C H A P T E R 4 5
?No longer two, but one.?
A few days later, Tristan stormed inside the mansion. I was in the middle of my classes when there were loud knocks on my door. I frowned and was about to open the door when Tristan's angry voice confronted me.
"Juliet, what did you tell her?" Tristan demanded from the other side of the door.
I kept quiet. Did Olivia tell him that I told her about him?
"Juliet, open the door. I want to talk to you."
I still didn't say anything, hoping he would think I was not here.
"I know you're there. Don't think that just because you aren't speaking I'd think you aren't here."
Well, damn.
"What is it?"I asked.
"What did you tell her about me? Why is Olivia acting strange since our date? It feels like she's avoiding me."
"I don't know what you're talking about."
"Open the damn door."
"No, I'm busy. Let's talk later."
"Later when?"
"After lunch. Can you wait till then?"
Tristan didn't speak for a minute. "Fine," he huffed. "But I want answers today."
With that he walked away.
When I was done with my classes for the day just in time for lunch, I was scared to open the door and face Tristan.
I silently opened the door and padded down the hallways and into the living room. It was deadly quiet. What made it worse was the rest of Mr. And Mrs. Jenson couldn't make it to lunch today. Both of them wouldn't be around for lunch for a couple more days.
Even Ethan was busy with his work commitments as a result of his breaks in between to spend time with me.
I spotted Tristan at the table with Olivia at the farthest corner away from him. I already knew this was going to be very awkward. He was staring at her every now and then and she was 'busy' on her phone.
I took a seat two chairs away from Tristan. None of us said anything and the silence was deafening.
Our food was served and I tried to concentrate on it. Olivia didn't eat much and after she was done, she left hurriedly for her room, throwing a quickly goodbye at both our ways. That traitor, leaving me here to face Tristan's wrath. I didn't even know what happened between them.
"I'm waiting," Tristan said simply.
"Waiting? For what?"
"Cut the act, Juliet. Tell me why Olivia's been ignoring me for the past few days since our date." Now that I was looking at him, he looked hurt more than angry.
"Well, did you do something on the date that she didn't like or didn't mean for something to happen?" I asked, subtly hinting at the kiss.
Tristan instantly turned red. "No."
"Are you sure?"
"We kissed. But she seemed to like it. I don't know what I did wrong."
"Are you really sure that's what happened?"
"Yeah."
"Then explain how you two ended up kissing each other when Olivia only wanted to kiss your cheek."
"Fine, I moved my head a little so she could kiss me on the lips." He grumbled quietly.
"Tristan, I'll be honest with you. She doesn't like you that way. She told me herself."
Tristan looked sad. "Then what is her type?"
"She's not one for serious relationship. Even if she'll be with you, it would only be temporary, only for the physical aspect of the relationship or just for fun."
"I can be that. Just tell me what her type is and I'll be that. That way she'll like me more and maybe change her mind."
I shook my head at him. "Don't change yourself for any girl, Tristan. If a girl falls in love with you, let it be with your true self, not with someone who you made yourself out to be just because she likes that type more."
"But I like Olivia, a lot more now."
I slammed my hand on the table. "But this can't be. I know I shouldn't be saying this about my own best friend but you deserve better than her. Don't let your feelings develop more for her. You'll only end up getting hurt, and I don't want that. I don't want to see you hurt."
Tristan didn't say anything but continued eating. After he was done, he washed his hands and left immediately.
I knew Tristan was hurt. I could see he genuinely liked Olivia but it would be the best for him if he just forgot about her. If he got to know about the truth, he wouldn't want Olivia anyways.
I tapped on Olivia's door. I heard a faint 'come in'. I pulled open the door and walked in. Olivia was sitting on the bed, with the bed covered in several papers and books.
"Hey," I said as I sat on the edge of her bed that wasn't covered with papers or books.
"Hey," she replied back, seemingly engrossed in the laptop Heather had given her so that she could attend classes on it.
