Sudden

"Wow, what a strangely exact amount." She tried to lighten the mood which had gotten rather serious between them.

Olivia knew that she wouldn't be able to keep it under wrap for too long anyway, but seriously, Ophelia just had to throw something so approximately accurate.

"...it's more isn't it?"

Olivia kept her silence, hoping to not give away anymore clues to back Ophelia's 'wild guess'.

"Oh dear... I'm right, aren’t I?" Ophelia sounded worried and outright bewildered.

It wasn't even close to what she had paid, but Olivia was quite sure Ophelia would be livid if she learned how Olivia got those at double that.

"Listen, Liv. I want you to tell me how did you get your hand on this. And I mean the full story. Not some summary that have way too many parts omitted from it."

Olivia sighed. In a low voice, she said, "Alright, let’s take a walk then."

Ophelia gave her a long, threatening look –unreasonably threatening for someone that’s blind– before she blinked and replied sweetly. "Alright. Let's get moving then."

They excused themselves and left their parents, heading to the garden. Instead of going to the summerhouse, Olivia followed Ophelia to the deeper part of the garden, where the lake was at.

"Come on, take my hand, sis."

Ophelia knew her sister was worried but she more than know her way around the place. So instead, she smiled. "Don't worry, I’m familiar with the road."

Olivia nodded and simply kept an eye on her. They walked for a while more before stopping at an alcove near the lake. They both took a seat on a boulder that had been arranged into a table and chairs in front of the alcove, situated to overlook the lake.

"We won't be disturbed here." Ophelia said with a smile still too sweet to Olivia's liking.

"For goodness sake, Ophelia, this is going a bit overboard don't you think?" Olivia said with a chuckle. "Fine then, I’ll talk."

"Good." Ophelia grinned, feeling a little victorious over her sister.

"I got it at an auction held at the gala I attended. The auction was a side event of it actually. As a matter of fact, I actually joined the auction while on the run from Carlos. Oh, and Gein Kingsley was there as my partner."

"As your partner? Is this the same Kingsley as the one we knew?"

"I guess? And—"

"You guess?"

Olivia disliked the cheeky grin Ophelia had on. It really reflected her own mischievous self which made it funnier, if it wasn’t at her expense.

"Now listen here dearest sister, I don't know him the way you think we might've known him so I don't know." Olivia heaved warily.

"Alright then. Continue," Ophelia backed away with a chuckle as she gestured Olivia to continue.

Olivia eyed her with clear warning, and wished Ophelia at least felt it on her. "So, we head there and entered, both of us masked. It was necessary, for whatever reason the host deemed important."

"Sorry, your talent at story telling is still as hilarious so I couldn’t help myself." Ophelia said after chuckling. "Alright, go on."

They both knew that by hilarious, Ophelia meant ridiculously blunt, and a messy roller-coaster ride that would only make you nauseous by the end of it. And while Ophelia might be the sweetest soul one could ever meet, but Olivia had to admit that they really resembled each other in the most peculiar way.

"... So, we went in and I enjoyed some more of their champagne before we went to take a seat, somewhere in the middle since there were no designated seating. We sat there, listening to the auctioneer and was getting bored but just when I was about to get up, they brought out the stones. Which got me seated again."

"Don't you think you're omitting out a bit too much? And what's with the steady stream of champagne that you had?"

"Not enough, Ophelia. Not enough," Olivia sighed dramatically. "If you can let me finish first, dearest sister of mine?"

Ophelia laughed heartily. "Then maybe not be so scant with your explanation? But please do continue, dear."

Olivia pursed her lips, trying to remained annoyed and not laugh out loud at Ophelia's reply. When together, their dramatic flair could get fairly out of hand.

"Anyway! They brought out the gems not long later and started the bid for it, which got heated up really, very quickly."

Ophelia nodded solemnly. Considering the gem's cut alone, could fetch it an exorbitant amount. "Understandable. It'll actually be weirder if that didn't happen, even if they didn't know what it really was."

"Yes. Unfortunately, everyone knew about it and what started with mere 50 thousands ended up being doubled by every caller."

"I can't believe I'm hearing you said 50 thousand as meager."

"Considering that it reached millions in a breathe, you'd think so too Ophie."

"And how many millions did you win it for?"

"50."

"50 as in millions?" Ophelia frowned. "You're not actually telling me you won it at probably three times it's market price, aren't you?"

"It was at most twice the market price, don't go making things up Ophie. Also, before you say anything, Olivia really didn't spend anything on it."

"Why are you referring to yourself like that? Are you saying someone else paid for it?" Ophelia's eyes narrowed as she grew more suspicious at her little sister. "What, did Kingsley paid for you or something?"

