"When it's gone, you'll know what a gift love was. You'll suffer like this. So go back and fight to keep it."
Ian McEwan~

Quynn POV

A few days ago I would have been happier with the news of the finding of my bag because that meant I could get my phone and most likely get in touch with Anna, but I have called the number given to me by the stranger earlier and it there was no answer.

If all was okay with Anna why didn't she come for the switch? Why isn't she here planning her own wedding? Is she even looking forward to her wedding? If yes, why is she MIA on this very important week?

Questions that can't be answered run through my head and I shake them out to retain composure and I make downstairs to meet Eli after I heard the sound of his car in the driveway. The front door opens and he steps into the parlour he's wearing a grey long sleeve and black trousers and he doesn't bother to try and tuck it in anymore. He's holding onto the purse which was snatched from my hand many days ago.

He gets to me and pulled me into a warm hug and I feel his lips on my hair.

"I'm guessing Rosalina already told you then?" his brow rose as he pulled away to look at me.

I nod and he sighs, "The attacker is still on the run, but in time, he'll get caught I can promise you that. But for now, your purse is safe and your phone is in it."

I silently nod again and he leans in to kiss my forehead. "Thank you, Eli, for everything."

"It's nothing, I know that I am not supposed to see the bride the day before the wedding day or bad thing will happen, so I'm gonna leave you now. Get enough rest, tomorrow is going to be a long day."

I lean in and kiss his lips, savouring the moment, knowing that it is going to be my last time.

After Eli takes his leave, I get back into my room, I lock the door and brought out the purse that has now been recovered and I search for the key to the drawer close to the bed I no longer want to leave those documents behind for Anna. If she is alive and hopefully returns, they will be used as collateral or leverage in case a time comes when Anna would want to turn against me.

I search through the small zipped pocket in the bag which I had kept last week, but I don't find any key inside. I walk to the bed and turn the bag inside-out on it, to see if maybe it would somehow fall out, but nothing drops.

It makes no sense, I kept it in the safe inner pocket of the purse, there is no way my phone will be left behind and my key will be gone.

No way.

Unless there was.

It feels wrong, it feels so wrong, everything feels out of place, why is the key gone? Why was I attacked in the first place, why isn't Anna back yet? How is this all connected?

This is obviously Anna's doing, she knew that after everything, I was going to choose to take the documents as collateral and use them against her when the time came and she was two steps ahead just like always.

My worse fear is becoming a reality, there is a greater plan at work here, one I'm yet to discover, and soon the truth will be revealed and there will be no hiding place for me on the face of the earth.

I stop pacing around when my phone tossed on the bed begins to ring and I picked it up and stared at the ID and it's the same number that I called over an hour ago and got no response from.

Anna.

I answer the call and place it to my ear and wait for whoever it is to speak.

"Well, this was long overdue." Anna's voice comes through the phone followed by a long sigh.

My whole body tenses up with rage and my hands ball into a fist at her casual and careless attitude even in the midst of my chaos, "That shouldn't be the first words you say, Anna Wilson, you should begin with an apology for what you have turned my life into."

"Things didn't go according to plan and that was beyond my control, but thank you for this past week, I owe you," she said, remorse far away from her voice.

I know this is the best apology I'm going to get.

"You don't owe me anything, the only thing I ask is for you to be around for tomorrow, you have to be here for the wedding," I say this not because I don't want tomorrow being anything but perfect for Eli.

"I will and that's why you need to leave as soon as this call ends, keep a low head until after the wedding. I will be taking the next flight and hopefully landing in the early hours of tomorrow, I should be home in time for the wedding."

I sigh in relief even though my heart breaks in my chest at the thought of losing Eli forever. At least this way he gets to be with the woman he loves even though that woman doesn't deserve him.

Things will finally fall into place, Anna will return to her rightful place, the Wilsons will finally get to see their daughter after more than a decade of losing her, while I'll finally be able to return home, return to Luke and Paula, my friends. Maybe this will somehow end happily for me.

Without Eli in the picture, you're not going to be happy. My inner voice tells me and I know that's the truth. I will finally be free though like I've always wanted.

I nod wordlessly, "Yes I will do that."

"Remember, stay low until all this is over," she instructs with a strict tone and I save myself the stress of telling her I am not a child that needs to be told the same thing twice.

I save myself from telling her a lot of things, like the fact that, in the past week I got in touch with her biological parents and invited them to the wedding or the fact that I am her twin sister and not just someone that looked like her, or the fact that I had instructed Eli to include the prenup into the document to be signed at the wedding and she would have no choice but to sign it since she (I) demanded it be included in the first place.

