25 Driven Mad

Weeks had come in gone in a blink of eye and Olivia made no progress in her efforts in trying to figure Agni Masama out. She spent more time with the Masamas then her own family and the only thing she could find out was that Agni Masama was a good mother.

The women was amazing she had her own jewelry empire that ranged from fashion accessories to high end jewels, gems and diamonds. She personally went to inspect mining operations, visited each of her boutiques regularly and still had time to act as a CEO at her own head office.

Olivia could not believe the stamina of this woman! She wondered if she slept at all with the pace she had been going. Her guess was maybe three hours of sleep every night, yet her face never showed the fatigue one would have when running on fumes.

Agni even had time to go to Olivia's house every Thursday night for a family dinner with her and her father. So the only thing she could think of doing was asking the twins what they thought of their mother. She wanted to believe in her friend and make sure that her father was not making a big mistake.

Olivia needed hard evidence before she could even tell her father anything, feelings alone could easily be brushed off as jealousy. She wished she could use Edmond for this task but he 'belonged' to the head of the Steel family what could she do? Especially if her father caught wind of what she was doing, the disappointment that he would have in her would be devastating.

She needed an excuse to ask out the twins but every time she wanted to hangout with them their mother always came along. It seemed that the Masamas were a set deal, even if you asked out one person for some reason the whole family had to come and do the activity. She pondered for a few moments when it finally hit her!

The debutante! The event that all the eligible nobles, socialites, heirs and heiresses would gather and appear before the public as the new faces of the adult world. The event was to be held the first weekend of August and she was sure this would probably be the only time she could pull aside at least Laila and ask her what her mother was like.

Summer vacation was going to start soon and she was relieved to be away from the attention she was getting from her class mates and the boys, namely Eli and Porter. She had gotten used to their open displays of affection and had developed a poker face to combat with their 'playful' personalities.

As they sat under their favorite tree for their last lunch of the school year, they started asking one another of their plans for the summer. It seemed everyone was going to be busy with their family businesses, going into camps or just vacationing in other countries. Olivia felt a little lonely knowing that she was not really doing much but scrubbing toilets to earn money.

Once the bell rang to call everyone back to the Academy, Olivia tried to do her best to get through the day with a smile on her face.

It was the end of the day and people were rushing to get home to start their summer vacation. Autumn and Blair had planned a date with their boyfriends, so they gave their farewell gus to each other and promised to saty in touch over the summer. Olivia wasn't in the mood to actually go home right away so when she had seen her friends disappear from sight she quickly pulled out her phone and called her driver to cancel her pick up.

Once she confirm that the driver was no longer coming, she started to walk. She wasn't sure what her destination was but she let her feet take her where ever they wanted to go. It had seemed that Olivia had been walking for a couple of hours stopping ever once in a while to try some street food and treats. She did some window shopping and stopped at a book store to see if anything new had come out.

She decided that she wanted to make her final stop of the day at Cherry Coeden Park. Olivia felt at ease here, despite some awkward and sweet memories, she still wanted to sit within the cherry tree forest. Even though the cherry blossoms were now long gone and all that stood there were big, green trees with cherries ripening within its branches.

Olivia gave a big sigh as she sat down on the bench that she first laid eyes on Eli. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes as she hugged her bag to her chest. It felt like it was so long ago and so many things happened from then till now. She was left with so much confusion on where she stood with Eli and what everything meant to her.

She didn't want her friends to know that she was noticing the small changes in her. From what she had gathered from her talk with Blair and Autumn about their realizations of love, she wondered if she was actually falling for Eli.

Nothing was wrong with her medically, but her heart did pound against her chest every time he was alone with him. She cried when she thought he had someone else, she became dazed when ever he flashed her the tiniest of smiles and worst of all she could stop thinking of him!

She groaned loudly, not wanting to admit anything to herself. She had to much on her plate now and trying to figure out anything that had to do with Eli was a headache she could do without. Suddenly a husky voice whispered into her ear "You ok?".

Olivia's eyes shot open and she jumped to her feet. She slowly turned as she faced Eli. He was happily leaning on the top of the bench while his eyes watched her in complete amusement. "I'm ok..." she muttered as she took a few side steps. "You don't seem ok, you were just groaning about something."

Olivia gave him an unsettled look "I'm fine. Just making a pit stop before I head home for the day." she said as she tried to make her escape. Eli grabbed her hand as she walked past and pulled her into an embrace. "Your face doesn't say you look fine. Please tell me what's wrong." he gently pleaded.

