Chapter 130 - Double the Pot (1/2)

”Ehem.” A passing Oliver cleared his throat just as Olivia was to pounce on Maxen. ”If I were you, I would save that kiss for later.” Oliver gritted his teeth. He couldn't believe how these two were so careless in their interactions. Now he had to hand over his sweetie to break the lovers apart.

Maxen rolled his tongue on his teeth, his grasp on Olivia tightened when Oliver gestured for them to switch partners.

The scowl on Maxen's face deepened the farther the siblings danced away. He locked his eyes on the emcee, tipping his head to the side—a silent code that it would be the final song for the night.

The emcee sent a thumbs up, flooding Maxen's face with relief. He darted his gaze to the other side of the room and noticed Konstantin's eyes were locked on Olivia.

Meanwhile, Olivia stifled the smile on her face, biting her bottom lip when Oliver didn't stop from growling like an angered puppy.

”You're so annoying,” Oliver huffed, cracking his tensed neck muscles. ”Everyone's been staring in your direction and you didn't give a single f.u.c.k.”

”What? We're just dancing. What's wrong with that?”

”You weren't. You were eye f.u.c.k.i.n.g each other the whole time. On top of that, I can smell your pheromones miles away from the hotel.”

Olivia grinned, but it fell when she saw Henry Lin glanced their way with creases on his forehead.

”You should have insisted for Mom to join us,” she mumbled, unhappy that their mother's ”healing” was kept under wraps from the public.

”She's the one who declined to attend, saying parties makes her tired. Or maybe… if you spared her a little of your time and talked to her, she might change her mind but nope, you chose to ignore her.”

”I'm not ignoring her. I'm busy with work.”

Rolling his eyes, Ollie digressed, ”Yeah you are but we know the truth. Anyway, Finn's birthday is coming up, so please, Livi. Just try to be on the same page as her.”

Olivia took a sharp breath, nodding her head in agreement. In the past, she was always looking forward to their mother waking up but when Amelia finally did, what Olivia expected to be a happy reunion turned into a sour one.

Sometimes when her brain pauses, she would find herself thinking about their mother, thinking about herself and her reactions.

Maybe it's the hormones, Olivia thought in passing when a flashback of their meeting engulfed her mind—the night when her logic shutdown and her anger over Henry took over her she couldn't see through what Amelia was trying to say.

She wanted to help her mother. She wanted to bring back the sparkle in her eyes that were infinitely trapped in grainy sepia photographs. But it was pretty obvious that light in their mother's eyes was lost, and everyone could see that yet ignored it just so they could move on and and pretend everything's back to normal.

Her reverie was cut short when Oliver halted.

”May I?” Steel-grey eyes turned into a crescent moon, a palm up in offering.

”Sure.” Olivia shrugged, accepting Konstantin's hand.

”I forgot to say earlier that you look lovely tonight.”

Tilting her head up to look at him, a small smile curved on her lips as she thanked him. ”What brought you here, Mr. Ivanov? Ouch.”

She felt his grip on her hand tightened, a frown formed on her face. She wiggled it free but he loosened up when he realized her discomfort.

”Sorry. I was just… I… I didn't mean to… I will never hurt you. You know that.” He spun her around, and when she was facing him again, he said, ”And you can call me Kostya.”

”Ok, Kostya,” she replied with a small smile. Olivia's eyes darted to her hand, and soon, Konstantin was soothing it, rubbing circles on the ball of her hand. She wiggled it so he would stop from doing so which he did.

”Does it still hurt?”

”It's okay. I'm fine. Jeez you're a nervous wreck. Is there a lady that you're trying to impress here tonight? I don't think dancing with me is a good decision.”

The two shared a laugh. They were far away from where Maxen stood but for an odd reason his hearing was magnified tonight that he swore he could hear Olivia and Konstantin's shallow breathing.

”Yeah. It was a good kind of bad but still worth it if you ask me.”