IT WAS A BEAUTIFUL night. Dazzling stars hid among the misty clouds, visible only as tiny dots in the endless nebula. A stray plane, somewhat evident from the lands below, bolted through the clouds, breaking the eerie silence that had descended onto the sleeping land.

Inside the plane, it was another story.

Livia Wong was rather proud of her vocabulary. As an aspiring writer, she had to be. But she found herself strangely tongue-tied as she leaned against the back of her seat on the plane, as her sister Pamela stared at her wide-eyed, awaiting an answer.

The question had been a simple one. One that wasn't that difficult to answer.

"How are you feeling right now?"

Yet, somehow, the words Livia prepared were stuck in her mouth, because they simply weren't true. She wasn't ecstatic, she wasn't joyous, she wasn't anticipating a summer of fun and games.

And while lying had never been of any problem to her, especially not regarding matters as small as this one, that night, she struggled.

Pamela blinked. The younger girl was obviously sleepy. It was clear from the way her eyelids drooped, even though she tried to stay focused.

And yet, Livia still didn't say a word.

Pamela's brows creased. Both sisters were fairly attractive, but no one would hesitate before pointing out Pamela as the more beautiful one. Sometimes Livia thought her sister looked like one of those idols. Flawless skin, wide, innocent eyes, hair as luscious and soft and silk, dyed a light brown at the tips. She was tall and skinny, with the tiniest bit of curves and dips. A walking clothes hanger who looked good in everything.

"Are you okay?" Pamela asked. "You haven't looked happy all day."

Livia offered a comforting smile. "I'm just tired. Go to sleep, Pamela."

Pamela looked like she was about to say something for a moment, but then she shut her opened mouth and turned away. She'd been up since early this morning, since she'd left most of her luggage until those inhuman hours. Procrastination was Pamela's Achilles' heel, and it was never something Livia could quite understand. She'd never had that problem. It seemed second nature to her, to never drag anything on and do it as soon as it was needed.

What she couldn't say to Pamela right now, the things that she thought to herself as she turned away from her sleeping sister, the words that were stuck in her throat, was this:

Every person's life was in chapters. Every person's life was a story. Some people had more chapters, some people less. Livia's life was divided into numerous, and the most recent one ended when she left Briarville last year, the seaside town where they'd spent every summer in. She hadn't left that place with a bright smile on her face. She'd left it heartbroken, feeling betrayed and forgotten, as if someone had stuck a knife into her heart and twisted and twisted until she'd bled out on the pristine porcelain floor—what a ghastly sight to behold!

Livia Wong had a habit of holding the entire sky by herself, a willing Atlas. It was hardwired into her brain, to always put herself second and others first, and so she hadn't told anyone. If her family noticed the way she'd changed, if her friends noticed her radio silence throughout the year, no one mentioned a thing.

And in a way, it only made her feel worse. As if she was invisible, as if she didn't matter at all.

Thing was, these summer months always felt so disconnected to everything else. It wasn't as bad for the other kids, because they all lived and studied in Britain for most of the year, but the Wongs were the one family who were not from England. They were very much from Hong Kong. So there'd always been that feeling that Livia and Pamela didn't quite belong.

Summers were fever dreams, time spent in another life, a parallel world, away from the troubles of home, away from the crushing schoolwork and expectations and all the things she had to deal with in Hong Kong. Summer was heaven, until it had become hell.

This was the first year she hadn't wanted to go back. And it was simple to understand, though she hadn't bothered explaining it to anyone. She hadn't left last year on good terms, even if no one else was privy to that fact except the people it had directly concerned. Livia Wong hadn't left that car last summer feeling bliss and joy. No, she'd been heartbroken, even if she'd done an excellent job of hiding it.

Everyone else on the flight was deep in slumber. Soft snoring sounded from all around, both comforting and chilling to her ears. It was as if she was the only one awake on this entire flight, in this entire world. While loneliness was usually something she welcomed with open arms, tonight it terrified her.

She wished she'd found a way to stay in Hong Kong. Maybe she should have said that she saw no point in spending the summer here when she was going to be going to university in England anyways. Perhaps she should have tried to persuade her parents to shorten their stay in Briarville to a month or less, so that she could spend more time back home. She wouldn't be able to go home until Christmas. That was almost half a year away.

