35. HOME.

“Vienna was great—“ Marisol peered over Olivia as she zipped her bags close. “But you know what’s better” She placed her luggage to the ground, almost as if she was reeled to leave this place.

She wore on a vintage scarf across her head, holding it above her bare shoulders, exposed from the sleeveless tank top. She had a pair of baggy pants to go with, and she was dressed for however hot the whether was going to be on their journey back.

“What?” Marisol helped her with her bags as they walked towards the door. Olivia threw her head over her shoulders. “Home” She muttered, pushing upon the door and going in the direction of the honking horn. Immediately she stepped into the corridors, she was met with Damien’s figure and he reached on first thought to her.

“Are you ready?”

Olivia turned her back to him, leaving his question trailing behind her. And he halted, watching him go through the doors. Things were so much different than when they’d arrived at this mansion and it was unbelievable just how much had changed. Liv walked down the front stairs towards the Range Rover that peeled out of the garage. and once Davis had collected her bags—

—she adjusted the glasses on the bridge of her nose, sulking in a last lungful of the fresh Vienna air, and Marisol clung to her, doing just the same. “We’re going home” The words slipped out of her lips as she stepped into the car, that was to hold the entire family. And in a pin drop silence, it did.

-

She felt the wheels takeoff from the runaway and Liv scrabbled something on the piece of paper in front of her. She had on her headphones, saving herself from the awkward silence that haunted the private jet. Damien was a distant away from her, although close to his mother, he had his face turned away into some files.

She’d noticed the one time she looked up.

And Luke however was—

“Hey” He lifted up the headphones from her ear and Olivia gasped, clutching her frightened chest. “What are you doing here?” She asked. Well Luke was now, magically next to her. Her face turned pink as she looked to Damien. He wasn’t looking per usual and she turned back to the other brother.

“I checked your room late last night to help with packing and all that” She cleared her throat. “Yea, i needed some air. Took a long walk down riverside bridge. I guess i just wanted to clear my head” She said, looking at the headphones in her pale palms.

“Alone?”

“Of course i went alone” Her eyes looked to Damien again, and this time she’d caught him staring. But not too intrusive, he’d be forward to already assume something was between them. And the thought of that kiss was both unnerving and unsettling to her that she shook her head, ridding her thoughts of his voice.

“I kissed you” He said, so nonchalantly as his feet dipped in the sands and Liv clasped her lips. “I can’t Luke, i’m getting married to your brother” She brushed past his shoulders, leaving him to stand there by himself. “I cant do this” His hands feel next to him with regret as he watched her walk away without stopping her. There he stood, his hand running through his gritty hair and tensely wanting to piss himself.

But that was where the night ended for them.

Unlike Damien who’d taken to long road to come to the grim realization that he wanted more now, with Olivia, someone who wanted nothing to do with him—he was alittle too late. And now, with Luke right next to her and last night’s kiss, even Liv was unsure what she wanted. Her eyes fell to his fingers as they drew towards her on the seat between them.

And she looked back at him, and then his oblivious brother. “What are you doing?” She asked softly and he pushed a lump down his throat. “I want to talk”

“Here?” She blurted out, some inflammation rising in her chest as she pulled away from him. “With Damien across from us?” She added and he threw his head over his shoulders.

“Are we never going to talk about what happened?” She looked to her latest design which was a revised version of the gown she wore yesterday and he was quick to recognize the bandths and how different the claves were. However, she was quick to dead whatever went through his mind as she closed the book.

“It was a mistake.”

“What happened yesterday was a mistake. And mistakes don’t happen twice, Luke” He swallowed a lump down his throat. “I agree, Olivia because of Damien and the whole arrangement” He replied. “Yes. And uh—“ She paused.

“And what?” He whispered, coquettishly licking his lips and she threw her eyes away. “And it’s just wrong, it’s strange” She added. “And i don’t mean it that way but uh—“ She halted, almost as if she was tongue-tied around his brother. “Different?” He completed and she nodded. “Yes, different” She echoed.

“I guess that’s it.”

“That’s all you needed to talk about?” He let go of her headphones and it fell between her thighs. “Yes, you know it was probably the meteor” He whispered and a smirk crept to her lips.

“I’d rather call it a shooting star.”

“You know you haven’t still told me what you wished for yesterday” He grinned and Liv looked to her. “I don’t remember” She whispered, shrugging her shoulders. “Weird things happen during meteor showers.” She hummed and Luke nodded as well.

