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!"

And that was when Livia noticed that Amphion's face had frozen the moment her mother had mentioned her school.

So. This wasn't going to be their last time meeting. They were going to have to face each other for the next three years, minimum. Though they'd most definitely applied for different subjects. But it still didn't mean they wouldn't be running into each other quite a lot. Their university was quite small, and they were in the same college, for heaven's sake. The same bloody college. They'd never be able to avoid each other.

Perhaps that ought to give her some incentive to make up with him quickly before they had to go to university. Knowing their parents, they'd be forced to get on that train together. There'd be no escaping that fate. Livia allowed one of the fakest smiles ever to hang on her face. "Oh. How nice."

Mrs Calvert-Egerton eyed her and her son quizzically. It was then footsteps sounded at the stairs, and a moment later Victoire and Aurelius raced in, Mr Calvert-Egerton not too far behind. The fathers immediately moved to the side to start chatting after preliminary greetings. The two mothers took a glance at each other and then at the six children. "You kids go catch up, why don't you?"

And just like that they were shuffled to another room.

"Liv! Pam!" Victoire Calvert-Egerton was blonde, thirteen, excited and happy about life, and rather pleased with herself. She was relatively tall for her age but still dwarfed in comparison to her brothers or even Livia and Pamela, who both stood at around five feet six. "I missed you guys so much!"

"Welcome back, dipshits," Aurelius declared with a two finger salute. "We've missed you. The average IQ of Briarville has now been dragged to a negative because of your presence."

Livia scoffed. Pamela just raised a single brow. Aurelius was like that. He was in his rebellious stage, only fifteen, too full of himself and finding himself immortal. He and Victoire were a pair—both shared the icy blonde hair of Mr Calvert-Egerton, along with the blue eyes that seemed almost supernatural. The twins, meanwhile, took more after Mrs Calvert-Egerton. Both were brunettes, with grey, cool eyes (that was not like their mother's) and lightly tanned skin that signified some hours under the sun. Both brothers did hockey, so that was probably where it came from.

Victoire turned to her eldest brothers. "Are you not going to say anything?" she demanded. "You don't even seem excited."

A beat passed. Then, Amphion raised one dark brow. "You've already said everything for us. What else have you left for poor me and Zeth?"

Zeth's eyelids fluttered shut. Pamela frowned. "Are you two alright?"

Amphion's eyes flickered to Pamela, offering a smile that wasn't all too friendly. "We're fine, Pammy. Look at you. Sixteen now, eh?"

"And ready to kick your ass, Amphion."

"We'll see about that." That was Amphion Calvert-Egerton. A life at the best private boys' schools in the country and a silver spoon in his mouth, too many hockey matches under the burning sun (or pouring rain, since it was England) and an attitude too cocky for the world to contain. He was named after a son of Zeus, and some days he acted like one. He'd always been a leader. Him and Livia, they clashed over it every summer. Who was the true leader of their little friend group? Was it him, with his natural charm and charisma; or was it Livia, with her clearly better ideas and more intimidating presence?

When Livia was younger, she looked at Zeth and saw a weaker version of his older twin. Despite being younger by a mere few minutes, a younger Zeth had acted more like he was younger by a couple years. He'd rarely held his own opinion, and was far more quiet in comparison. It wasn't until two or three years ago she'd realised that all of Amphion's worst ideas were stopped by Zeth. He was the calming influence on his brasher twin, negating his worst instincts and keeping them all out of trouble. If Amphion was the burning sun, if Amphion was the teenage Apollo, then Zeth was the calculating Artemis, keeping his twin in line.

Zeth didn't not have his own opinion. He just never bothered voicing it by himself, that's all. Amphion did it all for him.

They hadn't changed at all. She could still see it now. From the way Zeth cut Amphion a warning look—stop it, don't let them figure out something is wrong, from the way Amphion let out a scoff but silently listened, quietly greeting both Livia and Pamela again and Zeth echoing his words...

They hadn't changed by even the slightest little bit.

She'd really hoped they had.

It would make this all so much less awkward.

Livia swallowed. "Well. What a reunion."

Victoire and Aurelius may not have fully grasped the situation. Of how odd things seemed. But Pamela, brilliant Pamela, most definitely did. Her glance darted between the three of them, calculating, reading, trying to get a hold of the situation. When she failed to, her eyes landed on Livia. That look seemed to say, I have questions for you when we're alone.

Livia just gave a weak nod.

She'd give Pamela them. There was no way they could hide their conflict any longer. It was far too obvious, and clearly neither boys had any intentions of making up or acting as if it had never happened in the first place. They were both fully prepared to continue this until it was too late.

Fuck. What if she'd just pretended nothing had happened last year in the first place?

But no. She shouldn't have had to just swallow it down. It wouldn't have been right. And it wasn't how she worked. Livia Wong wasn't someone who was just willing to swallow something down like that. She'd always fought back.

