YOU ARE NOT DANIELLE!!
Finding her true face…She’s a plastic Beauty
(It All Started With Matching)

By
Bae_Nnenna

…Matchmaking in their lives have done them more harm than good.
It ruined Antoine.
It ruined Chanelle.
It shattered and broke her.
It made a mess of Leo.
And still, it brought them all together again…

PROLOGUE
The wind was howling, and the rain was pouring as Danielle drove home from work. The road was slick and dangerous, and she was trying to be as careful as possible. But suddenly, a deer jumped out in front of her car. She swerved to avoid it, and lost control of the vehicle. The car began to spin…
As the car spun, Danielle’s mind was racing. She thought of her family, her father, who was always harsh towards her, her late mother who died without saying goodbye, she thought of her brother who she never get along with, then she thought of her step mother who always told her to go to hell if she wanted, she thought of her friend, Andreas and all the things she had yet to do in her life. She thought of how unfair it was that her life might end like this, in such a senseless accident. Without resolving anything with anyone.
And then, the car came to a stop. She opened her eyes, and looked around. The car was resting against a tree, and she was still alive. But her face was aching, and blood was dripping down from a cut on her forehead. Danielle tried to move, but she couldn’t. Her body was too sore, and her mind was still reeling from the shock of the accident. She heard a voice outside the car, calling out to her.
“Are you okay? Can you hear me?” The voice said. Danielle recognized the voice as that of a police officer. She tried to answer, but the words wouldn’t come out.
All she could do was moan in pain. The officer called for backup, and soon, an ambulance arrived. Danielle was loaded into the ambulance and rushed to the hospital.
Lying down on the stretcher, she thought of Antoine, her boyfriend, the argument she had with him before she left for work in the morning. She thought of all the bad things she had said to him, “I hate you!! I wish I’d never see you again!!” She remembered herself shouting and tears fell off her eyes. No, she didn’t really mean not to see him again. She just said those words out of anger.
Oh Leo…she kept mumbling as she was pushed into the emergency ward.
Meanwhile, at his apartment, Antoine was pacing back and forth. He had been worried about Danielle ever since their argument. He kept replaying the fight over and over in his head. He regretted everything he had said to her. And now, he was consumed with fear. He didn’t know if she was okay, and he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Suddenly, he heard a knock at the door. He ran to answer it, and was surprised to see two police officers standing there. Instead of Danielle.
“Is this the residence of Antoine Laurent?” One of the officers asked. Antoine nodded, his heart racing.
“We have some bad news,” the officer said. “We were called to the scene of an accident. There was a woman in the car who mentioned your name. We think she might be your girlfriend.” Antoine’s heart dropped.
“What happened to her?” he asked, his voice trembling. The officer looked down at his feet.
“She was taken to the hospital. And she’s dead.” They pronounced and Antoine’s whole body went limp at the news.
The world seemed to slow down around him, and all he could hear was the officer’s voice, telling him the terrible news. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Danielle was gone, just like that. And he had never even had a chance to apologize for the things he had said.
All he could think about was how much he had taken her for granted. He had never stopped to appreciate all the things she did for him, or how much she loved him. And now, it was too late. Too late to make peace with her now.
**************************************
Tears streamed down Leo’s face, “Marie, no,” he tried to hold her but she stepped back. “You don’t mean that, do you?” He continued trying to know if she meant every word of what she said to him.
“I’ve never loved you Leo, I was just using you and that’s all. I can’t end up with someone I don’t even love for a single moment.” She said and rolled her eyes.
“We’re getting married today Marie, you can’t do this to us.”
Marie looked at him with pity, “I’m so sorry Leo, but it’s not a decision I’m making, it’s something I’ve known all along. I thought I could push through but I just can’t. It’s not fair to you, you deserve a woman who truly loves you. And not me. I’ve only loved someone else the entire time we’ve been together.”
“But, but who?” Leo stammered. “I thought we were happy, I thought we were in love.”
“I’m so sorry for lying to you all these years, but it’s the truth.” Marie said.
She took off the ring and it came dancing to the floor and Leo watched as she dragged her wedding dress out of the room without looking back.
Leo stood there frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened. His whole world had come crashing down in a matter of minutes. He couldn’t believe that the woman he loved and was about to marry had never loved him, and she was walking away from him on their wedding day. He felt like he was in a nightmare, and he desperately wanted to wake up.
But as he stood there, he felt something he hadn’t felt in a long time: anger. He was angry at Marie for lying to him and leading him on. He was angry at himself for being so blind to the truth.
He…he was broken.

