C H A P T E R 1 6
?Don't feel guilty for doing what's best for you.?
The next day was better than the previous one. My ankle was better and I was able to walk around, although I was still kind of limping while walking.
While rummaging through my vast wardrobe for something simple and comfortable to wear, while I was still in just a towel, I felt something cool and hard beneath my fingers in one of the drawers.
I grabbed onto it and pulled it out. It was my phone.
It was still the same. The cracked screen and scratched plastic cover was still intact and I preferred it that way for some weird reason.
I had almost forgotten about my phone in there.
Mrs. Jenson had told me the day she showed me my done up room that it was placed in one of the drawers. And then I completely forgot about it.
My eyes widened. It has been more than a week since we were kidnapped. And with the phone, I had completely forgotten about Mrs. Odin. Oh my God, she'd kill me.
I quickly switched on my phone, it's battery indicating that it had only about three percent charge left.
I pushed myself off the floor and pulled out another drawer where I was sure I would find charging devices of almost every gadget.
I pulled out a random charger from it, which looked like it would fit my phone.
Sure enough, it did and I put my phone on the nightstand, plugging it to the socket to let it charge.
Realizing I was still in the towel, I hurriedly took out a crimson off shoulder top to go with a pair of black jeans.
I combed my hair, easing out the tangles and set it free on my back. I walked to the door, ensuring it was locked. Then I rushed back to my phone, taking it off charging. It had managed to go up to fourteen percent charge.
Nonetheless, I scrolled through my five or some contacts that I had and clicked on Mrs. Odin's name. Thank God, I still had some call balance in my phone.
The phone rang for about thirty second before somebody picked up.
"Hello?" Mrs. Odin's familiar weak and low voice greeted me and I felt like crying. I missed her.
"Mrs. Odin," I choked out.
"Julie?!" I heard Mrs. Odin gasp from the other end, "Julie, is that really you?" She asked, her voice shook as I assumed she probably was crying.
"Yes, Mrs. Odin. Yes, it's me Julie," I told her.
"Where have you been all these days?" She asked frantically.
"You and Olivia never showed up after you left for that party.
You didn't come on Sunday. Neither did you two for the whole week.
I was so worried about you two. I called you so many times.
I was afraid something happened to you. I called you both," she paused to sniffle.
"Where are my girls? I visited your and Olivia's apartments too.
But they were locked. When I asked the apartment owner, he told me that he had no idea where you were.
" She paused again and I felt my eyes moisten at the thought of Mrs. Odin going through so much trouble just to ensure we two were safe.
"I'm sorry," I said, suddenly bursting into tears. "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Odin. I didn't mean to worry you. Olivia and I, w-we're fine. Don't worry. And I'm so sorry we didn't show up for work. I know it must be hard it manage the café all on your own and-"
"Shut up, Julie. I'm not mad that you didn't show up for work. I'm mad because you didn't answer me when I called you to ask if you two were safe or not," she said.
That just made me cry harder. "We are fine.
Yes we are. Don't worry. Mrs. Odin, please listen to me.
We don't exactly know where we are but we are safe.
And I'm not sure if I should tell you even though I trust you.
But I can't tell you. Just know that we are caught in some really weird things and we're not sure when we'll get out of this.
But we're okay and we'll be back, I promise. And please don't fire us," I pleaded.
"Julie, what? I don't understand-"
I jumped as Mrs. Odin was cut off by loud knocks on my door.
My heart began racing thousand miles per hour and I involuntarily gripped the phone in my hand tighter.
I hadn't exactly being quiet. Oh my God, someone's at the door.
What if that person heard everything?
I hope it's just Olivia.
I heard Mrs. Odin say something from the phone. I quickly put the phone to my ear, cutting her off with my words.
"Mrs. Odin, I've got to go. Please take care of yourself and don't worry about us. We love you," I said hurriedly before cutting the call off rudely but I didn't have any choice.
The knocking continued and I shoved my phone in the drawer before quickly wiping off the tears from my eyes.
I stole a quick glance in the mirror. At least I didn't look that bad.
Adjusting my hair and wiping my cheeks, I made my way to the door and opened it with my heart still thudding in my chest.