Victoire—bless her heart—turned to Pamela then. "Pam, I want to show you this new dress I got. Come with me, come on!"

Pamela took one glance at Livia, who gave another nod. A bit of alone time with the twins might help clarify a few things, though she doubted it. But she could handle herself. Pamela seemed to get her message, turning to Aurelius.

"Aurelius," she murmured, "I hear you got a new pair of sneakers yourself. Mind giving me a look?"

It was a very educated guess. Aurelius was obsessed with pouring money on one pair of shoes after the other, all very expensive and often limited edition. It was something Livia couldn't quite understand, but a lot of the boys at her school had the same hobby.

"Of course!" Aurelius beamed. Everyone loved talking about themselves and things that related to them. Pamela knew this and often used this to her advantage. The three filtered out of the room, leaving Livia with two brooding twins.

She stared at them. Zeth first, because that was less terrifying, and then slowly turning to Amphion.

Her jaw flexed.

"Is this your plan?" she demanded. "Pretending I'm invisible for the rest of the summer? Never took either of you for cowards."

That worked. That immediately triggered Amphion, whose gaze snapped to her. "Who are you calling a coward?"

"At least I've never been afraid of a confrontation. Unlike you."

Zeth raised his hand. "Let's talk about this peacefully—"

His twin let out a snort at his futile attempt to calm the situation down. "Any attempt at peace ended last year, Zeth, can't you see? She's here for a fight."

"I never said that."

"You might as well have," Amphion snapped.

Amphion Calvert-Egerton was one of the boys who stole hearts without a single attempt. All it took was one smile, one wink, and before you knew it your soul had already been bewitched. As a child it had been funny. As a teenager it had been terrifying, trying to make sure she didn't develop feelings for him as they remained in such close proximity. As they argued and made up and became best friends and watched the cycle go all over again.

It had been like a game. Who was going to lose first? Except she hadn't realised it was a game until it was too late, and he'd been the only one awake all this time.

Livia glared at him, not saying a word. He raised his chin. "Got a boyfriend yet, Wong?"

"Broke up," Livia said with a casual shrug. That wasn't a lie. She wasn't in that desperate of a situation yet. "Long distance wasn't going to work out."

A mocking smile curved over his lips. "What a pity."

"And you?" Livia scoffed. "Any unfortunate girls this time around?"

Zeth cleared his throat. "He's single."

Amphion turned to glare at him. Zeth shrugged. "What? It's getting tense. Can we please just sit down and talk about this like normal adults? Which we actually are now? Especially if you two are going to be going to the same university and everything, you really ought to—"

Livia raised one finger and pointed it at Zeth. "Shut up."

Zeth let out a defeated sigh. Livia felt a bit bad, but at the same time she really didn't. He was just as much a culprit in this as Amphion, and there was no point in him trying to act as if he was innocent. He wasn't. He was culpable, just like his brother.

"Zeth," Amphion said, casting a glance at him. "Just let me and Livia here settle this. Man-to-man."

Zeth pinched his nose. "She's a woman."

"It's a figure of speech."

Livia raised her chin, even though the words had struck somewhere in her heart. Man-t0-man. All these years and he took one look at her and still didn't see a woman. She didn't care about anything else. She just wanted him to at least acknowledge that she wasn't just another one of his male friends who he could banter without a care in the world with. She wasn't one of his private school rich schoolmates. What they could handle, she could not. She was not raised in the same culture, and for some reason, despite having known each other for what felt like all their lives, he still hadn't managed to comprehend that fact.

It was nothing short of tragic.

She didn't anymore though. She used to, and look where that had led her? Somewhere down the line she'd realised that to survive she had to start toughening up. To start to stop caring about what everyone else thought, to stop seeing herself through the lens of other people. To stop putting herself into positions where she was always the willing Atlas while everyone else watched her give everything away and reaped all the benefits.

She did realise that she might have realised this a bit too late. She really did, but at the same time, better late than never.

"Don't be a coward then, Amphion. Come on, say what you have to say."

"You're being ridiculous," he snapped. "You're making this way bigger a thing than it really should be, and it's absolutely stupid. It's not that big of a deal, Livia Wong, and you're just being selfish. You know this is going to ruin everything—"

"Oh, I'm sorry I'm going to ruin your perfect summer plan." A cruel smile had made its way onto Livia's face. "Oh, am I putting a whole through all the fun degeneracy you were going to go through? How many parties were you planning on going to? How many girls are you going to hook up with? How much trouble are you wanting to get into this time around? Because I'm not going to be there to fish you out of any of it."

Silence trinkled in the room. After some clear hesitation, Zeth began, "Livia..."

