Chapter 78: The Sleepover

Mr. Lamar gave them a ride and he dropped them off in front of Olivia's apartment complex. The same complex where she shared an apartment with Josh.

"Do you and Xavier live here?", Mr. Lamar asked in curiosity.

"No," she shortly answered and did not explain further.

"Thank you for the ride, Mr. Lamar," Zarah said with a smile but her smile did not reach her eyes.

"Then, I will not hold you back longer then. Tell Xavier that I said hello and that I'm very disappointed because I was not invited to your wedding," Mr. Lamar said with hurt in his voice.

"Don't worry, Mr. Lamar. You'll be the first on our priority list once we set the date for our second wedding," Zarah promised and Mr. Lamar was very satisfied.

Zarah and Lena alighted from the car and waved their hands goodbye to Mr. Lamar.

Zarah and Lena watched as it sped off and blended with the traffic.

Olivia had just returned from her quick grocery trip and she was about to drive inside the apartment complex when she spotted Zarah and Lena.

"Zaza!" Olivia exclaimed and pressed the horn of her car so the two would see her.

Zarah then grabbed Lena's hand and they approached Olivia's car.

"Hop in!" Olivia invited and Zarah walked to the backseat of the car and pulled the car door open.

As Olivia noticed Lena, she did not forget to say hello, "Miss James, right?"

"Yes. Hello, Miss Irving," Lena greeted Olivia.

"We're having dinner upstairs, do you want to join us?" Olivia invited which surprised Lena.

The last time she checked, she was only a humble secretary at Stevens Group. Now, her boss' best friend was inviting her for dinner.

Who would not be surprised or overwhelmed by this treatment?

She dared not to believe that such good people from rich families did exist.

Zarah looked at Lena's face and she could tell that the latter wanted to refuse.

"Come on! It's just dinner. Elliott was still at the office and could not drive you home."

"Then, thank you for the invitation," Lena had no other choice but to agree.

"You're welcome!" Olivia cheerfully said. Zarah let Lena enter Olivia's car first before she did.

***

"Feel yourself at home, Miss James. Trixie and Hope will be joining us. They're on their way," Olivia said as she unlocked the door in a hurry since they were carrying heavy bags of groceries.

The trio finally got inside and they went straight to the kitchen to put the bags on the counter.

"Thank you!" Olivia genuinely thanked them.

"Miss James, please feel at home as Zaza and I will cook dinner."

Zarah looked at Olivia and she had the urge to tease her.

"Did I?"

"Of course! It's been a long time since the last time I tasted your cooking, Zaza. So please?"

Zarah sighed as she obliged. "Fine. I'm just messing with you."

Lena wanted to help too. So, she decided to volunteer.

"Ahm, may I help?"

Since it was already fifteen minutes passed seven, they had to cook the food in a hurry.

"Okay. Then, wait here," Olivia said and left the kitchen. When she came back, she was holding two aprons.

"Wear this then." Zarah received the apron and looked at Olivia then asked, "Since when was the last time you cooked your food, Liv?"

Olivia chuckled guiltily and admitted, "Trixie and I are so busy with our jobs that we barely come home."

Hearing this, Zarah felt bad.

The entire apartment was spotless. Therefore she thought Olivia must have come home early and cleaned the apartment for the sleepover.

Zarah felt guilty.

"We better start now as I'm starting to feel hungry."

The trio decided to start so they could finish and have dinner by nine o'clock.

"Hope will be joining us tonight. They're on the way."

"Okay! Then dinner for five?"

"Yes. Dinner for five."

"Got it. What are we having for tonight?", Zarah asked.

"I want to eat your authentic ramen with dumplings."

"Fine."

They then started working.

Zarah was cooking the meat for the ramen while Olivia volunteered to cook the noodles.

Lena was slicing the spring onions and then she started making dumplings.

After fifteen minutes, they heard a commotion at the main door.

Trixie and Hope had just arrived.

They went straight to the kitchen after they smelled the delicious aroma while they were in the living room.

"Stay in the living room. This will be done shortly." She said and the two girls obeyed.

The kitchen was already full of extra people.

Trixie and Hope decided to prepare their drinks instead.

They went to the mini bar and decided to make a healthy cocktail for themselves later.

Back in the kitchen, Zarah thought that having two recipes for dinner might not be enough.

So, aside from the ramen and dumpling, Zarah decided to cook another two dishes. She saw that Olivia had bought fresh squid and so she had the perfect recipe in mind.

She asked Olivia to clean the squid and sliced them to thin circles. Yes, she was making Calamari as their appetizer and the second was the lemony steamed salmon.

After an hour of cooking in the kitchen, dinner was finally served.

The quintet enjoyed their dinner and laughs filled the dining room.

They left the table with full stomachs.

