Olivia Sparks

"Oh my gosh. That looked illegal, Ava," Emily stuttered upon seeing rows of bright red and green venus fly traps, cobra lily, yellow trumpet, and English sundew sitting on top of the trolley. 

She couldn't fathom how Ava purchased carnivorous plants that she uttered the words subconsciously. "Ho-How? Whe-where?"

Olivia scrunched her nose, smiling silly at the horrified look painting Emily's face. "What are you saying, Emily? These are all lovely." She then shifted in her seat to face Ava, lightly patting the back of the latter's hand. "I didn't know you have it in you," Olivia complimented her sister-in-law, amazed at how Ava kept on surprising them.

"Really? Phew! Thank God!" Ava's hand flew to her c.h.e.s.t as she dramatically let out a sigh of relief, her eyes rolled up to look at the sky to say her praise. "I was out of ideas and luckily, I saw it in the plant catalog of a supplier. It's cute, isn't it? Finn loved to watch it feed on insects."

Emily gagged in her seat. She traced her line of sight from Olivia and Ava. Her face contorted in a mixture of disgust and bewilderment at how normal the sisters-in-law chatted as if there were talking about air-purifying indoor plants.

"Can I put this in our room?" Olivia asked, lifting a pot off of the tray and scrutinizing it.

"If you have insects in your room, then you can," Ava replied in full confidence, a smirk painted her face at her successful gift-giving. She glanced at Emily who almost turned green in her seat. "I saved some for you too, Ems."

"No, thank you. I'm not a plant-person. I even killed an aloe vera. That's how deadly my green thumb is," Emily admitted. She waved her hand in a no but stopped when a thought came to mind. "Actually, can I take just one, so I can deliver it to Dylan to thank him for the little favor I asked from him last time?"

Emily felt her skin sear at how Olivia raised a single brow in her direction. Her Livi darling's gaze screamed of unfounded suspicions that she had to explain herself even when she did not need to. She knew Olivia would always be apprehensive with all the men that she would come across especially at her bad track record with Wyatt.

"I accidentally left my phone in his clinic's bathroom, so he personally delivered it to me last time. Ehem," Emily chattered, speaking without pause to breathe in air that at the end of her sentence, she cleared her throat when it suddenly felt parched and itchy.

"I'm not saying anything. You don't have to be guilty." Olivia stifled a smile, amused at how Emily constantly shifted on her seat, completely restless as she waited for her next flute of mimosa.

Emily downed the c.o.c.ktail in her flute that she just received from a hostess, shocking everyone in the room. It gave her enough courage to slur a rebuttal on Olivia. 

"I'm not guilty of anything. I saw a different kind of freaky plant in his office. He might appreciate it if I gave him the same instead of I don't know, free lunch or something," Emily said and shrugged.

Soon the smell of food wafted in the air, assaulting the gal pal's senses. They felt their stomach growl in protest, rushing them to go on and take a bite of the food that tickled their noses.

"Oh, speaking of freaky," Olivia opened up a topic. "Have you heard from Maxen?" she asked, tracing her eyes from Emily to Ava who sported the same clueless look on their faces. "Maxen… he found the little one. Wyatt's daughter."

Emily's hands flew to her agape mouth. Her eyes pooled sweet tears of joy that streamed down her face. Goosebumps raised all over her skin as she processed the information. 

"I'm so happy for Maxen. He's been looking hard for the child even when Wyatt gave up years ago." Emily pulled a hanky out of her purse and dabbed the tears on her face. "Who does she look like? I bet she's pretty. Xandra was a stunner, you won't believe how she fell so hard for O…"

It was all too late for Emily to shut her mouth. She froze in her spot, cold sweat trickled down from her scalp to her nape. Was today a bad day for her to go out as well? Just like last week? 

She shifted in her seat and faced Ava, clasping the latter's hands with hers, "Sorry. This mouth!" She slapped her mouth. "I won't speak about it ever again." 

Emily tried her best to cheer up and lighten the mood. She knew how s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e Ava was even just by mentioning Xandra's name side by side Ollie. After all, Xandra was Oliver's childhood sweetheart, and if not for Oliver's year-long recluse more than a decade ago, the two might not have broken up in the first place.

A gentle smile formed on Ava's lips, she sniffled and sighed. "It's ok, Ems. Ollie broke things up with her years ago. He moved on before she did, and he has me and Finn now. There is no competition between me and a dead lady."

Olivia eyed Ava suspiciously. Why did she feel like Ava was saying those words to comfort herself and not Emily? "Okay, girls, now kiss and make up." Olivia forced a smile, sweeping the matter under the carpet. Such a trivial thing should not ruin a day that should be spent celebrating.

"So… I said it was freaky, correct?" Olivia asked and watched as the two drama queens broke apart. She dug her spoon in her plate of chickpeas and sweet potato breakfast hash with a portion of avocado on the side. 

"What made it freaky?" Emily replied with a question.

"Well… The little one looked exactly like Wyatt—green eyes, cheeky smile, and don't forget about that ridiculous auburn hair of his. She was like a replica straight out of a photocopying machine."

Ava and Emily's eyes widen, their mouths hung open in shock. 

"When can we meet her? Okay, I just want to make the first dibs in the wardrobe department. And Ava here, would be in-charge of the bedroom, and you? Well, you hate Wyatt so there's no way you would spend time with the child." Emily was so excited, she didn't realize she was talking about her cheating ex-fiance's child.

The rest of the meal was spent with Olivia narrating the events in technicolor for her gal pals. They were having the time of their lives when Ava's phone rang nonstop.

At first, she put her phone on silent mode upon seeing Selena's name in the caller ID, however, the constant vibrations from her phone distracted the gal pals from continuing their chitchat.

"Can you please, excuse me for a second. This seemed important but no really," Ava said and showed her gal pals who was it that was calling. It made Olivia and Emily sneer in their seats.

Swiping the phone to answer, Olivia pressed her index finger on her lips to shush Ava and Emily. She tapped the speaker icon and to their shock, a wailing Selena echoed in the place.

"Avaaaaa, help me! Lance… All his stuff is gone."