Olivia Sparks

"Goodness gracious. She shouldn't have done that. It's Finn's birthday party!"

"Relax." Eli crossed his legs, locking it by the ankle. "Your not-so-secret is safe. Nobody's believing Mom. One, she's had too much alcohol, her breath stinks. Two, they all think she's just saying that to beat Selena's pregnancy news."

"Oh." Olivia's eyes wandered around the venue, looking for Selena's shadow, and when she did, her eyes lingered longer than it should be that by the time she shifted her stare away from Selena's belly, the person of interest had caught her.

C.o.c.king a brow on Selena, Olivia kept staring at her, never blinking, as if challenging the former. It didn't take long when a slow smile crept Olivia's face as Selena scrambled, looking left and right for someone to save her from the mean witch she called Olivia.

"Look at her. Livi darling, you scared the little doe. Stop it or else her baby might end up looking like you." Eli chuckled, taking a sip of his c.o.c.ktail. 

"Why would it look like me? We're not related."

"I don't know. Who knows she'll have a nightmare after that scary staredown that you did."

"Psssh! The only way her baby would look like me is if she's carrying…" Olivia didn't get to finish her sentence. Her mind was suddenly filled with digits and months calculating the timeline of her seeing Selena leave her father's office in a disheveled state. 

Her trance was interrupted when Eli nudged her. "Carrying what? A Lin? Yeah, that's impossible, unless Uncle got her pregnant."

Changing the topic, Eli shifted in his seat and faced Olivia. "Let me know when the big day is. I have a nice idea for your gown."

"Of course, you're the first one to know about the date."

The two cousins side-hugged each other, giggling as Olivia recounted the events that led to her union with Maxen.

"Excuse me ladies, Ollie's calling for back-up," Maxen excused himself, planting a kiss on the side of Olivia's head. He's adamant about keeping her at an arm's length all throughout the event just to make sure nobody ruffles her feathers but Ollie was pumping his fist in the air, rushing him to the mobile bar on the other side of the garden. 

The Lee ladies were notorious in High Society for having a venomous tongue on top of their scheming minds, and Maxen had a feeling that they would try and stir trouble as payback for Olivia ruining Selena's engagement party. 

However, the thing that worried him the most was not Olivia getting hurt, but those women suffering the brunt of Olivia's wrath.

He witnessed the mild and extreme ways of Olivia's retaliation, and most of the time, it left him scratching his head. She was so unpredictable that the last thing he wanted to happen that day was him wondering what the hell just happened.

"Be a good girl," he reminded her, kneading her waist.

"I am a good girl," Olivia uttered, glaring at Maxen. She knew he was telling her to stay as far away as possible from the Lee ladies, especially Selena and her mom. "But if they bite me, I will fight back," she declared, raising a single brow on Maxen.

"And I will be your knight in shining armor." He smiled at her, patting her head before dragging his feet out of the teepee.

The cousins craned their necks, watching Maxen walk farther away from their direction as possible.

Eli let out a sigh of relief, clutching his c.h.e.s.t where his heart should be. If he was one bit scared, it didn't show. "I thought he wouldn't leave." He made the sign of the cross, thanking the heavens that Maxen finally made an exit.

"How long do you think before it'll work?"

"Oh goodness, she's wobbling, Livi darling. That one is potent," Eli observed. Earlier, Ava asked them to sprinkle a little powder on Selena's mom's drink. 

According to Ava, she didn't want her auntie to be making a scene during the party for she knew that Selena's parents came in prepared to fight knowing that Olivia was in attendance.

The two were busy following their target that they didn't notice Ava sneaking inside the teepee.

"You're blocking my sight," Olivia complained, pushing the shadow to the side.

"Who are you looking at?" Ava asked, tracing their line of sight. Her hand flew to her agape mouth, her face written with so much horror as she witnessed her auntie reaching out for a chair. "Eli, how much did you put in her drink?"