"What took you so long?" Ethan asked with a scowl on his face. Okay, everything was okay. He doesn't know anything.
"What do you want?" I asked, coming off rather rude than I intended too.
He raised an eyebrow at my tone, "I knew you weren't worth my time," he said, shaking his head, "and to answer you, I was just going to check on you, you know um.
..if you were okay or not. But then I heard whispers and low gasps from your room," he said, making a face, "and I thought someone was banging you. "
My eyes widened and I hit his arm. "You're nasty. Get lost."
"That's not really a nice way to say goodbye," he said, stepping closer. I refused to show him that he was intimidating me.
"Of course, I'm never nice to asses like you," I retorted.
"What were you doing?" He asked, ignoring my remark and looking into my room.
"Who were you talking to?" He leaned closer.
"And were you crying?" He frowned as he examined my face.
I think I almost saw his arm raise towards my face, but he quickly dropped it.
"Not that I care," He said with a straight face, the frown disappeared long back.
I tried to maintain a calm fa?ade. "No one, I was just getting dressed. And I had the music on so that must probably be what you heard," I said confidently, trying to sound convincing.
"You can't be trusted. But it's not like I care what you do, so whatever," he said, stepping away and I released a long held breath, "Have a bad day," he said before turning around to leave.
That was close.
I needed to tell Olivia that I talked to Mrs. Odin. She needed to know. I hoped I did the right thing. I trudged down the steps, finding Dennis in the kitchen. I remembered her telling me yesterday how she enjoyed her day playing tennis with Dennis.
"Hi, Dennis. Do you know where Olivia is?" I asked. He looked up from his work and smiled at me.
"Out in the tennis court," he replied.
"You're not playing with her?"
"No, she got someone else to play with her," he said, looking sad. "Anyways, how's your ankle?"
"It's fine. It's getting better, yeah," I said, looking down at my ankle. "I'm just going to go and see Olivia," I said and he nodded.
"Okay."
I walked out of the mansion and towards the tennis court which was near the beach and the swimming pool. And sure enough, I saw Olivia, sweating like a pig as she bent over, trying to catch her breath.
"Olivia!" I called out to her but she didn't seem to hear me.
I neared the court and then only did I see who she was playing with. Tristan.
"Hey, what're you guys doing?" I asked, stepping into the court.
"Isn't it obvious?" Olivia asked, looking frustrated as she glared at Tristan.
"She's losing," Tristan said, chuckling. "What happened to your 'I'm going to beat your ass, just you see' thing?" He mocked.
"The game's not over yet!" Olivia growled.
"I already know the outcome!" Tristan teased. "You better give up if you don't want to complete that dare!"
"What dare?" I asked, but was ignored.
"I never give up! You should've known that by now!" She snapped.
"Olivia! I have to tell you something important. Come on, you can play later," I whined.
"No, Juliet! I have to win this. I have to show this nutcase who he's really messing with!" She said between breaths. "NO! NO THIS CAN'T HAPPEN!"
"OH YES, YES IT CAN!" Tristan hooted from the other end.
Huh? What happened?
"No, I can't lose! No! This is all your fault, Juliet! If you would have just shut up!"
Oh, so she lost. "Shut up, it's not my fault you don't know how to play better than him!"
Tristan laughed on the other side, unscrewing a bottle of water and taking huge gulps from it.
He was all sweaty, his white shirt sticking to his body which emphasized his muscles and his toned stomach.
For a moment, I thought I saw Olivia gawk at him.
But that might only be my imagination. Olivia can never liked a guy like him.
I mean she hated him. She had made it obvious on more than one occasion.
"So..." Tristan spoke. I didn't notice he had come on our side, "about the dare..." He left the sentence hanging, knowing Olivia would catch on.
"I won't do it," Olivia gritted out. "I was just kidding. I knew I wasn't going to lose!"
"Oh, but you just did," Tristan said arrogantly.
"I was distracted!"
"Oh, no Olivia," Tristan waggled his finger at her. "You shouldn't blame me for distracting you. It's not my fault you were drooling over me."
"Oh please, you are as attractive as a dementor to me!" Olivia retorted.
"Then I think you'd like a dementor's kiss," Tristan said, pouting and making kissy noises. I scrunched up my nose.
"Ew, in your filthy dreams."
