"Julien!" Olivia rushed from the entrance. Her shoes are hitting the stairs loudly and irritatingly.
She panted as she ran towards Julien, who, on the other hand, stared at her with a puzzled look. "What's with the rush, babe?"
Without noticing the enticing nickname Julien gave her, Olivia pulled him to his wrist at a fast pace. "Can I have an answer at least?"
After what Olivia heard, she immediately rushed down the building because she accidentally pushed a vase, which obviously caught their attention. Luckily she pressed the elevator on time before they can even see her.
But it'll be a matter of time when they catch Olivia since there is CCTV on the elevator.
"I'm so fucked..." She whispered, still pulling Julien behind him.
"Are we going to my apartment?" He voiced while panting. It was hard to keep his track in sync with Olivia since he can only walk slowly and not fast.
"Yes, hurry up!" After she said this, they both ran towards the fancy building. Julien is still not fond of the idea of running.
"Olivia... hold your sandals." He panted as he forcefully removed Olivia's grip on his wrist.
"Leo will be on our tail after this." She warned as she stomped her tiny feet to the elevator, leaving Julien.
What she didn't know is the man she turned her back on seconds ago was suffocating his lungs. Security and the lady guard quickly helped him.
"Who are you?" The guard held Julien in his arms then questioned for him to know the alter he is facing right now.
"Kev..." the man on the floor choked out.
"Oh, hey Julien. Shit!" He greeted then cursed when he saw him turning purple then started coughing.
"Find his inhaler through his pockets." The guard instructed the lady guard, who quickly obeyed.
"Should I blow you some air?" He asked, and that made Julien shake his head to death.
"Found it!" She screamed then quickly gave it to Julien, who could only roll his eyes in relief.
Olivia, on the other hand, can only watch in horror. She stood there thinking at first that Alfred is just playing. But seeing how the other two responded to him with a serious gaze made her realize that she was too late to move after holding back.
"You! How could you do this to our precious friend?" The guard shouted with a heavy British accent.
The guard and the lady working at this hotel have dark, beautiful skin. And every person that walked inside this building will be greeted with their big pearl-like smile. It was the purest.
"I'm so sorry, I am not aware that he has asthma," Olivia said, still shaken by the fact that she did that to Julien.
"Before being a friend to someone at least ask anything about them that is important. What if this happened at a different place?" He shouted in a concerned way as he caressed the weak Julien in his arms.
"Kevin, she doesn't know. Don't shout at her. Jace will not be happy." The lady guard said as she smiled at Olivia then placed her hands on Kevin's arms.
After Kevin calmed down from his anger, Alfred managed to recover from what happened. "It's okay Kev."
"You sure?" He asked with his brows raising, then shifting his gaze on Olivia then back to Julien.
When Julien nodded, the three stood up. They did not notice the crowd that formed because of Kevin's shoutings.
Olivia bowed deeply, and her head almost touched the floor. "I'm sorry, I'll watch my actions next time."
"Chill up Kev, You're scaring my wife," Julien smirked, and that made Kevin smirk too. "Oh, really?" Kevin teased.
"Should I set up the wedding down the hall?" Honey said as she teased Julien too.
"Maybe next month?" Julien joked then laughed with them.
Olivia is just watching the three people laughing. They look so happy together. Seems like they've been friends long enough to laugh like that.
"Up you go now punk. Remember to use protection when... y'know..." Kevin winked as he softly pushes Julien to Olivia.
"Protection? You mean condom?" He whispered innocently.
"No, my child. I meant your inhaler. We don't want you dying with your meat inside the oven don't we?" Kevin whispered back, and that made Honey laugh hard.
"Don't talk to him like that kev!"
Julien's smirk dropped as he turned his back to Kevin with a huff.
"What a cute fella," Honey said.
"Hey, girl! You better take care of him or I'll twerk on your grave." Kevin screamed.
─────
"I'm sorry about Kevin. He really is just overprotective." Julien said with a smile.
Olivia's heart is still racing. "Don't smile like you didn't almost leave this world girl." She sassed while staring at the increasing numbers up inside the elevator.
"Honey and Kevin were tourists that is exploring Mountain Haven and they happened to find Jace almost lifeless behind a steep rock." Julien started out of the blue and got Olivia already hooked.
"Go on." She said.
"Ever since they found Jace they're the ones who took care of him at the hospital where he fell on comatose. They would tell him stories and even learn how to take care of a person with DID for Jace. After they grew attached to Jace they decided to stay here." Julien stared at the blank space while telling the story.
"It was a hard process since they are foreigners, but Leo was a big help to fasten up the process." He ended with a smile.
Olivia nodded. "Is it a coincidence that they are working here on where you guys are staying?"
Julien shook his head. "That's another story for a different time babe."
The elevator dinged. Alfred got out, leaving Olivia still hungry for more stories about Jace's life.
"Tell me more Julien!" She got out of the elevator then caught up on the said guy.
"I told you it's for another time."
Olivia scoffed. "Fine, I won't tell what is the conversation of Leo and the others."
"I see what you're doing. An eye for an eye?" Julien smirked as he entered the code on his apartment door.
"Fine, let's make a deal." Olivia proposed, still following Julien after he opened the door.
"I'm all ears."
"Let's team up, not a duo but by the group." She said, which confused Alfred.
"Group? Is Kevin and Honey in our group?" He asked with his eyes squinted in question.
"We can, but that is not what I mean. What I meant is a team with the alters." She suggested as she twists her fingers in the hope that Julien will accept.
But he nodded as he agreed.
Well, that was easy.
"Tell me about Jace's past."
"But Bear is the only Alter who has a fresh memory before our head was hit to death." He said obliviously without knowing that he said something from his memory too.
"Holy shit, someone tried to murder Jace." Olivia voiced in realization.
"Do you know anyone named Cecilia?" She opened as Olivia recalled the name mentioned by who she guessed was Jace's dad.
"It's very familiar... where did I heard that name?" He placed a thumb go his chin while thinking hard.
"I can't remember but I've read a letter with that name stamped on it. Wait─ let me find it." He said as he entered their room the messily search for the letter.
"Help me, Olivia."
"Okay, what are we trying to find for." She said as she tied her hair into a ponytail.
"It's a black envelope with a gold seal on it. It has shiny black patterns too, you'll know when you see it." Julien said, who's busy opening drawers.
Olivia started searching from drawers to drawers and closet by closet. But found none.
"Keep looking." She chants in a low voice.
They started to throw the clothes off the closet as if both were robbing the place off.
She starts to feel hopeless. It was Jace's closet. Next, she hesitated at first but got on searching anyway. After throwing the clothes all over the room, she spotted a black box with dragon patterns in gold was carved all over it.
"This looks mysterious..." She stated, and that got Julien's attention.
"Oh, yes. So mysterious!" He exclaimed.
They placed the box on the bed, but Olivia shook it first, and a sound from an object being moved inside was heard.
"We need a key," Olivia said as she started to lose hope again while touching the keyhole.
"Give me that!" Julien snatched the box then shakes the box repeatedly. He searched for any letter or name to state the ownership of the box but got none.
"We're that close!" Olivia fell on the soft cushion then sigh in defeat.
"It says here To my petal Jace... from Mom, Lia." Julien reads the Chinese symbols under the box, which is almost hidden under the dragon's scales. Olivia didn't notice how Julien managed to read the Chinese characters.
"Lia? Does that mean Cecilia?" Julien asks, still thinking heard.
Olivia's eyes widened. "I think Jace's mom is alive!"