She will probably hunt me and who knows what she would do, but the reality of losing Eli has left me feeling nonchalant to all those consequences.

He will belong to Anna, just like he always has and she will get to feel his touches, kisses, caress and lovemaking and care even though she wouldn't cherish it the way it should be, I have to live with it as much as it hurts.

Eli deserved better but I doubt I am what he deserves.

......

It's for the best, I tell myself as I get into the taxi and it drives off. The taxi stopped before the Grandville hotel. Just like Anna had instructed, it is best I stay on a low key for a few days before returning home and as much as I want to get back home, I have to do this.

After paying for four days stay at the hotel, the hotelier gave me the key to room 13 and proceeded to show me the room and I silently followed her until we got there.

Eli stayed on my mind though, he's somehow has become the most important person in my life and more than anything, I want him to be happy. Anna will return and things will continue like they always have.

My heart clenches harder at the very thought.

Discovering the truth about Anna only made me guilty about my feelings for Eli and every moment I spent with him was like a reminder of what wasn't mine and it hurts every day. Anna is my twin sister and the Wilson's are my parents and this should have been the happiest week of my life, but somehow it the exact opposite. It was a mixture of blessing and a curse and as much as I wanted to run away every day I woke up, I stayed because the last thing I wanted was hurting him the way I did when I went to the railway.

Deep down I know that Eli is going to find out the truth and he's going to hate Anna and also the woman who deceived him for weeks and pretended to be his fiancée but I pray that doesn't happen.

I lay in bed staring at the ceiling, wondering what is going on in the life of everyone home. Eli is probably with Amade now for his bachelor's party having fun, but trying not to overtake himself as tomorrow is his wedding.

I wish he was marrying me and though it's a wrong thought, I can't help it.

I remember how he became overprotective after finding out that I had tried to run away last week. He blamed himself even though none of it was his fault. He is a fierce lover and an unapologetic one.

I stay awake with my thoughts running wild and I don't sleep early and it was many hours into midnight before I finally slept...

"Anna!" I hear Eli call to me, even as I picked up the pace of running, trying to get as far away from him as possible. "Anna, don't run from me." His voice becomes wary and sad.

"It's for the best, Eli, I do not want to hurt you any more than I already have," I replied with my heart pounding away heavily, but I don't stop running.

"I love you, Anna." He desperately exclaims and it slows me down and I turned to see him not so far behind.

"That's the thing, Eli, I am not Anna Wilson, I am not the woman you love, I'm just a fraud and a replacement." I whimper and cover up my mouth.

"What are you talking about?" He moves closer, his eyes becoming visible and questioning as they stared into mine.

"I am sorry that I lied to you and made you a fool in these past weeks, but I am not Anna, my name is Quynn Hudson, Anna Wilson's long lost twin sister and I have been her replacement for the last four weeks, but I can't do it anymore."

The affections he had in his eyes all this while decreases as he finally understood the words I've been saying. "Ann- if you're Quynn, where is Anna?"

"I don't know."

My eyes snap open on the bed and my head begins to pound a little. It may have been from the lack of sleep as I couldn't get enough of it last night or perhaps the dream which I just had. My eyes lift to the wall clock and the time is twenty past nine, the wedding should have started by now Anna is probably walking down the aisle in the white wedding gown and silver heel, looking beautiful and breathtaking and Eli probably looks like the luckiest man alive.

That is a possibility.

Moving on from Eli will be difficult, but necessary and I try not to dwell on the fact that I've lost him too much because he was never mine, to begin with.

My stomach grumbles and I am not surprised at it, the last meal I had yesterday was lunch and I know that I need to have more. I move to the desk phone across the bed and I dial the hotel attendant line requesting breakfast for coffee and creamed milk and toasted bread.

I pulled myself up and enter the bathroom where I stayed in the bathtub for a hot thirty minutes bath before returning to the room.

I walk to stand before the mirror and I stare at myself in it, looking like nothing I used to be. I am now a shadow of myself and I look just like Anna and even at this point with my make-up gone and no one to pretend to. I don't feel like myself, I have been Anna Wilson for so long that being anything else feels strange.

I clean myself up and change into my black jeans and green top, which are some of the things I came with yesterday, my hair I make into a neat ponytail and I slip my leg into the hotel flip-flop. I pick the remote and I am about to turn on the TV when the doorbell rings.

My stomach growls in response and I chuckle at how it seems to have a mind of its own.

I hurry my legs to the door and open it but I do not see the hotel attendant, instead, I see Jumai Wilson standing at my door.