63 Wait and See

Olivia sat alone on the bench she first met Eli in Cherry Coeden Park. It was finally her 18th birthday and she should have been excited but the only thing she could feel was dread. She couldn't help feel a little bit lonely.

Everyone was busy trying to get ahead start on their career paths while she was busy trying to get some sort of hint on what Agni was planning. She leaned her head back onto the bench and sighed. Nothing was going the way she had hoped.

Three weeks had gone by and Robin hadn't made any headway in trying to get her mother's autopsy report. She couldn't rush him as he said he would be doing things his own way but time was slipping by. Laila was right about them not seeing each other as much after their trip at the Little Garden but for a different reason entirely than what they all thought.

She brought both hands to her head and started to mess up her hair "Why can't things go more smoothly..." she said to herself. She stretched her arms into the air before she got off the bench. She pulled a hair tie from her bag and quickly tied her hair up into a ponytail.

She started to walk towards her favorite fairy tale corner at the park to listen to the founders story. When she made there she saw Marek leaning against a tree, listening to the story. She smiled to herself and snuck up behind him. "You're not planning to find a new girlfriend are you!" she shouted into his ear.

Marek almost leapt out of his skin, he grabbed onto the tree for support and looked at Olivia with horror. "Olivia what are you doing here?!" he asked exasperated. Olivia giggled "Nothing really but what I want to know is what are you doing here?"

Marek looked around, let go of the tree and grabbed Olivia's hand. "Come with me." he whispered and dragged her off towards the train terminal. Once they made their way up to the waiting platform he let go of her hand and looked at her seriously, sweat was dripping from his face "I need your advise." he said with a blushing face.

Olivia looked at him darkly "You're not breaking up with Blair are you?" Marek shook his head no a little too hard. He walked over to the seats and slumped himself down. Olivia sighed and sat beside him "Ok... I will try to help you with your problem." she said with a grumble.

Marek lifted his gaze from his hands towards her with tears swimming in his eyes. Olivia had to try not to laugh, such a manly looking guy seemed so distressed and pitiful it was just adorable and she could see why Blair couldn't control her desire to tease him.

She coughed and looked at him quietly. Marek straightened his back and gulped, his adam's apple moved slowly "I don't know what to do anymore with Blair..." he started. The temperature around them started to drop and he took a quick peek at Olivia, who turned into a mere shadow of herself.

He raised his hands in defense and started to wave them around "No I'm not breaking up with her I swear!" he said hurriedly, he watched Olivia calm down and the cold air started to dissipate. Marek brought his hand to his chest and gave a big sigh of relief. "Blair wants to do extraordinary things, she has her life already planned out and I have no idea if she still wants me in her life anymore." he said sorrowfully.

Olivia's heart hurt and she placed a hand on his shoulder. She looked at him gently "Of course she wants you in her life unless she has said something other wise." she hesitated for a moment and gazed at Marek, the moment he quickly shook his head no she continued "See if she hasn't said so, especially with her straight forward personality, you can't think pessimistically. Besides who says your not doing something extraordinary you got an early acceptance into physiotherapy college!" she said happily.

However Marek did not seem convinced. She sighed and scratched her cheek "Look Marek, I owe you and your family a huge favor. If it wasn't for your mom owning her own brand and taking Loreley in as her intern or for your father owning a prestigious daycare and your sister teaching Laila they wouldn't be so close to their dreams."

"Marek." she said softly "Blair is waiting for you to propose... she wants to spend the rest of her life with you and I don't know if you are planning to or not but you know the debutante is 10 weeks away. If you can't commit you will have to end it with her so that potential suitors can be introduced after the debutante." she said flatly.

Marek's face paled, he started to grip his knees "I don't want to live with out her..." he said softly. Olivia stood up from her seat and placed her hands on her hips "Then what's stopping you! Go buy her a ring and propose! You've been dating for a year now, so no one is going to oppose and you should probably talk to her dad just in case he has plans for her." she shouted as she tried to pull Marek from his seat.

Marek got up and gave her a hug "Thank you" he whispered before he gabbed his bag off the ground. He looked at her silently "Are you sure you want to spend your birthday alone." he asked. Olivia gave him a soft smile and nodded her head yes. Marek gave her one final look, took a deep breath and ran towards the stair case.

....

Olivia started to make her way up the path towards the family cottage. She had planned to spend most of her day alone at the cottage regardless of what was happening in her life. She opened the door, took off her shoes, she threw her blazer and bag onto the couch.

She plugged in her head set, turned on some music and put her phone away in her skirt pocket. She decided that she needed her homemade hot chocolate before she made herself comfortable on the couch. As she was humming a tune in the kitchen, she felt a chill run down her back.

She took a quick look behind her and didn't see anyone around, so she shrugged off the feeling, kept humming and went right back to making her hot chocolate on the stove top. She felt a tap on her shoulder and jumped right out of skin as she started to scream.

She turned around, wooden spoon in hand and came face to face with Edmond. Her face instantly lit up and she threw herself on to him. "Edmond! Edmond! Edmond!" she yelled as he hugged her back. Edmond was saying something to her but she wasn't able to hear him so she quickly ripped her head phones out and shoved them in to her pocket.

"Sorry I couldn't hear you." she said as she pulled her phone out to turn off her music and the safely tucked it back into her pocket. Edmond gave a sigh and looked at her pitifully "Princess why are you all the way out here by yourself and on your birthday."

Olivia pull away from their embrace and turned to turn the stove off. "Will talk about that later first some hot chocolate, okay?" she asked him as she grabbed two mugs. Edmond sighed "Ok."

As they sat on the couch they happily caught up with one another. They didn't realize that the sun was starting to set outside until Olivia's stomach started to growl. "Crap it's getting late! I need to get back before my dad starts to worry." she said hurriedly as she grabbed her things.

Edmond watched her carefully as she put her shoes on. He slowly got up and followed her out the door, she started walking away from the cottage and realized that the air had got colder. She put her bag on the ground and started to put on her blazer. She looked at Edmond who stood a couple of feet away from her. "Hey what are you doing just standing there! Come on let's go!" she yelled happily.

Edmond raised his head towards the sky and covered his face with his hand. "Edmond?" Olivia called out as she started to walk closer to him. "Hey are you ok?" she said as she touched his arm. She noticed that his body started shaking and tears were streaking down the side of his face.

"Edmond?" she called in a shaky voice. Her heart was breaking she had never seen Edmond like this before. Edmond took a deep breath and moved his hand from his face to his hair. He violently pushed Olivia back as he hunched his back forward as he undid his pompadour hair. "Run" he slowly said as he slightly raised his head to reveal one murderous, glowing, copper eye.

Olivia quickly picked herself up off the ground "Edmond?!" she tried calling out again while she tried to subdue the rising fear. His aura started to turn animalistic "I won't say it again." he yelled. Olivia's eyes widened in fear, she turned and started running away from the path and towards the woods.

"Oh princess you've got smarter, using the trees to your advantage but I will get you soon." she heard his cynical voice travel along with the wind. She weaved between trees and dodged low branches and thorny bushes while she searched for a place to hide. "Oh princess your leaving behind a messy trail! There are bits and pieces of you everywhere!" he happily sang.

Olivia looked down and seen that her legs and skirt were starting to get cut up. In that second that she took to look down she tripped on a root, stumbled downwards and hit her head on a rock.