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'Dear  diary, 

              It's time to bid adieu (don't worry diary, it's not your time yet) to France and this wonderful vacation.

So here is me bidding a tearful farewell to this wonderful place. Hope we meet again.'

I scramble the last entry into my diary. I hear my mother and sister arguing downstairs.

"Ingrid! Lili! Hurry. We are running late. The flight leaves in three hours."

"Mom, there are three more hours to kill."

"Don't forget it will take an hour to reach the airport, now take these bags and hand it over to your dad"

" Ugh, mom..." Ingrid says, dejectedly. If my guess is right, my mom would probably be coming for me.

 I quickly dash a cherry-coloured lip-balm on my lips and head towards the door when I hear my name being called. Aren't I forgetting something?

"Lilia Swan, are you planning on coming down today?"

Well, you might have already guessed it. I'm Lilia, Lilia Swan. Welcome to my world. It sure will be one hell of a ride.

"Lilia Swan, I want you down this instant," her voice booms over the empty rooms.

Oh, shit. I guess I'm in trouble. I look down to realize I'm barefoot. Oh yeah, shoes!

How could I forget them?

I hurriedly grab my purse, shoes, and dash downstairs, not wanting to face the wrath of my mom.

"Yeah, Mom?" I ask, feigning innocence.

"Get in the car, missy. We are late already! If we miss this flight, we can't make it back home in time for the Fundraiser's Ball," my mother exclaims in a reprimanding manner.

"But that ball is two days away," I state.

"Exactly. We have only two days left to take care of all the decorations and arrangements. Now get in."

Well, my mom has a thing for all these events. She is the unofficial event manager for all the events in our town, be it big or small, she has to be a part of it.

She says, "Events connect people, events spark change". Her words, not mine. So she has a huge obsession with events, and fortunately, she is very good at handling them.

I get in the backside where my sister is busy fidgeting with her boots,  her blonde hair covering her face.

" Scoot!" I say, getting in.

"Geez. A little patience won't hurt," she replies irritated. Her blue eyes looking up and her lips curved down. 

I look exactly like her; you know perks of being a twin except for the fact that I don't ooze out the confidence that she does, neither do I have the guts as her. We look similar except that when I smile I get a dimple on my left and she on her right.

We both get along perfectly err - at least most of the time we do, unlike few twins I met. While Ingrid is one heck of a ball of energy, I am just the opposite, I would prefer keeping to myself. Ingrid can kick your ass and have that smug look on her face, but I get the chills to even think about kicking.

We both are like the grey - a perfect mix of black and white. Equal of both darkness and light. While she is the black, I'm the white and vice versa. We balance each other perfectly.

I get in the car and strap my seat belt.

"Girls! No arguing. Your mother is already giving me an ache with all her talks about the ball," my dad says jokingly from the driver's seat.

My dad is in his mid-fifties and is good looking, to be honest. He doesn't have a huge belly, like most men do, but a little seems to protrude. His hair has greyed over the years but it seems like it's doing him good.

"Rick!!" my mom says, hitting his arm.

"Ah, there you are, dear. You know I love you, right!" he says, trying to make up for his words.

I roll my eyes and smile at all the silly stuff they do. Ah, parents!

After an hour of bickering, sleeping, and dreaming, we finally reach the airport and my dad returns the car back to the rentals.

"Just in time for the flight," my mom says happily, clapping her hands.

We each grab a suitcase and head on towards the international flights. Thankfully, the queue wasn't long. After a round of checking and verification, we get into our flight.

I look at my phone and see the picture I took of the Eiffel Tower, and I was already missing France.

You might wonder what is going on? Well, let me tell you, we are heading back home after a wonderful summer vacation in France. My dad had some work about a deal and we thought it would be the perfect excuse to come visit France.

The devil behind planning this was my sister.

We were staying in a rented villa and My-Oh-My, this was one of my best vacations ever!!

From the handsome French man, whom I shall dream about for a long time to come, to the nightlife, everything was like a dream.

There here are cute guys back in Oakdale, but there was something like a spark about French guys that attracted me. J'aime la France, I picked up some French.

