The Inauthentic Billionaire Princess

Chapter 14

"Chicken broth?"

"No."

"Diving to find treasure?"

"No."

"Marco Polo?"

"How old are we? Eight?"

"Volleyball," said Tristan, ignoring Olivia's comments.

He seems to be considering it. I'm not too bad at volleyball, so I think we can win.

"OK," said Olivia at last.

"Prepare to lose" he said with a grin as if he had already won the game.

"No, we're not going to lose. We'll win and I'll show you!" Olivia boiling.

Ten minutes later, we were all in the pool. A volleyball net and a dividing line are attached and Ethan stands at the right end of the pool on the opposite side to the rubber volleyball in his hand, because he has won the coin toss and he will do the first serve.

"Ready?" Tristan shouted from the other end of the pool.

"We are ready" said Olivia, giving a small nod.

On cue, Ethan serves an overhand by throwing the ball over his head and using his dominant right hand to hit the ball, sending it over the net. Olivia managed to return the ball to the other side, the ball barely escaped and got stuck in the net.

Tristan jumped in front of Ethan, and threw the ball back at us so quickly that we barely had time to react. The ball fell into the water on our side, and gave a point to Ethan's team.

I heard Olivia swearing in my heart while glaring at Tristan who was grinning.

This time, Tristan was serving. He threw the ball at us so strongly that Olivia could not control the ball and ended up being hit twice, which earned them one more point.

We continued the game and although Ethan and Tristan had a three-point lead in the game, suddenly the game turned into an interesting one when we led by two points after almost half the game was over. By the time we reached 25 points and both players reached 24 points, we decided to continue the game because the team needed a two-point lead to win.

After that, the game started to be unfair. Ethan and Tristan often cheat. They would get more than three contact points at a time before sending the ball to our side, and when we argued it, they denied it. Then there were times when Ethan touched the ball twice in a row, which was again denied for a weak reason like we didn't see clearly what he was doing.

Even though they cheated like anything, we managed to win over them with a three-point advantage. And it's nice to see the faces of both losers disappointed after we won.

Olivia, as herself did not miss a single chance to mock them about their defeat. Tristan only snorted "silently" at us before leaving the pool. Ethan looks completely unaffected by their defeat and just shrugs. Even Olivia's rude taunts didn't work against her and she left after upsetting us.

"Did you see Tristan's face when he lost?" Olivia laughs. "What he thinks about when challenging me in a game is as simple as water volleyball. I was the captain of my school volleyball team," she said as she flicked her hair back, "I hope she knows that so she doesn't feel ashamed of losing to me," Olivia grinned wickedly.

***

I stepped into the bathroom, undressed and turned on the shower. I just got back from the pool, having celebrated our victories over Ethan and Tristan in a volleyball match.

It was still a bit hot because it was late afternoon and the game made me sweaty and red and all I wanted right now was a cold shower.

I turned on the water, a little jolted as the cold water suddenly touched the bare skin of my back. I took strawberry shampoo among the many types of shampoo that were there. I squeezed it in my hand and applied it to my hair, making sure every strand of my hair was covered in shampoo. I washed it off after applying some conditioner. I was in the bathroom for half an hour.

After turning off the water, I took a white towel hanging on the hanger and dried myself. There was a white bathrobe hanging beside him. I wore it, not wanting to go out with just a towel, even though it was my room and bathroom that no one could enter without my permission.

I came out of the bathroom, combing my hair with my fingers to tidy up the tangled hair. I didn't realize when my foot landed on something very slippery, and before I knew it, my foot had slipped off the bottom and I landed face down on the wet bathroom floor. My foot hit the wall and I felt tremendous pain from my left foot to my ankle and I hissed in pain.

It was then that I realized that I had fallen on a slippery liquid. The liquid was a thick green color and judging from the aroma, it must be shampoo. My white bathrobe on the buttocks is now green.

But how did the shampoo land there?

I tried to get up, almost stumbling into the bathtub behind me as sharp, acute pain ran through my ankle. It was then that I saw a silver pendant, half hidden behind a door frame. I took it and examined it carefully. There's an alphabetical 'E' in French. I've learned enough French in school to understand what the alphabet is.

Ethan's.

I vaguely remember Ethan wearing the same silver pendant in the pool. Then I woke up.

How dare he?!

I limped out of the bathroom and out of my room, no matter that I was still wearing a bathrobe.

I walked towards his room, kicked at the door and got angry when I saw his room was empty. Where is that bastard?

I trudged down the stairs to the kitchen that was as empty as her room, except for Olivia who was fiddling with the fridge.

Upon seeing me, he furrowed his brows and asked, "Wow, are you here?" while feeding food.

I did not answer and instead walked towards the living room. I heard him call me when I heard the refrigerator door shut.

"Hey Julie, you're okay, right?" He asked and I looked at him in confusion. "Do you have diarrhea?"

"What?!"

"Your ass is yellowish green and looks like dirt." he cut off the conversation, "literally."

"Silent. I'm not wetting my pants!" I snorted in annoyance when I heard his laughter from behind me.

"You know where Ethan is?" I asked rudely.

"What's going on?"

"Liv, tell me where he is" I asked again, my patience was running out.

He raised both his hands to defend himself. "Hey, I don't know where that loser sulks," he said. "Have you checked his room?"

"Yes, he's not there."

"I don't know where he is" he said, returning to his meal.

Next I checked the living room and the other three bedrooms, which I did not know who was using, but Ethan was nowhere to be seen. I decided to give up and go back to my room. But that doesn't mean I won't give her a thought.

Just as I turned the corner to climb the stairs leading up to my room, I hit someone, almost falling off the stairs I climbed. At that moment, my ankle sprained and I screamed in pain. A strong arm wrapped around my waist to hold me and my hand stretched out to grab the hand. I looked up to see Ethan grinning. "Whoa, Juliet. Have you fallen for me?"

