I ran into Ethan that afternoon. He seemed frustrated and in a hurry. For a second he looked annoyed with me for bumping into him but then he managed to calm himself down and grabbed my hand in his.
"You come with me," he ordered, dragging me with him while I stumbled confusedly behind him.
"What? Where are you taking me?"
He didn't answer and I didn't resist although I should've. We were already out of the mansion and he was ushering me inside his car. He got in right after me and asked the driver to take him to his office.
"Where are we going?" I asked once the car had started and we were out of the mansion gates.
"My secretary, Jeremy Walls had a family emergency and I have a very important presentation today, plus other important events to attend. It's an important day. A Chinese company is interested in investing in us and I'm sure our joint ventures will be very successful. So I need a secretary today and you'll have to be just that."
It had been five days since my dinner with Ethan. In those five days there was a phenomenal change in Ethan's behavior towards me. Although he still got irritated with me sometimes but it was nothing major. We would greet each other and let silence settle between us before one of us made attempts at small talk. We weren't harsh or rude towards each other anymore. I knew he still thought of me as some type of a rich, stuck up brat but I could see that he was getting to see a whole new side of me. A side which had a large part of the real me and very little to nothing of Juliet.Just two days before my real and my fake birthday which would strangely coincide coincidentally, there was a huge uproar in the Jenson household. I had gathered from Olivia that Mrs. Jenson had cancelled all her previous plans and now there would only be a private dinner celebration with close friends and family.Charlotte was summoning Olivia every day for even the tiniest detail for my birthday
My mind skipped to the upcoming birthday bash. No doubt, there'd be a lot for people. The Jenson family was well known all over the world as I learnt from my stay here. They had a lot of connections, a lot of friends, family friends, cousins, sisters, uncles, aunts, granddaughters, grandsons, grandmothers, grandfathers. It was a huge family. Plus, the people they had professional connections with.Roughly saying, I'd expect a little over five hundred people present at my birthday, I meant Juliet's birthday. Whatever, it was the same day anyway!I gasped. Five hundred people?! Holy cow. Would they even find a hall big enough to fit all those people in.But still even if they lessen two hundred or something people, it was still a huge party of people. Even with Heather by my side to prevent anything from going wrong, there was still a slim to no chance of everything going fine.There were five hundred people. What was the possibility that one of them wouldn
It took me some time before I snapped back to the present and looked around the dark van. The windows were tinted black and it felt like I was being kidnapped all over again.I felt a presence next to me and turned my head to see a heavily built man. I hadn't seen the man before and didn't know who he was. He was probably the one who pulled me into the van.Right in front of me was another person. I noticed it was a female. She was typing away something on her phone, barely acknowledging my presence.Just as I was about to speak, or yell for help, she put her phone down and grinned down at me."Hi, you must be Julie James, am I right?" She asked. I was dumbfounded. She knew who I really was? But I didn't know her at all.I hesitated before responding. "No."She waved a hand in the air. "Don't bother lying to me, please. I very well know you are Julie James.""Who are you?""I'm Amelia! Didn't Heather say anything about me?" She
After that all of them started to pour out of my room slowly. Antonio ruffled my hair before going and Rachael hugged me once more. I gave Rebecca a kiss on the cheek. I hadn't expected her to wish me at twelve but I was glad. My parents kissed my forehead before they retreated back into their room. Ethan was already long gone.Now it was only Olivia, Amelia and Heather in my room."I didn't wish you a happy birthday because it's notyourbirthday," Heather said with a blank face. "I already wished my real best friend right at twelve.""Okay," I said awkwardly. Why was she telling me this?"Well, it might interest you to know that Julie's real birthday is today too and I wished her a happy birthday for her real one, not her fake one," Olivia retorted, "right at twelve." I was starting to think she wasn't much fond of Heather.Heather looked surprised for a moment before quickly composing herself. "Oh, I didn't know that."
I went back and buried myself under the covers for the third time and fell asleep well until nine in the morning. Everyone had had their breakfasts by then and when I came down for my own breakfast I was greeted by an excited unison of 'happy birthday's. Again.Everyone seemed to give me special attention today and I was surrounded by everyone, all of them talking to me at once and telling me about their plans for me. I smiled at everyone and before I knew it, all of my favorites were doled out in front of me. Keith stood quietly in the corner, watching me with an amused smile. I grinned back at him.I could sense he wanted to say something to me, probably wish me on my birthday but he held himself back for some reason.After I was finished with breakfast, I walked into the kitchen to talk to Keith. When he looked up and saw me there, he about jumped down from the counter he was sitting on and rushed to me. But before he could say anything to me, he was cut off
I must have gone deep and it took me a long time to resurface. I gasped for air."That was so fun!" Amelia screeched in the distance."Yeah, I missed this last year," Heather added, both of them swimming towards me.I didn't even know when the girls jumped. They must have immediately jumped after me.Strangely, I felt really good. I think it was the thrill and adrenaline and I wanted to do it again but I wouldn't because at the sight of the water, I was sure I'd chicken out again."You guys shouldn't have pushed me. I was going to jump in," I said."It was Heather, not me," Amelia said."You were taking too long and I didn't have all the time in the world.""Took you long enough. I though you weren't going to jump in anytime today," Ethan said, swimming closely."Whatever. Can we go now?""What's the hurry, birthday girl. Can't squeeze in some time for a little water fight?"Just as Ethan said that, my face
I could describe Juliet's birthday party as overwhelming and extra. A lot extra.The dinner was hosted at a five star hotel,SereneSerenade'sballroom. The whole place was decorated from top to bottom. It looked like a palace.If this was Charlotte's 'simple' dinner party, then I never wanted to see what her extravagant ones were like.Getting into the ballroom had posed a great challenge. When our cars arrived at the hotel, the entrance was crowded with the paparazzi. They were going crazy over what the celebration was about. I knew they had a slight inkling about it. Today was Juliet's birthday. The Jenson's are hosting a secret dinner party. What could be the reason?It was too obvious. Only a fool would not be able to guess that this was their daughter's birthday party.With that, rumors would spread. The paparazzi would speculate and try to find more information. Not everything would be in our control. Somehow
I didn't know what to say. I kind of expected that but I didn't know how to respond. But I didn't need to because Heather continued."My biological parents are dead. I don't even remember them.""I'm sorry.""You need not be. So Justin and Patricia took me in as their own. Patricia doesn't like me much. I knew that from the start. So don't mind her when she behaves rudely with you. She hates both mine and Juliet's guts.""Yes, according to her Juliet and Heather are very vulgar girls. And since I hung out with them, she started to see me as a vulgar girl too. She used to like me at first," Amelia added."Don't they have any children of their own?" I asked. We were stood in a quiet corner and currently no one was coming over to meet us."No, Patricia can't have children so they chose to adopt." Amelia answered."Justin and Patricia are so...different. I don't know them for long but Justin seems very pleasant to be around. Patricia, not