a spring breeze
Hope changes the treadmill’s speed to a slower pace. She takes a deep breath as she feels her heart pounding against her chest. The reporter on her television screen continues to talk about the current stocks and trades in the country.
The treadmill slows to a stop after a press of a button and Hope hops off, bringing her towel along with her. Hope turns the television off and grabs a bottle of water from her fridge.
“Dana, what’s my schedule for today?” Hope asks before taking a swig from the bottle.
“You have a start-up relay lecture at 2pm at Sandbox,” the female AI voice from the speaker answers back.
She checks the clock at the end of the room, seeing 8:30 in bold red look back at her. Hope proceeds to take off her tank top, leaving her in just her sports bra and running shorts. She wipes off most of her sweat and hangs her towel by the chair.
Hope looks out the window of her apartment. It took up most of the wall, stopping an inch or two before the flooring.
Although the sky was pretty much as clear as it could possibly get with the sunlight lighting up the inside of her apartment, Hope still felt wary about the dark clouds in the far off horizon.
“What’s the weather like today?”
Instead she gets a different answer. “Here’s your fortune for today.”
“Fortune?” Hope scoffs. She had to get stuck with the new product that somehow made a correlation between the words weather and fortune. One thing she knew was that the CEO of this gadget’s company was going to hear something from her.
Hope takes a deep breath to relax herself before throwing into a slight fit of annoyance. “Dana, how’s the weather today?”
“The god of fate will send a gentle breeze into your peaceful life,” the AI continues as if it hadn’t heard her question.
“Fucking AI,” Hope grumbles under her breath. She raises her voice, not in the mood to deal with a flunky prototype this early in the morning. “Weather, Dana! Not fortune. Weather!”
Wow, I’m literally getting mad at a computer program living inside an inanimate object.
Hope releases an exasperated sigh. She even feel stupid just thinking about it. Hope decides that this is just the stress manifesting from the upcoming deadline for investment evaluations.
She just needs to cool down. The sweat sticking to her skin gives more than an indication that she just needs a bath. Yes. A relaxing bath.
The hard thing with AI systems is that they can’t really take a hint.
“You may run into someone you met briefly in the past, at an unexpected place.”
Hope grabs her phone and starts to play music as loud as she can to drown out the AI’s voice. She brings her phone with her to her bathroom before slamming the door behind her close to shut out the voice of the AI.
(But Hope fails to hear the rest of the fortune, perhaps even the part that would serve most important today.
Be careful.
The person may seem like a spring breeze at first.
But they may turn into a strong winter wind
And change your life completely.)
~~~
Josie pushes open the restroom door.
The restroom is lined with mirrors and sinks opposite the stalls. Each mirror is separated from the ones adjacent to it by silver divisions. The restroom was brightly lit, the lights beside each mirror adding to light from the ceiling.
More than a couple women were inside. Some reapplying makeup and others coming in and out of stalls.
Josie goes inside one of the stalls and puts her bag down on the floor. Thankfully this is one of the cleaner, more posh, restrooms compared to others she’s been to. She puts the toilet cover down and sits down, crossing one leg over her lap.
Josie takes off her heels and grabs a marker from her bag. She starts filling in the scratches on her heels by painting the color on it with a black marker.
She blows on the shoe to dry the ink. Josie gives the parts she painted over a light feathery tap to check if the ink completely dried and puts her heels back on.
Despite everything seeming all and well according to Josie's plan, she couldn’t help but raise a hand to her head to try to ease the anxiety that was taking its place as a light headache.
Josie takes a deep breath as she gets her bag from the floor. No, she has to get through it. Of all days, this is the one she can’t mess up.
A woman is waiting outside once Josie opens the stall door. Josie gives her a small smile before moving out of her way.
With the amount of mirrors in the restroom, Josie couldn’t avoid seeing her reflection in each one. The matching dark blue blazer and pencil skirt fit her perfectly, her light blue button-down still stain free.
In this outfit, Josie thinks she could actually convince everyone that she isn’t what they probably think Josie is. That she made the right choice.
Maybe even convince herself in the process.
Josie fixes her hair as she walks out of the restroom, sneaking a last glance of herself in the mirror.
