An Odd Discovery...

Olivia inhaled sharply as she stepped through the heavy double glass doors of the restaurant. The cool air of the street felt soothing on her skin, although it did nothing to alleviate the sting of emotion that had coursed through her body just moments earlier. Even though Olivia had come here with her own mind full of suspicions, to actually hear them being confirmed was something else though.

No, not confirmed. Damian himself had sounded uncertain when he had told her what he had. But still, it was too much of a coincidence that both of them just happened to have thought of the same possibility. And considering the situation and the man involved, that possibility was already most likely the truth.

Olivia took hurried steps towards her car, doing her best not to let her emotions show on her face. In all honestly, she should have known better than to have thought that an irredeemable piece of trash like Noah could possibly have any positive intentions for her. That man was devious and cunning, with little regard for how his actions affected the lives of the other people around him.

She opened the door of her car and took a seat inside. Pausing for a moment to inhale a calming breath, Olivia tried to focus her mind to plan out her next move. Even though she had not wanted to fall into this deadly game, Noah had not given her much of a choice. He had come after her on his own, and he had played his cards first. Now it was time for her to rethink and plan her own comeback. There was no way she was going to let him walk over her the way he had all those years ago.

Olivia reached for her seatbelt when something caught her eye from across the street. A glimpse of familiar looking dark hair followed by the face of her best friend Lisa on the opposite side of the street caused her to freeze for a moment.

"Lisa?"

The moment her eyes met Olivia's, Lisa felt like cursing out loud. Her first instinct had been to look away and pretend that she had never seen the brunette. But she knew that would never work with how long they had made eye contact. If she tried to just walk away now, it would only make her look suspicious to Olivia. And Lisa could not afford to let that happen.

So she plastered on her widest, falsest smile and watched as Olivia got out of her car and crossed the street to meet her in a 'warm' embrace.

"Liv! I wasn't so sure you were the person I saw," Lisa said as she drew back, smile still on her lips and never once looking less fake. "What are you doing here?"

Olivia shrugged and glanced around with a strange expression on her face, as if she was trying to dismiss something unpleasant. "I was meeting an... acquaintance around here."

Outwardly, Lisa showed signs of surprise, but within her mind she was mentally going over every face she had seen enter the doors of that restaurant since she had arrived there while trailing Olivia.

"Really? From the look on your face, I can assume the meeting did not exactly go as planned?" Lisa pressed on. She had found herself unable to recognize any other person in her recollection, which meant that whoever Olivia had met here was someone she probably did not know. She would have to get Olivia to tell her who this person was herself.

Olivia shook her head with a small smile. "Not exactly. But never mind that, what are you doing over here?"

Lisa rushed to think of a suitable lie. She had not really prepared a cover story since she had not thought that she would be discovered by Olivia while spying on the latter. But this was important, as Noah himself had asked for Lisa's help in watching his ex-wife. Maybe if she managed to pull this off well, he would finally become more interested.

"I was actually here to buy a gift for one of my neighbors," she lied. "Her kid's birthday is today so I just wanted to pass on something."

Olivia laughed a little when she heard that. "What? I thought you didn't like your neighbors?"

"I don't," said Lisa with a mischievous wink. "That doesn't mean I can't pretend to be nice though."

Both of them started a short laugh together, Lisa's smile turning dark for a fleeting moment as the double meaning of her words went completely unnoticed by the other woman.

Olivia glanced around a little. "I didn't see your car around though. Did you walk here?"

Lisa shook her head. "I took the bus. My car decided today was a perfect day to remind me that it needed maintenance." Her eyes discreetly slid over to where her car was actually parked behind the corner.

Olivia then backed away and gestured for Lisa to follow along.

"Come on," she said. "I can drop you off on my way home."

"Thanks a lot, Liv," she replied cheerfully.

Just as both women had crossed the road to get to Olivia's car, the doors of the restaurant swung open and a handsome dark haired man stepped out dressed in unassuming black clothes. Olivia did not see him since her back was turned to the door, but Lisa got a full view. It took her a few seconds to place the sense of familiarity that ran through her mind when she saw him.

"Liv," she called out to the other woman. "Isn't that Noah's brother Damian over there?"

Olivia spun around and Lisa saw her friend's body suddenly tense up as her face fell into a set frown. For a brief moment, their eyes met, and Lisa thought she saw a spark of recognition and something else pass between the two of them. Then, without even bothering to give the man a second look, Olivia turned around and entered the car, causing Lisa to do so as well. The man also turned around and walked away without a word or even any visible reaction that he had seen them.

"Let's just go Lisa," Olivia said coldly, her tone leaving no room for an argument as she pulled away from the sidewalk and drove into the street.

Lisa didn't press further with questions, she could tell just from Olivia's reaction that Damian had been her supposed 'acquaintance'. It was an odd discovery, but she didn't mind. She had found something that would amuse Noah as well, and she was almost certain that she would be rewarded.