeply.

My legs went numb for a moment. He looks at me like I've been staring at him all along.

"You deserve to be loved," he continued. "You deserve to be loved, Mandy. Because you are who you are."

I smiled a little. He easily made the tightness in my chest disappear. And I realized one thing that he, who managed to calm me down again, would never be mine because we were separated by the walls of reality.

Beyond my expectations, Justin took off the jacket he was wearing, then took it off my shoulders without taking his eyes off me. His lips curved into a honey-sweet smile. Then he pulled me into his warm embrace, making my brain and heart feel as if they had been stung by a swarm of bees. I was stunned for a few seconds with open lips, felt his warm comfortable embrace, heard his steady heartbeat, got a soft caress from his hand on my head, inhaled the refreshingly masculine scent on his body.

Felt all the things from him that I wanted to feel all along.

My wet eyes didn't blink an inch and my lips moved into a small smile. I lifted and wrapped my arms around his back. I hugged back tightly. And put a smile on my face.

Not Different but Unique