Hailey Hunes

Chapter 3

Olivia;

Sunny days are the best but somehow this one is the worst. I know my family by now and I know when something is wrong or is about to happen. Today is not just a family day, I'm marrying Christian Volkov. He's 20 for Gods sake and I literally just turned 17. Something is deeply wrong with my family.

I still entertain the conversations and keep on a polite smile like I always do. Because I'm Olivia and I'm the good kid. I see Christian returning from the "bathroom". I know that he likes my sister. He finds me too plain, I am in his presence. I kinda lost my spark over the years. I guess that happens when you try to please your mom in any way possible. I hate myself for needing her validation.

Don't get me wrong, I love my mom but pleasing that woman is so hard. The moment I started to become friends with my mom was the moment I had to distance myself from my own personality. I don't know how dad did it. I wish she was just easier sometimes.

"Hey, I have to leave for work but it was nice catching up with you. Thanks for having me mrs Hunes. I appreciate the hospitality." Christian says to my mother while giving her a kiss on the back of here hand. My mom smiles gentle. Crazy how she was crying 5 minutes ago and now being the-perfectly-well-kept-together-mom. I aspire here a lot in these moments. She's as professional as it gets and knows when to hold it together. That's difficult to find in a married woman.

"It was a pleasure having you, dear." She responds and gives him a pad on his upper arm. Christian gives his parents a nod and then leaves without even greeting me. I don't care but I also kinda do. His parents saw that, he can't just ignore me like that. I look up and see Sophia looking at me, I give her awkward smile and then turn on my heels to follow Christian. I know that she wants me to follow Christian and uphold communication as good as possible. And like I said, I'm the perfect twin, so ofcourse I go after him to ask him about something I don't give a single fuck about.

"Christian." I say while trying to keep up with his pace. He stops and turns to look at me. He doesn't say anything. He just waits for me to ask the thing I wanted to ask.

We are next to the stairs. And I'm out of breathe when I finally reach him.

"When will we see each other again?" I ask like I care. I don't for the record.

"I don't know, ask our parents." He says while trying to turn his back on me again.

"Christian." I merely say and he knows he has to stop and look at me again. I try to come as close to him as possible. I'm on my tiptoes to come as close to his ear as possible so no one will hear what I'm about to say. "Your parents are as are my parents watching everything we do when we're in their presence. You ever walk out again without greeting me a goodbye you will regret it. Your parents like me, I hope you try to like me too in their presence because I plan to actually having a good bond with them." This I all say and when I'm done talking I return on my feet.

His parents are powerful people. They have companies and connections all over Americana. I can't have him walking out me like that. That's embarrassing. What if his parents think I'm not interesting enough? Or pretty enough? Or maternal enough? I'm not gonna let that happen.
My future is one the line here, actually just my mom's happiness. I don't wanna marry him but my mom wants me to do it. So leaving a good impression on his parents is what I'm intending to do.

He looks at me and nods. "Will do, Olivia." He says and stops to look at me for seconds.

I'm confused why because he never gives me his attention but then I feel eyes burning my back. I know that his parents and likely mine are looking so I play pretend.

He slowly wraps his hands around my back and lays them still inches above my butt. He comes in close and gives me a kiss on my right cheek. Just before he pulls back to walk out he whispers something in my ear. "They were looking, well done." And after that he turns to leave but before he does he looks up to the stairs. His eyes linger there, I follow his eyes and I see Hailey standing their.

Arms crossed while wearing an expression I'm not familiar with. But by the way Christians body is reacting he does. It just lasts a few seconds and then he walks out of the door.

Something is going on between them, everyone knows that when you just pay attention for two seconds in the room when they're in it at the same time. I don't care what's happening between them, the only thing I want to see is Christian acting in love with me infront of our parents. And I think he's gotten that message judging by the way he was acting right before he left.

I look up and have eye contact with my sister a few seconds, I give her a smile and then return to the living room. Everyone is sitting in on the couch like nothing just happened between my mom and Hailey. That's what happens in this house, everyone ignores the bad moments. When you are raised in a house where that happens you kinda get used to it and start to take over that habit of ignoring the bad things. A better sister would've been checking up on her sister, a lesser sister would've been feeling good about the situation. I'm just a sister sitting on the couch feeding the conversations while feeling a sting in my chest because I'm not in any shape better than my mom.