“That’s… strange.”
“Very much so. Hopefully, there aren’t any more clones. I’ve had enough with you as it is. Once I’m sure everything is under control here, I’ll go in search of Juliet.”
“Will that be necessary? I’m all over the news. Even if Juliet doesn’t keep up with the latest news she’s bound to hear it from someone, especially when it’s about her.”
Heather seemed to think it over. “Now that I have no idea where she is, that’s highly possible.”
“And before that happens shouldn’t I just disappear?”
“No. At least not yet. Even if she does hear about it, she’ll contact me first. I don’t think she’d want to come back when she’s unintentionally the hot topic right now.”
I sighed. “What am I to say to the parents?”
“They’re pissed. If you keep being holed up in your room, they’d probably be mad at you for being a coward and that is unlike Juliet.”
Taking her words into account, I promptly approached them just before lunch.
“Are you okay?” Charlotte asked.
That wasn’t what I had expected for them to say. I was pretty sure they were going to lash out at me.
“I’m fine.” I managed to say. My eyes shifted to Alistair who looked equally concerned.
“Why were you crying last night?”
I hesitated, rapidly coming up with a lie. “I just had a silly argument with my friends. Nothing serious.” At least that was the truth.
“Honey, I wanted you to have a good reveal. I wanted you to look good to everyone. I know you don’t care much about what people think of you but I do.” Charlotte looked into my eyes. “I don’t want others to badmouth my daughter. It hurts? me? when they say hurtful things about you.”
“I’m sorry.” I said, lowering my gaze as I found it difficult to look into her eyes for long when she was looking at me like that.
“Don’t apologize. It’s just that we wished you’d stop doing things like that. I know you’re a good person Juliet but you don’t have to put up this fa? ade which isn’t you. Show your true self to the world and I’m sure they’ll love that side of you.”
I really didn’t know how to answer so I just nodded. Even I didn’t know exactly what kind of person Juliet was.
Our interaction was brief and I could tell they were disappointed in me. They weren’t my parents yet I still felt terrible for letting them down.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent in my room. I consciously avoided going out. Ethan came to talk but I didn’t want to, fearing my secret would bubble out of my mouth. He was soon chased away from my door by Heather who had decided to stay here for a few days. I suspected Olivia behind her decision. I was certain she thought I was going to run away which sounded really tempting right now what with my phone constantly blowing up with notifications from people I didn’t know and last night’s events constantly on replay on my mind. My parents hadn’t given an official statement over the matters and it seemed to make it worse because that meant a wildfire of rumors spreading.
Despite Heather’s warning I found myself going against her and refreshing the page where I got new articles about how my parents were ashamed of me and deciding on disowning me. There were a few more about my relationship with Ethan. Apparently a nosy person happened to catch us smooching at the party and was desperate for some attention from it.
But I wasn’t planning on running away unless Heather told me to and I certainly wasn’t leaving without Olivia.
I was really uncertain about the extent of our stay here so I got a bag and stuffed all my things in it like my old phone, the dress I was wearing that day, the shoes, the accessories and my purse. I wanted to be prepared for anything that might happen and that included a hasty escape.
I told Olivia to do the same and she told Heather who thought I was overreacting but she wouldn’t understand because she wasn’t in my shoes.
Maybe I was overreacting but I truly wouldn’t be comfortable with this type of attention on me. In school and even in college I wasn’t popular so having tenfold of that all dumped on me suddenly made me incapable of handling things.
After dinner I couldn’t avoid Ethan even if I tried to. He was in front of my door before I could get there.
“Juliet, what’s wrong? Why are you avoiding me again? What did I do?”
I didn’t answer. I knew it was wrong of me to avoid him like that without any explanation but I couldn’t help it. If I was in his presence, I might break down from the guilt.
Still, I forced it all down. I knew my days here were limited. I wasn’t going to waste it again especially when I could spend it with Ethan. I knew I was going to regret it deeply when I get out of here. I was going to curse myself every time I thought of how much precious time I wasted lamenting myself when I could’ve always done that later.
So instead I gave him a bright smile. “I’m sorry. I was just embarrassed about last night.”
He sighed and unexpectedly pulled me in a hug. “It’s okay. You don’t have to pretend to be okay. I know you’re probably scared and not used to this. You can talk to me.”
