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ACT 1

PERHAPS

Isabella Hu-Weng, wife of esteemed neurosurgeon Elliot Weng sat at a table of the local Little French Pastry Cafe in Auckland waiting for her strong dose of flat white and almond croissant to be served to her. As she scrolled through her Facebook, of the latest posts of South East Asia's taciturn elite, liking one of her family's friends posts of their trip to another religious sight.

That reminded her.

Isabella had purposely taken herself to the neighbouring country of Talia's favourite escape, to break distance from one of the religious group back in Singapore she was supposed to attend to. Away from Singapore's malicious heat from its dry season and now basking in the nation's cool Autumn one.

Well it wasn't my fault technically she started it, and it was only a defensive mechanism what I said, and yes perhaps I could have said it way better but not in that heat of the moment. Talia's aunt had pissed off drastically the head of the Christian bible study group. And besides Autumn in Auckland isn't bad, and the coffee here is good here. Score.

As a notification popped up from her WhatsApp group she instantly clicked on it as she read the continuous debate on what designer Talia's wedding dress was or how many carats the ring was going to be.

I bet 150 carats

That's way too vulgar, I predict anything between fifty-five and ninety.

When I was with Alexander McQueen I heard he and ten other seamstresses are working on this really big wedding dress.

Lah! No, Talia's gown at least has fifteen people plus the designer working on it. And haven't you've been paying attention?! It's going to either Zuhair Murad or Elie Saab.

Isabella glared at the phone as she brutally turned off her phone and huffed. Another reminder of her relatives eulogizing the magnificent daughter like she was the revered deity of their fantastical religion. Her eldest brother and shining star of the family and the photogenic Angelina Padilla-Hu wasn't was anything more to what Isabella called her the half-breed. Isabella simply didn't understand. No matter how hard she tried she could never be the best.

From a young age, Isabella was overshadowed by Richard, the so-called perfect son, if perhaps she was born a few years earlier and the opposite sex, perhaps she would have what she had been craving her entire life. When Isabella brought home A-pluses, Richard brought home a note from the head to move him up a grade. When she didn't complain about her tight weekly schedule of tutoring and other activities, Richard would fake he was overwhelmed and sometimes faint on-site as the swarm of staff would carry him on a golden stretcher to his room. When she completed the rounds of her studying at Oxford then dropping out to marry her partner Elliot Weng, a man who was from a pure exceptional lineage of Chinese descendant from Indonesia and a man of her parent's likings Richard had married a half Asian aristocrat from the Philippines from what was described at love first fall.

Now, even though she had given three perfect children, the first two twins and the oldest by a minute a boy -Owen Weng- and the other one a girl -Jádore Weng-, and the youngest after three years Jacqueline Weng. She had given birth to a boy first, whilst Richard's first child was a girl, Talia; and the moment from when she was born she was treated as if she was the newborn dauphin of France whilst her millions of dollars baptism had gone to waste.

Now whilst her life could have been overlooked by her brother she had striven to it win back through the lives of her own children but so far she had unsucceeded. Talia was completely out of reach, and though her pudgy prodigal son and perfect daughter were living out their mother's wishes Talia the oh-so-mighty was still so far out of reach. First, she was clearly the favourite grandchild of her fastidious parents. Second, her family were now swarming around her as if she was the queen of a hive as she had sacrificed herself to save her family's fortunes to the unknown dynastic pedigree European family whose son was the only one to be more perfect than the goddess herself, with their relationship seeming like if it was more romantic than a Disney movie. And third, though her two eldest were studying abroad in the finest schools that were approved of her social milieu Talia was studying in this unheard-of school were the true heirs of families were the ones who moved and swayed the culture and the world's economy.

It simply wasn't fair. Was it selfish to call her life a misery? For someone who could buy anything, their heart desires and good family to be still so greedy or wanting more? Was it wrong to call her life a misery where the was more than enough shelter and food to cover her head? Perhaps.

Perhaps it was.

---

With her black marble covered math book and pencil case pulled into a tight hug against her chest, the ebony wonder waltzed in through the opened mahogany door brightly as the math professor putting down his marker turned his head to the side.

"Ah, well if it isn't my favourite student," he exclaimed as Talia's expression brightened.

