C H A P T E R 2 5
?Stop overthinking. You can't control everything, just let it be.?
"Honey, that fish is already dead. Why are you trying to kill it again?" Charlotte Jenson asked me with a worried frown on her face.
We were all seated at the dinner table. It was a day after that stupid prank Ethan pulled on me and my anger still knew no bounds. My blood was still boiling.
I hadn't realized what exactly I was doing to the fish as I was more busy imagining Ethan as that fish and doing what I wanted to do with him, stab him to death.
Ethan shifted uncomfortably in his seat at the dinner table, right in front of mine. I was pleased with myself to at least get him to feel a little uncomfortable in my presence.
"Sorry," I said quietly and grimaced down at the fish on my plate. In the process of stabbing it over and over again I had also gouged it's eye out. I would've been very happy if it was Ethan in its place and not that poor fish.
I glared at Ethan again who was now watching my plate with his lips slightly parted and nose scrunched up in disgust. I changed my fork as the fish's eye was stuck between it.
"Ethan, did you do something to Juliet? Why is she glaring at you like that? Did you two fight?" Mrs. Jenson asked.
I looked at him and raised an eyebrow.
"Uh, it's nothing. We didn't fight. And I didn't do anything to her," he said and cleared his throat, avoiding eye contact with me.
"Oh, really?" I muttered but was loud enough to be heard by everyone at the dinner table.
Olivia paid us no attention, probably used to our silly pranks and bickering by now.
"Don't worry, Mrs. Jenson. Everything's fine," Ethan tried to reassure her.
The rest of my time at the dinner table was spent in glaring at Ethan, hoping I'd get a superpower somehow which would enable me to bury him alive a thousand feet under with my eyes so that he could never resurface.
Unfortunately, it didn't happen no matter how much I tried.
The next day, I found a young lady waiting in the living room.
I was just passing by when I saw her propped on the couch with a phone in her hand, tapping away on it with her perfectly long manicured nails.
She was wearing a nice white shirt and high waisted black jeans with black heels.
Her long brown wavy hair with blonde highlights were left loose on her back.
She had beautiful grey eyes. She looked really pretty and friendly.
I slowly approached her, unsure about who she was.
Sensing my presence, she looked up. The moment she did, her eyes widened and her mouth hung open. I immediately regretted approaching her.
"Um, how may I help you?"
She frowned at me before answering. "I'm waiting for Ethan. He told me he'll be downstairs in a minute or two. Are you really...," she hesitated, "...Juliet?"
"Of course I am," I said hesitantly, flipping my hair back. What if she went and blabbered to the paparazzi about me?
Her eyes widened. "Juliet? As in Juliet Jenson? The lost and found daughter? My best friend?!"
Crap.
"How do you know? Mom said that no one except family knew." Then it hit me. She must be family.
She looked hurt but quickly recovered. "Well, I'm kind of family, aren't I? Our families not only share a professional bond, but a personal one as well. After all, my brother married your sister Rachael." She said.
Oh. She was Robert Ainsley's sister.
"Do you even remember me, Juliet? I'm your best friend, Heather! How can you forget me?"
Heather. Ethan's date that day?
I remembered Ethan mentioning a Heather who he had a date with. What does she even see in him? Doesn't she see the monster in him? She must be really na?ve to not have caught on to his demonic self.
"I didn't forget you, Heather. Uh, I was just surprised to see you here."
There was an awkward silence between us with Heather surveying me from head to toe.
Then she smiled a sugary sweet smile at me. "We need to hang out."
I cleared my throat. "Of course we do."
We heard footsteps behind us and we turned at the same time to see Ethan who was busy putting on his watch. "Sorry for keeping you waiting, Heather. I woke up late." Then he looked up at us.
"It's not a problem at all. I finally met Juliet." For some reason there was malice in her voice.
He cleared his throat, suddenly appearing uncomfortable. "So shall we leave?"
"Of course," Heather replied and turned to me. "Hey Juliet, I hope you don't mind me seeing Ethan, do you? I know you kind of hated him since forever but I'll explain everything to you later."
"Okay," I said, shrugging because I really didn't care if she dated Ethan.
"We'll hang out soon." She said sternly, her face blank and I was taken aback by her change in tone. It sounded like a warning.
"Y-yeah." I stuttered which made me facepalm myself internally. The Juliet they knew wouldn't stutter at all!
She gave me a satisfied smirk before waving goodbye at me.
I bid her goodbye, ignoring Ethan as he walked past me with her. I watched them leave. Just as they were about to disappear from my sight, Heather reached up and whispered something in his ear.