Olivia felt her lips tremble as she inhaled his intoxicating scent. Her mind was starting to go blank and she felt her heart pounding against her chest. She tried to struggle against his embrace and wanted to push Eli away from her but he felt her struggles and pulled her in closer.

"Please talk to me... Am I making it hard for you to open up to me? I have been waiting to hear from you about anything but you've kept a wall up. How... how can I... can I... I..." Eli couldn't finish his sentence as he felt his shirt started to dampen.

He gently pulled Olivia away from his embrace, cupped her face with his hands and forced her to look at him. Olivia's face was now streaming with tears as her lips trembled. Her breathing was uneven and her cheeks were turning a beautiful shade of pink.

"Me open up!" she was choking on her words trying to stop the tears from pouring. "It's you! You have me confused! You have me worried and insecure about myself and trying to figure out what your actions mean! I have no idea what your thinking and we never talk about it... You are beyond friendly and I'm too scared to contact you!"

Eli's face paled at her words, he brought his forehead against hers and closed his eyes as continuously apologized to her. "I am so sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel that way... I just don't know how to act around you and I just... act without thinking. I'm so sorry, please forgive me."

Olivia pushed Eli away from her. Her feelings were more hurt from the apology then anything else so far. She looked up at Eli, bigger drops of tears were falling from her eyes as she shouted "See there you go again! Why are you apologizing? Is it because I am interpreting your actions in the wrong way!" the gates that were holding her thoughts and feelings at bay were now opened and she could no longer stop herself.

"Are you toying with me! Am I your play thing for personal amusement! At least Porter was open with his intentions with me from the start but you! You! You make me think I'm special to you! You make me think about you constantly! Why do I have to torture myself trying to convince myself other wise! I can't take it anymore! Please leave me alone!"

Olivia quickly turned around and ran from the spot. She didn't get to far before Eli caught her from behind. He wrapped his arms around her and he laid his head against her shoulder. Olivia struggled to make herself free "Let go of me!" she shouted as tears went flying into the air.

Eli tightened his embrace "No!" he sternly said "I can't let you go! I won't let you go! Not after what you just said!" Olivia stopped struggling and cried. Eli moved his hands to her shoulders and turned her around to face him again. His jade green eyes gave her chills as he locked sight with her. "I am not toying with you! Please believe me!" Eli let go of her shoulders and grabbed her hand instead.

"I am glad you think you're special! You are special! You're beautiful, funny, smart and so caring of others. I am glad you're thinking of me... I hope that all your free thoughts are about me." Eli brought the hand he was holding and placed it against his chest. "My heart is racing. Can you feel it? It's because of you..."

Eli's words shocked Olivia. Her tears stopped in it's tracks and she didn't know what to say or do. She looked into Eli's eyes for help, for clarity, for reassurance. "Please don't look at me like that... I want to ki... 'cough'..." Eli started to blush and let go of her hand.

Olivia brought the hand that Eli was holding against her own heart. It was warm and she wished she could hold on to the warmth for all of eternity. She gave Eli a small smile as she tilted her head. Eli started to reach out to her face but stopped midway and dropped his hand to his side. "July 12th is my birthday and I wanted to know if you could celebrate it with me?" he asked seriously.

Olivia couldn't think anymore she knew Eli said something to her and all she could do was nod. Eli gave her a bright smile and insisted on taking her home as it was starting to get late. Olivia finally came back to realty and shook her head no. She was going to call her driver to pick her up instead. Eli placed his hand on top of her phone and pushed it down. "I'll call my driver so I can take you home instead... please I want to spend a little bit more time with you."

Olivia's heart soared. She bashfully agreed and Eli called his driver. As they waited at the exit of the park they talked about their other hobbies and favorite places to visit. Time flew and before Olivia could bat an eye she was already home. Eli rushed out of the car and opened her door. He extended his hand out to offer her assistance out of the car and Olivia happily took his offer.

Once Olivia was out of the car Eli refused to let go of her hand. He gazed at her one more time before he kissed the back of her hand. "I will text you when I'm going to pick you up on the 12th ok." Olivia's eyes widened at his words as she realized she wasn't dreaming about the invitation. She nodded her head a little to enthusiastically causing Eli to laug.

As Eli watched Olivia start her walk towards the house he shouted at her back "Please don't be alarmed when I start texting you out of the blue ok!" Olivia stopped in her tracks and dared not to face him as she shouted back "I can't wait!" and ran towards her house, smiling like a madwoman.