They were so full that they could hardly walk. Who wouldn't? They devour the dishes like they were a bunch of starving wolves.

"Gosh! This was the best dinner I ever had in my entire life!" Trixie exclaimed and a burp escaped from her mouth causing everyone to chuckle.

Who wouldn't when Zarah's culinary skills were superb?

"Thank you for the delicious dinner, Mrs. Lockhart," Lena sincerely said and Zarah smiled.

"Well, thank you for giving me this opportunity to cook."

Ever since Zarah lived with Xavier, she had not stepped foot in the kitchen again.

Xavier banned her from cooking as he didn't like her to suffer any cuts and burns.

Looking at their satisfied faces, Zarah smiled sincerely.

After dinner, Elliott arrived, and Lena bid everyone goodbye and they responded with a hug.

"Let's hang out more, okay?" Trixie invited her which surprised Lena.

However an unsure okay escaped from her mouth.

Lena could not straightforwardly refuse Trixie especially when the latter was very sincere with her invitation.

"You can come to Secret Haven anytime. It's our treat." Trixie said and gave her a VIP card.

Hope was not a bar enthusiast but she still accepted the card.

"Thank you."

After Lena left, Julie arrived with Zarah's change of clothes for the sleepover and her outfit tomorrow for school. Julie left after she was done with her job and wished everyone goodnight.

The quartet decided to move the furniture in the living room and laid two mattresses at the center.

Since their beds were small to fit four people, this was the only way that they could think of for the four of them to sleep together.

Hope and Zarah used Olivia's bathroom to shower and change their clothes.

After thirty minutes, they were dressed in their pajamas and gathered around the living room.

Olivia let Hope borrow her unused pajama since the latter did not bring any.

"Thank you, Olivia."

Hope thought that the twins were hard to get along with the first time she met them.

However, she was wrong. They were warm and welcoming.

Olivia was on her laptop as she was not done with the task Zarah had given her.

"What are you doing, Liv?" Trixie asked her twin sister.

"Digging up some dirt."

"Interesting, may I join?" Trixie asked her sister.

"No," Olivia refused, and Trixie pouted. She then looked at Zarah and asked," "What is she doing?"

"Well, I asked Liv to dig some dirt on the Gil Corporation and their family in general," Zarah said which surprised Hope.

"Why what happened?" Trixie had been busy that she had no idea about what was going on.

"Crystal Gil had slandered Zaza in their school forum," Olivia shortly explained and then clicked her tongue.

"What?! How dare she?!" Trixie became angry and attempted to snatch the laptop from her sister's hand.

"Trixie, stop!" Olivia scolded her sister who stopped pestering her immediately.

"I'm sorry Arah. A lot has happened lately with the company, to Josh." Trixie's eyes widened when she realized she had misspoken.

She knew that the mention of Josh's name would upset Zarah and so she immediately apologized.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry. To be honest, I want to know what was happening to him."

"Really?" Trixie asked and Olivia's hands halted.

Hope was also curious about what was going on.

After Natalie approached her earlier, there was a nagging feeling in her heart that she could not get rid of.

"I met Natalie earlier. She said that she was pregnant with Josh's baby however he did not want it."

"What?!" Both Olivia and Trixie asked in disbelief.

It was obvious that they didn't know about this.

"You didn't know about Natalie's pregnancy?"

The twins shook their heads.

Trixie felt complicated as Josh's condition was getting worse.

"Arah, we found out that Josh had been dependent on illegal drugs now. Our parents-" before she could finish, Olivia corrected her, "-his parents not ours. Unless you wanted to go back to them."

Zarah could tell that a lot had been going on in their lives that she was unaware of.

Trixie didn't want to argue with her sister and so she decided to modify her sentence, "He was sent into a psychiatric hospital for treatment."

"Oh!", Zarah was rendered speechless.

"I have also heard that Natalie's grandmother had shunned her after she found out that she got involved with Josh again.

Zarah had finally understood why Natalie was so desperate earlier.

Perhaps Natalie didn't know what Josh was going through.

Whatever the case, she no longer cared.

These two people had hurt her deeply. However, she didn't feel happy to learn that they were punished by karma.

Zarah sighed.

"So, how's the life of a married woman?" Olivia asked to change the mood.

"I don't know. Everything has not sunk in yet."

She was only been married for two days and her husband had left for a business trip.

"How's the first night? I bet it was so extreme or else you won't be showing off your kiss marks to us, Arah."

Upon the mention of her kiss marks, Zarah's face reddened in embarrassment.

However, she could not believe that she would ask the same question that Hope did.

"Should this continue, I would not be surprised to meet my godson or goddaughter ten months from now," Olivia added, and Zarah's face turned redder.

Hope giggled as she found her sister's reaction cute.

"Are you ready to become a mother Zaza?" Olivia asked her and Hope was hesitant to answer it.

***