Livia scratched her head and groggily stood up from her seat, making her way to the plane toilet. Since they were in first class, the plane toilet was far nicer than the ones in the normal classes, but it still didn't stop the typical plane stench. Livia wrinkled her nose, staring into the mirror as she studied her reflection.

Her dark brown hair was all tangled, and she used her wet fingers to quickly comb through to make it seem more presentable. The dark bags under her eyes were larger than usual, though that was probably because she'd been up since six in the morning and it was around two a.m. in Hong Kong right now. She should really sleep, but she simply couldn't bring herself to.

She wanted to be thinking right now. She wanted to be thinking about what she was going to do when she got back to Briarville, how she was going to treat people and talk to them and act as if everything was perfectly okay when it wasn't. And the moment everyone woke up, Pamela would be trying to talk to her and her parents would be worried about her and there would be no silence for her to think with anymore.

Thus, her decision not to sleep, though it seemed like the wiser choice by the moment.

She'd always been told she had pretty eyes. Starlight, one boy particularly infatuated with her back at her old school had declared. Some of her friends told her they glimmered with life, with excitement. It was the most attractive part of her. While Pamela's eyes were large, round, oxen, Livia's had always been praised because they seemed to be filled with an energy that could not be dashed.

She didn't say any of that right now. All she saw were exhausted, dark eyes, dimmed by the lack of sleep. Her skin seemed duller than usual, and she picked and pulled at it. It made no difference except causing a rosy red to spread where she'd pinched.

Livia let out a loud sigh. Turning away from the mirror, she pulled the sliding door open and stepped back into the plane. Practically on her tip-toes, she went back to her seat and sat down.

But what was she going to do? How was she going to face any of her old friends?

Those were the questions still plaguing her mind as she disembarked from the plane. Her parents frowned at her state, but chose to stay quiet. From the airport, they went into the car her parents had already rented. The driver greeted them before helping move all their luggage in.

"Excited to see nai nai?" their father laughed, glancing at the two girls at the back.

Pamela glanced up from her phone. "Of course, duh." Two seconds later, on Livia's own phone, she saw Pamela's latest social media post.

finally back!!

Livia let out a loud snort. Pamela glanced at her curiously. Livia liked the photo, and Pamela's eyes immediately narrowed as the familiar notification chimed at her phone. "You're laughing at me!"

"Yeah, no kidding I am," Livia huffed. "You're a speedy girl, aren't you?"

Their parents, who had absolutely no idea what was going on, turned away, perplexed. But they both knew better than to ask.

Pamela rolled her eyes. "You're so annoying, you know that?"

Livia just sniggered as she turned away from Pamela. There was something she'd decided she needed to do while she was on the plane, contemplating life and existence and the galaxy and everything else in between, and it was to stalk all her friends' social media.

Perhaps stalk was too strong a word. It was more an attempt to keep up with what had happened in everyone else's life, so that she wouldn't arrive to any nasty surprises. She started with the people she was still on decent terms with. The step-sisters, Brie Carmen and Lila Anderson.

Nothing much on either of their accounts. They were both rather idle on social media. All Brie posted was some pictures of her at football matches. Lila only had one picture posted from almost two years ago of her birthday party. Nothing else since then.

Livia wasn't really that close with Anya Bazdar, who was two years younger than she and thus had always been closer with Pamela than anyone else, but she found herself realising that the Pakistani girl was one of the few other people she was still on actually normal terms with. Anya had been a fair bit more active on social media, with her latest post dated to around a month ago. It was taken at the top of her family's hotel rooftop, a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the most neon-lit part of London. It seemed to be at some kind of party or event, most likely hosted by her parents.

With a deep breath, Livia searched up Sarah Hepburn.

Livia frowned as she pressed in. She'd thought Sarah's account would be full of posts, but for some reason they were all gone. She refreshed just to make sure she wasn't seeing some kind of glitch, but there was nothing there anymore. She'd taken down all of them. That was strange. Sarah always loved posting about absolutely everything, and Livia had made fun of her for it more than once.

When had she taken it all down? Livia hadn't even noticed.