They held hands and he immediately pulled her close before they disappeared.
I rolled my eyes. Poor Heather.
"Mom," I started casually at lunch. "Do you remember Heather?" That was such a stupid question, I later realized.
"Of course, dear. She's a lovely girl, apart from being your best friend."
"So you told her that I returned?"
"Why wouldn't I? She's the only true friend you have. And she's family so of course she would know."
"Oh, um...what is our relation with them...you know, professionally?"
"Well, your dad had many business collaborations with Heather's father. And they were a huge success. We all are really close. Her mother is my best friend. Her father is Alistair's best friend. But what an odd question to ask. You already know this."
"Two years did that to me." I smiled nervously. "Is she like...dating anyone?"
Charlotte scrunched up her eyebrows. "I think so.
I've seen a couple of news articles about her and Ethan but they might be wrong.
They might just be friends, I don't know.
I try to keep out of their personal lives as long as they are.
..you know, careful and responsible and no one gets hurt because of some sort of agreement between them for some temporary fling for pleasure. "
"Oh my God, are you insinuating they are friends with benefits?" I asked, now having stopped eating.
"I really don't know, Juliet. At least that's what I read in one of the articles. It seems like these kind of agreements are common among you young people these days."
"But not everything that the paparazzi dishes out is true, right?"
"Of course it's not. But some are. So I just stay out of all of this.
But if I sense something, like a toxic relationship which might harm our relations with our family or friends, then I step in.
But Ethan and Heather look lovely together and I think they are pretty serious about each other.
Her mother would be so happy. She really likes Ethan.
She along with all of us were very worried about Heather.
She's your best friend so you know, right?
She was a wild and adventurous girl a few years back, much like you.
A heartbreaker and a big playgirl in her high school.
She never settled for a long term relationship and had various flings.
Her mother was afraid she would never settle down for one boy, and the things that the paparazzi were writing about her made it hard for her to believe which were true and which weren't."
"So...she changed?"
"Yes, she changed for good. Sadly, you weren't there to witness it."
"I bet Ethan changed her or something."
Charlotte let out a soft chuckle. "No, that girl never gets influenced by anyone. She changed herself when her mother warned her that if she doesn't stop her scandalous ways, she would marry her off in an arranged marriage. That pretty much did the trick."
"So, her mother wasn't actually serious, was she? She just did that to stop her."
"No, she was serious about marrying her off.
Heather rebelled a lot and ran off to somewhere.
Later, she was found in their old vacation home.
Seeing that her mother was dead serious, she changed her ways and promised her that she would get a boyfriend that she would actually be serious about, and now she's with Ethan.
I think. Knowing about her old ways, I wouldn't be surprised if they were only friends with benefits. "
I nodded. "She seems like a really innocent, sweet girl now. Nothing like what she was before."
"Well, that was the old Heather. She convinced us all that this is a new her.
Now she attends all family functions, there are no more news of any of her affairs and mostly the articles are just about her and Ethan's fairytale love story.
You missed that one year of complete transformation of Heather. "
"Oh, great. Except that Ethan's no prince charming."
"Look, honey. I know you didn't like him from the very beginning but you guys have grown up.
You're no longer kids. You are mature and responsible adults.
So maybe you should give him a chance. He's not as bad as you make him out to be.
He's a fine man. Very smart, very intelligent and very handsome.
He had always been an ideal child and there wasn't even once any news of him being a playboy.
You two might actually be good friends. Just get to know him.
I know he might be cold sometimes but you can blame that on his profession.
Businessmen are required to be emotionless and professional.
That's what makes a good businessman. Just try and you'll see just how amazing a person he is.
" I could see it in her eyes that she really believed it.
I agreed. Maybe he wasn't all that bad. I knew for a fact that people have different version of a person in their head and often two versions can be quite opposite.
"Do I really have to?" I said sulkily.
"Please, for me?" She asked.
"Okay, whatever," I said, not really meaning to try and get to know him.
She smiled at me and we continued with our lunch.
"So you now have a best friend? What's her name again?" Olivia asked, staring at the ceiling. She was laying on her bed and I just barged in her room to tell her all about what had happened in the morning.
"Heather. Heather Ainsley. Her brother, Robert is Rachael's husband and she's my best friend I didn't know of."
"This just got a whole lot complicated," Olivia murmured.
"Tell me about it. This is all because of you. If you wouldn't have convinced me to act like their brat of a daughter."
Olivia let out a tired sigh. "Let's not go over this again."
