It was one of those days of my life when everything seemed dull, even the gorgeous dress lying in front of me failed to catch my interest. Not that I ever cared about beautiful dresses but I was never that much detached with all the splendour of my life. The credit for giving me a colourless expression on such a fine morning went to my sister, Lindsey, who lost a rare signed copy of my favourite fantasy book in school. Those who are wondering why the book meant so much to me, you must know a few facts about me.

I am Venus Hill, 17. I like reading books and collecting book collectibles, signed copies from authors and everything a book lover loves to do. I even have a pretty big library of my own at home. Since I was a child, I have enjoyed reading all sorts of novels, I have enjoyed getting to know the characters, falling in love with fictional characters  and sometimes I have enjoyed hating the characters too.

I have always wanted respect in the society, I have always wanted to do something of my own and to achieve my goal, I have become somewhat rigid, as my sister will say, though to me, I am only determined. Books make me a different person- they make me a girl who is not afraid of love, not afraid of taking risks. Books give me a third eye. A fourth eye. And a fifth eye. Books make me look at the world in a thousand different ways.

"Bloody Hell Venus! Stop frowning for a moment and look at that dress. It's so gorgeous. You will look lovely in it." Lindsey was screaming, jumping and shaking me at the same time. If only I could be that excited.

"Lin, I might not go to the party. I am not in my best mind today."

"Venus, are you saying this because of the book? Please come to the party, Venus," she pleaded with her big, green eyes. "I promise you I'll never lose your book again, or even better, I'll never borrow your books again. I don't even like to read..."

"It's not that," I interjected. "You can borrow my books whenever you want-" I held her hands and smiled mildly. I was upset that I no longer had the book but Lindsey was my sister and sisters made mistakes. My mother said that elder sisters should always forgive their little sisters, as long as they owned up to their mistakes.

"-no, no, listen to me. I wanted to show the signed copy to my friends as they were not believing me at all," she frowned a little and looked at me. "But from now on I'll take your books only if I want to read them. Please come to the party. I'll be totally miserable without you. Please, please, pl-"

"Okay, okay. I'll go to the party. Now stop whining, Lindsey." I rolled my eyes and she let out a small laugh.

"I can't believe you have grown so mature, that you are not denying your mistakes anymore." Lindsey crossed her arms infront of her. I ignored her and went on saying, "But, you do know right? That we don't really have the book anymore. So, always think of the consequences before you make decisions, okay?" I shot a questioning glance towards her which she did not fail to return before rolling her eyes and muttering something about elder sisters.

"So, Lin, show me your dress. I assume it's lovely."

"Why, it's not prettier than yours," she pouted.

"Oh stop pouting." I shoved her. "You can always wear a different one if you don't like this, as long as it matches the theme though." I knew very well that Lindsey would loathe the idea, still suggested it to her anyway. Unlike me, Lin very much cared about dresses and parties and boys and what not.

"Wear different one?! No way, Venus. Are you out of your mind?" she screeched which in turn elicited a hearty laugh from me.

***

The afternoon was a blur of dresses, jewelleries, perfumes and hair products. My dress had a rose-gold, satin fitted bodice with a square neckline, and silk cherry-red flowy skirt. The dress made me feel good. I twirled the subtle folds of the skirt that swayed like a soft breeze . An effect of rippling fire was cast by the tiny red and orange sequins embellishing the insides of the folds in the skirt.

I yanked up the sleeves to my elbows in order to braid my hair. My mother had suggested her stylists do my hair, like they did Lindsey's, but I insisted on doing my hair myself. As soon as I was done braiding the hair, one of my mother's beauticians yanked down the sleeves to my wrist— it made me roll my eyes— I could not be that pristine and perfect all the time.

Noticing a stylist catch on to my expression, I curved my lips in a brisk smile, not wanting to be rude or unwelcome; then went on to smoothen my sleeves. The sleeves were semi-sheer and rose-gold in colour, embellished with red and orange sequins near the wrists. The sequins got scattered as they trailed up to my forearm.

My mother had not listened when I told her I wanted to do my own makeup, and so I had to sit down and listen to the beauticians telling me how it would have been nicer if I had gone bold instead of simple. I tried to be as firm as possible and told them that I preferred a simple makeup. But I could see where they had a point— my plain makeup along with the easy braid I had done my hair into did not really go with the outfit. I looked lousy. So, with no other option, I told the stylist to fix my hair.

To my relief she did not undo my braid, instead loosened it a bit, bringing long strands of hair infront and curling them, so that long curls framed my face. Then, she pinned some red stones to the crown of my head.

I looked elegant, like a warm fire that resembled hope.

I thanked the beauticians, then went on to check the time on my watch- it was already five hours and forty-five minutes in the evening. "You should take off the watch," one of the beauticians said. I did not want to.

"Is it really necessary?" I asked. "I doubt anyone will notice the watch."

Her nose was scrunched up as she raked her gaze over me. "You look odd," she said.

I sighed. "Fine."

I took off the watch, and mentally resented the person- someone called Eleanor Waters- who had decided that this year 'The Cliffords' must host a ball and that there should be a theme. My mother never had a bad thing to say about her, and in the past few months she spoke about Mrs. Waters a lot- mostly praises about her amiable nature, and how her idea of a ball with a theme was a good change for the usual boring charity evening The Cliffords used to organize. Once I had rolled my eyes, tired of listening to how everyone was so happy with Eleanor Waters' idea, and in return had earned a glare from my mother.