"Really sir?!" She beamed as he raised a brow.

"No, not you," he waved his hand in a dismissive manner as her expression changed into a deadpanned one as Talia moving to the side watched Adya walk in.

"Of course, her," she huffed.

"No, not her," Dr Bishop shook his head as Talia raised a brow as following the Indian female was Hiro with his usual poker face as Talia felt a punch through her gut.

"HIM?!" She screamed as Hiro sighed turning to his friend with a disapproving look.

"So loud, Lia-chi," he admonished making his way to a desk beside Talia's.

"Welcome back everyone, I've hope you've had a rapturous break. Now, let's begin with something easy this morning," he then got our his markers, "Ramanujan's theorem. Will using his theorems to solve the following..."

---

  "I can't believe you forgot how to do that," Hiro sighed as they walked down the hallway, holding half of the jaded-eyed female's stack. Talia who only laughed at her friend's usual disapproving expression smiled along with the new batch of sophomores who were eager to be well acquainted with her.

"Well, it's not my fault I don't remember that!" Talia protested hysterically, "Why should I remember what d is, it has no f*cking value to me, nor does x or y or any other bloody coefficient!"

*algebra pun intended

Hiro couldn't help but let a small smile, a chuckle danced on his face at his friend. Hiro had admired Talia, Hiro was in love with Talia from afar. At first, he had thought it was nothing but a lustful feeling, an insipid hormonal crush on his friend back halfway through his first year when he was sixteen. But as the month changed along with the seasons, so was his feelings. It was not her inscrutable looks that had captured his heart, no. It was never that, to begin with.

Yes, perhaps another reason so it was to him. Like along with others' views, Talia was so ineffably beautiful. At first glance, there was nothing special about the female on her looks and ordinarily beautiful bewitching person. But there was something else about her, an innocently alluring siren. With more thirstful glances, they would finally recognise the few bits and pieces that pinned everything together to get this ethereal alien being.

Talia didn't have the western standard beautiful tanned long legs, seductive hourglass figure, a big bosom nor sharp high cheekbones like her friend Gianna had; rather in place a simple plain athletic-like looking body that had matched her ice skating regime. With that, she didn't even fit the Asian looking standard of epitome beauty, not a perfect slim tiny waist, porcelain skin, or a slim face.

No. It had all started with Talia's striking illuminating green eyes, a miraculous trait she had somehow phenomenally inherited despite the odds under natural thick eyelashes she had inherited from her father that slept under her prominent double eyelids. Then the common celestial nose, wiping out the high nose bridge look, cute dumpling cheeks that was very much admired by everyone and Hiro himself, when she smiled and laughed, a moderate moon-shaped face with no marble cut shape jaw like her betrothed, natural full dull brown lips. Her ebony hair flowing inches below her collarbone, attached to wide shoulders then lean narrow feminine ones. She didn't have long nor skinny legs with a large thigh gap, rather having dim chubby legs that had created this elegant, sexy dynamic look to her.

Piecing it together, whether she wore her golden framed glasses and a merchandise shirt she had worn for three days or was wearing a couture gown she had radiated this elegant, graceful, refined and timeless look. Out reigning an Audrey Hepburn or an Elizabeth Taylor.

But no. No that wasn't what Hiro had fallen so deeply about. She was this ordinary girl, an anime and DC comics obsessed girl who was childish, scary at times but loyal down to the bone person. A girl, a lady of elegance, integrity and intelligence despite Talia's statements of her being dumb. She was so incredibly gifted in art, how she guided her paintbrush or pencil and was always had another perspective, an artistic perspective in mathematical or economical times.

"Boke!*"

*Japanese insult meaning dumbass, id10t and so on.

Hiro had snapped of his trance as Talia was rapidly waving her hand in front of his face.

"Tsk, what," he blinked, annoyed by the alarming sight in front of him.

"You spaced out, come one a woman wants her scones. It's Tea Time!" she jovially beamed.

"alright Mad Hatter," he rolled his eyes, as they made their way to the locker room hallway.

---

Cesar Vanderhaden was currently in Toronto, Canada, standing in an all mirrored elevator scrolling with marble tiled flooring eating a blueberry muffin that was crumbling terribly down his navy button shirt, and his other hand occupied by holding up his phone.