“Sure it does”

She looked to his outstretched arms. “Back to good friends?” He paused. “Or what do you say?” He had on a snarky grin across and Liv reluctantly took it, allowing Luke to wave it in the air and she chuckled slightly. Because unlike Damien, the younger was less easier to hate, and more easy to be fond of. He looked to the ring across her fingers, brushing against it lightly.

“Sure” Liv whispered, her eyes matching with Amanda across the plane. And from that corner, they could barely hear what anyone was saying. And asides Damien beside her, and Liv across, there was also Marisol and Davis at the back just as the plane stabilized in the air. Olivia looked down in the towering buildings, making a reflection in her eyes as they drove above.

Vienna was a time she would never forget, and a ton of that was because of the man next to her, and not the eldest who had his face buried into his phone. From a distance, you would think it was work-related but in a closer look, it was the article he read through—the article everyone seemed to be talking about with the picture of them in the rain. A sly smirk crept up to his lips but it faded once his mum spoke.

“Have you thought about Raznak?”

Her words penetrated his ears and he looked over her shoulders without muttering a reply. “I tried speaking to him” She started and a scoff escaped his lips. “Are you sure that’s all you tried doing?” He went low, throwing shade at her and Amanda gasped.

“I don’t know what’s up with you, Damien.”

“With the sudden hostility and coldness to your own mother for that matter but i—“ He turned off the phone before giving her all of his attention. “I saw you both. Raznak and you, with your tongue down each other’s throat” He gritted through his teeth and she felt blood rush into her cheeks. “Damien” She called, only to be faced to his palms. “I don’t want to know, mum. I’ve searched countless of reasons that would justify you doing that i haven’t still found one. One reason for you would do this to dad”

“To dad?” She echoed.

“You think that’s what this is about. After all you father did to me, did to the both of us—you think i owe him one ounce of loyalty when it comes to my own emotions” There was a crack in her voice and Damien scoffed. “Sometimes i wonder why you’re even trying to save this company if you hate Hank so much” He replied and she fastened his hands to the chair.

“Because i built this company, alongside your father and his friend. I was one third of the Archer Global corporations, now what joy would it give me to watch it crash into the grounds?” Her voice went low as they gazed at each other. “It’s why i want you to take Raznak’s deal” She continued.

“Of course” He muttered.

“Of course you’d be on his side.”

“This is not about sides, Damien” She whispered. “Well you certainly didn’t care last night while you holding the back of his head like he wa—“ “Enough from you” She interrupted. “Enough of this disrespect. I don’t have to explain myself nor my choices to you” He was left, wide-eyed and taken aback.

“Good thing i don’t want to know” He replied. “I genuinely don’t care who you want to fuck or who you want to be with, just keep me out of this. And you don’t tell me what to do” She pushed a hard lump down her throat as he turned away. “When i say i have not made up my mind, i mean i need some time to decide whether or not i want your boyfriend running father’s company.”

Amanda tilted her head, staring with disbelief at his lips.

“Can you not—“ Her face turned to Luke, who was staring at whatever Olivia drew before her. And for that moment, Damien felt a cold sting in his chest like jealousy but he waved it away. And their eyes met. “What?” He asked Amanda.

“Can we not let him know ab—“

“Of course.” Damien cut her short, turning his face back to his phone and Amanda pushed a lump down her throat, poisoning the atmosphere with the tension that swarm between them.

“Here.” Luke muttered as they soared into the clouds, his hands grasping the paper in her hands. “You design?” He asked and she was a bit hesitant but she replied. “I wouldn’t say i design” She gave herself less credit than she deserved. “I’ll call it leisure”

His eyes dissected every frail edge of the penciled piece and he looked back to her. “It’s perfect.” He whispered, and his eyes fell briefly to her lips.

“Like you.” Silence fell between them before she snatched the book from his hands. “You know you can’t keep doing that” She rolled her eyes and Luke raised his hands in the air. “Doing what?” He played dumb as she continued while he watched, in detail every part of her, that made her her. Like her red colored hair falling across her face that sort of made her feel dangerous, intimidating, whereas she was the exact opposite.

It was what she went for.

Perhaps to hide the fact that she was soft, a hopeless romantic that fell in love with fictional characters. A person who was only just coming of age and he saw her, and he fell deeper. She was unlike anyone he’d seen but he had to keep it all to himself. And while she drew unto her paper, he was all she thought of too.

