C H A P T E R 1 9
?Fake is the new trend and everyone seems to be in style.?
"I see you had a good start to your morning," Ethan commented when I entered the kitchen. He was sat at the breakfast bar, sipping on a cup of coffee. The steam from the cup swirled above in beautiful patterns before disappearing into thin air. It made me crave for a nice hot chocolate or coffee.
"That was a lame thing to do to get back at me, you have to admit," I replied as I poured myself a glass of water instead.
Ethan shrugged. "That's all I could think of when I walked into your room and found you sleeping soundly. Mess with my sleep and I'll mess with yours."
I shook my head at him. "How did you even get into my room?"
"The door was ajar. I couldn't help myself. You were basically calling for it."
"I don't know what to say to you," I sighed as I drank the water. It glided down my parched throat painfully. I didn't eat or drink anything after those two glasses of beer. And after the awful start to my morning, my head was throbbing.
We just sat there in silence, staring at each other before I broke eye contact to drink my water again. Ethan was checking his phone which was vibrating every two minutes. He was dressed in a simple red T-shirt with dark blue jeans. His hair was slightly damp so I assumed he just had a shower.
Olivia was upstairs in her room, showering and trying to look less like a hungover teenager with racoon eyes.
After about five minutes, Ethan wordlessly got up and made his way out of the kitchen after placing his empty coffee cup into the sink. A maid who was quietly cleaning the kitchen washed off the cup before leaving it to dry off.
"Do you want something, Ms. Jenson?" She asked me. "Breakfast, perhaps?"
"Oh, no. I'll eat breakfast after I get ready." I answered. "And by the way, do you know when the cooks are available? Like around noon or something?"
"They can be available any time you want. When do you need them?"
"I'll let you know when. It might be tomorrow.
I'll just need them for an hour or two. I hope they wouldn't mind that, would they?
" I asked, an idea forming in my mind. I was free all day and instead of wasting my time enjoying the underserved luxuries of a billionaire lifestyle, I was going to try to do something productive which would hopefully come handy in the future after I leave this place.
"No, I assure you that it'll be perfectly fine with them," The maid replied and I nodded at her.
"Thank you."
Around noon that day, I got a very unexpected call from Mrs. Jenson who sounded excited beyond belief when she informed me that Rachael and Antonio Jenson, my alleged siblings were coming to visit me.
Meaning, I was screwed.
"What?!" I yelled, spinning on my heel to come face to face with the full length mirror in the walk-in closet.
"I knew you'd be happy and excited about them coming!
" Charlotte gushed on the other end while I was just trying to calm myself down as I was ten seconds from hyperventilating or having a panic attack.
"I think they'll be there around evening.
They desperately wanted to see their little baby sister. "
"Why are they coming?" I asked, coming off as rude and I really didn't mean to sound that way. It was just the panic and frustration that had me over the edge.
"What? Well, excuse them for wanting to see their little sister who ran away, like, an year ago just because she couldn't buy a boy in her class," Charlotte snapped back.
I cringed at her words. When she said it like that, it almost felt as if I was the one who did it.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I mean, aren't they busy with their work? I don't want them to put their other plans to rest just to see me."
"Silly, they're taking some time off from work and it's perfectly fine with them. Family comes first, Juliet."
"Oh."
"Well, that's it. How are you? You don't miss me too much, do you?"
"Oh, no, I mean yes I do. But it's fine, really."
"Really? Or I can book a flight home right now if you're missing us too much. We can always just celebrate the anniversary at home," she tried to reason but even I knew she wanted to stay there to celebrate their anniversary. And I wouldn't want them to come so early either.
"No, mom. Please, don't worry about me and just enjoy."
"Thanks, sweetie. But do give me a call if you need anything and I'll arrange for it, or your dad will."
"Okay, thanks. Bye."
"Okay, bye and take care. Don't you dare run away again," She joked.
"I wouldn't even dream of it," I couldn't help but chuckle as I hung up.
My nerves bubbled over the surface again, once I had hung up. Antonio and Rachael Jenson were coming to visit me and they thought I was Juliet. What if they saw through me and knew instantly that I was a guile?
I tried to be optimistic about it, assuring myself that if Juliet's own parents couldn't recognise her, then her brother and sister would definitely not either.
I rushed to Olivia who was reading a book in the library. Seeing me flushed, she became alarmed and instantly put the book down after marking it with a bookmark.
"What happened?" She asked, frowning.
I tried to catch my breath as I had run all the way from my room to the library. "Antonio and Rachael are coming to visit," I announced, not quite meaning to drop the bomb on her like that.
"Who are they?" Olivia asked and before I could reply, her eyes widened as a look of recognition flashed across her face. "Oh my gosh! You don't mean Rachael Jenson and Antonio Jenson, right?"
"I mean exactly them."