I looked at him with a threatening look. "You hope, Evans," I muttered, pushing him aside to stumble. My ankle might be sprained and it would be best if I could get to my room quickly.

I looked into his eyes. He might have been a little intimidating at the dinner table when I had my first dinner here, but not anymore. He had changed into a black shirt and gray sweatpants and his hair looked wet and disheveled. It was obvious that he had just taken a shower. Oh, so maybe she was taking a shower when I barged into her room violently.

"Are you going to believe me if I say no?"

"No," I replied flatly, finally showing her pendant by hanging it in front of her face. He snatched it from my hand, muttering the word "shit" in my heart.

"Then, yes, it was me. What are you gonna do with this?" He asked, raising an eyebrow at me while wearing the pendant.

My fist clenched with anger. My ankles were throbbing with an excruciating pain that made me want to cut them. Okay, now's not the time to fight with this kid. I better go and rest. And after my ankle healed, I was able to repay it.

"You better be careful" I said slowly. And without looking back, I began to stumble up the stairs. I heard him laughing behind me and I decided to ignore him. I want to get to my room soon. But it's easier said than done.

I have to make sure that I don't put too much pressure on my ankle, which means I have to try to walk without using my other leg. And how can I do that? I don't know.

"What happened to your ankle?" Suddenly I heard Ethan talking near my ear and I almost jumped up because I didn't hear him coming towards me.

"Why don't you ask yourself? Do you think I'm gonna fly because of that stupid shampoo?" he said he finally managed to at least step one step up the stairs. Oh my god, does it take too long. With this kind of speed, I'm sure I won't get to the room until tomorrow morning.

He's laughing a little. "Whoops. You need help there?" He asked and I almost fell down the stairs I had just taken.

"What?"

"I think you need help to get to your room" he said.

"Whoa, what? You're offering to help me?" I asked in disbelief.

He rolled his eyes at me. "I didn't mean to make your ankle sprain. I just want you to slip and fall."

"Wow, and it doesn't hurt, does it? Congratulations, you not only made me fall down, but also made my ankle sprain and hurt!" I'm boiling.

"At least I've helped you get to your room. I'm sure you wouldn't have done that if our place was exchanged."

I opened my mouth to protest, but closed it when I realized that it might be true.

"Suppit. It will always be you who will provoke me to do that. I wouldn't be the first person to do something like this that would hurt you physically."

"There's no other way you can hurt me than physically. Now stop talking. Or I won't help you" he said, grabbing my hand on the wall and holding me upright. As he held it, I lost my balance and crashed into his chest.

"You're heavy," he muttered and I hit his chest lightly. "And a little rough." I furrowed my brows and hit him again, violently. "Corrections; very rude."

"Silent. You can go. I don't want your help."

"Anything that can help you sleep at night" he replied.

"Hard kicks between your legs will definitely help me sleep at night" I replied.

He narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you want me to push you up the stairs?"

"You wouldn't dare" I said, rolling the eyeballs.

"Oh, believe me, I'll do it."

I decided not to push it any further. I don't know exactly what kind of person he is and if he is able to make me fall down and sprain my ankle, then he will be very able to push me down the stairs. No eyewitnesses came to help me. So I just kept quiet.

She wrapped one hand around my waist and made me wrap my hand around her neck. After taking a step, he decided that it was not a good position because in order not to put too much pressure on my ankle, I half strangled Ethan to death by putting pressure on his neck that was circled by my arm.

"Are you trying to kill me?" He asked while releasing my arms and holding my waist. Okay, I'm starting to feel uncomfortable being around him.

"It wasn't intentional," I said simply. "Although I'd love to do that, but given the situation I'm in, I don't think that's a good idea. Who's gonna take me to my room?"

"So you admit that you want my help?"

"I never said that."

"It's implied."

Not knowing what to say, we just stared at each other for about ten seconds until I finally broke the silence and lowered my head. Okay, now I feel very uncomfortable being so close to Ethan.

"Remove your hands from my waist," I said, staring at his hands resting on my waist.

Instead of what I expected, he did the opposite. He pulled me closer towards him and I held my breath.

"Don't be too fast" he whispered in my ear and before I could even notice it, I was quickly swung into his arms.

My hand immediately wrapped around her neck and she arranged my position in her arms so that I would not fall.

"Let me down" I said, thrashing in his arms.

"I'll drop you" he said.

"Shut up."

"You are silent. Or I'll really drop you."

I secretly got angry and let him carry me to the room. He's really gonna knock me down. I don't believe it.

He carried me up the stairs and into my bedroom, kicking the door so we could get in.

"Your room made my eyes hurt. Pink curtain, big pink teddy bear, pink pillow, pink table."

"You can go now" I said.

He shrugged his shoulders. "Alright, you ungrateful brat," he said and threw me to the bed. Looks like he really threw me on the bed.

Just when I thought he was gone, he had to decorate my ears with his irritating voice. "Oh, and Juliet," she said and I turned to look at her.

"What?!"

"I always win. You might have won the game today. But I'm going to win the war that's been going on between us since we were five years old" he said, winking at me before he left.

Is there a war between us? Of course, war jokes.

I'm not that stupid to know that he's going to take this as a war of jokes. When I met him, I accidentally threw him in the pool. Given the history he has with Juliet, there is no need for a genius for me to know that Juliet and she often do such joke wars. And then I kicked his ass. Of course, he would think that it was to avenge him, just that it was actually not. It was an accident too. And this is what he did to repay her. Falling in. Pain for pain. Really matured him.

I groan on my pillow. Whether it was because of this war of silly jokes or the excruciating pain in my ankle, I don't know. I guess it's a little bit of both.