CHAPTER ONE: NEW BEGINNINGS
Danielle stood, her face contouring in utmost anger as she stared at her boss, Mr. Leonardo Roderigo who is nothing but a pain in her neck since he started working in the company. No day passed without him opening his lousy mouth and spewing out nonsense about her works. Either they’re under done or they are over done or the spellings are wrong. He always have something to complain about. Working for five months with him and there’s no day she never wished he’d fall sick and never come to work that day, that’s the only way she’d escape him and his complaints.
And today is no exception, Miss Carmen on his lips every single time he complained, he’s always good at comparing her to Miss Carmen leaving out the fact that she’s not Miss Carmen but Danielle! She’s Miss Danielle Fernando.
“Can’t you check out Miss Carmen’s work? Her works are always neat! She takes her time to put in every detail, every word is well represented, names well spelt, words well aligned. Now tell me,” he took up her paper work, flinging it from side to side as he spoke, “how do you want me to present this?” He yelled flipping through the paper work before dropping it on the table.
“I’m sorry sir but this is___”
“No argument, just go and redo this!”
Aggressively, she picked up the paperwork and stormed out of his office. She barged into hers, getting every workers attention before she sank into her seat trying to calm herself down.
“Hey, the boss scolded you again?” Her colleague, Martinez asked her smirking as he sat down on her desk.
Danielle didn’t respond. She just stared straight ahead, her jaw clenched and her hands balled into fists. Martinez studied her face, and realized she was truly upset.
“Hey, it’s okay,” he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. “He’s always like that, never smiling and always rude to everyone,” they both sighed together.
Danielle was trying to relax her nerves, she flipped through her work by herself, she stayed out late yesternight trying to get this work done and it’s only getting rejected like this! How many times does she have to redo this in order to please that rude punk!
“We all have bad days Danielle. Just try to remember that this job is just temporary, and it’s not worth getting so worked up over.” Martinez smiled at her, and she slowly relaxed her shoulders, letting out a deep breath.
“You’re right,” she said, finally looking at him. “It’s not worth getting so worked up over,” she nodded trying to agree with him, “But must he hate everything I do, I try my best to work and all he ever call my works are trash! Trash Martinez! He doesn’t even check them out before he marks them down as trash! And do you know what I hate the most? Comparing me to that skinny Mrs. Carmen! It boils my soul!!”
Martinez could feel the anger radiating off of her, and he knew it was more than just this one instance.
“Listen, I know you’re frustrated, and I’m sorry you’re going through this. But try not to let it get to you so much. You know him, he won’t change even if you yell and get worked up till tomorrow, Mr. Roderigo isn’t changing for anyone at all. And Miss Carmen isn’t even as half pretty as you’re.” He added the last phrase as a tease in order to make her feel better but ended up triggering her off the more.
“Martinez, just leave, I need to get this done before afternoon, I have a presentation in the mid-afternoon before he comes to scream my head off for being incompetent again.”
Martinez could see that she was really struggling, and he knew it wouldn’t be helpful to argue or try to tease her.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it,” he said, getting up from her desk. “But remember what I said. You’re doing great, and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” He gave her a small smile and a pat on the shoulder before heading back to his desk.
Danielle watched him go, and took a deep breath. She had to push through this day and get her work done, no matter what the boss thought of her, she’s going to make sure he approves this.
And she started with going to the coffee stand to get herself a hot coffee. As she stood in line, her mind wandered back to the conversation with Martinez. He was right, she shouldn’t let the boss get to her. The rude Mr. Roderigo who never saw anything good in her. She will make sure he’d smile and say it’s a good job the next time she gets summoned into his office. But it was easier said than done.
She tried to focus on the sound of the espresso machine and the smell of the fresh coffee beans. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, savoring the rich aroma.
