It had been five days since my dinner with Ethan. In those five days there was a phenomenal change in Ethan’s behavior towards me. Although he still got irritated with me sometimes but it was nothing major. We would greet each other and let silence settle between us before one of us made attempts at small talk. We weren’t harsh or rude towards each other anymore. I knew he still thought of me as some type of a rich, stuck up brat but I could see that he was getting to see a whole new side of me. A side which had a large part of the real me and very little to nothing of Juliet.
Just two days before my real and my fake birthday which would strangely coincide coincidentally, there was a huge uproar in the Jenson household. I had gathered from Olivia that Mrs. Jenson had cancelled all her previous plans and now there would only be a private dinner celebration with close friends and family.
Charlotte was summoning Olivia every day for even the tiniest detail for my birthday party. I could see that she was more excited than anyone else for her daughter’s birthday.
I kind of understood her emotions. I would be overjoyed too if I were to find my runaway daughter. Putting myself in her shoes, I couldn’t blame her for acting like a kid in a candy shop.
Olivia had told me that a huge hall at a five star hotel has been booked and measures were taken to keep tight security and not to let anyone slip by. The guest list would be limited, as limited as the Jenson’s can make it happen. Olivia didn’t have much say in the guest list though which was fine because she had done everything she could to help me out.
I was glad things had turned out the way we wanted to. Without Heather this couldn’t have been possible and we would’ve got caught in a matter of days. With Heather guiding me on how to hold myself up convincingly, I felt a lot more confident now.
It was a little after lunch. I was chatting with Keith until he had to go grocery shopping. The Jenson’s always sent the cooks to shop for the house as they believed that fresh and best quality products can only be identified by a reputed chef. Keith and his friend, Farhan Habib were both appointed the task of grocery shopping twice or thrice a week depending on need.
At around four in the afternoon, two cars pulled up at the front. Rachael stepped out carrying Rebecca and Antonio stepped out from the other car.
Rachael rushed to hug me.
“I’m so excited for your birthday!” She exclaimed, squeezing poor Rebecca between us.
She groaned sleepily and Rachael shifted her head so that Rebecca’s cheek was resting on her shoulder. It didn’t take long for her to wake up and start running around the mansion, calling for me to catch her.
Antonio ruffled my hair and without much of a greeting, stepped inside the mansion.
They had came here to spend time with me before my birthday but that wasn’t possible most of the time because Rebecca was a ball of energy. She pleaded with me and even Olivia to play hide and seek with her.
Olivia didn’t last long in the game and she walked away, tired.
“I’m never having kids of my own,” she muttered.
Olivia didn’t hate kids but didn’t like them either. According to her, they were annoying, whiny and cried way too much and way too loudly for her liking. And she only ever liked them when they were asleep.
With great difficulty I was finally able to put little Rebecca to sleep on my bed.
When I went downstairs, my siblings were sprawled in the living room, stuffing themselves with ice cream and watching movies. Olivia was not there so I assumed she’d be in her room.
I realized I hadn’t been out of the mansion for a long time now except for that one time with Ethan. I didn’t have anything to do anyway. Keith still hadn’t returned from shopping for groceries.
Maybe I could go out for a bit? I was sick of staying at the mansion for so long. I wanted fresh air and I wanted to see if I could get out of here or if Charlotte would be too possessive and demand that I go nowhere.
After informing Charlotte of my plan, she was a lot hesitant to send me outside. She was afraid that I’d run away again and even though I promised I wouldn’t, she still seemed unsure.
“Honey, just take a bodyguard with you or I will worry about you endlessly.”
“Of course,” I said.
I got into the car and told the driver to drive towards the nearest park. I didn’t want to stay in the garden. I wanted to go somewhere new.
Olivia was tired from helping Charlotte and playing with Rebecca for straight two hours, so she didn’t want to come with me. But she did warn me to not run away. Did she really think I would leave without her?
I wouldn’t. I just wanted to get away from all of this for a few hours to take all of what was happening for a month now.
When we arrived, I saw it was a normal park. It was close to evening and the sun was about to set. Few people were around but they didn’t pay attention to me.
I sat on a bench alone after telling the bodyguard and the driver to wait for me outside of the park. They didn’t listen to me first but then I had to resort to my last option, to threaten them with their jobs, because that was something I assumed Juliet would do to get her way.
The bodyguard mumbled something along the lines of how he would get fired anyway if something happened to me but I just waved him off. Nothing would happen to me.
There were still a few kids around, playing and I just sat there and watched them be. I hummed to myself.
I felt free. Away from my fake parents and their magnificent home, I felt free and as if a heavy weight was lifted off my shoulders.
I allowed myself to think of everything that was happening. It was about time we thought of getting out of here. Although we both were enjoying our time at the mansion, we really shouldn’t do that.
I wanted to call Heather and tell her to force Juliet out of hiding. It had been two years already. She can’t hide from her family forever, especially for such a petty reason.
But then there was tiny possibility where I could be related to Juliet. I don’t know how but we just might be blood related.
I knew the idea sounded ridiculous because I had my own parents and I did look a little like them but I looked a lot like Juliet’s parents too.
But if they were my parents, then who were the people who I called mom and dad all these years? Surely they wouldn’t lie to me.
But a larger possibility screamed that this could all be a messed up coincidence. Yeah, there are seven people in the world who look like us. Juliet happened to be one of those seven people who looked like me. My mind told me to not look into it too much. I wasn’t their daughter, just their unauthentic daughter for now.