"Why is he here now?"
"I haven't seen him since the day Mother-in-law got back"
"Why now?"
All these thoughts ran through Olivia's mind as she jumped out of bed, hoping to lock the door in case that particular situation repeated itself — but unfortunately, luck was not on her side that day, or, she'd say, fate decided to play tricks on her.
As she was about to lock the door and pretend to sleep, she heard footsteps outside. In her attempt to lock it hastily, the door was flung open by the last person Olivia wanted to see standing there.
"Were you trying to lock the door, or had you already known I was there, so you wanted to welcome me?" Matthew asked sarcastically.
"I… I… I wanted to leave the room and see who arrived," Olivia stammered.
"Well, now you know. Let's talk inside." Without waiting for her reply, Matthew let himself into the room.
Sitting down comfortably on the couch, Matthew stared at Olivia, who was still standing by the door.
"Are you coming, or do you want me to drag you to the bed?" he said coldly.
"First Young Master… I don't think this is appropriate. We can have this conversation in the living room," Olivia said nervously.
"I make the rules here. Even your husband can't do anything about it, even if he were here," Matthew said, pride and resentment in his voice. "Now get over here," he continued.
Seeing no way around it, and not wanting to make things difficult for herself, Olivia decided to sit on a couch far from where Matthew sat.
"I heard you're the one preparing the family banquet," Matthew said after a short silence that felt like centuries to Olivia.
"Yes," Olivia responded.
"Hmm… do you want to know more about your husband?" he continued.
Not knowing how to reply, Olivia stayed silent, staring at the wall clock as if something fascinating were happening there. She was eager to know but she didn't want to hear from Matthew's mouth because she knew he must have an ulterior motive.
"Well, I'll tell you even if you don't ask." Getting no affirmative answer from Olivia, Matthew continued.
"Your husband is someone insane. He's brutal, heartless. He kills without thinking twice. He doesn't care about anyone but himself." As he said this, Olivia could hear Matthew's voice laced with anger and a little bit of sadness.
"So I pity an innocent girl like you, marrying a brutal man like that… tsk… what a waste of beauty," Matthew said, looking Olivia up and down.
"Well, I just wanted to prepare your mind for the evil to come. And if you think you can't handle it, you can always come to me — I'll gladly accept you." Matthew said this with a smirk, standing up and smoothing down his clothes. "I'll get going now. Make sure you prepare well for the banquet" Without looking at Olivia's expression, he walked out of the room gracefully.
Brutal… heartless… insane… kills. All these words flooded into Olivia's head at once. Her brain couldn't process it. It felt like she'd fallen into a cold abyss.
After a few minutes, Olivia came back to herself and realized Matthew had left. She got back into bed and pulled the covers over herself.
She'd thought she'd be able to cope with the marriage even once her husband came back, since there was no love between them — but it seemed all her hopeful imagining had shattered. Her husband was a man who killed without batting an eyelid. His own brother called him heartless and brutal.
She knew she shouldn't believe things she hadn't seen, but coupled with what Tommie had told her earlier, she couldn't help but believe it. She had to admit she was scared — scared to see her mysterious husband, scared of the marriage. She felt like crying, but her eyes felt dry. She realized that despite everything that had happened to her, she hadn't cried since her mother died.
Still feeling bitter, Olivia drifted off to sleep once again. She dreamt of her husband killing every member of the family, including herself. Waking up in a panic, she realized it was already dark outside.
She left her room and found her mother-in-law and Vivian seated in the dining hall.
"Good evening, madam," she greeted Skyler.
"Good evening. How is the preparation going?" Skyler asked, after returning her greeting.
"I've started the preparations, madam. I went to check the hall today and spoke with the decorator," Olivia said.
"Okay… good. Make sure it's perfect," Skyler said.
After that short exchange, everyone began to eat dinner. The meal went by silently, as usual.
After dinner, Skyler went back to her room to write out the meals that would be used for the banquet. She planned to speak with the famous chef the Bradfords used for their parties, to go over the dishes for the day.
When it was midnight, Olivia went to sleep.
The next morning, Olivia decided to go to school, since she had a very important project to submit. The Bradford driver took her to school that morning, since she didn't want to deal with the stress of walking to the bus stop, which was very far from the mansion.
Upon getting out of the car, Olivia went to meet Sophia in the cafeteria for breakfast, since Sophia was the only one of her friends without an early class that morning.
"Oliii!!! I missed you so much!" Sophia exclaimed, rushing to hug Olivia as soon as she saw her.
"I wonder how you're this dramatic when you're not even an art student," Olivia said.
"What do you mean? I choose to be dramatic," Sophia replied.
"Well, art class is recruiting people like you," Olivia said, taking her seat and ordering a meal.
"Unfortunately, I'm in my final year, or I'd have gone for the audition."
After going back and forth while eating, Olivia and Sophia left the cafeteria and went to their respective classes.