Olivia
I excused myself from Karen, Brad, and Emma when my phone rang. My mind instantly remembered something. I freaking forgot to call Blake when I arrived!
I went to the balcony and picked it up. “Hello?”
“Olivia? Where have you been? You promised to call,” he asked with worried in his tone.
“Y-Yeah. I’m sorry, I was too excited about getting here.”
Blake sighed from the phone. “I was worried. I thought something happened to you.”
“No, Blake. I…I’m fine. I’m sorry for not calling you soon.” I felt guilty. I forgot about how worried he could be.
“I’m glad that you’re okay. How was the trip, sweetheart?”
“Well, it was okay. The traffic wasn’t really bad. Overall, everything is good,” I replied and looked back at where Karen and her family were. “Blake, can I call you again tonight? We’re going to eat some breakfast now.”
“Okay. I’ll call you then. There’s something I want to talk about.”
I smiled. Maybe he wanted to talk about our upcoming holiday. “I’ll be waiting then.” And I hung up. I returned to where Karen was.
She looked up to me when she sensed my presence. “Was it Blake?”
“Yeah. I forgot to call him and he was worried.”
“Is Blake your boyfriend?” Brad asked and Karen giggled. Brad looked confuse with his cousin.
“No, Blake is my stepfather,” I made it clear to him. His confused face…was quite cute.
“Oh? He adopted you?” I nodded at him. “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m not supposed to ask that.”
“That’s okay.”
“Her father is so protective and adores her very much,” Karen added. Gosh, this girl!
“Wow, you should feel very lucky, Olivia. Not all stepparents would do that,” Emma said.
“I am. I truly am.”
“So, Brad? How’s your job?” Karen asked.
“It ran well. Being a surfer instructor is fun and since I love the sea and all its stuff, I’m enjoying it. And the pay is quite amazing as well,” Brad explained. Wow, so he works as a surfer instructor.
“A lot of people wanted him as their instructor,” Emma added.
“Wow. That’s amazing!”
“I could teach you two if you want too,” Brad offered. and Karen turned to me. Oh, no.
“I think I’m just going to enjoy the view,” I said and politely refused his offer.
“Olivia is never good with extreme stuff. She’s the kind of girl who would be at the beach staring at the sea hoping someone will hit on her,” Karen joked as I elbowed her. She laughed looking at my reaction. Even Brad and Emma were laughing at me. How embarrassing!
“You know what, Olivia? That’s how I met Emma,” Brad informed and I turned at him.
“How’s the story, cousin? You never told me,” Karen asked.
“Well, I was surfing. Although I had to concentrate so I won’t fall, but I love admiring the view while I was surfing. The sea, the beach, everything. And then…my eyes caught on a lovely lady sitting on the sand watching the sea,” Brad told while looking at Emma. He was smiling sweetly at her and Emma admiring him like he was the center of her world. These two are so cute!
“But Emma wasn’t looking at the sea. She was looking at you,” Karen guessed.
“You’re right. So, when I hit the sand, I immediately approached her. She was stuttering badly. She couldn’t let out words correctly and unable to answer my questions. That’s why I bluntly said that she was looking at me she got hysterical and guess what? She ran away.” Karen immediately laughed hard at him.
“W-Why?” I asked.
“I got so nervous, Liv. I never thought in a million years that he would be approaching me. I didn’t know what to do. Brad was popular and for him to talk to me, I was just…speechless,” Emma stated nervously.
“Man, you two are so adorable. I hope I could meet the man of my life soon,” Karen wished.
“How about the last one who—”Brad couldn’t finish his question when Karen suddenly shushed him. Stopping him from asking anything that he wanted to ask.
I looked at Karen, demanding some explanation. “It’s a long story and I don’t want to brag it up anymore. It’s in the past and I want to focus on my present for a better future.”
Listening to Karen, I thought that there was something that she was hiding from me. I didn’t mind if she didn’t want to talk about it now. Maybe she had something in the past, and as she said, she wanted to forget about it.
We finished the remaining breakfast and we went to our room. “The food was delicious,” she praised while laying her body on the mattress.
“Yeah. Emma is a talented cook.”
“Everything alright with Blake?”
“Yeah. He was just worried like I said before. I promised to call him when I arrived and I got too excited and forgot to call him.”
“Well, can’t exactly blame you, girl. We’re so excited to be here.” Karen was right. And I was glad because Blake didn’t lecture me or something. Karen rolled over and looked at me. “We should have fun for these five days. Forget all the school stuff and my job for now.”
I smiled widely at her. “You’re damn right.” We laughed together and Karen jumped down the bed.
She went to her bag. “I want to show you the new bikini that I just bought yesterday. I’m going to show off my body so guys would drool on me and maybe…” she paused and grabbed the bikini out of the bag, “I could bring the lucky guy home as a souvenir.” I giggled at her statement and we changed our clothes.
I wore a bikini as well but not as sexy as Karen. We went to the beach together with Brad and Emma. We set up the umbrella and Karen helped me by applying sunscreen on my body. I did it for her as well.
After we were all set, Karen and I went to the water. Together with Bailey as well. Splashing the water to each other. Playing with Bailey and I could witness how a good swimmer he was. It has been a long time since I visited the beach and I wanted to have fun. As Karen said, forget the school and everything and had fun.
And that’s when I saw it. Brad was kissing Emma so sweetly. I didn’t mean to look at them.
“Hey, Liv!” Karen called and splashed the salty water into my face. “You’re not supposed to watch that,” she teased and I countered her by splashing the water to her as well.
To me, it was shown how Brad loved Emma very much. They looked so lovely together and I hoped that I could meet someone like that one day.
The one who will love me for who I was. We fell in love, got married, had a family. A happy one. I didn’t want my future child to face the same fate as I did. They were going to be loved and adored by their parents.
After we were done playing in the water, we went back to our spot and found Emma alone. “Where’s Brad?” Karen asked.
“He went to buy some drinks for us,” Emma answered. Karen and I stayed with Emma. I sat on her left while Karen took the right side.
“By the way, when are you two going to have a baby?” Karen innocently asked and Emma’s face immediately flushed. Like she was just got cooked with hot water.
“I hope soon,” she said flutteringly. “I know when it’s time, I’m sure God will give me a new life to us to raise.” For a second, Emma looked so beautiful when she said that. Like a true mother wanting for a child. And she would love them very much.
“Are you going to be happy if you found out that you’re pregnant?” I asked and Emma turned to me. Still maintaining her smile.
“Yes,” she replied without a doubt. “Brad is also waiting for a miracle to happen. He can’t wait for it.”
I envied her.
Emma had a husband who was so excited just like her for having a baby. Unlike me.
I didn’t know what went wrong for my father to not care about me. It made to think that I was an unwanted child to him. Maybe I…was a mistake to him? Maybe I wasn’t supposed to born?
“Olivia,” Karen called. Brought me back to reality. I looked at her and saw her smiling at me. Emma was looking at Karen first before she turned to me.
“Um, actually I never know my father. He…left me and my mother before I was born.”
In an instant, Emma’s face changed. She was sad. “Oh, I’m so sorry, dear.” She brought me to his hold and rubbed my shoulder. “But you have Blake with you, right? That’s the important thing. Your father doesn’t deserve to be with you if he was so easy to abandon you like that. No parents would do that.”
I chuckled. “You’re right.”
I didn’t need to remember about the past anymore. The important thing was that I had people who loved me and I loved them very much as well.
I would treasure them for the rest of my life.
Blake.
Karen.
Josh.
John.
Everyone that I met in my life.
But that day, I had no idea that the past…was coming to me.
In a twisted way.