size9I don't like the title, but I can't think of anything else./size
"Welcome back to Ophelia. Now then, our next guest I'm as excited as all of you are to met. She's been on the New York Time's bestseller list for her amazing books, both fiction and non-fiction. Please welcome Mina Venald," As the host turned to point to the entrance the audience erupted into applause. The noise increased as a brunette young woman of about 25 stepped onto the stage. Smiling she walked to sit in the plush chair next to the one the host had sat down in.
"Welcome Ms. Venald," she said, holding out her hand.
The other woman shook it, requesting, "Please, call me Mina."
"Now, I know this isn't quite the way things are normally done, but I was wondering if you would read a bit of your latest book, Piercing the Heart for us."
"I'd love to," Mina said, taking the copy off of the table in front of them. Opening it up, a soft smile lit up her face as she read, "To Paul - Thanks so much for being a kill joy for so many years. And for telling me the harsh truths even if I didn't want to hear them." She turned the page, skipping over the author's note, to the prologue. The audience seemed to hold it's breath as she started to read, her voice adding emotion and power to the words written on the page.
"Do you know what it's like to love someone you can't have? There's many reason why you might not be able to, such as them being dead. Or else maybe it's that you walk right past them each day in the halls of school, sit with them in most of their classes, and even share some of the same friend, yet it still seems like his eyes pass right over you. Or maybe it's that you're related. Not blood related, but his dad married your mom, or your aunt married his sister or some such.
"By law there's nothing wrong with it. Medically there's nothing wrong with it either -- you're not blood related so all your kids would turn out just find (which makes your day dreams about how the children you two might share just fine). However socially it's a nightmare; watching your friends stop thinking of you as siblings, always having to explain that you're not actually related.
"Of course, there are good things that come out of it too. I have to tell you that making out becomes a lot easier when you don't have to go anywhere then the door next to you to see the person you love. Although, parents always want to throw a wrench into that situation. But I'll tell you more about that later. For now, I should start to when we first really met."
She closed the book, setting it down in front of her. "Wow, that was extremely powerful," Ophelia said finally as the audience clapped it application.
"Thank you," she replied, grinning.
"So what inspired you to write this story?"
"Well, as you know I've written a set of self-help books for teens, as well as doing seminars at high schools and colleges across North America. At one of these seminars I ran into someone who was the person who got the ball rolling," she explained, shifting slightly in the chair.
The host raised her eyebrows slightly at the evasion, but let it pass. "And was it hard to change from writing non-fiction to something a little bit more casual?"
"Kind of. I've tried to make sure my self help books were written in a fun way so that teens would want to read them. Writing Heart was easy in some ways because I was able to express the emotions I've tried to explain without having to be abstract. It was also hard because the style is completely different. But it was also great to do the research for the book. I've always loved the Edwardian era, with the women striving for their rights, but chivalry still thriving."
"That leads me to my next question, which I'm sure every women in the audience would love to know. What's it like being married to the handsome Presedent of Venturi Computers?"
"Kind of hectic. As I'm sure you know he's the owner of the Beavers, and he likes to take an active roll in their training. He actually played hockey himself when he was in high school," Mina said, grinning. "It's kind of funny to watch him on game nights. He'll rush home from the office in his nice five piece suit, disappear into the bedroom and reappear five minutes later decked out in all his hockey gear. He seems to think that if he doesn't have everything just so they'll lose." She grinned as the audience got a chuckle out of that. "But really it's quite fun. He's also really great at doing small things that lets me know he cares. Life is never really boring with him."
"How did you two meet? I'm sure there's quite a story there," the other woman asked.
Mina laughed to herself. "Oh yes, there is. Actually our parents were -- really good friends I guess you could say."
"So similar to Wilhelmina and Roderick in your book?"
"Yes. I drew from my own personal experiences quite a bit for the book. In fact, most of the characters are based on people I knew when I was a teen."
"So does that mean that the not-so-perfect replacement boyfriend was also inspired by someone you knew?"
"Grant?" She scoffed. "Oh yes. I wrote him after one of my ex boyfriends. He was the football captian, and he was just as bad as Grant is. I remember I had my apendix taken out on my birthday one year, and he did come to visit me in the hospital with a monkey stuffie he had bought in the gift shop, along with a card that said 'congradulations on your twins." She shook her head slightly at the memory.
"Are you still friends with any of the people who are written into the book?"
"Defiantly. Amelia and Braden ended up getting married in real life, even though he was the geek of our high school and she was one of the most popular girls in school. She's my best friend."
"So which character do you feel like you fit the most?"
"Oh, that would have to be Wilhelmina Defiantly." Mina replied without even thinking about it. "I was just as clumsy when I was her age. I actually had the nickname of 'Klutzilla' when I was that age."
"Unfortunately, we are out of time. But thank you so much for talking with us."
"Thank you for having me," Mina said shaking Ophelia's hand again. She stayed in her seat as the other woman looked into the camera and talked about who would be on the show the next day. As soon as the signal was given that they were done recording, she moved to a table that was set up off to the side as the audience members lined up to have their books signed.
About an hour passed while Mina chatted with her fans before her husband showed up.
"Am I too late?" He asked giving her a kiss on the cheek. "I'm sorry princess. Sam wouldn't listen to me when I told him I had something to do. He kept on insisting that I was just trying to get out of 'the boring stuff' again, and told me I had to stay put."
"Don't worry about it Derek. It will be run on the tv if you really want to see it," she said, smiling up at him.
"Ms. Venald, won't you please tell us how you two met?" The teenager in front of the table ask. Shouts of agreement followed the request.
"Yeah Cas- I mean Mina, tell them how we met," Derek said, flashing her a wicked grin.
"I already did," she replied slightly flustered.
"Yes, but you didn't explain how you realized you were in love with him," the young women countered quickly.
Looking across the eager faces in front of her, she quickly realized there was no way she was going to get out of this situation. Sighing she began. "It was in our senior year. We had been going to the same school for two years. He was the popular guy, and I -- wasn't. However because of our parent's relationship he made sure that nothing too tramatizing happened. One day after he defended me from my ex-boyfriend -- actually the one I wrote Grant to be like -- I confronted him about it. He refused to answer right then, but it had got me thinking. He had done so many nice things for me when he insisted to everyone that he couldn't care less about me.
"He finally agreed to answer me on Halloween night one year. I had worked really hard on my costume that year, and his girlfriend at the time who I think had figured out how he felt about me had accidently ruined it. As I ran up to my room to cry he blew up at her accusing her of doing it on purpose.
"When he came up to check on me he told me that they had broken up because of that. I demanded to know why he had acted the way he did, and refused to let him get out of answering. Finally he told me the truth -- he had feelings for me. It took me about a month after that to admit to myself that I felt the same way. After that we started dating." She said, shrugging slightly, a silly grin on her face.
"You didn't see how she ripped it Princess. It was on purpose," he added, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. "Are you almost done here?"
"Almost. I've just got to finish signing these books," she replied as she signed another one.
"Okay, I'll talk to you when you get home then. Love ya'," he said as they shared a kiss. She smiled in return, watching as he left.
"See ya', Roderick," she whispered to herself happily.