chapter four, as the hourglass trickles on
THE WONGS HAD the honour of hosting their first dinner together this summer, it was decided. The date was set for that very Sunday, Livia was informed when she got back to the house after her excursion with Brie and Lila. It was already Friday.
Auntie Xu and their mother were already plotting and planning. Their father was on his laptop, working and calling one of his business associates in Hong Kong. Livia went upstairs and took a shower to wash off the salt-tinged smell on herself, and to get herself ready for the evening. Time was passing by too quickly. Just like that, and she'd already been here for two days. It certainly didn't feel like it.
While Livia would once have been happily relieved of any duties regarding any dinners they hosted, she was now an adult, and was therefore unwillingly roped into the arrangements.
All she wanted was to lie in bed and scroll through social media, but a holler from her mother could not be rejected. So instead, Livia found herself at the dining table, carefully reminding her mother and Auntie Xu of everyone's dietary requirements.
"Brie is allergic to seafood," Livia reminded when her ma suggested getting some fresh shrimps. "Don't forget about that. And Lila's mother is vegetarian."
Her ma wrinkled her nose. "All these British people and their allergies and diets. I do not understand it at all. It is nowhere this annoying back home."
Livia stayed quiet, deciding not to comment in regards to that. There was nothing much she could say.
Auntie Xu said, "Well, then, we ought to prepare a few vegetarian dishes. Tofu, I think, works very well. They sell some vegetarian food at the Chinese supermarket. It's a bit more expensive, but we can get some of that and prepare a pot just for Mrs Carmen-Anderson." Lila's mother was an actress, and thus had chosen to keep her own last name when she'd married her first husband. Lila had originally been Lila Stevens, but when they'd divorced, Lila had gone for her mother's last name instead, and hadn't changed it to a hyphenated version when her mother married Mr Carmen. It was a rather complicated situation, and Livia often forgot how to refer to the family. She settled for Carmen/Andersons a while ago.
"Seven dishes for all of us, I think. Chinese style. They do not get any good Chinese food here," her ma declared. "We ought to deliver. And it is the first dinner we all have together, so it needs to be good."
"Ma," Livia said patiently, "I don't think anyone cares that much as long as the food is good."
She was ignored. "You and Pamela ought to perform something," her ma continued, shooting a glance in her direction. "Pamela can play the piano and sing, of course. You..."
Livia was entertained. "I don't think anyone is expecting me to perform, ma, my talents don't lie in that area."
"I suppose you could dance," her mother was musing, and Livia's statement went either unheard or neglected. "But it has been so many years I think you'll just make a fool of yourself. Perhaps you shouldn't perform. Just help around the house, that should be enough."
That was exactly what Livia had just said, but she did not point that out. Instead, she stayed quiet. Her mother was clearly not in a mood to listen, and Auntie Xu was too busy hanging onto her every word. Livia wanted for a little while more before leaving on the pretence of going to the bathroom. Instead she ran back to her room and shut the door behind her, sighing loudly.
This was going to be nothing short of torturous.
Pamela was not back. Livia assumed she was out for dinner with Anya tonight at that shopping centre they'd gone to. Not that her sister's constant absence mattered to her. This happened regularly in Hong Kong too. While Livia was someone far more attracted to home than anywhere else, Pamela's heart laid outwards. She was a social animal, and any bit of quiet and alone time seemed to drain her energy. Livia was the exact opposite.
Nothing they could do about that. It was just the difference between people.
—
THE NEXT MORNING, Livia started the day with yet another walk, though she avoided the strip of beach where she'd ran into Amphion the day before and instead went further away. The area of the beach she went to was practically abandoned. There used to be a few families who lived up the street, but they'd all moved away some years ago and no one had come in to replace them. Someone had left an old wooden ship on the beach, and it now laid there, rotting away. Livia sat down upon it, staring out blankly at the morning sea.
Third day and she was already starting to get slightly bored. If this was a few years ago, she'd be out with everyone else by now, wreaking havoc all through Briarville, leaving their mark. When they were younger, youth seemed to be causing chaos and nothing else. Of course, they'd been wrong.
This morning Livia had brought out a book, she sat there and read a few chapters until she grew bored and stood up, continuing on her walk. The waves were slightly stronger today than the days before, probably because there was actually a slight breeze today that almost made it quite chilly. Not that it was actually cold.
