Cinderella had no such problems

Turning the pedals of her indoor bike and leaning on handles as she watched her sister trying to twirl around on the other end of their video call, Lilly was amazed.

" How did you get them to switch the dress?"

"I said that young lady of my status should be more demure and not show that much skin. Not even on her wedding day." Petunia snickered.

"Wait let me get the veil." She disappeared from the screen then came back covered in thick white cloud.

"I can barely see your face! Can you see through it at all?" And how does she even walk wearing that pile of cloth?

"Well, somewhat, don't worry, dad will guide you down the aisle." Petunia lifted the veil and smiled. "No one could tell it's you with this on."

Lilly stopped the pedals and asked worriedly "You really want us to go through with it?"

Petunia shrugged "All you have to do is walk to the groom, stand there while they do BLA BLA BLA and then fly to the Hawaii for a honeymoon." She sat down and started to reassure Lilly.

"I made you a reservation for a single room at the same hotel honeymoon suite is reserved at. Paid for a special trekking and camping tour on Mauna Loa that will last for the whole week you will be there." She was really proud of thinking of that.

"By the time you are back, I will be married to Jason, and that marriage to Noah is gonna be declared null and void." Piece of cake. No, no cake for her. Not even imaginary. She closed her eyes and visualized her high school bathing suit.

"But really, that dress is a bit much.." Lilly was completely reluctant to wear that much silk, lace and embroidery at the same time.

"Hah, you poor little sport nerd," she heard Petunia declaring "THIS" she waved her hand to point out the magnificent dress "is a wedding dress inspired by the 6 million worth dress Queen Letizia wore at her wedding to King Felipe." She stood again and posed.

"This one was only 4 million and does not feature high collar, but does have a V neck" she pointed it "see, there are my sexy collarbones."

"Long sleeves," she raised her arms to show off their elegance "and four meters of circular train." She tried to twirl again and almost fell.

"I admit, it's a bit heavy for me, but with your superhero physique" she looked sincerely at Lilly through the screen " you should be able to dance whole night in it."

Lilly pouted and slid off her bike "Well if you say so. My training partner is coming over, going to run outside now. Laters."

Crap. Petunia sat down as the screen went dark. Should have not mentioned dancing.

Only weak spot her sportsy sister had was dance. When she tried competitive ballroom dancing, she had a fall out with her coach and dancing partner before they even got to competition.

They told her she is stiff as a board. So she practiced joga to relax her body.

Then she was told she has a sense of rhythm of a washing machine on centrifuge mode. So she almost broke that dudes nose.

Then, there was no then after that. It was a first and a last time her sister gave up on something. She said it's not worth the fuss. And went to compete in an air rifle shooting. Won a few medals in that as well.

Petunia went to change out of her dress. It was fine, her sister would not fail her. She will be there on time, they will switch, and then she will... Hmm.. how will she explain being away on her sister's wedding day?

Back to planning table.

At the same time, Lilly took a shower, changed into her outdoors training gear, including her sponsors SmartRun@RK bra, and went to meet her running training partner.

"Hey George," she waved at him as he approached with his car. She was stretching her legs feeling overwhelming need to run all out.

Lilly was aware, occasionally, that her intrinsic need to move might be just a tad little bit abnormal, but it went well with her chosen career path.

Or she chose to be professional athlete due to her absolute need to move?

Who cares! She is about to run! Freedom!

They ran on the synthetic track that she had made in her back yard, winding around indoor pool area. She had another track, for cross country running, going through park area behind that, but now she was training for decathlon, so synthetic track it is.

George was also training for decathlon, so they would team up, to spur each other up, whenever she was in town.

Which was not all that often, lately. She bought this house and had tracks and pool made when she first started out with her career. It was a bit outside of her home town, not far from her parents house, yet for past few years she was barely ever home.

There was always some competition somewhere. And even if she could not win them all, she had to try. Do or die! Only way to win is to go more, more, more!

Gorge ran after Lilly wondering what's up with her lately. He was used to her obsession with running, but these days.. He was always faster than her on short tracks, but in long distance, she was faster. But not this much faster!

Her speed was a reason he trained with her - there would be no point for either of them to team up if they did not rival each other. He specialized in decathlon, while she ran all over the place and outside of track and field.

As they ended their session, he stopped and checked his stats. Whoa, new records were set today!

"Hey Lilly," he asked "is there something going on at your side?"

She looked at him while pulling her feet up to her buttocks, stretching her leg. "Why?"

"Well, heck if I know, but check your stats. We broke the barrier we had last week."

She looked at her screen and raised her eyebrows "Whoa, we did it!" She started jumping on her toes.

"Well, dunno if it matters, but my sister is getting married."

"Petunia, really?" He knew that girl, she would sometime come to competitions to cheer Lilly on. "Did she not just graduated? Well, pass my congrats to her."

Lilly bit her tongue to prevent slipping a 'Thank you'. Talk about awkward thing to say.

"And you?" George asked "do you ever think about marriage? Settling down?" With a handsome and successful decathlon runner or similar something.

"Pfffft" Lilly could not hold that back "what's marriage for? Can it be eaten? Can it run?" She stopped bouncing and started torso rotation exercise.

"How it goes? First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby in a baby carriage." She laughed.

"I did not reach the first step yet." Amusing question really. Then she remembered that she is actually going to get married. Instead her sister.

But that's a fake marriage, so it does not count.

George watched her expressions switch and sighed, stretching as well. Honestly, not like he was not aware that Lilly's brain had no interest in anything but running and moving. He got over that soon after they started training together.

Yet sometimes he wondered, what kind of a man should it take to make Lilly aware that she is a woman, not a race horse. That would be a sight to behold.

He went to shower, then they parted. He went back to his place, to fix himself a dinner, then relax. He doubted Lilly knew what that word even mean.

Lilly took a shower as well, then sat in a sauna for an hour. She pondered over whole story once again. Ridiculous, but noting more than other things Petunia got her into over the years.

In a way, she did owe Petunia a lot. If left on her own, Lilly would be doing nothing but running since she was five.

She would never try playing piano, piano duo no less. Or making pottery. She still had that set of plates they made together. Crocheting. Fingerprinting. Horseback riding. What else there was? Oh, drama classes. Now, that was one historical failure. Nothing can top that one, for sure.

She just got out of sauna when her phone rang in Petunia's ring tone. What now?

"Yes?" She answered and on the screen her sister was smiling, holding a measuring tape.

"I just took my measures, to make sure dress would fit us both, so could you give me your numbers?"

Lilly recited her three body measurements, she was just making orders for sportswear few days back.

Petunia giggled "I knew it, you are thicker than me now!" Hahaha I win finally! "Will make sure to do corrections on waist and hips."

"That's all pure muscle!" Lilly was fuming. Were not her boobs bigger than Petunia's, why no correction there?

"Oh, and let me know what's your biceps size now? It would be bad if the dress gets ripped when you flex."

Black screen again. Petunia giggled. She knew her sister's arm size, she will make sleeves wider as well, but, boy, was that face worthy of it.

Standing naked in her bathroom, with a phone squeezed in her hand, Lilly was wondering, why is she helping that devils spawn exactly?