"Rachael Jenson, as in the goddess of style and elegance and Antonio Jenson, as in the Greek God and the heir to the multi billion dollar business of his dad?! Are you freaking telling me that they are coming to visit you?!"
"Yes they are, Olivia. Charlotte just told me," I informed her.
"Okay," Olivia breathed, "okay, okay, okay. I know you're nervous, I'm as well. Just take deep breaths okay?" She said and paused. We both took deep breaths to calm ourselves down.
"Okay, what should we do now?" I asked after I had somewhat calmed down.
"Firstly, you should dress more like a Jenson girl. Secondly, we should go over your acting skills. And thirdly, we should learn how to keep calm and survive today."
"Okay, we have a plan. They'll be here by noon, we have about an hour. We should get to work right away."
"Yeah, let's go to your room and decide what you should wear."
Olivia got up from the chair she had been lazing on and reading a book. She put the book in it's place on one of the shelves.
We hurried out of the library and bounded up the stairs to my room. I was glad Ethan was occupied with his work and was not present in the mansion. Our nervousness would have made him suspicious.
I changed into a dark blue jeans and a cream colored sweater.
At least it was better than wearing a dress as Olivia had stupidly suggested.
I didn't know how exactly Rachael and Antonio were.
But from what Olivia told me, I had gathered the bit that Rachael was an absolute style diva and Antonio was no less.
Olivia and I had no idea what I should wear.
We didn't know how Juliet would dress up and we didn't want to overdo or underdo it.
So we left it at casual but a hint of style to it.
After I had smoothened the tangles in my hair and let it loose behind my back, I was sat at the edge of the bed, fiddling nervously as Olivia scrutinized me to see if I was dressed alright and stuff.
"Okay, I'm no fashion diva but I think this is good enough.
It's not like you're going on a catwalk or something so it's normal and simple.
Simple is beautiful," Olivia commented. I had on some light make up to look more presentable and it was thankfully, not over the top, as Olivia would have liked.
It's Juliet that Rachael is meeting after such a long time.
I bet fashion sense would be the last priority on Rachael's mind.
"Okay, moving onto next," Olivia neared and bent on eye level with me.
Julie, you are Juliet," she said seriously, holding my shoulders and looking at me in a way that almost made me believe her.
"You are not some café waitress who was a commoner a few weeks ago, you're not a simple college girl, you are Juliet.
And you are the daughter of one of the richest businessmen in the world.
Today you're going to meet your sister, Rachael and your brother, Antonio.
You will be calm throughout the meeting and act just like Juliet would, oh wait, you are Juliet.
Don't freak out when you see them. I know your mouth would be gaping open and you'd be drooling all over your brother but I don't want you to do that. Got it?" She asked and I meekly nodded.
"Don't be a lubber in front of them or act like a spaz. Remember to act prissy and graceful. Don't let anything slip. The tiniest slip up on our part and we're done for," Olivia went on, not bothering to pause for me to take it all in.
"Olivia, are you done with your lectures now?" I asked, annoyed because she was doing anything but quelling my nervousness.
She opened her mouth to speak, but then shut it and shrugged, "I guess."
"Come on, we'll wait downstairs for them to arrive," I said, tugging at the ends of my hair.
We made our way downstairs and turned on the TV to a random channel.
I wasn't really paying attention to what was on it as I was busy trying to pacify myself and plan out what I was going to do and say in front of Rachael and Antonio.
I didn't want to say or do something that would make me look like a complete idiot.
We sat like that for about half an hour before a maid appeared in front of us.
"I'm sorry for interrupting but I wanted to inform you that Mrs. Rachael Jenson and Mr. Antonio Jenson have arrived."
No sooner had she said it that the door burst open and in walked a teary eyed, what I assumed to be was, Rachael Jenson. A handsome man walked in tow which I was positive, was Antonio Jenson.
I got up from the couch and hesitantly took a step forward but unfortunately ended up getting my toe stubbed into the coffee table.
I hissed in pain and crouched down to hold my throbbing toe.
"A-are you okay?" Rachael asked as she reached me.
"Yes, I am," I answered quietly.
"Oh Juliet, I missed you so much." She croaked, pulling me to her as she crushed the life out of me.
"Why did you run away like that?!" She shook with incessant tears as she further tightened her hold on me as if to squeeze some answer out of me.
"I-I'm sorry." Was all I was able to say before all the air once again left my lungs when I was squeezed again.
"You don't know how much I cried when I got to know that you ran away. And you should have seen mom and dad, they were devastated and worried about you. Even Antonio cried!"
"Rachael, you're being overdramatic now.
" A deep voice spoke from somewhere behind.
"And let her breathe, will you?" I tried to peek over Rachael's shoulder but wasn't able to see anything because she was that tall, and the fact that she had on a pair of golden stilettoes further made her look like a skyscraper.