As she pushes through the crowd, Josie tightly holds on to her shoulder bag. If she had the time, she probably would’ve enjoyed the scene. The golden walls of Grand Central Station. The light seeping through the windows that led to the painted arched ceiling. A bustling sea of people going to different places with different lives.
Josie loved trying to guess the stories of each one as she walked by every morning. Simply living in the moment for five minutes each day.
But today was different. Today’s the day.
So all Josie focused on was squeezing her way past people.
Once she gets out of the station, Josie checks the time on her phone. She had an hour and a half to get lunch and get to the event on time. Josie runs to the first restaurant she could find, ordering a salad to go.
While waiting for her order, Josie quickly checks her messages to see that MG was already fifteen minutes away from where they were supposed to meet. Josie scrolls through her social media, stumbling upon a photo of her sister at the airport. She sees the short caption under the picture.
@lizziejenna: Good to be back. See you all at Sandbox! #JustLanded #10thStartUpRelayLecture
Josie sends MG a text that she’s almost there then pockets her phone. She thanks the waitress once she gets the paper bag with her order and rushes out of the restaurant.
~~~
Lizzie walks out of the drop-off area for passengers and into the airport lobby.
Despite the rush for time, Lizzie takes a selfie, trying to find the best lighting at the airport. Even with all the lights in the lobby, she can’t seem to get the perfect angle. Now was not the time that it took her forever just to take a selfie.
Once she finally takes a picture she’s satisfied with, Lizzie’s smile changes to a blank expression almost instantly.
She flattens down the small crumples that formed on her pantsuit during the plane ride. Thank God, her outfit would definitely make up for it with the press pictures later.
She leaves her luggage as she starts walking ahead, coffee and phone in hand. Her assistant rushes past her to grab the things she left behind.
“To the office?” he asks her before getting her luggage.
Lizzie doesn’t bother to answer, only raising her eyebrows at him and continuing to walk. Hell, she doesn’t even bat him an eye. He hastily grabs her luggage and pulls them with him as he runs after her.
She finally takes a breath of relief once she sees the Mercedes Benz waiting for her outside, the driver holding a placard of her name. At least one thing went right with today.
Behind her, her assistant catches up to them. He opens the door to her with a huff. Lizzie could’ve swore she heard him mutter something under his breath.
If she heard him correctly, he called her a heinous bitch.
Lizzie doesn’t get into the car, leaving her assistant confused while holding the door. She asks him as calmly as she can (because the last thing she needs right now is her father scolding her for giving her assistant a hard time). “Is there a problem?”
Her assistant’s eyes widen in horror when he realizes that she heard his comment that had more than what Lizzie would consider obscene language. He avoids her eyes and continues to hold out the door for her.
Lizzie crosses her arms in front of her chest, refusing to get into the car until he answers her question. “I said, is there a problem?”
She taps her foot on the gravel road impatiently. None of them seemed to budge, making the scene last longer than it had to be. The driver sits inside the car awkwardly, waiting for the two to get in.
But everyone knows that Lizzie isn’t going to be the first one to break.
“No, Ms.”
“Good,” Lizzie doesn’t bother to fake a smile as she takes her seat inside.
~~~
Hope presses the button on her car keys, her car’s headlights turning on in an instant then turning back off.
She throws her handbag into the passenger seat and slides into the driver’s seat. The car’s engine starts up after she presses the button beside the steering wheel. The rest of the dashboard lights up, the time flashing in front of her beside a camera view of her car’s surroundings.
It was an hour and a half before the relay lecture and an hour before their technical checks for the event. She had time. If the traffic decided to cooperate for once and disappear.
Apparently, it didn’t.
Because Hope was stuck in traffic just two blocks away from Sandbox. And she had fifteen more minutes till the technical checks.
Maybe she should’ve taken it as a sign when the AI started malfunctioning that her day wasn’t going to end up well.
Remembering the AI, Hope dialed up Landon’s number through her car’s menu panel.
Hope muttered a string of curses as a car overtook her right before she could get through the green light.
“Yes, Ms. Mikaelson?”
“Hey, Landon,” Hope makes a silent prayer that her voice doesn’t make it obvious how stressed she is right now. “Is the AI speaker, Dana, included in today’s investment evaluation?”
“Umm…” Hope waits as she suspects Landon is scanning through all the files in a hurry. “Is that Mystic Tech?”
