It was morning when Olive’s eyes fluttered open. She was alone in bed. Wayne had left the room that night and didn’t return. He must have gone back to find Gia, so she thought.
She saddened immediately and sat up in bed. She sighed at how unfortunate she was. She thought she had found her loving mate, but he was just deceiving her. Olive stood on her feet and walked to the bathroom. She showered, wore a bathrobe and came out. She got startled and fell back when she saw Dolly in the room. She wasn’t expecting anyone at all.
“Oh my! I’m so sorry!” Dolly hastily apologized. She ran to Olive and helped her stand straight.
“You scared me, Dolly,” Olive breathed.
“I’m sorry. I should have announced my presence,” Dolly chuckled and scratched her head.
“It’s fine. Why are you here?”
“Well, I thought I’d get you ready for breakfast,” Dolly answered. Olive’s brows furrowed.
“Why do I have to get ready for breakfast?”
“Our meals here are usually formal and solem. We even do makeup for meals,” Dolly laughed.
“But, I have been having my meals here. With Wayne,” Olive complained.
“Yes. That’s because you just arrived. Besides, Wayne’s off so you should hang out more with us until he’s back.”
“He’s off? Off to where?”
“He didn’t…tell you?”
Olive shook her head.
“He went on a journey early this morning with Jake and his Inner…” Dolly trailed off. The fact that the Inner Circle existed was a secret. She couldn’t just blurt it out to Olive yet.
“His inner bodyguards. I don’t know when they’ll be back though,” Dolly continued.
To say Olive was heartbroken was a huge understatement. She felt like breaking down and crying her heart out. Why did he just leave? He couldn’t even have breakfast with her? Didn’t he care about her? She felt hot tears stinging her eyes, and her jaws began to hurt for pinning them together so much. She was trying to avoid crying. Dolly noticed the change in her countenance and smiled.
“It’s fine. Don’t worry. He often takes off like this most of the time. No one knows when there’s an emergency. He just has to go.”
“I’m not…I’m not worrying. He should just have told me. Maybe leave a message,” she mumbled as she towelled her hair.
“He would next time. Now, come on. Let’s get you ready for breakfast.”
“I don’t want to have breakfast outside this room yet. I don’t think people have known that I’m here, so…shouldn’t I be in hiding first?” Olive asked.
“What? No. Everyone in the palace has heard about you. And we hardly get any intruders in the dining hall because Wayne hates it. They fear him a lot you know. So come on, everyone’s getting ready.”
Olive sighed and followed Dolly to the bed.
“I’ll have a dressing area set up for you soon. Wayne doesn’t have one because he’s a man,” she said and they both laughed. She had brought all the things needed to do makeup and fix Olive’s hair. But she went through Olive’s things to find something suitable to wear.
“How about this red dress?” Dolly asked as she straightened out a pretty, floral patterned red dress in front of her. It was a long dress, with a slit at the right. It had puffed shoulders and looked formal, yet informal.
“I didn’t know that was amongst my things,” Olive said as she stared at the dress.
“It is. Let’s get you into it,” Dolly mused and brought it to Olive. After applying very little makeup on her face, she tied her hair in a bouncy, neat ponytail. She braided a small part of her hair from the front, and attached it to the ponytail. It was in that long braid that she added tiny flower clips to adorn her hair. Olive wore the dress and small heels that Dolly had brought. She looked herself in the mirror and grinned.
“Don’t I look good?” she said happily as she turned left and right. The slit on the dress wasn’t too high, just a little above her knee.
“Yeah, girl, you do. Come on, let’s go,” Dolly said and held her hand. She too was wearing a dress, though blue in color and short.
They walked out through the doors instead of using the elevator. The guards there bowed to them as they walked out. They entered the general elevator and went to the second floor. They stepped out into a very large hall with marble white floor. The walls were pure white, with aesthetic plant designs on it. There were golden and bronze sculptures at corners, and even paintings in large frames on the wall. In the middle was a large table, laid with exotic food all around it.
About ten chairs were surrounding the table. Two of which were occupied by two people already. There was a big chandelier above the table that was glowing brightly. A young guy who was occupying one of the seats was the first to look up at Dolly and Olive. His jaw dropped when he saw Olive.
“Who is this juicy looking mango?” he drawled with dreamy eyes. Olive almost halted her walking. The second person at the table, a woman, was backing her.
“Take your eyes off her, Shem. She’s Wayne’s Mate,” Dolly said and the young guy’s eyes bulged.
“What?” he asked, surprised.
The other person turned abruptly to look at them. Her eyes turned into saucers as she sighted Olive.
“Olive?” she called and Olive halted even though she was already at the table.
“Vanessa,” Olive called in return, her eyes equally wide as the lady’s.