Today she wore a black crop top with white shorts, her hair tied back in a braid. She hadn't bothered putting on any makeup this morning, since she wasn't expecting to head out anyways. It was going to be a very boring summer, she'd realised. There didn't seem to be much for her to do. Perhaps she ought to invite someone out for badminton—but who?
Maybe she ought to branch out to the people who weren't exactly a part of her friend group, but she was still friends with. Or perhaps she ought to wait until next week, when more people would be at Briarville, and the parties would begin. She could go to a couple of those, make some new friends from the people visiting for the first time.
Yes, that seemed like the best tactic. This week she could stay in her room and write and play games and do whatever she wanted. Next week, she could start socialising. It seemed like a good plan.
It was one habit of Livia's to plan everything out, even though she knew she was extremely unlikely to actually stick to the plan. Certainly some things could not be predicted beforehand, but it never stopped Livia from trying.
It was one of the reasons why she and Amphion had clashed so often. Amphion was a spontaneous person, who liked to jump headfirst into things and worry about consequences later. It had to do with his upbringing, she presumed, and the fact that Zeth was always there to clean up the mess for him. Livia, meanwhile, was prone to be more careful. Her parents were far more strict with their discipline of her (and Pamela, though somehow the same logic did not apply to her younger sister), and thus Livia had been taught to schedule and plan from a young age.
But she did not want to be thinking of Amphion right now.
She wanted to be enjoying the sea's breeze on her skin, the sun glowing radiantly above her. Mind free of troubles and problems, concentrated on happier things. It was why she came out every morning. Because there was nothing more peaceful than this.
Livia returned to her house an hour after she'd initially left. Her parents were out, as well as nai nai, which meant Auntie Xu was gone as well. She found herself the only person in the structure.
She frowned as she read the note left for her on the dining table. None of them were coming back for lunch. There was food in the fridge if Livia wanted to cook for herself, or she could get takeaway or perhaps go to town for the afternoon. Livia was far too tired for that, so she opted for the first option.
One glance at the refrigerator showed that she had all she needed. There were tomatoes, eggs, Chinese leaf and some pork belly left behind from yesterday's dinner. She could cook all of that together with some rice, and it would make a perfect lunch. Livia had taught herself how to cook during her time at school, since school food was sometimes so bad she had to make herself an extra dinner at night. She couldn't cook anything too complicated, but she could manage all the simpler meals.
She washed some rice to prepare for later before heading up to her room.
She glanced at her phone, then, and found an abnormal amount of unread messages. A few buttons revealed that it was their group chat, which had laid dormant for the past ten months or so.
A message from Amphion: party at taliyah neumann's tonight, anyone coming
Brie had replied saying that she didn't really know Taliyah, and neither did Lila. Livia frowned. Taliyah was a nice girl, though they rarely had any interactions with her. She lived on the other side of town, and was a permanent resident here. Taliyah was one year younger than Livia was.
Amphion typed back, Taliyah says she doesn't care. If you want to come, just come. Anyone else?
Livia scrolled through the rest of the conversation. Brie had eventually relented, and agreed to head there tonight. Livia glanced at the time. The party started at eight. Her parents were strict, but if she told them all her friends were going (plus the fact that Livia was almost always the designated driver, so she never even touched alcohol at parties), they'd probably be alright with her going.
She could drive there and drive back by midnight. Four hours at a party was more than enough.
And, she wanted to piss Amphion off.
She knew the better choice was to avoid him. But at the same time, it felt like defeat if she allowed herself to simply become invisible.
Livia didn't say that directly in the group chat, though, instead she went to message Brie directly, asking for the address and exact time, as well as offering to drive the two girls to and from the party, since Livia would have to pass by the Carmen/Anderson house to get there anyways.
Brie texted back the details and accepted the offer for the ride.
Livia sucked in a deep breath. That had already dashed a hole in her plan for this week. Clearly, she was not going to stay at home and be idle until everyone else started trickling in. Though, perhaps this was what she needed. A chance to meet some new people. Knowing Taliyah, any new tourists and friends of friends would be going tonight. There was always an abnormal amount of nieces and nephews visiting aunts and uncles and grandparents at this time of the year, many of the teenagers being attracted by the rumours of crazy rich parties and the lack of regulations there were in Briarville. It did not exact Livia as much as it excited anyone else, but she didn't mind a good party once in a while.