"Why would I even let him?" Olivia was offended at the mere thought and Ophelia could hear it from her voice. "I met Trent at there."

"Trent Vladislav?" Ophelia wasn't really shocked but it was rather out of the blue to hear his name like that. "What was he doing there?"

"I'm not really sure." Olivia replied, not exactly lying. "I asked him to settle it with Aphrodite's so I really did not spend anything, for the most part."

Ophelia mouth gaped open.

"Ophelia, hello?" Olivia asked laughingly.

"You...!" Ophelia reached out her hands to pinch Olivia, which she evaded.

"Why were you even worried in the first place?" Olivia questioned. She had made it very clear that they had more than enough wealth live lavishly at least for three generations.

"No. I'm just dead curious, since you never really tell me anything after all."

"Hey! I did tell you, OK?" Olivia defended herself.

"And what exactly did you tell me, dear sister?"

Ophelia's serene smile was clearly hiding a very sharp retort to whatever Olivia had to say.

Olivia gulped her words down when she saw that. Choose your words carefully, Olivia.

"Fine... maybe not much."

Ophelia nodded grimly. "Yep. Nothing much."

Olivia hid a grimace and grin meekly.

"Well, let's put that aside for now." Ophelia brushed it aside. Excitedly, she added, "Now tell me about Kingsley."

Olivia chuckled before she started telling details to Ophelia. "He's a nice guy. And good looking to. Also, among few males that towers over me."

Ophelia frowned. "I thought all men are as tall as father and Carl."

Growing up, they really had been surrounded by rather tall people, men and women. Even the both of them has the same height, standing tall at five-ten. They would easily be taller than most men if they put on heels. and Olivia had seen that first hand from having to mingle around.

"No. They usually height about the same as us."

Ophelia oohed and told Olivia to continue.

"He can handle his alcohol pretty well. And generous too, I guess. Not to mention gentlemanly." Olivia listed. "And no, not all men are gentlemen like father. Or Carl."

"Okay," Ophelia nodded understandingly.

Ophelia couldn't be blamed for thinking that. They were raised in such manners after all. Even Olivia used to believe that all men are as gentlemanly as their father, until she had to make her ways onward by herself.

"That's right. Liv, did you heard about what happened to the Roswald siblings?"

"No."

"That's weird." Ophelia said looking confused. "It was a rather big news. I mean, enough that even I knew of it. I'd thought mother informed you..."

"What happened?"

Just as she asked that, Olivia felt a chill that went down her spine. She immediately tuned out Ophelia's voice and focused on listening to her surrounding. Minutes passed but she heard nothing. Even Ophelia had stopped talking after noticing Olivia's rigidity and were keeping herself still.

"Ophelia, do you hear anything?" She whispered.

Ophelia shook her head. She noticed Olivia sudden change of behavior and wondered why until a shiver swept her body. It felt like they were being watched. They sat still and in silence, wary of any unusual sound, but nothing was out of norm.

Ophelia forced a smile on. "Maybe it's just our imagination."

Olivia reluctantly agreed, taking note of Ophelia's forced expression. Deep down, she knew it was not just a mere imagination, and clearly Ophelia agreed with her but tried not to show it.

Although, there was no way Olivia would be able to relax. Not when her instinct went on full alert like that.

"Let's head back. It's getting chilly out here." Olivia said in an easy manner. She stood up and took Ophelia's hand.

Ophelia simply followed her. She could feel Olivia's still tense body and demeanor. Even while she had brushed it off as nothing more than imagination, even Ophelia had grown wary.

On their way back inside, they had light conversation, just to fill the silence, and as a pretext that they hadn't noticed anything. Once they were safely in the house, Olivia sent Ophelia to their parents before excusing herself out.

She gave Carlos a call, briefed him on what she felt earlier, before instructing him to increase the security around the place. "I don't care how much, make sure that their safety is absolutely assured."

"Very well, miss." Carlos obeyed without much question. He could sense her prickly tension even through the phone call, despite Olivia's effort to not make it obvious she was feeling it.

"Good. And come as soon as you're done. Anything that can be finished later can wait."

"I will, miss."

She ended the call after giving him a few more instructions. Even after all that, her feeling was still unsettled, as if it was dreading something to happen.

"Damn!" She hissed with sternly suppressed fury.

After a few minutes of trying to calm her nerve, she rejoined her family, plastering a smile on her face. Even though her mind and body was compelling her to go make a round outside, she willed herself to stay still and stay with them since having her family in her sight would be thousands time better.