The light finally turns green again and Hope drives as fast as she can to get to Sandbox on time.
“Exclude it,” Hope tells him as she uses the car’s horn to get mad at one of the cars in front of her. “It doesn’t understand a word I say.”
“Really?” Landon asks her. She can hear the confusion in his voice through the speaker. “But it has excellent multilingual support.”
“Excellent?” Hope scoffed. “I asked about the weather and it told me my fortune. Like I give a shit about my fortune.”
“Just don’t include it, okay?” Hope hangs up before Landon could answer.
In the office, Landon continues to go on about Mystic Tech’s high customer approval ratings and technical support until he realizes that he isn’t even talking to anyone.
“Hello? Ms. Mikaelson? Hope Mikaelson!”
The rest of his coworkers give him weird stares as he shouts into the phone. Landon gives them a bashful smile as he puts down the phone.
~~~
What sets Sandbox apart from the other tall office buildings surrounding it, the entrance to the building that takes up more than several lots is down a paved pathway that spreads into a courtyard around the building, with a park just a walk from the building.
The downward pathway has a cement wall connecting to the streets of the bustling city that somehow felt like a divider between the business of Manhattan with the Sandbox building. It had the letters spelling Sandbox graffitied on it in colorful designs.
A digital screen that takes up around one-fourth of the building flashes a variety of commercials and ads until it switches to a text animation in bold font that puts it right in front of Josie’s face.
10th Start-Up Relay Lecture
March 18, 2021 2pm to 4pm
3rd Floor Auditorium
Josie sees MG waiting by the glass doors of the main entrance. She runs towards him with a wave.
“MG!” is the only warning Josie gives MG before squishing him into a hug. “It’s been forever!”
“Hello to you too, Josie,” MG greets her with a choked laugh (most likely due to how tightly Josie was hugging him).
Josie finally lets MG go, the latter coughing up a bit. “How’s work at Sophisticates?”
“Same old, same old,” MG answered with a shrug. “They’re thinking of launching this new project soon and they assigned it to our team. So it’s a bit busier than usual.”
“Wow! That sounds exciting.”
“I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not.”
Josie pouts at him as a response to the accusation. “No! I'm not being sarcastic. It sounds cool, really.”
“Yeah, when you don’t consider the company is basically a growth and advisory program for growing influencers.”
“I wonder whose idea that was,” Josie jokes with a scoff even if she already knew the answer.
“Speaking of, did you message Lizzie already?”
Josie remembers why she was even here in the first place. At an event that was most likely no use to her at all.
So all she answers with is a shake of a head to tell him that ‘No, of course I didn't text my twin that I was coming to see her.’
“Does she ask about me?” Josie asks, scared to know the answer.
It's been more than a while since they last saw each other. Their only form of communication had been texts that grew shorter and shorter as time went by.
“Of course she does, Jo. She’s still your twin after all.”
Then why doesn’t it feel that way?
The anxiety of seeing Lizzie again had been building up inside of Josie ever since they last saw each other. People change. The twins were no exception to that.
She just hoped that it wasn't the worst case scenario she went through multiple times. That they would fall into old habits and everything would be back to normal.
But that was only wishful thinking.
“Are you nervous?” MG disrupted her thoughts.
Josie sighed as she looked up at the giant screen in front of them. Only ten minutes left till it started. “A little…”
MG put a hand on Josie's shoulder in an attempt to reassure her. “Hey, it's going to be fine. Knowing Lizzie’s she’s probably over that and itching to see you already.”
An ID is handed to her by MG. Josie takes it and inspects the ID in her hand. The thin orange lace has the word SANDBOX in white bold font. A rectangular ID has her picture in the center with her name under it.
“That should let you inside Sandbox, courtesy of Ms. Salvatore herself.”
“Wait,” Josie considers the possibility given how bad of a liar MG can be. “Did you tell her I was coming?”
MG looks at her with his eyebrows furrowed together. “No, of course not!”
But the way MG was avoiding her eyes told Josie otherwise.
“MG…”
“I didn’t, okay?” MG raises his hands in defense. “I just casually mentioned that I was bringing a friend with me.”
“Casually?”
“Hey, you know I don't do good under pressure,” MG scratched the back of his head bashfully. “Don’t worry I didn’t give a name.”