That was another reason why she agreed to go to this party. It would be genuinely nice. It would be large enough, she assumed, that she could choose not to interact with the twins at all if she didn't want to.
Besides, it was a good chance to try on one of the more party-style dresses she'd brought two days before. She was wondering when she'd get to try it on. One of the dresses she'd gotten was a midnight blue one that ended at her knees, with silken translucent sleeves. She had the perfect hair clip to match it.
Her parents got back at five and Livia informed them of her plan. She was still obviously staying for dinner, and her mother displayed doubt at Livia's decision to drive until she swore that she wouldn't even touch a lick of alcohol. She relented after that.
Nai nai was a lot more approving. "Good, good! Get out of the house. Go socialise. We don't need you moping around all day."
Exasperated, Livia replied, "I haven't been moping, nai nai. I've socialised!"
"Look at your little sister. Out in town every day with her friends. Then look at you! Sitting at home, staring at your laptop. Even when you go out, you go out alone. Make more friends! What happened to spending every day with the twins?"
"They're busy," Livia lied.
"Busy!" Nai nai snorted. "If you want to lie, do it better. I see them at their pool every day when I go to the gardens. They say hi to me too, they're not busy, why don't you go out with them?"
"We've never been that close," Livia said without thinking. The moment the words left her mouth she realised how ridiculous it sounded, since for every summer before this one they'd been glued by the hips, even when they were arguing.
Nai nai casted her a look of disbelief. "There are many people you could say that about and I'd believe you. That Hepburn girl, for example. Neither of your fault, your personalities just clash. The Calvert-Egerton twins? Hei San, what happened?"
"Nothing happened," Livia replied firmly, glancing around to make sure no one was listening. Nai nai knowing wasn't all that bad. But if her parents knew, they'd most likely pass it onto Mr and Mrs Calvert-Egerton, who would most definitely pass it onto Amphion and Zeth. And that was where it'd start getting messy.
"I don't believe you," nai nai said bluntly. "But I trust you and your decision making. You're a big girl now. You won't do anything stupid, right?"
"Have I ever done anything stupid?" Livia asked archly in return.
"Yes," nai nai murmured. "Many, many times. I just never bothered pointing it out, that's all."
Livia sighed. "Everything's okay. Trust me."
"When someone says that," nai nai pointed out, "everything is usually not okay. But we'll discuss that later. Go prepare for your party."
"It's in four hours," Livia deadpanned. "I don't need to prepare for four hours."
"Oh, shoo, then, do whatever you young people get up to these days. I do not pretend to manage to keep up at all, though I try." Nai nai shook her head, leaning backwards, tugging at the sleeves of her dark blue blouse. "Go! Leave me in peace with my book."
Livia stole a glance at the cover. Lu Xun's The True Story of Ah Q. Of course it was. When she was a bit younger, when she was still studying in a local school in Hong Kong, she'd been terrorised by the writings of Lu Xun every day. Some of them were actually enjoyable, but others were far too historical and political for her to understand. She did now, though she'd never bothered rereading them.
Nai nai shooed her away again, and this time Livia did, heading back up to her room.
She sat and wrote for another hour before standing up. Dinner would be served at six thirty, and it was only five now. Livia went to her wardrobe to take out the dress and laid it on her bed, staring at it with a smile. Oh, her taste was glorious. The dress was drop dead gorgeous.
Six thirty. Livia had dinner fairly quickly before going back upstairs to change. Once she was done with that, she did her makeup, adding some champagne-coloured eyeshadow and her favourite Chanel lip gloss. After looking through all her bags, she ended up picking her Prada round mini-bag.
Seven thirty. Livia got into her car after saying goodbye to her parents. Pamela still wasn't back. Her parents weren't panicking yet, though. Livia drove off into the sunset, because it was the summer and British climate was a strange thing indeed. Nai nai's car was not the best thing in the world, but it was what she had learnt to drive last year. She got to the Carmen/Anderson house soon enough, and was met by Lila and Brie, who came hopping down the pathway.
"Looking good," Brie chirped. She herself was dressed in a velvet off-shoulder dark blue pantsuit, her dark hair tied back in a braid that reached her mid-back. Livia returned the compliment, turning to Lila.
