27 How naive are y*u?

I wake up really early. Everyone is still sleeping, the house is as quiet as usual, no surprise there, I heard laughter and clinking glasses until dawn. My relatives really like to party, but I was feeling pretty downhearted after the rudeness everyone showed Stefan last night so, after he left, I went up to my room and stayed there ignoring the good time everyone was having downstairs. 

I go to the park for a run, exercise is always helpful to clear my mind and get me in a good mood. When I get back home the house is still quiet. I go in, aside from our maid cleaning the mess in the living room, there’s no movement inside the house. I’m starving so I go into the kitchen to make some breakfast. I open the fridge, I’m craving an omelet or something substantial, but if I start cooking and someone comes in, I’m going to have to prepare an omelet for that person too and then for the next one that comes and so on and so on. So no, I’ll have to settle for a coffee and toast. As I’m filling the coffee maker, I see movement in the back yard. I peek outside the window and find my dad arguing with uncle Gus, I can’t hear what they are saying, but by the look on their faces is not pleasant. My dad appears so gaunt, I wish I knew what’s troubling him and I wish Gus would back off. 

“Who are we spying on?” Roxana gushes behind me. 

“No one!” I startle. 

“Why does your dad look like crap? Is he hungover?” 

I frown displeased, Roxana never thinks before she speaks. I slam the cabinet door so the noise alerts my dad that there’s someone in the kitchen. It’s one thing for me to spy on my dad, but I won’t allow Roxana to do the same. My tactic works, they both come in the house hastily.

“Good morning.” My dad greets us. My uncle Gus stays quiet and looks at me out of the corner of his eye. “What have you planned for today, girls?” 

My mother usually plans fun activities for the whole family to do during the weekend, but I have no idea what the schedule for today is. I wasn’t paying much attention when we talked about it a few days ago. Luckily, Roxana is here and she can answer any question related to the Ricci’s annual gathering. 

“Doris wants us to take the children to the Zoo, apparently there’s a new section in the aquarium...”

“Zoos are jails for animals!” Karen cries out as she walks into the kitchen. 

Roxana rolls her eyes back, but Karen ignores her, she goes straight to the coffee maker and grabs a cup. 

“Are you joining them, Olivia?” My dad asks me. 

“To the animal jail? Never!” I state with pretended conviction. 

My dad smiles at me before walking out the door, uncle Gus follows him without saying a word. I’m left with the only two people in the world that know my secret (or possible secret). 

“It wouldn’t be such a bad idea for you to get used to being around children, because... you know...” Roxana moves her hands to signal a fake pregnant belly. 

I feel anger boiling up in my stomach. She is so nosy and bigmouthed.

“You are such a fool and so nosy! Last night your big mouth got me into so much trouble.” I exclaim in anger.

“Me?” Roxana asks surprised like she has no idea what she did wrong. 

“Yes, you! You told me to wait to tell Stefan and then you just blab the truth out of nowhere!” I’m practically shouting, but I’m so angry I can’t control myself. 

“Yesterday? I thought you were telling him! How could I know you were talking about something else?” Roxana acts like she’s outraged like I’m in the wrong here.

“Exactly! You had no idea what we were talking about and instead of being prudent you just acted like your usual self!” 

“How dare you? I was super understanding and nice to you!” Roxana exclaims offended.

“Hey, lower your voice, people are sleeping.,” says Karen before taking a sip of her coffee. 

“Mind your own business!” Roxana shouts at her. 

“No, you mind your own business! Karen has done nothing wrong. The only problem here is you,” I blurt out. For years I’ve been acting polite to Roxana, but she has reached my limit and I’m in no mood to put up with her anymore. I run out of the kitchen, I have no interest in hearing what she has to say. Roxana only knows how to justify her actions, she’s never going to apologize, I’m sure she doesn’t even think she did something wrong. 

I go up to my room, I need to be alone. I lay in bed trying to calm myself down. After a few minutes, I realize what I need, I grab my phone and start typing. 

OLIVIA RICCI: Hi! We need to talk, it’s urgent.

Even though Miranda and I are distanced right now, I know I can count on her. I close my eyes as I wait for the reply to come in, but when I open my eyes again it’s way past noon, I must have fallen asleep, and there’s no reply. I feel disappointed, maybe our friendship is not as solid as I thought.  

I jump in the shower and then put on a yellow short dress. I go downstairs, most of my relatives are out, surely taking part in my mother’s trip to the Zoo. Karen is watching a documentary about bees on the TV room with grandma and I can hear a quiet conversation from someone else coming from the dining room. I go to the kitchen to get some water, when I walk in, I find uncle Gus sitting alone in the breakfast nook. I see from his expression he’s still mad at me for some reason. I’m really getting tired of his attitude. 

“Olivia, how old are you?” He asks me in a harsh tone. 

“I’m 20 years old, the same as your daughter Karen,” I reply curtly. I really don’t care for small talk right now, especially if his keeping that sour face. 

“So, don’t you think it’s time for you to take responsibility for your actions?” He asks looking down at me. 

“Seriously, uncle, I have no idea what you are talking about or what I did to upset you this much...”

“You have to know! I refuse to believe you are this stupid!” He bangs his fist against the table. I’m speechless, I can’t believe he’s acting so rude right now, he had never in my life raised his voice at me and now he just called me stupid. “How can you be with that man? I don’t care what your father says, you should at least show some respect to the memory of your brother.” 

“What does Stefan have to do with Alex? Whatever you have against my boyfriend just please leave Alex out of it,” I’m trying not to raise my voice, but the mention of my brother is a trigger for me. 

“Don’t act as you care about your brother! If you cared for his memory you wouldn’t be screwing his murderer,” he says with disdain. 

My heart sinks to my stomach. My whole body starts shaking with rage, I hold on to the kitchen counter so I don’t fall down. This has gone too far, using the death of Alex to his advantage just because he dislikes Stefan is way out of line. 

“You have lost your mind! My brother was murdered during a robbery. You are lucky I don’t go and tell my dad how delusional you are. And the only reason I won’t do it it’s because I don’t want to cause my dad any more pain by reminding him of Alex,”  I say with rage. 

“How naive are you? Your brother was killed to intimidate your father so he would hand over his business and all of his shops. Everyone knows that when Romano Corvino wants something he will stop at nothing to get it and he had been after your dad’s business for years.” My uncle explains with contempt. 

“You really lost your mind,” I mutter before getting out of the kitchen. 

I go up to my room as fast as I can, I’m still shaking. I can’t erase uncle Gus’s words from my mind. Romano Corvino, is that Stefan’s father? I can’t remember if he ever mentioned his name... I shake my head, I can’t give credit to these outrageous accusations, it’s simply absurd. In what universe does a man kills another one’s son just to take over some flower shops? My uncle must be suffering some kind of hallucination. My phone vibrates. I go check who it is. 

MIRANDA GLEASON: Hi! What’s up?

What a friend! I put down the phone feeling bitter. I can’t handle my issues with Miranda right now, not when my uncle is accusing Stefan or murder.