'Circumstances shape a person'
Third person P.O.V
To say her mum is mad at her would be an understatement. To say Ryan's presence in the room and participation in the matter angers her is also an understatement.
"Olivia, have a seat please," Ryan says motioning to the armchair across him and Rachel--who are sharing the white satie.
She wordless continues to stand. "Olivia," Rachel sighs. "Just do as you're told for once," she admonishes. Her reaction causing Olivia to frown in concern, she doesn't sound like herself right now Liv notes.
But wanting to avoid getting into any more trouble than she already is in, she tentatively takes a seat as instructed.
The observant 16-year-old's primary instincts are to assess the situation to gauge the amount of trouble she's in and consequently prepare herself for the impending verdict on her punishment.
But the frown lines on Rachel's otherwise wrinkle-free face draws her to be concerned--how worried was she?--not about her punishment, but concerned about her mother's health.
Ryan's arm is wrapped around Rachel's shoulder possessively, his palm rubbing her arm in gentle encouragement. While his other hand held loosely in it a whiskey glass, with a rich brown liquid inside that he took occasional sips from.
"Liv, do you want to explain yourself?" Rachel asks, offering her a chance to come clean--like she always did in a situation like this, which was extremely rare in Olivia's case.
She's a smart kid, that keeps out of trouble, but even the smart ones make mistakes, Liv did too occasionally.
"I ju--"
"Rachel we've discussed this," he tells Rachel in a firm voice while cutting Olivia off, he then shifts his attention towards her. "There isn't anything to explain," he concludes on her behalf in a stoic tone. "You broke a rule, and you will be punished accordingly."
This sudden display of misguided authority that Ryan assumed he has over the teen, irks her, but she holds her silence.
'What business does he have here? This is between me and my mum like it always has been. I for the life of me don't find his inputs welcome between us mother-daughter. '
She thinking bitterly, finding the anger slowly building up within her justified.
"Mum?" She looks to her mother for some form of support. But she doesn't find any.
"He's right, Liv. I've been going way too easy on you," she agrees much to Olivia's betrayed astonishment.
'Easy on me? I've barely ever broken any rules before'
"And you took blatant advantage of your mother's kind nature," Ryan remarks sternly.
'Excuse me? Who is he again?' She withholds her words. Again
"I never been so disappointed in you Olivia," she admits solemnly.
'The disappointment card really?' She feels like asking her, unimpressed by her tactic, but she silences her thoughts, yet again.
"Olivia we expected more from you. Rebellion is one thing, blatant defiance is another," Ryan remarks.
This just so happened to be the straw that broke the camel's back and fuelled with teenage rebellion and irritation towards this particular adult she can't help but roll her eyes at him. That doesn't go well with either of them.
"Olivia I will not tolerate you disrespecting Ryan," Rachel warns her tone raised, while her right palm gripping the arm of the chair in an attempt to calm her rage.
"He's not my father. Tell him to stop trying to act like it and I won't need to," Liv replies venomously. She's had enough of his bull.
"Olivia!" Is the last thing she hears before a stinging sensation spreads over her left cheek that snaps her head in the opposite direction. The sound left a soft echo in the room.
The burning sensation left after confirms the teen's suspicion. Rachel had slapped her. Not just slapped she bitch-slapped her in the face, leaving behind broken trust and a handprint on her daughter's cheek.
Her cheek hurt. It hurt a lot, but she refuses to let any tears fall because of it. If anything she put on her most convincing façade of indifference.
Never had her mother to date slapped her. Not until he appeared in their lives at least.
It's clear as day to the teen whose influence she had credit her mother's behavioral change too. At that moment a deep unwavering sense of hatred took root in her mind towards her mother's fiancé.
"An ungrateful brat, that's what you are," Rachel denounces, in all of hell's fury.
Ungrateful? That was never an adjective her mum used to describe her. Ever. No matter how bad she messed up or how angry she was at her.
Brat? Sure she called her a brat on more than one occasion, usually with a note of amusement to it. But never ungrateful. What had changed?
'Why do her words hurt more than the slap?'
Olivia's eyes on their own accord snap to Ryan, who's too indulged in sipping his liquor and giving his input regarding the situation to care about how his very presence irks her.
Concluding in betrayal to where her mother's
allegiance lies, she doesn't waste a moment in raising to her full height--making her a couple of inches taller than her mother--and heading for the exit.
"I don't recall dismissing you," Ryan remarks sternly.
"Too bad I don't care." For the first time, Olivia finds herself wanting to verbally address someone. With that, she walks out of the room holding her cool feigning to be unbothered by the words that follow her departure.
But she heard every last one of them, and they did hurt. It hurt feels like something she never experienced before.
Yes, she and her mother did fight. Which lasting relationship doesn't consist of disagreement and fights. But never like this. Never was it allowed to escalate to physical intervention.
'This is all because of Ryan' she deduces, vowing to never forgive him for this.
Had he just left her mother unprovoked they would have sorted this out like they always did. Sure she would be punished, she didn't mind that. Were his actions been an accident, she would have forgiven and forgotten...eventually, but they weren't she could tell just from his demeanor. They were deliberate.
Olivia could hold the damn of emotions only for so long. And despite her determination-driven attempts to hold back the tears, they set themselves free not long after she made it up the staircase to find solitude in her room.
Her cries remain silent, but that doesn't stop tears to stream down her face as she hurriedly rushes toward her room. The very thought of someone seeing her like this added salt to her injuries.
"Woah there, watch where you're go--"
The only thing stopping Liv from smashing into the floor is Kayden and his swift reflexes when she runs into him mere feet away from her room. Her sight too blurred from the accumulated tears.
The youngest Ashford's emotions are hard to gauge when he takes notice of the tears staining his sister's cheeks. He doesn't care much for a 'why' right there in blinding fury all he cares about is 'who?'.
But for her sake, he puts his impulse-driven emotions aside and focuses on the stubborn girl that trying to break out of his hold.
"What's wrong, Livy?" He asks with gentleness he didn't know he could possess.
She doesn't reply. "Hey Liv, what's wrong baby?" He asks again maintaining his tone, now on his knees in front of her, trying to pry her hands away from her face. She doesn't budge.
"Just leave me alone!" She snaps finally, pushing him away. Not that it does much to move him. But the gesture itself hurt the boy.
"Did I do something?" He voices his confusion.
"Why don't all you Ashford's just say the fuck away from me!" She yell this time before freeing herself taking advantage of a shocked Kayden and rushing to her room she makes sure to lock it shut.
But before she leaves Kayden manages to catch something. Something that leaves him even more furious than he was before. The very sight of the very prominent handprint on Olivia's cheek leaves the twenty-one-year-old livid.
With determination to find the culprit who caused little Liv's tears fuelling him, he marches toward Enrique's room and barges in. An action under any other circumstance he wouldn't have dared to think of.
Enrique is unimpressed, to say the least with his younger brother's blatant disrespect, but that doesn't matter the moment he locks eyes with him.
"What happened?" The oldest demands with authority.
"Someone hurt Liv." Is all the information he needed before he abandons the file he's reading on the bed.
It isn't long before the three Ashford brothers assemble downstairs in the living room, Rachel and Ryan on the receiving end of their interrogation.
Author's note:
Here's another update...just because.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter.
Thanks for reading!
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~Kia