"What did you say to Tristan that he was so angry at me for?" I asked, not wasting any time to get to the point.
"After our talk that day, I met up with Tristan and told him that it would be better if we didn't hang out so often.
He asked me several questions but I told him that I didn't want to hang out with him anymore.
" She looked nonchalant but I couldn't help but suspect that she didn't like what she did and was somewhat upset about what I made her do.
"What? That's rude. Couldn't you have done it any other way?"
She shrugged. "Hey, I didn't know how to tell him. Usually I don't care if my words will hurt a guy or not, but with Tristan, I wanted to care about what he felt. I'm sorry but that was the best way I could tell him so that any feelings that might have been there would stop."
I sighed. "One day that mouth of yours is going to hurt a lot of people."
"I know. And I don't want that but it just happens. If they try to get too close to me, I just tell them how I feel about them honestly. I can't help it if my words are a little hurtful."
"Whatever. Just please try not talk to Tristan for long. I don't want anything to happen between you two again."
Olivia nodded absentmindedly.
She seemed to be in deep thought. I knew she didn't want to hurt Tristan by outright rejecting him. And I knew I shouldn't have told her about Tristan's feelings but if we have to live here without blowing our cover, it was necessary that no feelings came into play.
A small voice in the back of my mind brought Ethan to the forefront and called me a hypocrite.
Seeing Heather a few days after my talk with Olivia made me feel guilty for some reason.
Ethan and I had almost kissed twice. I know Ethan and Heather were in a relationship.
They were a perfect couple as portrayed by the media.
And I had no desire to get in between them.
I was sure Heather wouldn't thank me for almost kissing her boyfriend who might most probably be her future husband.
She was so oblivious though. I wondered how she was okay with me hanging out with him at odd hours of the day, going to movies which according to high school standards could be considered a date or even being alone with him. She was something else really.
"Oh my God," Heather exclaimed from beside me.
We were all lounging around the pool that afternoon, just us girls in bright bikinis in the middle of summer. Heather and Amelia were on either side of me while Olivia was on Amelia's other side because she liked Amelia more than she liked Heather.
"What?" Amelia asked as she applied generous amount of sunscreen to her toned legs and arms.
"Brooke is getting married!"
Amelia gasped. "Really?"
"Yeah! I can't believe Brian finally proposed to her."
"Yeah. She texted me too. That's such a beautiful ring," Amelia squealed as she showed us the picture of a woman's hand with a big and beautiful diamond ring on the ring finger. "I'm so going to be the maid of honor!"
"No way, she's totally going to choose me." Heather fired back.
"Hah, keep dreaming. I know I'm her favorite!" Amelia retorted.
"Slow down. Who's Brooke." I asked, confused about this new person.
"She's my cousin," Amelia informed me. "And she's getting married to her long time boyfriend, Brian."
"How long?"
"They've been dating for like eight years with three break ups in between."
"Wow. How old is she?" Olivia asked pushing her sunglasses up her head as she peered at Amelia.
"She's almost twenty seven. And her fiancé, Brian is the sweetest guy ever.
When they were in college, he gave her a promise ring and told her that he plans to marry her if she feels the same way, which she did and that he will propose to her only when he thinks he's worthy of it.
And Brooke is so talented. She's one of the richest self made billionaire woman in the world right now, just a little after your mother and sister and although Brian isn't a billionaire but still a good man and the CEO of a rising company, she still loves him with all her heart. " Amelia gushed.
"Wow. That sounds like a really cute love story." Olivia commented and I nodded along, completely agreeing.
"It indeed is. It all started when they were in high school." Amelia giggled. "Brooke had planned revenge on her best friend's ex but Brian accidentally became the victim."
I chuckled. "Has Juliet ever met her?"
"Of course. She's really close to all three of us. Even if she's five years older than Heather and I, and seven years older than you."
I groaned. "What if I mess up with her? She sounds pretty smart."
