HIS FOCUS WAS DISTRACTED when he heard the soft knock on his door. His twin's face popped out behind the oak door with a grin. Immediately, he paid his attention back to the burly book laid in front of him. It was the history of the great dynasty of the Bisque royal family which had a tragic story and at the same time mysterious. Besides the book, a few pages of scribbled pages strewn across his desk. His hand danced along with the words as he narrates his essay in his mind.

"Father asks you to have dinner together with us," his twin sister squeaked behind him.

"Not you?" he replied without lifting his head. It has been a week she had tried to persuade him to have dinner with their father and every time it would be the same phrasing that his twin had used. He knew their father would never use this kind of request of having dinner together, instead, he would rather leave his son on his own. The strained relationship he had contradicted with the request his sister had said and so he instantaneously knew she had twisted their father's words into something that benefitted her in some way.

"Brother..."

Minutes went by and he still rooted in his chair, head on the book and his sister stubborn as he was.

He could hear his twin sister sighed heavily. She was lounging around his drawer, looking at the photos lined on top of it. There were photos of days when they were still young and small. Nothing of the recent. "How long is this going to go on? I'm tired of this childish argument. Let's go to eat our dinner, please."

"Don't touch my things!" Jill said sternly without turning his head. He knew his sister was someone bold enough to pick on him even when he was already in a foul mood.

"Boohoo, why am I stuck in between such Wisdom's ego fight," his twin said in a mocking tone even after been scold on. He could hear that girl was shamefully rolling on his bed with no care of her twin brother's feeling.

"Jilliard!"

"Tch!" he chided.

He gave up. The world would end if he did not give in to his twin sister's demand. Forcefully, he put down his pen. He faced his sister with a begrudging aura. "You're a handful twin, don't you know?"

She, his twin sister—Jacq, smiled gleefully. "I know and you're a prickly twin."

He sighed. "Why are you set on with the idea of me and father eating together?" he said as he tidied his desk at snail-paced speed. It had been a week she had tried to persuade him and maybe their father, to dine together. If his twin does not have a reasonable explanation for her tantrums, there will be hell waiting for her.

What he did not expect this kind of answer to form from her mouth. Her usual aloof and cheerful side diminished. Her face turned gloomy. "My time has come to Jill," she spoke quietly. Almost like a whisper. "Next week I'll be engaged and be wed when the flowers bloom."

At that moment, he realized that the woman of this house really likes to drop their bombs whenever and wherever. First, it was their late mother. Then, this.

"You..."

Jacq smiled brightly. "It's nothing to worry about though."

However, he did not believe a word his sister spoke of. "Really? We're talking about your engagement silly. Not some vegetables cross breed extraordinaire."

"Ergh, please save your nanny nagging for another time," she replied all eager to get out of the room. It seemed that she discovered that she had incurred the opening of his wrath and he is far from starting.

"You better sit young lady. I'm not finished with you yet! Why didn't father tell me about this? Why he didn't discuss this with me? Jacqueline!!"

'BAM!'

The nerve of her to slam that door in front of his face. He grounded his teeth. Not just his twin sister but his father too. Did his father just disregard to hear his opinion just because of this damned curse?

"Jill..."He heard his twin called his name behind the door.

"Please don't be mad. You know that sooner or later, I would go. We had tried to put off this talk for a long time. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you this but for you... this gender bender curse that you don't want to tell me, I had to do something about it."

Suddenly he felt like he had been hit from the back of his head. Why he did not see this? Was it not suspicious from the start for their father to let them go to Chamberly Institute when he had been strongly against it?

"Not only that, but we can also fulfill our promise to her too. We have been holding onto it for a long time and now that the time has come... with a little bit of bravery and sacrifice, I don't mind you know... H-he is just Viscount Maximillion son. Not some stranger," she said with a firm voice though he can hear her voice trembled in the middle.

Jacq always put up a front like this. The one that put on the brave mask like some kind of hero of the day. Even on the day of their mother's funeral, she did not cry. She held his hand and pulled him to bid their mother for the last time.

I'm really useless.

"So please, hm?" she pleaded as she slowly pushed open the door. She slipped her head in the crack of the opened door with her most pitiful-yet-annoyingly-adorable look that she had master since they were toddlers. He swore that he even saw the twinkling of small flowers glittered around those goo-goo eyes.

He let out a heavy sighed. For both of them—for him, Jacq who insistently refused to get married ever since their father had told them when they were still young, to finally gave up and surrender, he too needs to sacrifice as much. Yet, thinking of what he had to face... he grimaced.

Those words that she uttered that day.

Those eyes that were hidden behind her hair.

Her very existence itself.

"You... had a handsome voice."

"You go first, I'll change my clothes," he said to his twin sister.

As the footstep of his twin sister grew fainter, he sank on his knee. His head hung low and his long silky hair was covering his face—covering his tear stricken face. He should feel sad, angry, and most of all disgusting because he was happy in the moment of his twin sister's impending suffering. He felt such joy that finally he can be released of this hereditary curse.

"I'm sorry."

He should not feel like this. Was not he the most hypocrite person in this stage? Because he had loath the idea of meeting that girl in the first place. He was not even confident that the girl was the one that can help him. Yet, when she said those words... it felt like he can finally see that bottomless pit that he was descending. The moment itself made him sick. Because he towards her was supposed to be 'that' not 'this'—this reduced state of his sorry self. Even Jacq had to sacrifice her novel dreams for him.

"Thank you."

Ah, what a mess. He needs to get up and change his clothes. He needs to face his twin sister and their father. He needs to show them that the end was not that far. That this hollow chest will be full of its own magic. That to whom the future of this house will be would no longer need to suffer anymore. And the rightful owner of this warm magic will receive what rightfully belongs to her. All that he needed now was to be by her side and guide her along the way.