The other end of the queue was silent for a moment before he spoke again in the tone of a wounded puppy, “Don’t you have anything else to say to me? Sophie has begun skipping meals in order to lose weight, and she stays up late every night playing on her phone or gaming on her computer. I’ve even heard her curse as if there were no tomorrow! She is your daughter; don’t you care about her…?”
“I’ve already told you she’s not my daughter anymore. Remember how the divorce papers state unequivocally that I am giving up custody of her?”
“Grace! How much longer will you be petty? I’ve already told you that Olivia and I are just colleagues, so why don’t you trust me?!”
I cut him off before he could say anything else. “Sir, your daughter’s more willing to listen to Olivia, so go to her and stop calling me.”
I immediately hung up the phone after hearing crashing noises on the other end.
Later, at one past midnight, I received another call from Orion, who slurred and stumbled on his words, indicating that he was probably drunk. “Grace, my head hurts… You… You love me the most, don’t you? You would always help me… Massage my head whenever I’m drunk… Until… Until I felt better. Come back. The house feels so empty without you… “I miss you.”
There was no way to communicate properly with a drunk, so I hung up right away.
Before another call arrived, I configured it so that it would be forwarded to another number.
At the same time, Olivia was going live, clearing the air about her entering the Blaise Estate at her company’s behest. Suddenly, she got a call from Orion, and even though the employees signed for her not to pick it up, she did. Orion’s voice was almost pouty at this point, and it could be heard clearly through the phone: “I think I miss you… Are you happy…?”
All of the employees were terrified by this turn of events, and Olivia herself acted shocked, hanging up the phone and immediately turning off the live stream.
Ella practically cackled when she told me this: “If you were half as cunning as she is, you would’ve had Orion wrapped around your finger! She even paid journalists to write that Orion wanted to be with her but couldn’t, or something, but Orion had those posts removed from the internet.”
At this point, hearing about those two was no different than hearing about any other stranger to me.
Another week later, I had lost six more pounds.
Ella whistled when she saw me and said, “Even Aphrodite would be envious of you!”
The acting teacher also complimented me on my rapid improvement, saying there was nothing else I could learn.
Meanwhile, I got my first job after resuming my career as an artist: a well-known brand was looking for people to wear masks and communicate solely through body language.
Ella had a mysterious glint in her eye: “There’s going to be a surprise!””
When I arrived on the site, I realised what Ella meant.
The brand’s spokesperson was Olivia.
When I arrived, she was sitting in a rocking chair, and Orion sat next to her, looking down and tapping away on his phone. Not long after, my phone rang with a notification, and it was indeed a message from Orion.
“Today is my birthday, so please come back. I ordered a cake, so let us talk.”
