Well, for Olivia, she really didn't care if she came or not — but not in the minute she was planning to slip away.
"Where is the second Bradford?" Vivian asked, looking around the house.
Thinking Vivian was the only one who'd come, Olivia planned to ignore her and walk out — until she left the dining hall and saw a crowd. Well, not exactly a crowd — just Robert, Victor, Amalia, and, of course, Vivian.
Olivia was placed in an awkward position: should she greet them or not? Not greeting would look rude, since they were her husband's friends. Still debating in her head, Robert's voice brought her back.
"Good morning, Olivia," he said with an amicable smile.
"Good morning, Mr. Robert," Olivia replied, with a slight nod.
"You can call me Robert, since I'm your husband's best buddy. 'Mr. Robert' sounds too formal," he said with a smile.
"And who is your best buddy?" Not realizing when the man had come up behind her, Olivia heard his voice and was shocked.
"Are you going to deny me now, Alex?" Robert said with a smirk.
"He's just stating facts. I'm his best buddy. Who are you?" Victor chipped in from behind.
"And who do you think you are?" This time it was Amalia who spoke, before Alexander could respond.
"Just because you're the only girl in this friend group doesn't mean you're his best buddy," Victor responded.
"Well… I never said anything about being his best buddy. Besides, the argument was between you and Robert," Amalia said, with a casual shrug of her shoulders.
"Why are you all here?" Alexander asked, seeing they weren't going to end the argument anytime soon.
"We came to help with the handover at the headquarters," Victor replied.
"Are you sure that's why you're here?" Alexander inquired, raising an eyebrow.
"We care about you," Robert said, his voice forced with false emotion.
"Are you going to speak, or not?" Alexander said, his voice serious this time.
"We have something to discuss with you." Seeing his serious expression, Amalia answered this time, after which all of them — except Vivian — walked out of the house, a small army of bodyguards trailing behind.
Seeing that they'd left, Olivia prepared to leave the house too.
"You can see how close they are, right? Even though you're married to the second Bradford, you'll never get into his circle," Vivian said to Olivia as Olivia walked past her. Without turning around, Olivia said, a tinge of ridicule in her voice, "At least I'm not desperate to get close to them — unlike someone shameless enough to use her sister as an excuse to get into the circle." After saying her piece, Olivia walked out of the house without checking Vivian's twisted expression.
Olivia couldn't help thinking about what Vivian had said, on the ride to college. She knew she couldn't really get into their circle — she was sure they were all dignified young masters and mistresses, even if she wasn't sure about Amalia's and Victor's backgrounds. Beyond them being dignified, she didn't even know her husband well, having only met him the day before. They hadn't even had a decent conversation, let alone gotten anywhere near his circle. Honestly, she didn't really care, as long as she could keep living peacefully — but she hadn't expected the cold young master of the great Coker family to be this lively among his friends. Thinking about Robert's words and behavior, Olivia smiled.
After getting to college, Olivia attended her classes, since her final exams and defense were coming up soon.
Her classes ended later that afternoon, and Olivia went to meet her friends in their room.
"Oliii," Issa greeted her as soon as she entered.
"How are you doing, Issa?" Olivia responded, sitting down on a chair in the room while looking for a pack of chips to munch on.
"I'm good. What about you?" Issa asked.
"Trying to live well. Where are the rest?" Olivia asked.
"Sophia went to visit Tommie's mum in the hospital," she responded.
It suddenly dawned on Olivia that she'd forgotten to ask about Tommie's mother's health. Tommie's family had been meant to attend the banquet but hadn't been able to make it, since her mother had fallen suddenly ill that afternoon.
"I hope she's okay?" Olivia asked Issa.
"Yes, she is — they just called to say she'll be discharged tomorrow."
"Why didn't you go?" Olivia asked Issa, knowing how much the young lady loved Tommie's mom.
"I wanted to, but I couldn't make it because I needed to meet my lecturer about my project in the afternoon," Issa replied sadly.
"No problem, then. You can just give her a call once she's discharged tomorrow," Olivia comforted her.
After talking with Issa for a while, Olivia left and headed back to the mansion, since her husband was back.
On getting to the mansion, Olivia saw her husband wasn't around and went straight to her room to sleep since she didn't have enough sound sleep the night before . Not sure how long she had slept, she woke up feeling hungry.
Standing up groggily, Olivia checked the time and saw it was just 7 p.m. She went downstairs for dinner. After eating, she checked the time again - 8 p.m. She decided to work on her project in the living room, laptop on her lap and a pack of chips beside her. Dipping her hand into the empty bag, she looked up from her laptop and realized it was already 10 p.m. She'd worked for two hours, and her husband still wasn't back.
It should have felt like a relief to her, but instead she felt sad for no clear reason. She suddenly felt lonely. She missed her mother so much. So much had happened to her lately, and she realized just how much she missed her mother's presence in her life. Touching her face, she felt a single tear fall. This was only the second time she'd cried since her mother's death.