Oakdale is where I live. It is an old town in the East of Virginia. Nothing out of the ordinary ever happens in my town, or maybe they keep everything in the wraps, who knows.

My grandma would often tell me that Oakdale is a special town and has a rich history. Maybe we had history, but it sure is lacking now. Nothing great ever happens. Forget great, nothing out of the odd ever happens. You might ask, what's the big deal?

Well, let me tell you when nothing great happens all we do is the routine jobs, and it's rather mundane. I'm yearning for adventure, thrills, adrenaline.

I wasn't into all this stuff until one day Ingrid took me out for an adventure camp. Since then I've always loved that adrenaline feeling like Ingrid does. It was one of those many things we shared.

I plug in my earphones and am lost in my world when Ingrid pokes me from beside.

"Psstt. Lili."

I reluctantly remove my earphones and give her a blank stare.

"Yes, Ingrid," I answered sleepily.

"Come on you just woke up and you are sleepy already?"

"Not my fault, mom decided an early morning flight would be wonderful. I love my sleep." I say, setting my neck pillow.

"Let's talk. I'm bored!" She exclaims.

"Talk about?" I question her bored, my eyes already closing.

"Anything. How about the vacation in France. What did you like about it?"

"The beautiful weather," I answer, hoping she won't ask anything else.

"The love which was practically in the air," she says sighing.

"The delicious street food which is hands down the best," I say and my mouth turns wet on its own accord.

The food over there is orgasmic.

"Agreed, they have so many varieties of cheese for heaven's sake," she says, laughing.

"I also loved those beautiful picturesque locations. They'd be great for my Instagram," she continues on.

I do not realize when I fell asleep. But after a while, I feel someone shaking me whilst shouting my name.

"Lili get up. We've landed!"

Oh, it was Ingrid. Her screaming stopped with her violent shakes successfully wakes me up.

"Landed already?" I ask, yawning.

I finally set foot in my town again, after such a long time. It was almost evening by the time we reach the airport. 

"Well, Oakdale hasn't changed. Still the same old." I say, stepping in the car.

"Oh please, we were gone for like maybe three weeks. What grand changes did you expect?" Ingrid asks.

"Quit bickering you two," my mom tells us from the front seat.

"Mom, we aren't bickering, we are discussing," we say at the same time and burst out laughing.

She sighs and gets on with her call about the fundraiser ball. I still do not understand why she is so interested in this. 

I roll down the windows, taking a deep breath of my hometown. I could smell the fries from the local street vendor and the evening air around is pleasant. Looks like it rained sometime back and the heavenly smell of the rain-washed mud hit me. 

We reached our place after a long drive from the airport, on the way we come across my favourite place in this whole town 'COCO'S BAR & GRILL'. It's the perfect place to hangout, from milkshakes to cocktails they have it all.

Our house is on the other end of the town. Our house is, let's say, big and beautiful and I swear I'm not even exaggerating like I usually do. It's huge and very ancient, or so I was told by my grandmother. You know what's the best part?

We have secret rooms and chambers in our home. Can you believe that? Nah, well you got to, because it's true. There is a secret tunnel from my room to my sister's. Cool, right !!?

It was always fun coming to my granny's place when we were kids because we got to discover all these secrets and pretend we were princesses. Well, unfortunately, my granny died a few years back, and we moved here.

We practically grew up in this town, given we spend all our summers and every holiday we ever got with our grandmother. I couldn't ask for a better place to live, it's just perfect.

Especially the west wing. It overlooks the forest, which is conveniently just a few minutes away from our home. I love this place and I usually come here when I'm depressed or in a sour mood. My sister and I live on the second floor close to the west wing and my parents in the east wing.

There are two staircases that lead to the terrace where we are prohibited from going. My mom says, 'It's narrow and dangerous.' but I highly doubt that.

And the only reason I never went there was because my granny warned me not to go and I maybe kinda promised her so I haven't really been up there. I wonder if something is in that tower?

A/N

OMG I successfully finished writing the first chapter. Okay as previously mentioned l, this book is co-written by me and my friend Pavan. So we both are co-writing this book and for quicker updates go follow him. I'm still new to all this stuff, so help me with your feedback.

Suggestions are welcome.

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LOVE

~VAISHNAVI