"What if this gets even more complicated? What will I do when all of Juliet's family comes to visit all at once. I wouldn't be able to keep up! Our lie would be caught. We'd be thrown out of here. Maybe we would even be handed over to the cops!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa." Olivia jumped from the bed and ran towards me. "Slow down," she said, grabbing my shoulders. "Nothing of that sort is going to happen. Do you get that?" She shook me and I pushed her away.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Just tell the mother that you aren't ready to meet all of the relatives all at once. I'm sure she'll understand."
"No, she won't. She would think I'm acting like a primitive person new to human civilization and afraid to interact with people, and that's just ridiculous."
"Fine. Go ahead and meet all of them at once then." Olivia said, shrugging and walking towards the bed. She plopped herself down on it and closed her eyes.
"Olivia!"
She didn't answer me. But I knew she didn't fall asleep either.
"Olivia, I'm freaking out here!"
"Well I told you a simple way out of it but you're not willing to do it so what can I possibly do?"
I didn't answer her. There was still a chance to get away from all of this!
"How about we run away?"
"Nope, not happening. At least not so soon."
"Olivia, we can't live here forever. Let's get out of here."
"I'm not going."
I stared at her, lying on the bed without a care in the world. I knew she knew for fact that I wouldn't leave without her and she was taking full advantage of it.
"Olivia, please."
"Juliet, no," She mimicked me.
"Argh!" I groaned, running a hand through my hair. I was frustrated with her.
"Why are you doing this to me?"
"I'm sorry."
Knowing that she wouldn't give me any productive answers and would just frustrate the hell out of me, I got up from the carpeted floor where I was sitting and started to make my way out of her room.
"I hate you," I muttered.
"I love you too," she said before I closed the door behind me.
It was a little past six in the evening and no one was in the mansion. It made me feel as if everyone worked hard but Olivia and I wasted the whole day loafing around, which was the truth.
I walked around a bit in the mansion until I felt suffocated in there. The polished walls of the mansion seemed to cave in on me so I moved out of the mansion to get some fresh air.
Adjacent to the mansion was a big garden. I hadn't been in the garden often but it was very large and beautiful.
There was even a small pond in the middle of it and it was the most beautiful sight I'd ever seen. I decided to come here often because the true beauty didn't reside in the mansion, but here in mother nature.
There were rows and rows of tall tress of various kinds on one side of the garden and on the other side there was a flower valley with different kinds of flowers in full bloom.
I sat on a bench underneath a cherry blossom tree, just staring at the scenery in front of me. I didn't allow my mind to think of anything, other than the beauty in front of me.
And I felt peaceful. Even if it was for a mere second, it was precious. In that little time all the things that had happened to me, the situation I was in seemed trivial. Distance really made even the biggest of problems seem small.
I smiled softly at nothing in particular and told myself that everything would turn out fine. And then I felt amazing. This garden seemed to be my personal heaven. I really loved it there.
After sitting like that for what felt like a long time, I heard leaves crunch behind me. I turned towards the sound and found someone right behind me.
"Boo!" They said, grabbing me by my shoulders. I jumped and yelped in fright, placing a hand on my heart as I felt it beat wildly in my chest.
I turned around to look at Keith who was looking at me with a goofy grin.
"You scared me!"
"That was what I intended to do."
He came forward and sat down on the bench. I took my seat beside him.
"Why are you here?"
"I was looking for you. I didn't find you anywhere inside so I thought you'd be here and indeed you were."
"Why would you think I'd be here. I don't visit this garden often."
He shrugged and stuffed his hands in his jacket pockets. "You seem kind of a nature girl. I just had a feeling you'd be here."
I nodded. "Why were you looking for me?"
"I'm going to try out a new recipe for dinner. Mrs. Jenson likes it when I try out new recipes because she loves everything I make and almost always the new recipes I make turn out delicious. So I just wanted to see if you wanted to learn it with me."
"Oh, sure. I didn't get to make anything in the kitchen today anyway so yeah, let's go."
I got up, waiting for him to do the same. But he just kept sitting while staring up at me curiously.
"What?"
"You know, sometimes I think it's really not you. That who I'm with right now isn't the real Juliet. You just seem very different. As if you aren't really Juliet but a lookalike of her."
I chuckled nervously, while pushing a strand of hair away from my face. He wouldn't believe how right on mark he was.
"Why would you think that? I am really me."
"You were never this bubbly or...willing to befriend the cooks or maids. What happened to you in an year and a half? Before everything happened, you barely even looked my way. I don't think you even knew my name back then."
"People change, you know."
"Guess they do."
"Now come on," I said, grabbing his arm and trying to pull him up, eager for a topic change. "Let's go cook a storm in the kitchen!"