C H A P T E R 7 0
?When something feels off, it is.?
"Olivia!"
I gripped at my chest, feeling my heart pound loudly as I started recovering from the near heart attack she caused.
Ethan sat up straight, fumbling behind me to put on the shirt he just took off.
"I-I just wanted to talk to you." She avoided looking at us.
"Okay, I'll be out in a second." I straightened my clothes.
She nodded and left.
"Can't you two talk tomorrow? It's twelve right now. What is she doing roaming the mansion at this time?" Ethan asked.
"I need to talk to her right now. I didn't tell her that I was dating you. I'll be back." I went to get up but he pulled me back and buried his face in my neck.
"Come back soon."
I smiled. "I will." I promised as I caressed his hair.
"Okay. I'll try not to fall asleep. But I'm just so tired." He pulled away and I got up.
"You should go to sleep. I think it'll take some time with Olivia."
This was not how I was planning on breaking the news to Olivia. No doubt she'd be mad at me.
I stepped out and saw her leaning against the wall at the end of the hallway and near the stairs.
I walked up to her, suddenly sensing her coldness even before she spoke.
"Olivia." I said to get her attention.
She turned around and took me by the hand, dragging me into the first empty room she could find. "Explain."
"I'm dating him. I was planning on telling you but we just weren't on good terms. I thought you wouldn't care even if I told you."
She let out a sarcastic laugh. "What is this? I clearly remember you telling me- no, more like ordering me to not date Tristan. You told me we had no future together. You told me to stay away from him even when you knew I liked him and didn't think of it as a fling."
"Olivia, listen to me. I'm sorry, okay? I didn't want to fall for Ethan. But it just happened. You don't know how hard it was for me to stay away from him. I tried as much as I could but in the end I couldn't do it."
"Wow you're such a fucking hypocrite. You told me that under no circumstances am I to see Tristan, that no matter what we can't be together, that he won't accept me and it would only lead to heartbreak.
I can't believe I listened to your bullshit and destroyed something so beautiful between him and I.
" Her eyes moistened and I didn't understand why she was overreacting so much again.
I sincerely apologized. What more did she want from me?
And if she liked him so much then she could just get together with him even now. What was the problem?
"Look, I'm sorry and all but don't you think you're being a little too harsh on me. It's not that big a deal. You like Tristan, right? Then go ahead, be with him. I'm now telling you to do whatever you want. So stop crying about something so stupid."
"It's not stupid for me. As usual you're just been a dumb bitch who only cares about her own problems and doesn't have an inkling about the mess she has created in someone else's life."
"Okay now you're just been overly dramatic. I didn't let you date Tristan, oh wow what an apocalypse." I spit out.
She sniffled. "You're being insensitive."
"No, Olivia. You're being childish and stupid. Like always. And why were you outside my room, staring at us like a creep in the middle of the night."
"I wanted to make sure you didn't run away, leaving me behind here."
"Oh, don't worry. Doing that sort of thing suits you."
"Does he know?" She asked, ignoring my jibe at her.
There it was. The chip in my blooming relationship with Ethan. The thing that could break us beyond repair.
My silence was answer enough.
"Are you fucking serious?"
"I'm going tell him soon."
"Why didn't you before you started seeing him?"
"I trust him but I'm not sure if he'll understand. Don't forget our true places, Olivia. If he gets to know, he might throw us out."
"You're so selfish. You're not telling him so that you can stay here longer but don't you see that he's only going to get hurt the longer you wait. You can't do this to him. I say protecting him is more important that this fucking thing we have going on."
"I know! I want to protect him and I am going to tell him. I just need a few days. I'm going to make sure he knows that my feelings are real and then I'm slowly going to break it to him."
"You're clearly not thinking about all the possibilities. What if when he knows you're just some poor college student who looks like Juliet, that he decides that he doesn't want to be with you? Is he really going to choose you after knowing you're not some princess with loads of money?"
"I'm not insecure like that. I know Ethan enough to know that he's not after money when he decides to date someone."
"Well aren't you being a little overconfident?"
I shook my head. "I'm past all those insecurities.
I know exactly what kind of a person he is and I know that money doesn't matter to him.
I don't know about his parents and they might even tell him to break up with me after and he might even give in to them but that's because he's a good son and listens to his parents.
That's good. One's parents should be the most important.
And in that case I can't do anything, I'll have to let him go.
But my point is, he won't be the one to break up with me over money.