His words held the comfort I needed but I pulled away. He was oddly enough saying things he shouldn’t to Juliet. She wasn’t not used to this. She wouldn’t be scared so I tried sounding as uncaring about this as I could.
“What are you talking about?” I scoffed. “I’ve done this a lot of times. I’m not scared and I’m definitely used to this.”
He exhaled out loudly in irritation. His expressions told me he was fed up of something. He looked like he was about to say something important but thought better of it.
“Are the articles about us dating bothering you?”
“No.”
He didn’t know what else to say to make me feel at ease so I decided to make things easier for the both of us.
“Come inside before Heather chases you away again.” I grabbed his hand and pulled him inside.
He walked in after me and shut the door behind him. I led him to the bed and we sat close to each other.
I wanted to tell him I loved him but that would probably complicate things. But I might not get to tell him that ever again if I didn’t pluck up the courage right now. I reminded myself once again about how I might regret not telling him later. Telling him right now might not be a good idea but it was certainly worth not regretting it later.
I took his hands in mine and he gave me his full attention. “Ethan,” I started, watching his expressions, nervous to know his reaction to my words. “I love you.”
His face gave nothing away and he didn’t react for a few seconds. I wasn’t really good at reading people by just looking at their faces so I was wracked with nerves.
“I think it’s too soon to say it. We’ve only just started dating but I wanted to tell you because it’s the truth and I’m sure of it. It’s the only amount of truth I can tell you.” I knew I was confusing him with my words but I didn’t care, I needed to tell him.
If he was confused he didn’t show it. A small smile played on his lips. “You love me?”
“Yes, I do.” I was probably inflating his ego but I needed to let him know that I was completely serious and genuine about my feelings towards him. If that meant that I had to tell him that I loved him a dozen times, I was willing to do that.
“I love you too.” Those words after a stressful day was like sweet happiness. I loved hearing those words from his mouth directed at me.
Once we were both in bed, I decided to push my luck.
“Ethan, would you still love me if I was a different person? Like I had a completely different personality but I still looked like myself?”
“The type of person you are right now is the total opposite of the type of person I knew you to be two years ago. If you were still the same as two years ago, I wouldn’t have fallen for you.”
That didn’t give me much of an answer except that Juliet wasn’t his type. I was confused if how I acted was more like Juliet or more like myself. I did have everyone else fooled and thinking that I was the real Juliet and that I had just changed a bit.
“What if I was someone else? What if I looked like myself but I wasn’t Juliet, hypothetically. Like I was her lookalike and say I was just pretending to be her for some reason and lying to everyone about my identity, even you?” I knew I was venturing into dangerous waters and I just hoped I’d know when to stop before I got in too deep to return back.
“That depends. Why are you not trusting me enough to tell me the truth?”
I took a few moments to structure my sentences appropriately. “Let’s say that I’m just not allowed to. Some people just don’t want me to reveal the truth because they don’t trust how you’ll react to it and they think you’ll blow my cover but I know you enough to know that you’ll understand, hypothetically.”
“You might be right about me understanding you part. I just want to know that when you pretend to be someone you are not, are you doing a good job at imitating that person’s personality completely?”
That was a question I didn’t know an answer to myself but I knew myself enough to know that majority of my act is just me being myself. “Not really. I’m just being myself for the most part.”
“Then it’s possible that I don’t love the person you’re imitating but rather the real you.”
That answer sent a flurry of butterflies in my stomach. “And what if the real me isn’t as privileged as the person I’m pretending to be?” I promised myself that this was the last thing I was going to ask him about this matter.
“I don’t see how that’s important if I love you. It’s not like we take material things with us when we die so I wouldn’t limit myself to such expectations when I could get something far more precious than that – like the love of my life, as cheesy as it sounds.”
That put any of my lingering insecurities I had about myself to rest. I knew for a fact that Ethan wasn’t a hypocrite and that he wouldn’t act any different when the time came for him to learn the truth.
He didn’t question me about the origin of my strange questions which I found a little odd. It wasn’t normal of people to ask questions as specific as I had asked which made me wonder if he already knew something.
I snuggled into him and drifted off into a peaceful sleep in his arms. I was able to get a nice sleep thanks to Ethan next to me.
After breakfast I was just lounging in my room, trying to do anything but overthink things when there was a knock on the door.
Samara entered, looking uneasy.
“Someone’s waiting for you in the living room.”
I sat up at her words. “Samara, what’s wrong?”
She hesitated. “She looks exactly like you.”