The silver automatic door opened to reveal a distraught looking girl, no older than twenty-one furiously holding her phone dressed in a faux pink cardigan flanked on her shoulders that was over her tight Gucci fitted dress that was covered by the logo outrageously as that was gauchely draped in gold jewellery and black Jimmy Choos that clicked along with the tiles as she stood in the opposite corner of him.

Why the fucking hell do these people overdress he cussed in German as he then accessed his own clothes. Some no-name dress shirt, he was still wearing sweatpants, he had his pants in a backpack, due to him waking up late. I swear I've seen her somewhere he looked at the firey head girl.

Fishing out tissues or her evident Louis Vuitton bag, her card had slipped on the floor unknown to her on the floor.

"Excuse me your-,"

"Can you f*ucking stop hitting on me alright! I'm GAY ALRIgHT GEt THAT IN YOUR sick HEAD! " she shouted, wiping away her tears as he blinked blankly at the sudden anger. Gulping he quickly picked up the card, a buy one get one free stamp card for some cafe.

Further aggressively wiping away her tears she scrunched it up in anger as Cesar was now looking at the lights of the elevator levels desperately. Why does the id10t want me to meet him on the top level for god sakes?!

"I mean. Just because I was spotted kissing a guy's cheek for Christ's sake, doesn't mean I'm cheat'n on Gloria! Alright!" she vented, "He was my guy nanny, and he's f*ckin french!"

Cesar looked to the side of the mirror were on her phone displayed a gossip column of her and big bold letters sitting on top of the photo.

Dakota Jukic! Heiress lies about being Lesbian! The iconic fashionista upfronted. Cheating on GLORIA!

"NOW I'm F*ckin getting hit on!" she turned to him as Cesar only nodded cautiously.

"I was only trying to say, you dropped your card," he handed it to her as she hesitantly takes it and sighed.

"I'm so sorry," she sniffs giving a soft smile, "I- I just the new, the scandal and everything. You've seen it recently-,"

"Eh, what scandal?" Cesar asks perplexed.

"It's alright, I know your trying to be kind and everything," she smiles.

Sure... Ceasar says in his head.

"Just, ugghh everything right now is annoying me. First this, then my friends, especially whats-her-face, Verena-,"

Ah, that B1tch

"-then Gloria, then I'm heading now to my mum who's furious with me-, ugghhh," she vents wiping the chain of tears as Cesar gets a handerchief from his pocket and hands it to her.

"oh, my god thank you-, effin chilvary is still alive. Where have you been?' she jokes as he chuckles.

"Sleeping," he remarks as they laugh as the level for the top floor dings.

"This is my stop," they both say in unison as they are both taken back.

"I'm going to the bar first actually, wanna join. I'll buy you a drink," Dakota offered

"Tempting but I'm running late, I've got to change, run to the restrooms. See you," he smiles as he runs out.

---

Coming out of the restroom as he fixes his hair, as he spots Mr Kadamskiynov getting up, the person whom he's talking to hidden by the pillar within his vision. Cesar, who was supposed to further discuss his wife's forty-two-year anniversary gift on the top floor that his friend's father had cleared out the top floor of a building.

As he moved along, before he was about to call out his name, now without the pillars obstruction he was ensuring deceived at the sight in front of him.

As Mr Kadamskiynov arose from his seat, instead of shaking the hand of the woman they lean in and kiss.

"Mum?!" Another voice across the room echoes, standing was none other than the girl he had met in the elevator, "Wha-, who is this?!" she asks.

The woman sighs as she gives a warm smile,

"Dakota, I want you to meet your father,"

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Sooooo...

that lost bombshell aye? (comments appreciated a lot)

I wanted to avoid Asian stereotype beauty standards, plus any beauty standards.

Yes, some people will have some traits, and perhaps all those traits but everyone is different in looks. Yes Talia is beautiful, and everyone wants a character like that so I tried to incorporate that but mainly as any person's traits/ flaws that make up who we are.

Ya'll are beautiful.

Remember as i quote, and Talia will later quote
"Sluttery is limited, elegance is timeless,
hence elegance always triumph over sluttery"

Any other comments here:

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Plz vote

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