"Yeah, now that I think of it, there is a big possibility that she might catch on to your lie." Amelia frowned.
"Don't worry, guys. I'm surely she'll understand! She has done pretty crazy things herself." Heather reassured us and I held on to that.
"Yeah. Let's not worry about that. And by the way, we are going to get the invites a few days later. I'm going to go inform everyone!" Amelia said, pushing her feet through her flip flops and happily dancing her way into the house.
Now I wanted to ask Heather about her own plans. I hesitated a bit before finally asking her my question.
"Heather," I started off nervously when honestly there was no need to be like that. Or maybe there was.
"Yeah?" She asked, still not looking up from the book she was reading.
"What about you? When are you planning to get married...to Ethan?"
Heather stopped reading and put the book on her lap. She slid up her sunglasses on top of her head. "Why did you think I was going to marry Ethan?"
I blushed and looked down. "Uh...I saw it in the magazine. There was an article about it and you sounded like you might marry him in the future."
Heather hummed as she thought about my question. "I'm not sure. What I said to that magazine was just to keep the media on their toes so that they might be alert about everything related to us."
I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion. "I don't quite understand. Why would you want to do that?"
Heather looked like a deer caught in headlights as she struggled to respond. "You won't understand."
"Okay," I said, immediately dropping the topic.
I could see she was feeling extremely uncomfortable talking about it.
I wondered what that meant though. It didn't make sense.
Was it just to make sure the media paid more attention to them?
But why would she want that? But I didn't want to push it lest she snapped at me.
After our little hangout at the poolside, I opened my laptop in my room for my regular classes.
I was catching up on everything and there was soon going to be tests coming up about sometime next month so I was working extra hard.
I'd have to go to college for the exams though.
I made a mental note to talk about it with Heather.
But before I started on my classes, I wanted to know as much about Brooke as I could so that I'd be prepared for what type of a person she was.
She was gorgeous. She didn't look too old and had a kind face.
And then there were several pictures of her and a man, most probably Brian.
I stalked her on Instagram and Facebook and was shocked to know that she was receiving a lot of flak on her recent posts about her upcoming wedding with Brian for marrying a man less successful than her.
Did people really think that the amount of money a man made determined his worth to be loved? Apparently so.
And so similarly people might also have the same thoughts about a woman in their minds. That the amount of money she made defined her worth and if she should be loved by a rich man or not.
Which was so wrong. Love didn't happen based on fame or money.
I felt bad for Brooke. Brian was obviously a good guy by the way he referred to her as "my queen" in almost all of his posts. I wished people would be a little more accepting about them.
With a sigh I exited the sites and started with my classes.
Precisely like what Heather had said, I found a beautiful wedding invitation on the coffee table a few days later after my hangout with the girls.
It was a sky blue color and sealed with a little red heart in the middle and it was the cutest invite I'd ever seen.
Inside was the wedding invitation which was a dark blue color. It was simple yet oozed sophistication and elegance.
The wedding would take place at the end of June, a month from now on at a beach resort in San Jose, California.
I showed it to Charlotte and she was apparently overjoyed at the fact that these two were finally getting married.
Of course, we'd fly to California about two or three days before the wedding.
Arrangements to fly in guests to the wedding were already made by the families of the two who were going to get hitched next month.
Amelia and Heather were still fighting over who was Brooke's favorite girl and who'd get to be the maid of honor. As for Olivia and I, they told us we could be a bridesmaid but in the end it was the bride's call to make.
Heather had immediately contacted the bride-to-be on the same day that she got to know about the upcoming wedding and arranged a lavish bachelorette party for Brooke where all the girls would be invited.
That was where I'd be meeting Brooke Parker, one of the most successful and the youngest self-made billionaire woman in the world, for the first time. I was a little nervous to meet her. She was a really rich and powerful person, beautiful too. So of course I'd feel a little intimidated by her.