Josie takes his answer, hoping that Lizzie had no suspicions of her making an appearance today.
She looks at the ID lace in her hands. There's still a chance to walk out of here.
Josie puts the ID lace on and fixes her hair to rest on top of it. “Let’s go?”
She can’t. Not when she's this close.
When they go inside the building, the lobby matches the same colorful vibe as the graffiti wall outside.
They enter through the automatic glass doors. Beige walls with vibrant colors lining the geometric windows where the light seeped through.
The first thing Josie noticed was the orange logo of a girl on a swing. And the poster beside it that reminded her of the reason she was here. And that there was no turning back now.
~~~
“I have a question for Ms. Salvatore.”
“Yes, what’s your name?” Lizzie squints her eyes to try and clearly see the man asking the question.
“Jed Park. Have you read the comments under the recent article about you?”
Lizzie is no stranger to controversy (especially with getting capital for her business from her father's side of the family as compared to other startup businesses).
Nosy and malicious comments under an article was just one of the issues she had on her plate.
Hope purses her lips at the direct comment towards Lizzie's reputation.
Clearly, whoever asked the question didn’t seem to have that much shame. Or maybe he just had more confidence than others.
“Yes, I have.”
Lizzie can't clearly see the person's face but she can make out who she assumes are the person's friends.
She can see his friends trying to get him to sit down. At least his friends had a sense of decency.
Apparently, she can’t say the same for Jed whatever-his-last-name-is. He didn't seem to get the hint with her tone that he was getting on her nerves.
“A lot of people think that you only became successful with your business because of your father's money and it doesn't count because you didn't start at Sandbox. Any thoughts?”
Lizzie stays quiet for a few seconds, thinking whether she should humiliate him here and now or not.
It wouldn’t hurt to give him a piece of her mind.
“Why didn’t I start at Sandbox?” she asks herself in a low voice. Lizzie intentionally kept her microphone near her, allowing the audience to hear everything she said.
Lizzie turns to the older woman in the farther end of the stage. “Ms. Lee, why is the place called Sandbox again?”
The woman gives Lizzie a smile that Lizzie takes as admiration for her cleverness for handling the question. She was the one who taught Lizzie almost everything about business after all (aside from her grandfather).
“I'm assuming most of you have seen sandboxes at playgrounds, yes?”
Most of the murmurs from the crowd were of agreement, several nodding their heads as well.
“Sandboxes at playgrounds help prevent children from getting hurt,” Ms. Lee continued. “We want to protect entrepreneurs from getting hurt even if they fall.
Lizzie looks back at the audience and smiles. “Exactly. This is a place for people who can get hurt by failing.”
“If a person like me, who comes from a rich background, enters Sandbox…” Lizzie focuses her attention to the person who asked the question. “Wouldn't that be a bit shameless? Even for me."
Several people in the crowd laugh along with her joke. Lizzie does her best to look at the man even with the blinding lights focused towards the stage.
“As for those comments, I couldn’t care less,” Lizzie shrugs nonchalantly. “Honestly, it does affect me at times. But if it didn’t affect me, I might be a robot by then.”
Her eyesight finally adjusts to the lights, letting Lizzie clearly see the man who asked the question. She’s able to see the uncomfortable stance he’s in, with people in the audience looking at him.
“They say the best revenge for those scumbags is indifference. So I try to care less.”
“That’s my revenge,” Lizzie flashes him a smug smile. “Can we move on?”
Jed mumbles a “yes” into the microphone before handing it back to one of the staff members.
“Did she just call me a scumbag?” Jed whispered to his friend on the right.
“No, I don’t think so. I think she actually appreciated your question,” Jade told him with as much sarcasm as she could throw into each word.
When Jed looks at her confused, Jade groans and runs a hand through her blonde hair. “Of course she did, you dumbass!”
“Does anyone else have any questions?” Lizzie asks. She sees several people raise their hands in the crowd.
Lizzie scans through the crowd and decides to pick someone from the back this time. “The guy in the plaid shirt in the back.”
He grabs the microphone from one of the staff members and proceeds to introduce himself. Lizzie zones out for most of the introduction and only focuses on the question when he mentions his plan to start a business.
Josie sits behind the man, gathering up all the courage she had in her body. It’s now or never.
Her twin might even appreciate it. Lizzie’s always had the flair for dramatics.
