“So what’s the plan?” Olivia questioned after breakfast when I told her that I was going to get back at Ethan.
“The classic one. I’m going to put many alarm clocks in his room, three to be exact. The one in his room, the one from my room and the one in yours,” I replied, taking a small sip of my coffee.
“You should’ve been more creative with your plan. I’m very disappointed,” Olivia said, shaking her head at me.
“Hey! That’s all I could come up with. Although I did consider other ideas,” I retorted.
“Yeah? Like what?”
“Like putting eye drops in his drink to give him a severe diarrhoea but I couldn’t find eye drops. I also considered sticking wet cotton balls all over his expensive cars but that would just spoil those beauties and I would never allow that. Also at some point I thought of sticking needle pins on his toilet seat but that’s just gross so I let it pass,” I said, scrunching my nose up in disgust.
Olivia let out a breath through her mouth. “Impressive,” I heard her mutter. “So you’re going to do this at nighttime?”
I nodded. “He sleeps around midnight so I’ll sneak into his room and set this up.”
“And he’ll leave the door open for you to do this, right?” Olivia asked sarcastically.
“I’ve got this planned out, Olivia. There are keys to every room in this mansion. Mrs. Jenson told me that she keeps it in the kitchen, near the fridge. I’ll find it,” I assured her, finishing my coffee which had turned slightly cold. I placed it on the empty dining table and almost immediately one of the servants came out of the kitchen with a tray in his hands which had two more empty coffee mugs on it. He picked mine up and trotted back into the kitchen.
“Looks like you’ve planned everything out,” Olivia said once the servant was out of sight.
“I told you I had,” I replied, rolling my eyes. “Anyways, I’m going to go and take a shower now,” I said, hopping off the chair, waving a short goodbye to her.
On my way upstairs to my room, I bumped into Samara who was almost drowning in a sea of clothes and a heavy looking suitcase.
“Hey Samara, what’s this?” I asked, staring at how she was struggling to hold on to the suitcase and the clothes at the same time.
“Mr. and Mrs. Jenson are leaving for Paris tomorrow evening to celebrate there twenty-seventh wedding anniversary in the same place where Mr. Jenson proposed Mrs. Jenson,” Samara giggled, slightly out of breath.
“Oh, so they’re leaving tomorrow?” I asked to confirm. “My mom didn’t tell me anything about this.”
“Yes ma’am, they are,” she said, finally giving up and putting the suitcase down to catch her breath although she still had those sea of clothes on her.
“How long would they be gone for?”
“I’m not sure. I think it’s for two weeks,” she said. “But don’t worry they’ll be back before your birthday,” she smiled brightly. “Now I must really get to work. If there is anything that you need, please don’t hesitate to call me.” She said and with a huff she had the heavy suitcase in her hands again as she made her way downstairs.
Mr. and Mrs. Jenson were going to be out of town – heck, out of country for a whole two weeks. I rejoiced at the idea of not having to act like their daughter for two weeks. What a relief. At least that would ease out some guilt that was eating me up alive and help me think straight for once.
On the way to my room, I yet again bumped into someone. And I wasn’t particularly pleased at bumping into this certain someone.
“I see your ankle has got better,” Ethan commented, coming out of his room just as I put my hand on the door handle to get into my room.
I groaned, “It just got worse when you decided to show your face,” I retorted, before adding, “and apparently my whole day just got worse too, thank you so much.”
“Dramatic as ever,” Ethan rolled his eyes. “You’re lucky I even decided to check if your ankle was better, because I got better things to do than this.”
“Yeah? Like what? Plotting childish revenges on me?” I taunted. “Yup, that’s? way? better things you’ve got to do.”
Ethan shook his head. “At least I’m not a loser like you who won’t even fight back.” He retorted, walking away as I stared at his back, noticing just now that he was dressed in a suit for work.
“Just you wait and see, Evans. If I were you, I’d sleep with one eye open,” I called out loud for him to hear, “literally,” I muttered under my breath.
His chuckle resounded throughout the empty hallway. “I’d like to see what you’d do.”
“You’ll get to know what I’ll do, Evans. Soon enough,” I whispered with a smirk, not meaning for him to hear, which he didn’t.
***
“Uh… so you and dad are leaving for Paris tomorrow evening?” I asked as casually as I could manage. Mrs. Jenson and I were in my room, with me rummaging through the sea of neatly stacked clothes in my humongous wardrobe to find something simple and comfortable to wear, which was impossible when it came to simple clothing.
“Yes, I didn’t expect that. Alistair wanted to keep it a surprise for me but he is a terrible secret keeper so I was bound to know it sooner,” Mrs. Jenson replied. I could almost hear and feel the love she felt for her husband, Alistair.
“That’s really sweet of dad. So how long will you two be gone for?”
“I don’t really know, honey. It may be for two weeks, or it might stretch to three. But don’t you worry, we will not allow ourselves to miss your twentieth birthday. I’m going to ensure it’ll be special for you,” She assured me, kissing my forehead.
“T-Thanks, mom,” I stuttered, taking a long breath before adding, “I love you.”
“Aw, I love you too, honey,” she cooed, “I’ll go downstairs to take care of some things. I’ll be right back and then we can have dinner together with your dad.”
I nodded at her, watching as she gave me a wide smile, her eyes clearly showing how happy she was. With one final look, she left my room.
“Aw, that was such a cute mother-daughter moment you two had,” I heard Olivia say and I rolled my eyes, watching her tall, lean form waltz into my room.
“What’re you here for?” I asked, watching as she plops herself on my bed, lying on her back as she faces the ceiling.
“A certain someone asked for my alarm clock and I thought I’d give it to her,” she replied, propping herself on her elbows to look at me.