The rich aroma which always reminded her of Antoine, the one person who never hated coffee, especially Latte, he can’t start his morning without taking two to three cups of latte. He said it helped him with thinking deeply and he can get work done faster.
He’s a freelancer who worked from home so, each morning before he sits down to face his laptop, he must have two to three cups of hot coffee.
She smiled as she remembered that pleasant memory of Antoine sipping coffee by the window pane of their room;
“Why are you smiling so radiantly today, the miss beauty of CHEKON company?” The coffee guy teased just as he always do each time he sees Danielle buying coffee for break time.
“Oh, it’s nothing special, Jax,” she said, rolling her eyes at his teasing. Jax was always trying to flirt with her, but she wasn’t interested. She was more focused on her work and her future than on dating. She had had her fair share of that. But Jax was persistent, and always tried to make her laugh.
She appreciated his attempts, even if they were sometimes annoying. “Just my usual latte please,” she said, trying to keep her smile in check.
“Latte I get for you beauty.” He said with a wink as he began to prepare her coffee. She shook her head and smiled as he turned to make her drink. She wasn’t sure if he actually believed his own compliments, or if he was just trying to be charming. Either way, she appreciated his attempts to brighten her day. At least, the anger she felt after coming out of Mr. Roderigo’s office earlier have died down a bit.
A few minutes later, he handed her the steaming cup, decorated with a heart. “As always, Miss Beauty,” he said, with a smirk.
And she cackled, “Hey Jax, you’ve got to stop teasing me every time you see me, one day I’m going to report you to your girlfriend.” She said teasing him and he winked again.
“Keep it a secret from people, okay?” He said and Danielle turned to go only to bump into her boss and spilt her coffee on his white shirt!
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!” She exclaimed, immediately trying to wipe the coffee off of his shirt. But the damage was done, and the coffee had left a large brown stain on his crisp white shirt. Oh my gosh. She is in trouble for real this time.
“Miss Danielle!! Where is your head at every single time!!” Mr. Roderigo’s voice rung out and she felt like the whole world is going to swallow her right that minute.
He touched his shirt, then sighed out heavily in frustration, “Tell me why I won’t fire you from your job Miss Danielle because you’re too clumsy in everything you do! You can’t get anything right and now you spill your hot coffee on me!! Is that your way of revenge Miss Danielle! Answer me!!”
But Danielle was already too embarrassed to speak or to move either. He kept looking at her with angry eyes, expecting an answer but she couldn’t think of any words to say. The more he looked at her, the more her eyes welled up with tears.
“I’m s-sorry,” she stuttered, unable to look him in the eye. But her apology only seemed to anger him further.
“I don’t need your sorry, I need you to do your job and stop messing up!” He said, his voice rising.
“Please just let me clean your shirt,” she said, her voice breaking.
“Don’t touch me!” He said rolling his eyes and walking off to the rest room to get himself cleaned up.
“You shouldn’t have yelled at her like that sir, she just started working here six months ago, she’s new at all these things.”
“Miss Carmen, now you want to defend her again, right?” He replied gruffly as she kept following him.
“Mr. Roderigo, she’s trying compared to six months ago when she was just an intern, can’t you be a little nicer to her.”
He stopped walking, with folded sleeves and half opened shirt, he furrowed his brows at her, “If she feels that this job is too much for her, all she has to do is quit working right?”
“But Mr. Roderigo, you can’t expect her to be perfect from the get go, no one is perfect. If she were to quit, it would be because of your unruly behavior and not because the job is difficult.” Miss Carmen said firmly, but her voice was still respectful.
Mr. Roderigo looked at her, his eyes still full of frustration, “So you’re saying I’m a bad boss?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“I__”
He interrupted her, “Please get going, I need to use the restroom, go get me my shirt, I need to change into something else, this is so ruined.”
Miss Carmen sighed and nodded, “I’ll do that sir.” She said, feeling a little defeated. As she walked away, she couldn’t help but feel bad for Danielle. She was just trying her best, and Mr. Roderigo was being too hard on her.
That gruffy ever angry boss!

Click on the link below to read episode 2
https://finenovels.com/you-are-not-danielle-chapter-2/