"You said to sprinkle the powder, so I sprinkled it."

"Everything?" Ava gasped, her eyes wide with shock.

Wiggling his brows, Eli was so proud of his achievement. "I emptied the thing in her glass. Where did you get that medicine anyway?"

"My mom passed it to me earlier. She said I had to make sure Auntie drinks that to knock her out. Gosh. All this scheming is making me dizzy."

"Ava, I thought that was your idea," Olivia tutted, playing with Ava's loose curls. "So pure this Ava. No wonder Ollie's crazy about you."

"Ollie's annoying. Look at him drinking and having fun while I bust myself checking every detail in this party. I think we're good to go. Auntie's napping in her seat."

The remainder of Finn's party went ahead as planned, and the celebrations continued until the birthday boy tapped out from all the running that afternoon.

A live band performed for the guests, who danced and sang to their heart's content. Unexpectedly, the one who had the most fun of them all was Patriarch Lee who was having the time of his life.

"Last song! Last song before we go home," Patriarch Lee requested, hugging the microphone to his c.h.e.s.t. He whispered the song title to the live band's vocalist who passed the message to his bandmates.

"This song is for my boy Maxen." 

Maxen shrunk in his seat, wishing for a quicksand to appear and swallow him whole. 

He could feel Olivia's scathing glare beside him, and he knew that if he moved an inch, his death sentence would be sealed. 

So he just nervously laughed and gulped his wine. Patriarch Lee said it himself anyway; that was his last song.

"To all the girls I've loved befoore, who travelled in and out my dooor! I'm glad they came alooong, I dedicate this sooong to all the girls I've loved befooore!"

Soon, Auntie Martha joined her classmate named Patriarch Lee, who had one too many shots just like her. They sang in a duet on stage. Their words were slurry and their notes were out of sync but their audience still gave them a big round of applause at the end of their set.

"Yey!" Ava cheered. She pushed her dad, Adler, whilst whispering behind his back, "Hurry and take Grandpa home, Dad. We don't want him to be saying words he'll regret tomorrow."

Adler chuckled. "That's exactly what I wanted to happen so he'll behave at home."

"Daddy!" Ava slapped Adler's back. They were near the stage when Jeanette, Ava's mom, beat them to it, ushering the old man away from the stage and out of the party.

The remaining Lees were now in the foyer, exchanging goodbyes when Patriarch Lee's voice boomed.

"Maxen my boy! Olivia my girl! Come here! Grandpa will give you his blessings!"

Ava slapped a hand or her forehead. Here we go again, she thought. She loved her grandpa to bits, but his drunk version was something she couldn't handle.

Ava, Ollie, Adler, and Jeanette, stood and watched as Maxen and Olivia humored the old man, holding his hand while their eyes were closed as if in prayer.

"Aaaaaamen!" Patriarch Lee thundered, praying that he warded off the insidious spirit that possessed Henry who was sulking from afar.

Clasping Olivia's hands, he mused, "Maxen said he'll give me a grandchild before the year ends. Just make sure the baby looks like you because this guy is so ugly." He patted Maxen's shoulders, making sport of the young lad's frowning face.

"Alright, it's past Grandpa's bedtime. I had so much fun tonight." He stretched his arms, hugging Olivia. "Nice to meet you, O Sui."

"Nice to meet you too, Grandpa. Take care on your way home." Olivia patted the old man's back.

Maxen and Olivia waived their hands as the convoy of the Lee Family drove away from the Lin Estate. 

Memories of the jolly grandpa that night made Olivia ponder on the reports she gathered that morning. She thought, maybe Grandpa's the reason why Ava was different than the rest of the ladies in her clan. Maybe he's the big grandpa bear that sheltered Ava growing up.

It's a mystery to Olivia how Ava came to be so innocent and sheltered, tabula rasa even, after reading the reports on the Lee family that morning. There's no way that Ava didn't know of such dealings happening behind the docks of the Lee's shipyard.