“Well, thanks. You can leave now,” I told her curtly.
“You don’t seem to be in a good mood. But you were just fine two hour ago at breakfast. Who got your panties in a twist?” She asked, placing her alarm clock on the nightstand.
“I ran into someone I wasn’t keen on seeing until nighttime,” I replied, randomly choosing a burgundy crop top to go with a pair of shorts.
“Ethan?” Olivia guessed, chuckling when I groaned at her.
“Yes, and he apparently made my day worse by showing his ugly face,” I grumbled in annoyance.
“Actually, I don’t really think he has an ugly face. If he weren’t your enemy, which makes him my enemy too by the way, I would’ve actually thought he looked quite handsome and hot.”
“Yeah, no. He has an ugly face,” I protested. “And you’re not supposed to find your enemy hot.”
“Okay, he has an annoyingly handsome ugly face,” Olivia corrected herself with a smirk.
“That doesn’t even make sense,” I deadpanned. “And how about we not talk about him. You’re just making my day more worse than worse.”
Olivia raised her arms in surrender. “Okay, we won’t talk about him. So what’s up? What were the mother and daughter duo talking about?”
“How much did you hear?” I asked, too lazy to give her a full explanation.
“From when she said that they won’t miss your twentieth birthday.”
“Alistair and Charlotte are leaving for Paris tomorrow evening,” I said dully, slipping into the top and shorts.
“What? Really?” Olivia asked excitedly.
“Yeah, they are,” I confirmed.
“For how long?”
I shrugged. “She said it will be for two weeks but it might stretch for three. But they’re not going to miss my-I mean, Juliet’s twentieth birthday,” I said, grabbing a comb off of the dresser and trying to tame my wild curls softly.
“Oh, I guess that’s good then?” Olivia asked questioningly.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I shrugged. “It’s so surprising that Juliet will celebrate her birthday at the same time as me. Even I’m turning twenty in a few weeks.”
***
At the dinner table, there was a new addition.
Olivia grumbled. “I hate this. What is he doing here?”
“I have no idea,” I replied, slipping in my seat.
“Hello there, ladies,” Tristan said, grinning ear to ear as Olivia was forced to take a seat opposite him. We didn’t reply. “I’m honored to have dinner with the two finest ladies I’ve ever known such as yourselves,” Tristan said.
“Cut the act, it doesn’t suit you,” Olivia deadpanned.
Tristan narrowed his eyes at her before looking around the empty dining table which was yet to be filled with people.
“Tell me, oh pure Olivia. What goes up, let’s out a load and goes back down?” Tristan asked, smirking and I grimaced.
“Tristan, shut up,” Olivia said.
“An elevator, you’re a disgusting human, Olivia,” Tristan answered, ignoring Olivia’s demand to stop, like he usually does.
Olivia huffed and looked away.
“What’s most useful when it’s long and hard?” Tristan continued on with his ridiculous riddles. I sighed. If this goes on, I’d be sick.
“A college education,” Olivia answered with a smirk. “I read about that one.”
“Hm… what’s starts with ‘p’ and ends with ‘orn’ and is the hottest part of the movie industry?”
Olivia opened her mouth before shaking her head and closing it again.
“Popcorn, obviously. 140 characters aren’t enough to express how gross your imagination is,” Tristan snickered before continuing. “Some people prefer to be on top, others prefer to be on bottom. And it always involves a bed. What is it?”
“Where’s your off button?” Olivia asked.
“A bunk bed, you dumbass,” Tristan answered, ignoring her as usual.
“Tristan, I’m politely asking you to shut the fuck up if you don’t want my breakfast and lunch all over you.”
“Oh, and this is my favourite one. If you put three fingers-”
“Hello, Mrs. Jenson. It’s nice to see you. You’re looking beautiful. How was your day?” Olivia asked loudly, effectively shutting up Tristan and I turned around in my seat to see Mrs. Jenson making her way to us.
“Oh Olivia, thanks. And my day was great, thank you.” She said, smiling kindly at her before turning to Tristan. “I think I heard you talking about three fingers. What was it about?”
“Uh…,” Tristan seemed at a loss for words. “Um… it was that, um… three fingers… uh, I-” Tristan stuttered, failing to come up with something.
“He was telling us that he visited a fortune teller who advised him to wear three different gemstone rings in three of his fingers to remain safe,” I answered for him, lying smoothly.
Tristan let out a breath of relief. “Yeah.”
“And that’s because the fortune teller told him that this was going to be the darkest period of his life where he most possibly will get his birdie cut off because of his obnoxious, filthy, big mouth,” Olivia added to which Tristan glared at her.
“What?” Mrs. Jenson asked confusedly.
“Nothing,” Olivia said, smiling sweetly at her.
At that instant, Mr. Jenson and Ethan took their seats and the food was served.
“Ethan, you look tired. Has handling the casino taking a toll on you?” Mr. Jenson asked worriedly and only did I notice the faint dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep.
“Thanks for your concern, Mr. Jenson, but I’m fine,” Ethan replied politely. I snorted silently.? Politeness? is? not? something? that? suits? you,? I thought.
“Don’t stress yourself out too much, okay?” He said to which Ethan nodded.
“I won’t.”
Mr. Jenson took this moment to finally break it to us about his Paris plans, which we were already aware of. He told us to take care of ourselves and not hesitate to call them if something goes wrong. He was talking to us as if we were kids who were going to be left home alone.? Well,? that? was? not? completely? untrue? when? we? have? Ethan? and? Tristan? acting? all? immature? and? childish,? I thought.
Ethan, Tristan, Olivia and I congratulated them in advance for completing twenty seven years of marital bliss.