18: Fire and Tears

There was so much going on in the past hour. It was like sitting on a bench outside a building being set on fire while everyone was either panicking about the fire or shouting at each other about other things unrelated to the fire. On the other side, there was an explosion caused by some electronics and people were crying for help. And she did not know what to divert her attention to because of everything happening at the same time.

But that did not literally happen, of course.

Olivia sat on the couch with her eyes stuck on the coffee table in front of her as she let every word that was entering her right ear leave from her other ear.

An hour ago, the people who witnessed the incident asked her if she was fine out of concern and one of them even volunteered to take her to the hospital to have her wound treated in which she accepted since she lost a lot of energy from fighting her classmate who just literally lost her sanity. Olivia did not know who to tell them as her guardian since 1.) she hated her dad so much she never wanted to call him as his parent nor guardian; 2.) she and her dad did not want to reveal each other’s relationship to the public because of his reputation as the city mayor; 3.) the first reason and the second reason combined. In conclusion, calling her father was a big no-no.

Fortunately, Anton’s secretary happened to be around in the hospital since his girlfriend was working in the same hospital as a nurse. Without mentioning his boss, he decided to act as her guardian just to let them send her home after treating her wound. Even though Olivia would try to beg him to not tell anything about to her father, it would not work since Anton would automatically ask about it as soon as he drops her off their home.

At that moment, Olivia badly wanted to disappear from the room or just bang her head against the wall until her brain malfunctions and possibly lose her sense of hearing just to stop hearing the annoyingly loud voice of her father. He was like a dog that barks nonstop in the middle of the night just to disturb the people who are in slumber, except that he was not a dog but a grown man who could not want happiness and peace for Olivia.

“How many times do I have to tell you? If you keep getting into troubles like this and people find out that you’re my goddamn daughter then what’s going to happen to me, huh? How the hell am I gonna be a role model to everyone in this city? How am I gonna get re-elected in the next years, huh?!” Anton shouted in anger as he stood in front of her with his hands resting on his hips.

“It’s really just about that, huh?” Olivia scoffed.

“What was that?”

The blonde raised her head to look at him blankly in the eyes. “Everything is just about your reputation, right? You don’t actually care whether I get hurt or not. You’re only acting up because you are scared people might find out you’re a useless father.”

“What the hell did you just say?” The older man’s frown became deeper as he glared at his daughter. “The reason why you’re living in luxury right now is because of me, and you dare say I’m a useless father? You are an ungrateful brat!”

“That’s right. You’re being really disrespectful, Olivia. You should apologize to your father right now.”

Olivia could feel her blood boil even more when Emily suddenly entered the room and stood next to her father, wrapping her hands around his arm to calm him down. She turned to give her a glare though the older woman was not one bit intimidated by the teenager. In fact, it looked like she was even enjoying angering the younger girl.

“Why are you even butting in here? You’re nothing but my father’s mistress,” Olivia growled.

“Olivia!” The blonde returned her glare on her father. “She is your mother now! You have no right to say any of that to her!”

“That’s right. Oh wait, is that what your first mother taught you? To be spiteful and disrespectful to elders or people in general—”

The mention of her mother pushed a button in Olivia as she bolted up from her seat and charged toward her stepmother, bringing actual chaos in the room. She, with no hesitation, tightly held the older woman’s silky hair from behind and pulled it back which caused the latter to let out a scream in agony.

“Olivia, stop!” Anton shouted in shock and displeasure. He was fast to hold his daughter’s arms away from his wife.

“You fucking bitch! You have no right to say anything about my mother! You are just nothing without my father!” Olivia screamed while refusing to let go of the older woman’s hair, hoping that it would make her scalp bleed from the pulling that she was doing.

“I said enough!” Anton pulled the blonde’s arms with all his force, throwing her down the floor.

Olivia winced in pain when her arm where the wound was hit the floor as she threw an enraged glare at the two of them, especially at her father who was more concerned for Emily than his own daughter. The sight alone made her tear out of anger as she pushed herself up from the floor and ran out of the mansion, ignoring the shouts of her father. It was not like Anton would genuinely care if Olivia ended up getting run over by a truck from running on a busy road.

The blonde did not know where she was going. There was just one thing in her mind, and that was to get away as far as she could from that mansion where the man and woman who were the cause of her misery were.

She was crying while running that the tears and air smudged her makeup, making her look completely different from her usual pretty appearance that always makes both boys and girls fall in love with her. She was an absolute wreck running away from home with tears on her face.

The blonde kept running through the busy streets without caring and looking clearly at whoever she was bumping to when she eventually bumped on a person hard enough that she almost fell back on the ground—if only the person did not catch her by the waist.

When Olivia looked up, it was the only person whom she had been thinking about going to for the whole time.

“Olivia?” Dakota spoke in surprise and concern when she realized that the crying girl was really her girlfriend.

“D-Dakota,” the blonde uttered that came out as a sob.

Dakota was about to ask what happened and why she was crying when she decided to shut up and pull her in a tight embrace. She let the shorter girl cry on her shoulder as she stroked the back of her head. Dakota wanted Olivia to know that she was there for her. Anytime.

***

There were so many questions in her head that she badly wanted to let out. But for the sake of her girlfriend’s privacy and comfort, Dakota forced herself to keep her mouth shut and just be there for her. Waiting until the latter decides to open up by her own without feeling the pressure to tell her what was wrong and what happened that made her run through the streets carelessly with tears on her face.

After Olivia stopped crying, Dakota decided to take her to a small ice cream parlor so she could feel at least a bit better since everyone knows that ice cream is the best comfort food. The blonde had not said anything since then as she just followed her girlfriend without even wanting to look at her out of embarrassment.

Dakota sat across her at a table as she did her best to not stare too much at the latter who was silently eating her mint chocolate chip ice cream. Though as if she was afraid that Olivia might blow up or start crying again, Dakota still made sure to throw secret glances at her as assurance.

The both of them continued to eat their ice cream in silence. Some of the people in the ice cream parlor even thought that they were having a lovers’ quarrel because of the gloomy mood between them. Fortunately, they did not bother giving them too much of their attention when the ice cream in that shop deserved all of everyone’s attention.

Suddenly, the doors of the parlor opened and the partners did not bother turning to look at the people who entered the ice cream parlor. Olivia was focused on eating her ice cream while Dakota was focused on eating and glancing at the blonde. Their attention was diverted away when someone tapped the shoulder of Dakota, making them look up from their ice cream.

“Hey,” Lia said with a brief smile on her face as she glanced between them to try to read the room.

“What’s…going on?” Leo tried to sound cheerful at first though it dropped when he saw the post-weeping face of Olivia.

“Oh, hi,” Dakota responded.

The siblings turned to look at each other as they simultaneously came up with an idea. They then turned back to them with smiles on their face.

“Finish your ice creams. Let’s all hang out today!”