hexes for exes

chapter two, the young, the hateful

MRS CALVERT-EGERTON WAS the person who opened the door after her father knocked. A smile immediately dawned upon her face. "Leo! Emma! Oh, Livia, Pamela! You're back! It has been too long."

A noise sounded from inside. Livia could faintly make out one of the twins asking who was at the door. Mrs Calvert-Egerton replied, "It's the Wongs!" To them, she said, "Come in, come in!"

And so they did. Livia couldn't lie to herself anymore. Her hands were sweating. Her fists were clenched too. This was so humiliating. She wanted to be anywhere but here. Oh, why didn't she find a way to escape Briarville this year? She wasn't prepared for this reunion.

Livia sucked in a deep breath before she went in. She was ready for any kind of reaction. Amphion and Zeth could ignore her. They could acknowledge her presence and not do anything about it (that would be the best option), or they could act like nothing had happened. Or they could be openly malicious and antagonistic. Livia was opting to give them the slightest nod of the head so that the parents wouldn't immediately see something was wrong and leaving the rest up to them.

Nothing had changed in the Calvert-Egerton mansion. Unlike them, who truly only came during summers, the Calvert-Egertons came down quite regularly. It was still only just a holiday house, but since it was not three hours away from their actual house (which also happened to be a massive mansion), it wasn't precisely surprising. Thus, the mansion was also a lot more personal and lived-in.

Livia and her family were led down the corridor into the living room, where Amphion and Zeth were standing. Their father was nowhere to be seen. Livia's father enquired upon this—"Where's Tom?"

"Upstairs in his office," Mrs Calvert-Egerton explained before turning to the young woman trying her best to be invisible, most likely their newest hired cleaner, since Livia didn't recognise her at all. "Harriet darling, won't you fetch Mr Calvert-Egerton? Victoire and Aurelius too. Tell them the Wongs have stopped by."

The Calvert-Egerton children all had such ridiculous names. The boys' names were inspired from Greek and Roman mythology and history, certainly, but Victoire's broke the pattern, leaving Livia unsure what precisely the couple was going for. It was something they'd teased the twins mercilessly for when they were younger, their names, but as they'd grown it had started to lose purpose.

Harriet bobbed her head and hurried off. That little interlude was ignored as Mrs Calvert-Egerton turned to the rest of them. "Honestly! A whole year! Who'd believe it! When did you arrive today?"

"We got off the plane at six this morning, arrived here at around twelve. Been a busy day," their mother said wryly. "Which is why we pushed this little visit for so long. Sorry we didn't drop by sooner."

"No, no!" Mrs Calvert-Egerton laughed. "Boys, say hello!"

Amphion and Zeth politely greeted them. Their eyes stayed on Livia for a second longer than the rest. Zeth's glance was more filled with curiosity, while Amphion's was filled with a dread not unsimilar to Livia's own.

Well, at least he felt some kind of emotion to last year's incident. Livia carefully ignored his glance, instead meeting that of Mrs Calvert-Egerton's enthusiasm. "Oh, Livia! University this year, aren't you excited? Where are you going?"

It was interesting, honestly. When it wasn't summer, when they weren't all gathered here, even the parents were so disconnected from each other. They lost their reason to be involved with each other. Their only commonality was money and Briarville. It was rather sad to think about.

Livia's mother was the one who said the name of her university. Arguably one of the best in the entire country. That was when Mrs Calvert-Egerton's face lit up. "Oh, darling! Amphion is going there too!"