Another glare from his twin sent Zeth into silence again. He glared down at his toes, fists clenched besides him. Before Amphion could say anything, Livia let out a sharp cackle. "Seriously, Zeth? That's all you're going to do? Let him boss you around? Maybe I was wrong, maybe he's not the coward, you are. When are you going to learn to stand up for yourself? Are you going to be messaging him at university every day, oh, Amphion, what should I do now? Do you know how ridiculous and spineless you see right now?"

It was not that easy, getting a rise out of Zeth. He was someone who considered keeping his cool the most important thing at any given moment. But it did not mean he did not feel anger. A person could remain calm and be angry at the same time. Zeth shooted a glance in her direction. "You're saying things just because you're angry right now, not because you mean it. I advice you stop before you start saying things that really get too far, Livia."

"I know what's too far and what's not. I'm the judge of that, not you." She had been the victim. Not them.

"Oh, aren't you always?" Amphion laughed. The sound was hard, bitter, painful to her ears. She didn't care. The pain had been a constant companion this past year, every time she'd remembered what happened during the last summer she'd been in this very house. "You always know everything and all of us are just idiots, aren't we?"

"From the way you've been acting, Amphion? You might as well be the idiot."

He shook his head. "You always think you're so bloody smart, Livia."

"Compared to you, I might just as well be a genius."

Zeth let out an exasperated breath, but he didn't say anything. There was footsteps from the corridor. Someone was coming back. Not Pamela and Victoire and Aurelius—they'd hear if they were coming back. Someone else. Most likely their parents, unless it was that new maid of theirs.

Amphion seemed to recognise that footstep and was undeterred by it, because he continued, "It's not as black and white as you always make it out to be, Livia. This is our last summer together, you know you don't want to fuck it up over something as idiotic as that."

"Idiotic for you, maybe, not for me."

"Aww," his expression twisted again, "did I break your heart, Livia?"

She raised her chin defiantly. "It takes a lot more than just a few stupid words to do that, Amphion."

Zeth slammed his palm on the table. "Stop it. Both of you. Fucking stop it. You're both being immature as shit and you know it. This is our last summer together, and I don't want to spend it arguing over some shit both of you are too proud to solve peacefully. Everyone's going to be back tomorrow, we want this to go along well."

"Why do I have to be the one to give shit up so that you guys can get along well?" Livia snarled. "It's not fair."

"The world isn't fair!" Zeth shot back. "Get used to it, Livia! Live with it for two months. I don't care if you two go ballistic on each other in university," he jabbed his finger at the two of them, rage morphing his features until they were no longer unsimilar to that of his twin brother, "but just for this summer. Cut it out. At least don't let the parents figure it out. It'll break their hearts."

And just like that. Livia was put into that same situation she was all those years before. Don't say a word. Keep it inside. Don't say a word because if you do the parents would be upset. You don't want them to be upset. You don't want to upset anyone. You want to make sure everyone is happy—it doesn't matter if you're sad, because you're the best at pretending you're okay, even though you aren't. She'd gone through this a hundred times before, and she refused to, absolutely refused to go through it once again.

And she said that. Declared that out loud, chin raised, twin flames burning in her eyes like supernovas on the verge of explosion. An Amazon standing her last ground, refusing to yield to the Greeks with their king-warriors and millions of men. Except this king was simply a boy. She was Hippolyta and she refused to bow out, not ever again. There could be a hundred Achilles standing before her and she'd still fight until her last breath.

Amphion looked like he was about to say something, but Zeth yanked at his hand and Amphion reluctantly swallowed all of it back inside him. Still his gaze remained on her, red-hot, burning like volcanoes. It used to terrify her. Now she met it with her own certainty. I am not the same girl. You are an idiot if you decide to treat me like her.

"Good for you," he sneered. "Good for you."

Zeth said, "Think about it, Livia. I know you're too angry to let anything in right now, but think about it. I think you'll realise that it's far more prudent a suggestion than it seems. It's just two months, not the rest of your life. I get why you're angry, I really do. But this isn't the time."

"Fuck off."

He was not deterred. "You're a smart person, Livia. A logical and rational one too." As he said this he stole a glance at Amphion, as if to make sure he wouldn't go ballistic again. "I trust you'll make the right decision."

"Flattery does nothing."

"It's not flattery," he maintained. "I'm speaking the truth."

"You've always been so good at playing peacemaker, Zeth."

He offered a sad smile. "With a crowd like this, someone had to."

But Livia's gaze was already on Amphion. "You fucked up. You. Not anyone else. You. And yet here you are, letting your brother do all the talking and managing for you."

"You fucking—"

Zeth cut in again. "Stop it. Both of you." He sent a warning glance at her, and then a similar one to his twin. "You're both being children."

Amphion let out a bark of startled laughter. "Even Victoire is better than her."