***

I met with my parents at the hall. Lindsey had come to my room as soon as she was ready, and she was the first to get ready. I was the last.

The theme was Elements and our family chose to be The Fire. My dad and me were soft, sparkling fire and my mom and my sister were hot, blazing fires. Lin had a fitted, red chiffon bodice with flames in gorgeous blue scattered over her bare shoulders; and a ruffled skirt in red silk. She looked magnificent in that dress— the blues brought out her light-brown hair that fell over her shoulders in soft curls. The sleek ruby choker she wore looked like a ring of fire around her pale, slender neck.

While Lindsey inherited our mother's slender frame, pale skin, light-coloured hair and green eyes, I looked more like father- with dark hair that looked almost black, tanned skin and pupils as black as kohl. Notably, I did not inherit father's tall body frame or his interest towards fitness. I was petite and pretty conscious about my body, though over the years I had learned to divert my mind to other important aspects of my life.

"You both look so beautiful," my mother exclaimed and my father nodded in agreement.

"I must say, all of us are looking very fiery tonight," I said earning a chuckle from everyone and a laugh from Lindsey. What I could not decipher was if she laughing at my bad attempt at a joke, or at the joke itself.

"Now, shall we? Our car is waiting."

"Yes, let's go, dad. I can't wait to be there at the party," Lindsey smiled, flashing all her teeth. I had never seen Lin so excited.

Every year in September, 'THE CLIFFORDS hosted a party, which we were not eligible to attend till we were fifteen. So, this was Lindsey's first time attending a big social event, and my third. 'THE CLIFFORDS was a social club and the charity evening hosted by them was the biggest charity event of the year. Both my father and mother were active members of the organization which earned them an invitation to the event every year. The place swarmed with press and reporters on the D-day, ever looking for gossip and scandals about the well-known and rich people to publish.

We were well-known as well as rich, though both of our parents have always told us to take advantage of our privileges for being a better person, for doing something for people, and not for partying all day or being obnoxious and harsh to others— the exact words of my parents.

I had come to know that the keys to surviving these events were to maintain a poise decorum, keep a smile-real or fake-plastered to the face and by trying to make the press bored.

"Don't show too much interest in anything, don't give away too much and the press will not bother you, so you can finally be peaceful in a place where everything but peace is there. Remember?" I reminded Lin as we crossed the hall.

"Yes, Venus." She rolled her eyes. "I am not sure why you don't like these events. This is one fine evening of enjoyment, Venus. I have also heard you get to meet great guys in such events." Lindsey grinned.

"Those 'great guys'," I said making an air-quote, "have never caught my interest-"

"—and maybe that's because you remain so focused on maintaining your icy attitude and on your quest to steer clear away from press that you fail to actually enjoy the evening."

"You don't understand, Lin. I do not want to be in the headlines of tomorrow's 'HOT GOSSIP' section, and with our family status, it is very much possible." We were close to the main gate and I quickly added, "But don't worry, you will be introduced to almost everyone. Maybe someone will even ask you to dance." I looked sideways at Lindsey and there was a dreamy look on her face which made me smile. I hated being the centre of attention while my sister loved being it.

"I am really eager to meet Mrs. Waters. I doubt she is half as nice as mom says she is," I added.

"I think she is nice. You need to admit that she had this awesome idea of a ball."

"Awesome? Right," I said sarcastically. Lindsey shot me a sideways look at that. I shrugged.

Lindsey stopped in the middle of the pathway. "What if you fall in love with someone at the ball?"

I was caught off-guard. "Come again?"

"What if you fall in love with someone? Will you be caring about the press and your behaviour even then? Will you not want to spend every moment you got, with that person?"

I blankly stared at her. She seemed as if she was my elder sister, not I hers. Lindsey raised her brows. "I don't think I am going to fall in love with someone at the ball. You cannot fall in love with someone you just met. Infatuation maybe, not love," I said. "I don't think I can assign a word as blissful as love to just about anything."

"But you read books- books that have romance, love. There are first loves, 'infatuation' as you call it- you read those."

"First loves are not infatuation, but love at first sight certainly is, at least to me. I love many things in a book, but that does not mean those are possible in real life. I-"

"What are you girls doing standing there? Is there anything wrong?" Father's deep voice floated to us from where he was standing infront of our car.

"We are fine," Lindsey called out. Then she said to me, "So you were saying?"

"You do not need to hear. Dad's calling us, let's go."

"No I do," she stomped her feet on the ground.

I sighed. If only she listened to all the important things I had to say, instead of wanting to listen to me talking about love. "I was saying that I sure like the idea of a Prince Charming, a knight in shining armour, the idea of escaping into a world where I will be able to experience all those things. But-"

"—Prince Charming and knight in shining armour— they really are great. Aren't they?" Lindsey cut me off.

"They are. But reality is harsher. You'll see."

Lindsey stared at me for a few seconds, then started walking towards the car. "You take away the excitement," was all she said.

_____________________________

Hope you all liked CHAPTER 1 of "A World of Treason and Tides."

Reality is indeed harsher, isn't it?

Please do comment how you feel about this chapter, and vote if you enjoyed it. 😊

Thank you. :)