"Guys, shut up! Will anyone please tell me what dare it was?" I asked, tired of their constant bickering.
"No!"
"We agreed that I will never show her my face again and will stay away if she wins, and she will kiss me if she loses," Tristan answered.
"No way in hell, Tristan. My lips will never come anywhere near your slimy ones," she said, looking at him in disgust. "Besides who knows what places your lips have been," Olivia added with a sneer.
"You talk as if you've never done the dirty," Tristan rolled his eyes.
"Oh, trust me I haven't."
Tristan looked surprised. "Really?"
"Uh huh," Olivia mumbled, picking up a towel to wipe off the sweat formed on her forehead and neck.
"But I'm sure your mind isn't as virgin as your body," he said with a smirk.
"What do you mean?" Olivia asked, pitting down the bottle of water she was drinking from.
"Tell me," he said, still smirking. "What's hard, long, wet and has cum in it?"
Olivia's mouth popped open like mine did. "W-what?"
"You heard me. Tell me what's long, wet, hard and has cum in it?"
Olivia didn't say anything.
"A cucumber, of course!" Tristan said, bursting into laughter. "I knew what you were thinking, oh pure one."
Olivia's face turned red with anger. "Shut up," she spit out.
"Hey, I just got started!" Tristan whined. "Another one, what is a four letter word which ends with "k" and means the same as intercourse?"
Um...what the fuck.
"Talk, Olivia! Your mind is dirtier than a gutter," chuckled Tristan, clearly enjoying teasing her.
"Tristan, shut the hell up," Olivia said, chucking her towel at him. "Or better yet, I'll leave."
"Oh, at least hear my last one!"
"No I won't."
"What goes in hard and dry, but comes out wet and soft?" Tristan went on, ignoring her.
Olivia, by that time had had enough of him and was making her way out of the court. "Your dick!" She yelled at him while I hurried to catch up with her.
Tristan's cackle was so loud, I bet everyone in the mansion had heard it. "No, not my dick. The answer is chewing gum, you pervert!" He yelled back, still bursting into uncontrollable fits of laughter.
I couldn't help but let a small chuckle escape my lips but immediately shut up when I saw Olivia's hard glare.
"I have to tell you something," I said, grabbing her arm. I lowered my voice, making sure no one was around to eavesdrop. "I talked to Mrs. Odin."
"You what?!" Olivia almost shouted. "Hold on, I'm going to take a shower and after that I want every detail."
"Okay," I said, letting her grab me and lead me to her room.
While she showered, I waited in her room, checking it out.
The room was huge. Not as magnificent and beautiful as mine but still very much stunning.
It had a big bed with dark blue pillows and a big blue duvet, a study table and chair, some beautiful paintings hung on the walls, a big walk-in closet filled to the brim with clothes, bags and shoes. The walls were painted white.
"Tell me what happened," Olivia said, her hair wet on top of her head, freshly out of the shower. She was wearing dark blue jean shorts with a simple baby pink top.
So I told her everything that happened. How I remembered about my phone, about what compelled me to call her, what we talked about and how Ethan nearly discovered the secret.
"I hope it wasn't a big mistake calling Mrs. Odin," I said after I finished explaining things to her.
"I don't know, Julie. I don't think it will be a problem," she said but I could hear the underlying uncertainty in her tone.
"I hope it doesn't create problems for us.
But please don't do something like this without telling me.
We have to be careful. We can't trust anyone. We can't let anyone know."
"I know, Olivia. I'll be careful next time."
"You better be."
We sat in silence for a few moments until Olivia decided to break it. "How's your ankle?"
"It's good. It's healing fast, thankfully. Ethan is going to pay for this," I fumed.
"Whoa, what happened to 'I'm going to be the bigger person'?"
"I don't think I can do that. If he decides to act like a child, plotting silly pranks to get back at me, I can show him that I'm better at it."
Olivia grinned at me. "I've got your back. You go girl!"
I was aiming to complete twenty chapters of TBUD before 2017 ended but that wasn't possible.
To write a chapter I typically take about two to three weeks and I was only able to complete till Chapter 16 before 2017 ended.
So I wrote only 16 chapters of TBUD in 2017.
Wow, I'm slow.