When Fate Gets It Wrong
After finishing teacher training college, Emily returned to her hometown village to teach at the school she once attended. She loved her colleagues, cherished the familiar streets, and had always missed her parents and childhood home.
Since childhood, Emily had been best friends with her neighbour Lucytwo complete opposites. Emily was calm and thoughtful, while Lucy was reckless, sharp-tongued, and never showed respect for her elders, saying whatever came to mind. They were in the same class, and teachers often held Emily up as an example.
“Why should I care about Emily? Ive got my own head on my shoulders,” Lucy would retort.
“A heads no use without a brain in it,” the headmaster, Mr. Thompson, once snapped in Year 11 after Lucy was dragged to his office yet again.
“Whats it this time?” he sighed.
Mrs. Wilson, their form tutora respected, veteran teacheranswered tearfully, “Lucy told me I smell like a grave and should retire before I embarrass myself trying to teach anyone.”
Mr. Thompson was speechless. He tried to shame Lucy, but she widened her eyes innocently. “I never said that. Shes making it up!” He let her go, knowing arguing was pointless.
Emily went on to teacher training college while Lucy barely scraped into nursing school, relying on copied work to get by.
Lucy was strikingly beautifullong dark hair, a flawless figurebut she treated her elderly patients horribly. “These old relics should be six feet under, not clogging up the wards,” shed sneer, leaving her colleagues stunned.
“Why even become a nurse if you hate it so much?” theyd ask.
“None of your business,” shed snap.
Patients complained, but it wasnt until the ward manager overheard her reduce an elderly woman to tears that she was fired. “Youre done in healthcare, Lucy. Ill make sure everyone knows it.”
Back in the city, Lucy hunted for a wealthy husbandbut men lost interest once they saw her true colours. She never felt guilt; it wasnt in her nature. After three failed years, she slunk back to the village, having briefly worked a supermarket job she despised.
“Emily! Long time no chat,” Lucy chirped over the phone. “Guess what? Im moving back. Your mum works at the clinic, right? Put in a word for me?”
Once home, Lucy barged into Emilys cottage. “Spillhows teaching those brats?”
Emily stayed calm, setting out tea and biscuits. “Later. Whyd you come back? I thought you hated the village.”
Lucy waved a hand. “Changed my mind. Soany wedding bells for you?”
“Actually, yes,” Emily smiled. “James proposed. Were getting married in two months.”
Lucy smirked. “Whos the lucky man? Some geography teacher? Or a tractor driver?”
“James owns a farm. Cattle, machinery, employeeshes doing well.”
Lucy burst out laughing. “The one decent bloke in the village, and he picked you?” She always thought Emily was plump, though it only made her softer, more feminine.
Just then, a deep voice called, “Evening, Em. Whos this?”
Lucy froze. In the doorway stood a tall, handsome man in designer sportswear. Jealousy choked her. *This cant be Emilys fiancé!*
“Im Lucy,” she purred, all sweetness. “You must be James. Emilys told me *so* much.”
“Dont oversell me,” James laughed, gazing fondly at Emily.
They chatted, but Lucy barely listened. *He should be mine.*
“Mum,” she hissed later, “why didnt you tell me about James? Hes perfecthe belongs with *me*.”
Her mother nodded eagerly. “Well make him see it.”
Fate handed them their chance when Emily fell ill before a mutual friends birthday party. James went aloneand Lucy pounced, plying him with spiked drinks until he was woozy. She had an acquaintance “help” him hometo *her* empty house.
James woke horrified, Lucy grinning beside him. “What happened?” he rasped.
“*Everything*,” she trilled.
He fled, but Emilys mother barred him at the door. “How could you? Emilys goneand she saw the photos.”
“What photos?” Then he found them on his phone: Lucys staged shot of them in bed. He smashed the phone, disgusted.
Lucy cornered him days later. “Hate me all you want, but our babys innocent.”
“*Baby?!*”
They married quietly, though James remained icy. But Lucys lie unravelled when he overheard her plotting a fake miscarriage with a nurse friend.
That nurse, guilt-ridden, later told him the truth: “Emily had a son. *Yours*.”
James raced to the countryside, heart poundingand there she was, hanging laundry, a blue-eyed boy in a pram nearby.
“Emily,” he choked. “His name?”
“Anthony,” she whispered.
James sank to his knees. “Forgive me. Ill never fail you again.”
And he never did. Years passed, two daughters followed, and their love enduredproof that even when fate stumbles, true hearts find their way back.
*Lesson: Deceit may win battles, but only honesty wins the war of the heart.*