"Shut up, Antonio," Rachael snapped but let go of me.
Now that I was finally free, I straightened myself up and looked at Antonio.
He was staring at me, a crease on his forehead. My hands began to feel clammy. Did he realize that I was not Juliet?
"H-hi, Antonio," I said, trying not to appear nervous.
He raised a single eyebrow. "What happened to calling me Ant just to annoy me?"
Crap.
I shrugged as nonchalantly as I could. "I decided that I didn't want to annoy the next person who I happen to see."
He shook his head. "You're not Juliet."
I stopped breathing. I was pretty sure my heart skipped a beat. Why wouldn't it? I was going to die.
I made eye contact with Olivia and she seemed just as panicked and scared as myself.
"Who are you and what did you do to the old Juliet?" He asked, amused and I breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "I'm not complaining though. I pretty much like this version of Juliet."
I smiled at him hesitantly.
"Uncle Ant, you promised there would be a big, flying unicorn here! Where is it?" A small, sweet voice whined and I looked down at the little girl who was clutching Antonio's leg.
Antonio groaned. "Even if you don't call me Ant anymore, you left this little demon to do that for you. I'm pretty sure she doesn't even know my real name."
I laughed. "Sorry."
"Rebecca, let go of Ant's leg," Rachael said.
Antonio glared at Rachael. "Not you too."
Rachael chuckled. "Oh, but I will."
"No! He promised he would give me a big, real unicorn," Rebecca pouted. "You said we should keep our promises and yet Uncle Ant doesn't keep his." The little girl jumped and wrapped her little arms and legs around Antonio's leg.
"Rebecca! Let go." He said, almost falling down.
"No! You give me my unicorn."
"Rachael! Get this demon child of yours off of me."
Rachael rolled her eyes. "Don't call her that. You brought it upon yourself. Make realistic promises Ant, will you?"
She walked towards him and detached him from Rebecca, picking her up and placing her on her hip.
Rebecca looked angry and instantly reached out and smacked Antonio on the cheek.
"What the f-"
Rachael glared at him and he quickly corrected himself.
"-fish cakes. I'm so hungry for fish cakes."
"Oh, um...who's this girl, Juliet?" Rachael asked me, looking over at Olivia.
"She's my friend, Olivia," I answered simply.
"Nice to meet you, Olivia." Rachael smiled warmly at her.
Olivia looked like she was about to pass out. "It's nice to meet you too." She said, looking dazed.
"Juliet! You have to tell me everything that happened to you," Rachael said.
"Yeah, I-I will. Why don't we all settle down and then I can tell you what happened.
" I suggested. Truth be told, I was just buying some time and recollecting whatever story I had dished out in front of Charlotte.
I didn't want to miss a single detail I had told her or say something that contradicted whatever I told Charlotte.
"Sure! That's a good idea. Let's go to your room." Rachael said and looked over at Antonio.
"You know what? I don't want to know what happened to you all this time so I'm just going to go and see what Ethan is up to."
"Fine, you uncaring piece of
s-paghetti." Rachael said, editing out her words for Rebecca's sake.
Antonio ignored Rachael and made his way towards his former room which Ethan now occupied. All day long Ethan had holed himself up in his temporary room and glued his butt in front of his own Luvaglio laptop claiming to do some work which he said I was 'too dumb to understand'.
"That's because your face is the definition of dumb," I had snapped back which had earned me a glare from him.
Once we were all in my room, Rachael let her dam of questions break and flooded me with it.
It took us some time to get her to shut up and narrate the elaborate story I had cooked up and fed Charlotte, and now Rachael. She seemed to believe everything I told her.
Rebecca had fallen asleep on my lap somewhere in between my story with her small fingers wrapped around my index finger.
She looked so cute in that baby pink frock she had on which almost drowned her in the fabric as she slept.
Her cheeks were so chubby and she had soft rosy lips and I rocked her in my arms until it was time for her to be put in her own bed.
Rachael and Antonio were staying for tonight.
They couldn't stay longer because of their business commitments and the fact that Antonio couldn't stop talking about how much he missed his model girlfriend, Audrey Wave, who I gathered was two years older than Antonio.
Antonio was twenty one while Audrey was twenty three.
Rebecca was four and Rachael was twenty five and was happily married to business tycoon, Robert Ainsley who was thirty two.
It was around six or seven when by the time I finally finished answering all of Rachael's questions to the best of my ability that we all agreed to go downstairs and get supper with Antonio and Ethan.
Antonio and Ethan seemed like best friends at the dinner table and were involved in a conversation the whole time despite being told to not talk at the dinner table.
Rebecca was being fed by Rachael because she refused to have any food by herself. Olivia was sat next to me and we were all having a delicious dinner and having a merry time. It felt like I was with my own family.
Everything was okay. Well at least for now.
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