But it also spoke volumes about how hard she'd tried to avoid any sight of them throughout this year. She'd muted Sarah's account, so that none of her posts ever showed up on her timeline, but that the girl wouldn't notice. Livia and Sarah had never been close even before last summer. They'd always been at each other's throat, too many things in common that they constantly had to fight over. Before last year they'd still been able to put on the image of them getting along, but after that disastrous summer?

No, that was long past them now.

That didn't leave her with too many options to investigate.

Two, to be exact. The twins. Amphion and Zethus Calvert-Egerton. The aristocrats (well, sort of). The king-like boys. The ones born with a silver spoon in their months and a crown on their heads.

And also the cause of all of Livia's troubles.

They were her age—all of them were her age, with the exception of Anya. And they were also her best friends. Their mansions in Briarville were right next to each other, and they were the first people who settled there every summer and made it tradition. They were the ones who started it all.

And they were also the people she most desperately wanted to avoid.

It was interesting how relationships could flip so completely in the span of one night, yet it had. It was shocking, and Livia had never quite seen it coming. All the summers in Briarville seemed so perfect, so perfect that she'd never expected she'd have to pay for them all. Perfection came at a price, and Livia Wong was paying for it now.

It was like daggers in her heart. She'd thought that a whole year away would lessen the pain, at least allow her to stare them in the eyes, but all she wanted in that moment was to run away.

Fucking hell. This was going to be nothing short of absolute torture.

The car ride from the airport to Briarville was a little longer than two hours, and soon enough Livia found herself greeted by the familiar plaque at that road she'd travelled past too many times before. Welcome to Briarville! Once upon a time, that cheeriness, that reminder that these two months were going to be all fun and games with no care in the world for anything else, would have brought an immediate smile on her face.

Now it brought nothing but trepidation.

As if to mark the moment, Pamela scooted over to take a picture of the plaque on her phone. Livia scowled as Pamela scurried back to her own seat, but her younger sister didn't seem to particularly care. Shaking her head, Livia leaned back against the window.

Brarville was named Briarville for a reason. It was most well-known for two things: its roses, and its oceans. It had been named after the first, and the second was what attracted so many families here for vacation every year. But amidst all the tourists, there had always been a few families who had made it part of their tradition to come here every summer. The Wongs were one of them.

It started around fifteen years ago, when her grandmother, her nai nai, had retired. She hadn't wanted to stay in Hong Kong, and life in the mainland didn't suit her either. After some thinking, she finally decided on England, where she'd studied in her youth. One of Livia's uncles lived and worked in England too, so it wasn't as if her grandma would be all alone by herself. Briarville had been the final destination chosen, and ever since then they'd been visiting every summer.

Nai nai was one of the few reasons she was excited to come here this year. Nai nai, who always managed to dispense sage advice in the sassiest way possible, leaving Livia in hysterical laughter after every conversation. Nai nai was who Livia wanted to be when she was older.

God, she was just so cool.

But that was also one of the only things that Livia had looking forward for her. Reuniting with nai nai. Everything else just seemed like an abyss of chaos and darkness that she wouldn't be able to escape.

The car kept going. Through the woods that surrounded Briarville, through the rows of houses near the borders, until they'd reached town centre, until they turned and went down the beach, where their mansion was.

The mansion was a twenty minute walk away from the town centre, and two minutes away from the beach itself. It was part of a long street of mansions, the one right next to them belonging to the Calvert-Egertons. The Hepburns lived in another area, as did the Carmen/Anderson household. The Bazdars lived in town centre.

The sunlight was uncharacteristically sunny, which would be rare in most of England, but sunlight wasn't too much of a scarce commodity in Briarville. It was on the southern coastline, right next to the sea. And it was the beginning of summer, so Livia felt small beads of sweat condensing on her skin—she was wearing a sleeveless purple dress with straps—as they sped down the street.

The mansion was the same as they usually had it. It wasn't too big of a house, since in most of the year only nai nai lived here. It had plenty of guest rooms—seven to be exact, and three storeys not counting the basement. Since there was no way they could leave such a massive house to one single elderly woman, usually a cleaner came down to clean once every few days. There was also Auntie Xu, who resided permanently in the mansion with nai nai. Auntie Xu had been widowed around a decade ago, and she had no children. In desperation for a job, she'd decided to help with the mansion and take care of nai nai.

That, or their uncle and his daughters came down during the weekends.

That reminded her—"Ahma, baba, is Remiel coming down this summer?"