The reason might be trust and that I deceived him, but never my financial background. "
She shook her head. "Just tell him before it's too late. I don't want other person's life ruined by you."
"Can you tell me whose life I ruined and how?! Because I can't figure it for the life of me."
"I'm leaving." She said before walking towards the door. I didn't watch her as she opened the door.
The next thing I heard was her gasp.
"Juliet, it's Ethan." She whispered.
My heart dropped at her words. I slowly walked towards the door, her figure blocking my view.
But when I reached her, there was no one there.
She turned and smirked at me. "Oh look how scared you are right now."
"Olivia! That wasn't funny!"
She didn't say anything and walked out, shutting the door behind her.
I took a moment to calm myself down and after I was sure my heart was beating at a normal speed, I made my way to my room.
Ethan had fallen asleep and I couldn't get a wink of sleep even when I was so tired because of the massive guilt eating at me from the inside, thanks to Olivia.
My dad had called us both to his study right after breakfast. We knew better than to be late.
Once we were sat in front of him, he stopped typing on his laptop and regarded us with a disappointed look. But it was good that he looked calmer now than what he looked like last night.
"Tell me where you two ran off to yesterday."
"Uh, dad. He just took me to a water park for fun. I'm sorry no one was told about where we would be."
"Why didn't you tell me? It's not like I was going to forbid you from going." He spoke, directing his words at Ethan.
"I know. I just thought it wouldn't take much time so I didn't think to tell you. I didn't want you to worry about her unnecessarily. I thought we'd go and be back in no time." Ethan said.
"Then what happened? What took you two so long?"
"We went on all the rides. And we ziplined. Ethan was ready to take me home around six but I was very hungry so I told him that we should eat first." I said. "It's my fault that we were late."
"You came home at eleven. Does it take you five hours to eat?"
"No, I told him to drive to a nice place so that we could eat while enjoying a beautiful view. And then time just flew. We talked and ate and talked some more." I replied as vaguely as I could.
"But still it was very irresponsible of you two to not tell anyone."
"I told my assistant to tell you if it got a little late," Ethan said quietly.
"Would it have hurt your mouth to tell me on your own?" Alistair turned his gaze on him. "And I need to talk to you about what you've been doing with my daughter these days. Juliet, step out."
"Dad, just don't kick him out. He still has a few weeks of training left."
"More like a few days, isn't it Ethan?"
My eyes shifted to Ethan. He was going to leave after a few days?
"Yes, sir."
I was going to talk to him about this. I just got together with him and now he was leaving.
"How many more days?" I asked.
"Just till the day of the launch party of my friend's daughter's new company." Dad said.
"When is that?"
"In less than two weeks. Now I'd like to privately talk to Ethan."
I took the hint and exited his office, hanging around to have a talk with Ethan after.
After ten minutes, he appeared out of the room and I stood up to reach him.
"What did he say? And what did you say?"
"He told me that I can date you." Ethan said with a grin. "He still doesn't trust us though. He's confused how this happened when we absolutely hated each other."
"Oh that, well he doesn't need to know." I looped my arm around his. "All that matters is that he approves."
"Yes, finally I asked him."
"And are you really leaving after a few days?"
He sighed, the cheerful mood quickly dissipating into the air. "Yes."
"Damn it, I wasted so much time."
"I've learned all I could from him. There couldn't have been a better teacher to get some experience from. But now it's time I return to my own home. To my dad and mom." He said softly.
"Will I be able to see you as often?"
He pressed his lips in a thin line. "It'll be hard but I'll try. We'll go on dates every Saturday and Sunday and I'll try to meet you during weekdays as much I can."
"You don't have to do that. Don't let me come in between you and your work. At least not to the point where the company might suffer because of me."
"I won't let that happen."
"So what're you doing after work tonight?"
"Tristan is deciding to stop by. I haven't seen him in so long and he misses me. He remembers I exist only when he feels lonely." Ethan joked.
I too haven't seen Tristan for a quite a few days. I hoped he was doing well.
"Okay then I won't intrude."
"It's alright. You can hang out with us."
I shook my head. "No I think I shouldn't. I have something to do anyway."
"You sure?"
"Of course."
And I wasn't lying when I said that. I had decided I was going to find out what was wrong with Olivia. I had decided to ignore but now I couldn't anymore. After what happened last night, it sounded serious. I needed to do some snooping.
So I called Amelia when I was alone in my room. I could only trust her to help me.
She picked up instantly.
"Hey, Amelia."