And the silly kiss they shared the night before that wasn’t so silly now. Luke parted his lips to speak. “What are you most excited about, going back to Chicago?” She looked to him, with a smile forming on her lips. “My best friend” She whispered. “Alli. I can’t wait to see him” She added.

“And you?” She was conscious of the silence between them and it never lasted for a long time. “You’ll be new here?” She added and he had on a smirk on his face. “That means someone’s going to have to show me around” He bumped into her shoulders and she rolled her eyes to the back of her head.

“Why are you here?”

And that question seemed to strike a chord within him that that smile he had on his face suddenly vanished and she turned away, pushing a lump down his adam’s apple and an arc invaded Olivia’s brows. It wasn’t after a while, that he looked again to her.

“It’s a long story” He whispered, just as the plane jerked forward, and after a few hours in the air, they were finally landing. She threw her head forward, instantly recognizing the Chicago streets and for a moment, she had forgotten what Luke was about to say. “We’re here” She cheered instead, turning to Marisol.

“We’re home!”

-

His phone lit up next to him but just as he was about to reach for it, the door to the coffee room plunged open, the atmosphere immediately carrying his cologne and Alli turned back to Omar—

—yes, Omar. The man was still very much alive, to whom Alli was guiltily attracted to, and the man betrothed to his cousin. He was quick to turn around but Omar was already close.

“I thought we had a talk” Alli gritted through his teeth. “I thought we had an adult discussion, a talk that you were going to end this” His voice lowered in a whisper as Omar looked down at him. “A talk involves two people, Alli. But when it’s only one person chattering, it isn’t a conversation and it isn’t adult” He replied and he pushed a lump down his throat.

“I can’t believe you.”

“I can’t believe you solely want to hurt me by doing this, by dragging my sister in this” He gestured between and Omar scoffed from his lips. “Do you think of me so low?” He asked.

“So low that i would hurt another person over mere pettiness?” Alli shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what to think” He let out a deep breath. “I mean it shouldn’t be that hard” He added.

“I can’t believe you” Omar whispered, inching closer to him. And his hands held up his chin in a moment that Alli seemed to have been glued to the grounds, he gazed into his eyes. “I can’t believe you don’t understand that i don’t have a choice here. I thought you of all people, would get t—“

“Stop saying that” Alli interrupted, his phone buzzing on the table behind him but he couldn’t care less. “Stop saying that because it isn’t me in an arranged marriage with someone who—with someone who might actually love you” There was a crack in his voice and Omar pulled him closer.

“And thank God it’s that way” He whispered, coldly. “Because there’s no way i’d be happy with the idea of someone else loving you” Ali’s heart thundered against his chest as he gasped a lungful of the heated air between them. “This is complicated, Omar. I’m not sure i could do this” He whispered.

“Someone is bound to get hurt, and i’d hate to see it be Aal”

“She doesn’t deserve this” He shook his head in his cold grasp. “We shouldnt be doing this” Omar fingers found his lips, silencing him before leaning closer. “We’re not doing anything, Alli. We haven’t done anything yet” He replied.

“And if anyone is going to get hurt in this, i’d do everything to make sure it isn’t you, that it’s me, Alli. I’d make sure i get hurt before you do.” Omar continued, briskly touching his lips against his and space was irrelevant between them. They were glued, almost as though they could feel their heartbeats.

“I won’t hurt you”

Alli was a stranger to words like this, to emotions like this—the idea that someone in the world actually felt this way about him. About someone was so atrociously mid, ordinary. But through Omar’s eyes, he was more and he made it clear he knew.

“Because i love you.”

He choked on the lump that slid down his throat and Alli looked back to see the truth in his eyes. He froze, more than he already did and he didn’t utter anything in response. However, his only saving grace was the door that immediately barged open behind and he drew away from Omar, some seconds too late. There she was, Olivia with her bags slipping from her hands and eyes that stared in disbelief.

She’d seen just about enough to make an assumption, and when their eyes met, she froze, he enthusiasm dimmed to a low. And Alli let his hands fall by his side with Omar turning his face away. There he was, unable to utter a word—

—leaving them in due silence, and a million questions that she never thought she’d ask herself, like her best friend would hide a part of him from her. This part of him, that she’d witnessed.

“You’re gay?” A sheepish whisper escaped her chapped lips as Alli pushed a lump down his throat, for the nth time. And their eyes locked from a distance.

And he stood there, holding out his arms. “Welcome home—”

To be continued…