Remiel Wong was their uncle's youngest daughter. She was currently studying at university in London, and in most summers would come by to Briarville to visit them.

Livia's father peered back from where he was getting out of the car. "I think so. The date hasn't been confirmed, but I think it's somewhere in late July. They're heading to Hong Kong in August."

Livia nodded, satisfied. If Remiel was coming, it would be slightly better. Remiel was one of the few people in this world who fully understood her, and the two girls had always stuck together during those summer visits, whenever Remiel was here anyways. Not even Pamela could understand Livia quite like Remiel did.

Livia and Pamela exited the car as well, and Livia sucked in a breath of the rosy Briarville air. You could already see the roses, blooming all over the driveway. Pamela grinned.

"It's just as beautiful as ever, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Livia replied, almost dreamlike. "It's just as beautiful as ever." On the surface, at least.

They were led inside. Nai nai was out, they were told by an ecstatic Auntie Xu, on her monthly trip to the doctor's, and would be back in an hour or so. Auntie Xu quickly helped them move all their belongings to their rooms, and announced that she'd already laid out fresh sheets for all of them. Everything had been cleaned and checked, she said, and all prepared for them.

Livia's room was on the second floor. The second floor was an indoor balcony that overlooked the first, and a recent renovation had turned all the wooden planks on the floor to a beautiful, cool marble. Livia wasn't sure how safe that was for nai nai, but the woman had always cared more about the aesthetics than the practicality. Not an inch of carpet could be seen within the house—as a Chinese family, they held a strong hatred for the furry, disgusting germ-attractors.

Besides Livia's room was Pamela's, and then nai nai's. Once she'd been old enough to start staying up late, she'd always hated that. She couldn't make a single sound at night without worrying about whether or not she'd wake up nai nai. She complained about it enough times that nai nai eventually had someone install soundproof boards onto the walls of her room, so that she could be as loud as she wanted to be and no one else would notice.

Her parents disapproved greatly. Nai nai hadn't given two shits about their opinion. That was one thing she'd always adored about coming here. What her parents said didn't matter anymore. All that mattered was what nai nai said, because she was the oldest, and thus she had the most authority in the house.

Either way, Livia wasted no time setting up her gaming desk. She knew she was meant to be enjoying the sun, she really did. But sometimes all it did was rain—and that was about half of the days they spent here—so she'd coop up in her house and play some video games with the twins. She wasn't particularly any good. Amphion was pretty decent, but it was Zeth who was a god at the games. Somehow, he could pick up any game, absolutely any game, and become a master at it. It made no sense and was a skill that Livia had always been jealous of.

This year around, if she ever gamed, she'd most likely be doing it alone. She had no interest in talking to either of the twins, not particularly. That was a friendship with a bridge burnt and buried.

She glanced, satisfied, at the white themed desk, before turning to take out all her makeup and skincare accessories, laying them all out on her vanity. She and Pamela had specially requested one for each of them once their desk had become a bit overcrowded with bottles and boxes.

Livia didn't stop to rest as she continued unpacking. She wanted to be done before nai nai came back.

Pamela came in at one point, asking if Livia could call her phone since she'd lost it in the carnage of her room. With a roll of her eyes, Livia followed into Pamela's bedroom, gaping at the mess of clothes dumped in Pamela's bed. "Jesus, Pamela. You know you could unpack this stuff one by one, right?"

"Yeah, but this is more efficient. Just call my phone, Liv! I don't know where it went."

Livia dialled Pamela's number, and the ringing began from underneath the pile of clothes. With a grunt, Pamela dived in to begin searching, and after a bit came back out with the phone in hand. She offered Livia the sweetest smile. "Thanks, jie."

Livia just huffed in reply. She had no words for the mess that had descended upon her sister's room right now. "Hurry up, Pam. Nai nai is going to be back soon, and we're probably going to go out for lunch in a little bit. You ought to have your room prepared by then so that Auntie Xu can take your suitcase away."

"I know, I know," Pamela sighed. "Just give me a bit more time, trust me."

Livia nodded and went back to her own room.

so it beginsssss
i decided to make pamela a lot less annoying than the original hfe bc like. why not. i actually really like her character and didn't want her to be a whiny bitch this time around. esp if i do end up writing a spin-off for her in the future :)