Lila's colour had always been pink, and she hadn't strayed from that today. She wore a pink miniskirt with a white baby tee on top.
Livia frowned. "I'm starting to think I'm a little overdressed." Lila's outfit was almost casual, and Brie's on the verge of it.
"No, no," Lila said, shaking her head. "If anything, I'm underdressed. I think I forgot to pack my dresses. Like, I can't find any of them, so I had to opt for this."
"There's a new dress store in town," Livia offered. "That's where I got this dress. You should go check it out soon."
"Yeah, probably." Then, Lila paused. "Sarah's going tonight, by the way."
"I know," Livia said, "I saw the message in the group chat."
Sarah was someone who tended to stay away from her phone if she could. She was insanely productive, which was how she'd gotten into one of the top universities in the country and had some of the best grades among all of them. If anyone was on a path to success, it was Sarah Hepburn. Perhaps that was one more reason why they never seemed to get along. Too much in similar, too much to fight over.
"Amphion, Zeth and Sarah," Lila murmured. "How are you going to handle that?"
"Watch me," Livia snorted.
Brie's brows creased. "We're still all friends... aren't we?"
"Oh, sweet Brie," Lila sighed, leaning back. Brie had taken the front seat of the car, while Lila was behind them. "You'll learn someday, my sweetest Brie."
Brie glared daggers at Lila, who simply smirked in response.
Taliyah Neumann's mansion was near the edge of town. Its back garden was practically the large hills that surrounded Briarville and separated it from the rest of the world, and tonight it was lit up in all kinds of neon, fluorescent shades. Livia winced at the harsh lights, which she knew were a staple of Taliyah's parties. She'd attended a couple last year.
"Oh Jesus," Lila muttered beside her. "She hasn't learnt one bit as a hostess, has she? The light is as obnoxious as ever."
Livia gave her a sympathetic glance. "You won't feel it once you're inside."
"Because I'll already be blind," Lila hissed. Still, the three girls headed inside without hesitation. Taliyah was standing at the door, an olive-skinned girl with pretty eyes and a smile so bright it bordered on fake.
"Livia! Brie! Lila!" And because Briarville was such a small town, they all knew each other somewhat. They greeted her in return. "Enjoy yourselves! Food in the fridge is all yours if you want it, same with the drinks. Just don't go upstairs, or my parents will actually strangle me."
They promised her that they wouldn't, and Livia noted that the stairs to the second floor had quite literally been blocked off with some haphazardly pulled over furniture. How much that would do to stop the drunk partygoers, Livia had no idea, but any sober one with morals would try their best to stay away from the upstairs bedrooms tonight.
Brie laughed, "We shouldn't drink too much tonight. There's only two bathrooms on the first floor."
"And one's going to be occupied by some couple making out," Lila ruefully. "That leaves one. Yeah, I think tonight's going to stay relatively sober."
"I can't drink anyways," Livia shrugged. "I'm driving."
"Such a good girl," Lila snorted, "aren't you, Livia?"
"Always, Lila."
With a laugh they all headed deeper into the house. First place they headed to was the kitchen, where despite their own warnings not to drink, they poured themselves each a glass of apple juice. That was acceptable. Brie soon got called away by some kids from her old school, and Lila started chatting to a petite girl called Amelia. Livia tried to join in, and soon found herself bored at their blatant flirting. She had no interest in being the third wheel. Lila had come out of the closet almost three years ago—in fact, Livia was one of the first people to hear it.
It made her feel special for a very long time afterwards. The thought made her giggle.
The Neumann's mansion was built with modernism and minimalism in mind. Normally Livia would like that, except the mansion never quite looked lived in. Of course, the house was lively tonight because of the party, but she'd driven past during the day before and it looked like a tomb.
They had a pool too, and Livia headed out to their backyard, where there were even more people. It wasn't just Taliyah's friends and kids of similar ages, there were some people who were clearly from university, though they tended to stay in the same clumps. Livia was confused about that for a moment until she recalled that Taliyah had an older sister, though Jemima Neumann rarely lived in Briarville, since she had her own apartment out in Durham.
