You Expected Something Else?

𝐖𝐀𝐑𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆: Mentions of eating disorders and mental health problems.

***

"W-w-what?" Olivia stammered. 

She couldn't believe what she just heard! Oliver's family structure was a far cry compared to hers. Sure, her mom was dead, and her dad was just a plain office worker, but she never thought--

"Wait," She interrupted her own train of thought. "Where does my cooking and you being clingy enter in all of this?"

"I'm not being clingy." Oliver knitted his eyebrows together.

"Sure, you aren't!" She said sarcastically. 

"Just wait," Though amusingly, he had a tone of impatience in his voice. "I'll get to that part."

Olivia hummed and nodded, a signal for him to continue. 

So he did. 

"I told you before that Mom was a model."

"'Was'?"

Oliver nodded. "She stopped being a one after she got pregnant. Guess who was the baby?"

"You?" Olivia asked the obvious.

He nodded once again.

"They met at one of Dad's billionaire parties, Dad took a liking to Mom, got her pregnant, left her jobless for a couple of months--"

"Not years?" Olivia asked quizzically. 

"Dad gave her this house and some maids to take care of me so she could get back to her job and be the trophy mistress that my Mom was." 

Olivia noted that he referred to the Twyne mansion as merely his 'house.' He's either oversimplifying things or trying to be humble. 

"Things were fine for five years until Mom got pregnant a second time, and she gained weight. She had a harder time getting to work after her second pregnancy.

"After that, Dad stopped visiting us here, and Mom became... 𝘥𝘪𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵 ever since."

"So your Dad lost interest in your Mom because she gained weight?"

Olivia didn't say anything for a while, as if he was contemplating his words.

"It's not that he lost interest because Mom gained weight. He just lost interest in general because Dad is a d**ch*b*g. But of course, like what you assumed, Mom thought it was because of her weight gain.

"Ever since Azure turned two, Mom hasn't been eating anymore and stopped cooking for us, and... F*ck, I can't say it."

"Say what?" Olivia peered up to look at him, immediately regretting that she asked after seeing his distressed expression. "Hey, if you don't want to talk about it--"

Oliver shook his head and forced himself to continue.

"Mom became mentally ill."

Olivia blinked repeatedly, trying to process Oliver's words, but to no avail.

"She stopped being the Mom I knew," Oliver said sadly. "She would throw fits all the time and... did some things I would rather not talk about. That's why our family doctor gave her some medicine to calm her down and..."

He cleared his throat, changing the topic to his storytelling. 

"Sorry for droning on. I bet you didn't want to hear about my family's pitiful history."

"Not at all," Olivia replied, her response reassuring. "I'm happy to get to know you better." 

"I'm glad," Oliver wore a gentle smile that was so unlike his usual demeanor that he showed to everyone. "So this is where your cooking comes in."

"No, it's fine." Olivia shook her head, already understanding the situation. "I understand where you're coming from."

His blue eyes widened. "Really?" 

"You said so yourself earlier," She reminded. "My cooking reminds you of the good times when your Dad still visited and your Mom still ate. I just needed context by what you meant, and now I fully understand."

Oliver was about to sigh in relief when Olivia added.

"But!"

Oliver wrinkled his forehead.

"But what?"

"Why the hell are we hugging right now?"

Oliver groaned, pulling away from Olivia and sitting up on the bed.

There it was again.

The sad feeling of losing warmth.

"Oliver...?" She called out, also sitting up.

"You said you understood, so I thought I didn't need to spell it out to you..." Oliver muttered so lowly she barely heard what he said.

"What do you mean?"

Olivia turned to face her. His blue eyes were teary-eyed, while his cheeks were tainted pink.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but..."

"But...?" Olivia repeated, probing him to continue.

With a deep sigh of discomfort, he spoke.

"You... remind me of Mom..."

Olivia deadpanned.

"What?" 

"N-n-not Mom's current state, of course!" Oliver immediately clarified. "I mean back when I was younger when Mom would hug me until I fall asleep and--"

"Are you projecting on me?" Olivia demanded.

"I don't know what that means," He admitted. "Why do you sound angry?"

"Because...!" Olivia tried to form a coherent sentence, but no words could come from her lips.

"Don't tell me..." Oliver frowned. "You expected something else?"

"I..." She trailed, not knowing what to say. "I... This... never happened to me before, so I thought..."

"You thought?" He spoke impatiently.

"I don't know, okay!" Olivia shouted, taking Oliver aback. "This is new to me! A boy has never hugged me before! Much less a boy hugging me because I... reminded him of his mother!"

Oliver huffed, sliding down to the edge of the bed and hopping out of it. 

"Where are you going?" Olivia asked, flustered.

"To my room!" He shouted back.

"Why are 𝘺𝘰𝘶 angry?!"

"Because I thought you would understand and won't take things the weird way!"

"How would I 𝘯𝘰𝘵 take things the weird way?" Olivia knitted her eyebrows together as she looked away from his piercing gaze. "You're the one..."

"What, Olivia?" There it was again, his mocking tone. Olivia guessed that Oliver was back to his normal arrogant self. "What did I do to you?"

"Fine!" She crossed her arms and returned her gaze at him. "Let's just act like nothing happened between us!"

"You're making it sound like we 𝘥𝘪𝘥 something." He rolled his eyes. "Or is hugging already '𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨' to a prude like you?"

She blushed even more madly because it really 𝘸𝘢𝘴 something to her! 

Seeing her expression, Oliver snorted. "Figures."

"What the hell does that mean?" She demanded.

"Never mind that," Oliver waved his hands dismissively, and Olivia never felt this level of hurt in her life. "Tomorrow, you should get up early."

Olivia frowned. "Why?"

Oliver scoffed.

"Didn't I tell you already? I enrolled you at Huxley. You'll start your classes tomorrow!"

"But it's a Tuesday tomorrow." She pointed out.

"Who cares?" He shrugged. "I said you'll start tomorrow, so you'll start tomorrow."

"Wait, are we seriously just gonna ignore--"

Oliver smirked at her one last time before heading out of her bedroom. But before he was completely out of view, he said loudly. 

"Welcome to Huxley Academy, Olivia Twyne."