Midway into his question, Josie stands up and grabs the microphone from him. She gives him a quick sorry before looking at the stage.
The whole audience had their eyes on her. Most likely due to her sudden interruption.
Josie had manners, of course. It’s just that right now, she was stuck with a do or die. Because Josie knew if she had asked like a normal person, her twin would most likely just make up an excuse that had something to do with work.
She clears her throat before raising the microphone near her lips.
Lizzie looks up at the women who interrupted. She waits for her vision to adjust to the place in the crowd.
“Hi.”
Wait. Lizzie recognizes the voice right away. The woman didn’t even need to introduce herself for Lizzie to know who she was.
On cue, her eyesight adjusts to see her twin standing in the back of the auditorium. Josie looked different from when Lizzie last saw her. But that was given, considering how long it’s been since they’ve seen each other in person.
Beside her, MG slides down into his chair, trying to hide himself from the spotlight that was engulfing Josie right now. “Jo… What are you doing?”
Josie gulps down whatever shame she had left in her. “My name is Josie Saltzman.”
Hope moves forward in her seat to try and get a better look at the woman. No, she must have heard it wrong.
Because there was no way that Josie Saltzman would suddenly find her way into Hope’s life again after a decade
But the brown hair that cascaded a few inches past her shoulder and the same pout that Hope had only seen once before proved otherwise.
“Josie Saltzman?” Hope asked herself, wanting to give the universe the benefit of the doubt.
“Do you know her?”
Ms. Lee gives both Lizzie and Hope a quizzical look. Lizzie can’t pull her eyes away from her twin so Hope assumes the question was meant for her. “Oh no, it just sounds familiar.”
Lizzie looks at her a second after Hope answers. Hope swears she might’ve gotten whiplash from how fast the blonde turned her neck to face Hope.
Josie raises her eyebrows, waiting for Lizzie's response. Lizzie tries to keep her composure as she raises the microphone to her mouth.
Mikaelson was definitely hiding something and for some reason, she had a feeling that Josie had something to do with it.
"Yes. Go ahead."
"I see you've made some very smart decisions in your life. But please be honest,” Josie leans forward in a playful manner, as if challenging her sister. “Have you made any selfish decisions so far…”
Josie pauses before continuing. Because once she said this, there was no hiding anymore. She didn’t doubt that news articles would already try finding out about how she and Lizzie are related after this.
But Josie made a promise to herself. So she throws away any rationality she has left and finishes the question. “Ms. Lizzie Saltzman?
Tension fills the auditorium as the whispers grow louder. Most of them were directed towards Josie's abrupt behavior towards Lizzie. Some were curious whether they knew each other.
She wouldn’t blame them. Even Josie was surprised with herself.
Josie heard the clicks of cameras in the sides of the auditorium, taking pictures of what might end up becoming a headline.
"Yes, of course. I'm only human after all,” Lizzie puts on a smile in an attempt to appear unfazed. “You may call my decision greedy, but it was a desperate one.
Josie was ready to say her thanks and sit down with whatever decency she had left. But her twin didn’t fail to add. “But Ms. Josie Saltzman, my name is Lizzie Salvatore."
Josie's jaw tightened. Maybe this was the sign. That she really did lose her sister.
"That decision… Do you regret it? Or at least once looked back and regretted making that choice?"
"I have, I mean as I’ve said, I'm only human,” Lizzie’s eyes narrow at her twin, accepting the nonverbal challenge between them. “That makes me wonder. Is the person who made the opposite choice happy now? Do they have regrets?"
Lizzie remembers what her mom told her that time almost a decade ago. “They say, whatever choice you make, you’ll regret it.”
“There are exceptions.” Josie couldn’t stop the smile tugging at the corners of her lips. She can still prove Lizzie wrong if she played her cards correctly. “Thank you for your honest answer, Ms. Saltz- my mistake, Ms. Salvatore.”
Hope could feel the tension between the two sisters from her seat on stage. The entire auditorium is noisy with mutters and whispers of what just happened.
And the fortune echoes itself in Hope’s head.
You may run into someone you met briefly in the past, at an unexpected place.
Hope looks back and forth between the twins until she settles on looking at the brunette in the crowd that was still standing up.
Josie Saltzman, is that really you?