Livia, being eighteen, was caught in the middle of the two clumps of people gathered here tonight. She glanced around, trying to find someone she knew so she could strike up a conversation, and found herself empty-handed. Most of the people here tonight were strangers.
Livia took an angry sip of her juice.
Well, that was annoying. That meant actual socialisation would be required, something she had not been prepared to invest in. She'd thought that tonight would be one she spent with her friends in the corner.
It was then the twins and Sarah crossed her mind, but Livia couldn't locate them either, though even if she did all she'd do was avoid them.
She turned, then, to head back into the house, and accidentally slammed into the group of people passing behind her. Steadying her cup, she cried out, "Oh shit! Sorry!" Once she was sure the people she'd bumped into were okay, she studied them.
Four people. All university students from what she could tell, or graduates this year like her. She'd seen two of them around before, in Briarville, though she'd never caught their names.
One of the boys glanced at her face. "Oh, hey, I know you. Livia Wong, right? On Gabert Street. You friends with the Calvert-Egerton twins?"
Oh. But Livia couldn't precisely lie about something as obvious as that, so she replied, "Yeah, somewhat. I've seen you around before, what's your name?" He had dark brown hair, brown eyes, slightly Asian features. She'd put him as mixed, most likely partly Chinese.
The girl beside him answered. She looked slightly younger, and their features were fairly similar. Siblings, most likely. "He's Jason. I'm Eunice. This is Quentin and Victor. You're from Hong Kong, aren't you? I've heard about you before."
"Yeah, that's me. I always come here for the summer, though."
Eunice nodded approvingly. "That's a good choice. This place rocks. We're students from Bellington University, you know, like half an hour away. Jason and I usually stay with his mum here for a few weeks every summer, and we thought we might as well bring these idiots around this time around."
His mum. Not siblings, then. But they looked far too alike, and their manners far too distant to be girlfriend and boyfriend. Cousins, maybe, if she was staying with his mother.
"You're from Hong Kong?" Jason confirmed again, and when Livia nodded, he said, "our grandparents are from Hong Kong. They've been here for years, though."
"Do they live here?" Livia asked. If they did, it was highly likely that nai nai knew them.
However, Jason shook his head. "No, they live out in Brighton."
"Ah, I see," Livia murmured. "If they lived here, my grandma would definitely know them."
The boy known as Quentin tilted his head. He was blonde with blue eyes, skin tanned. From his toned body she assumed he was some kind of athlete. He was the biggest in the group, towering over Eunice and at least half a head taller than Jason or Victor. "By the way, does anyone know where the toilet is? I really need to go."
Livia snorted. "Oh, good luck with that. The second floor's off-limits so there's only two bathrooms in the whole place. I passed by one on the way out here, I think it's already occupied."
Quentin's eyes narrowed. "By?"
"What do you think?" Livia asked, one brow arched. Jason faked a retch. Eunice winced. Victor remained expressionless. Quentin sighed, but following Livia's directions, headed to the bathroom to try his luck anyways.
"Teenagers," Eunice cursed, before her eyes snapped to Livia. "Wait. You're in university, right?"
Livia flashed a cheerless smile. "Eighteen, just graduated this year."
"Congratulations!" Jason laughed. "You're out of hell for now."
"Yeah, no," Livia laughed, before telling them her university. "I'm out of one hell and heading straight into the other."
"Oh, you're one of the smart kids," Eunice snorted. "Of course, of course, should have seen that coming."
Livia pursed her lips. "Well, I wouldn't say that..."
Her voice trailed off, and Jason took the chance to change the topic. "Did you come alone?" he asked curiously, "or did you get ditched?"
Glumly, she replied, "The latter. They came in and ditched me. It's quite tragic, I ought to make new friends."
She meant it as a joke, but Eunice looked serious as she said, "You could hang out with us. I could use another girl, honestly. And we can teach you the ropes to the adult world. Though I'm only one year into it myself."
From the ensuing conversation, Livia learnt that Eunice was the youngest among the four of them. Jason, Quentin and Victor were all in their second year, which was how they knew each other. They also happened to be roommates. Eunice was in her first year of university and was, as Livia had guessed, Jason's cousin. The two spent most of their childhood together, so they were closer than most. They were an interesting bunch, and Livia didn't have anything else to do, so she thought she might as well stick with them for a while and see what they got up to. It wouldn't hurt anyone.
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