"Oh hey Juliet. What's up?"
"Is someone around you?"
"No, I'm alone. Why?"
"It's just that you called me Juliet."
"Ah, it just became a habit. You two are so alike yet so different. I guess I really started to see you as Juliet. Anyways, why'd you call?"
"Listen, I need your help. I'm going to find out what Olivia is keeping from me."
"Okay what do I need to do?"
"Can you take Olivia out to do something? Just keep her occupied for about an hour."
"What're you planning to do?"
"I need to check her room. Back home she always kept a diary and wrote in it often.
She can't go long without having a book to write about herself in.
I'm sure she has made a diary here. If so, then I can know what's really up with her.
She writes everything about her in it. That diary is my only hope. "
"That's a good idea." She said, laughing nervously. "But shouldn't we not invade her privacy?"
"Olivia is not telling me and I need to know. We can't afford to keep secrets if we have to live here for God knows how much longer. And if she won't tell me then I don't have a choice. What if it gets worse over time? We need to quickly find out and solve her problem."
"Okay. But if it's anything serious, don't confront her about it straight away. First tell me and then we'll figure something out with Heather."
I shook my head knowing very well she couldn't see me.
"No, this secret involves Heather as well.
Did you forget that she took Olivia somewhere and told you to keep me busy that one time we went on a girl's day out?
They're together in this and Heather will most probably just deny everything and try to cover up for Olivia. "
"Oh right, I totally forgot about that. I can't believe Heather is keeping secrets from me. We tell each other everything." Which was why this was scaring me. I just hoped that Olivia hadn't messed up that bad.
"That's why this is so serious. I need to find out."
"If you do find out, don't forget to tell me."
"Okay. When can you come and take her out somewhere?"
"I can't right now but I'm free after six today."
"Okay, that works. Text me when you get here and are ready to leave."
"Okay."
We hung up and now I only had to wait until six tonight to know everything I needed to know.
Amelia didn't need to text me that she was here to take away Olivia because her honking her car loudly and continuously as if she wanted every person in the mansion to know she had arrived was enough indication.
I peered out of my window at her sleek black car idling in the driveway as she got out and made her way inside.
I waited and counted the minutes. It took twenty minutes for both of them to return to the car and soon they drove away. I imagined it wasn't easy to coax Olivia out of the guestroom where she had been self isolating herself for weeks.
My phone buzzed with a text from Amelia. I didn't know how she managed to text me while she was driving.
You're clear. You have one hour tops. She's difficult to keep around for much longer.
Once their car disappeared out the gates and around the bend in the road, I quickly raced down to Olivia's room.
I quickly slipped inside, unnoticed by others and took a quick glance around. It looked normal, nothing that would suggest that she was hiding something from me but I knew better.
I reached the bedside drawers and began searching for her diary. Nothing was in the three drawers except some unimportant items like textbooks and some notebooks she used for her notes.
I knew Olivia could hide it anywhere. She always chose the most unexpected of places to hide things. So I even searched under the foam mattress of her bed but found nothing.
Next I searched her tiny closet. It didn't have a lot of clothes like mine did. In fact hers seemed rather empty compared to mine. My walk-in closet was filled to brim with designer clothes.
Nothing was hidden behind or under her clothes and I was starting to think I wasn't going to find anything.
The bottom of the closet had a small drawer and thank God it didn't need a key.
A big empty bag was stuffed in it and I had some difficulty in pulling it out because it got stuck somewhere inside.
When I finally managed to pull it out, I found exactly what I was looking for.
Hidden underneath the bag was her old phone, the clothes she wore at the night of the party where we got kidnapped and all the accessories she had on at that time.
But that wasn't what caught my attention.
I found bottles of pills. A lot of them.
There were pills of many kinds. Among the mess I found her diary.
It was a new one she had requested from Heather for when we started to live here.
I vaguely remembered her asking Heather if she could maintain a diary and she had found no harm in it so she had given one to her.
I took it out and it was almost half filled with diary entries. It fell open to the last page. There were a few papers folded into half and put in the diary.
Right at that moment my phone started buzzing crazily. I took it out, curious to know who was messaging me so much.
I had to turn around the car.
Something's wrong with Olivia.
She's coming up to her room.
Amelia had sent three separate texts to me and her words sent a chill of fear inside of me. I didn't want to to be caught snooping around. But I was so close to knowing what it was. I couldn't just let it go.
So I ignored the texts and opened the papers folded together neatly.