"Oh, that's rich coming from you, you piece of—"

"Enough!" Zeth's voice boomed so loudly that for a moment Livia feared that the parents had heard, but then she heard no sound and remembered that the parents would probably just assume they were messing around and not bother checking. Livia turned her head, catching her reflection in the mirror, and realised that her cheeks were burning a hot red, adding on a layer of natural blush. She'd already removed all her makeup before she'd showered, but her eyes were smouldering from hot coal, her cheeks were red and her features were heightened.

She always did look rather good when she was angry.

Of course, the same could be said of both Amphion and Zeth. Both boys were handsome, in a way that immediately screamed old-money and aristocracy. Livia could never quite put it into words, though she'd attempted to some years ago. She ought to try it again, with all the new ways she now viewed them. It would not be all praise from her now if she chose to write about the Calvert-Egerton twins. She'd seen into them. She'd seen the most beautiful and ugly parts of them. She'd loved and hated them, seen them from every possible angle. She could dissect them into pieces within her mind and analyse every piece. She knew how they worked, inside and out, and that terrified her.

It shouldn't, though. It meant she knew exactly how to pick them apart, to turn them into absolute shambles. And right now she was rather tempted.

Though, it was still a bit too early for that.

She had the patience to play the long game.

She wasn't going to stay any longer. Livia pushed herself off the dining table, which she'd been leaning against, and marched off, leaving the twins in a sullen silence behind. She knew the Calvert-Egerton mansion well enough that she made it up to Victoire's room with no trouble, where the three younger sisters were. Pamela, upon seeing her state, frowned in concern. Livia shook her head. Not a fucking word. She didn't feel like explaining in front of Victoire and Aurelius.

Victoire turned and smiled. "Livia! Come, let me show you what I was showing Pamela!"

Livia allowed herself to be led over to Victoire's walk-in wardrobe. Victoire took down one of the dresses and gave it a little twirl. "Look! Do you like it?"

One glance and Livia could tell it was expensive. Not for anything else, but just for the MH label on it. "Your mother's design?" she asked, although she already knew the answer. The dress was purple, off-the-shoulder, made of some type of fabric that had been scrunched up to create volume. The top part of the dress had been encrusted with what seemed like millions of little gems, ones that Livia wouldn't be surprised to learn were very much real. After all, this was clearly a design Mrs Calvert-Egerton had made just for her youngest and only daughter.

Victoire was on the pudgy side, so despite not being very short at all, she sometimes looked quite small in comparison to her tall, toned brothers. This dress was slimmer on the bottom than Livia thought it ought to have been, and she considered that strange for a moment before realising that it was to make Victoire seem taller while wearing it. Yet more sign that the dress had been custom-made just for her.

"Yep!" Victoire grinned. "I'm wearing it to my birthday party next month—you'll be here for it, right?"

Livia smiled. While she might not want to be anywhere near the Calvert-Egerton twins, she wasn't going to miss Victoire's thirteenth birthday party for anything in the world. It was a yearly occasion. Victoire was born near the end of August, so her party was one in a whole sling of dinners and evenings their families all spent together. It was tradition.

Nothing could change that. No matter of hate in between them. Even if they had to plaster the fakest of smiles on their face and force themselves full hours of excruciating roleplay, Livia knew that she, Amphion and Zeth would all be up for it.

That was just how they worked.

When it came down to it, all of them were willing to play the role, just to make sure everything seemed alright. Because the surface mattered far more than the truth of what was actually happening.

And because they all loved Victoire. None of them would be willing to ruin Victoire's birthday party. It would have to be absolutely perfect, the way it was always absolutely perfect.

When they all went downstairs again, all the parents were gathered in the living room once more. Livia stole a quick glance at the twins before either could notice. Amphion's eyes were red. That puzzled Livia, but she didn't stop to think about that as their parents said their goodbyes, and then the Wongs returned to their own house.

Livia was still thinking about their argument when she laid in bed that night. Usually she'd rather die than sleep so early—eleven o'clock! Imagine!—but she'd been up since the wee hours of the morning and actually needed the rest. Everything else could wait until tomorrow. Nothing was going to happen until tomorrow anyways. Lila and Brie would arrive, Sarah was going to arrive from what she'd heard (she did not talk with Sarah Hepburn unless during the summer), and some of her other friends, like a girl called Madi Tahiri who also happened to be in one of the up and coming girl bands right now, was arriving in Briarville within the week. That was when the excitement started. Her parents usually let her and Pamela go free during summers, mostly because they knew they couldn't do anything about them anyways. As long as they did come back before dead midnight (usually during which they themselves would be awake anyways), didn't drink excessively or do any drugs, they were alright with it.

It was as if there was some type of double standard about the summer holidays. It was just different from the rest of the year in a way that Livia couldn't quite explain. There had always been something magical about it. Where even her parents were willing to relax their standards.

It was something that always fascinated her when she was younger.