My mom beamed as we walked through the last doors of the museum to the exhibitions. She gripped the brochure in her hand, rambling on about all the exhibits she had wanted to see before it closed.

It was about a week later, irritatingly early on a Saturday morning, and my mom had forced us to go to a museum with her. She had managed to drag Jackson, my dad and I.

The assignment Liam and I had been working on had been completed the same day we met up. Liam found two other angles we could defend the case with. To compensate, I typed up the essay.

Now, it was the grand opening of a random museum my mom saw online, that showcased the different eras of human history. I didn't know what was so appealing about that but my mom was completely taken by it.

The museum was set up in chronological order, from the earliest eras to the latest. The walls were painted a glowing shade of white, with random exhibits on the sides, and in the centre of the rooms.

We walked through the Stone Age, Bronze Age and Iron Age quickly since, for some reason my mom had no interest in it.

Jackson let out a loud yawn and I gave him a sharp look. One of my pet peeves must be when people vocalized their yawns, and it was also rude. He only gave me a sheepish smile in return.

I couldn't blame him though, this museum was boring. Interesting, but boring if you weren't in the mood.

My mom snapped pictures of the exhibits, shoving her phone up my dad's face like an excited child.

We shoved my mom along to the Ancient Greece and Rome exhibits, and other ancient Empires. Those ones were cooler, and the museum had replicated some daily objects as artifacts.

It took us hours, and many granola bars down Jackson's stomach before we reached the modern eras.

I had my attention focused on a black and white portrait of a workshop during the Industrial Revolution when I heard my dad's voice pipe up from behind.

"Robert? What a coincidence!" he said, incredulously.

Shit. My eyes widened and I spun around to see both Liam and his parents standing with my own. Jackson was off, sitting on a bench leaning against the wall on his phone.

I swallowed hard, turning back around to face the photo on the wall. I could just pretend like I didn't see them.

"Over here Thalia," my mom called from behind. I let out a heavy sigh, and turned around, slapping a smile on my face. "It's the Riveras."

"Hi Mr. and Mrs. Rivera," I greeted. Susan and Robert beamed as I forced my legs to walk towards them. My eyes met Liam's, surprised to see that he was watching me with a small smile. I shook away all the butterflies within my stomach from the sight of him and instead, I gave him a flat look. "And Liam."

Liam's parents and my parents proceeded to talk and gossip about their businesses or co-workers.

"It's nice to see you too, Ophelia," Liam said teasingly, turning his attention to me. He stuffed his hands into his pockets, taking a step away from his parents and closer to me.

"I can't say the same for myself," I shrugged.

"Ouch. You really don't hold back," he feigned a hurt expression. "I'm looking forward to the Victorian Era, personally."

"I'm not," my nose crinkled. I didn't need to be reminded of life back then. I was lucky enough to have been wealthy, if I wasn't, it would have been worse. Liam and I stood in silence our parents talked. I glanced up at him. "I'm gonna go."

I turned to leave when Liam called after me.

"Wait, don't go. I'm so bored," he caught up to me within a few strides.

"Why are you here, anyway?" I asked, not even bothering to hide my interest. As much as I hated to admit it, talking to Liam was more interesting than this museum.

He shrugged, "My mom woke up and chose to be boring."

"Same with mine," I chortled. Liam tugged on the sleeve of my sweatshirt. "What?"

"We should go to the Victorian Era now," he urged, nudging me. "Take a trip down memory lane, together."

I took a step away from him when I realized how close he was standing to me. His arm making contact with mine sent chills racing up my spine.

I glanced over at our parents, who were still immersed in their own conversation and then over to Jackson. He was still scrolling on his phone.

"Okay, let's go," I answered and Liam gave me an excited grin. We walked on to the Victorian Era, leaving our families in the dust. I doubted my mom would notice I was gone until she wanted to leave.

The first thing I laid my eyes on were the outfits they had in display. The long petticoats and dress coats that had me grimacing.

Two women from next to me snapped dozens of pictures.

"These are so beautiful," one of them said to the other, who agreed wholeheartedly.

Yes, but they do weigh a ton. I thought to myself.

Liam studied the men's outfits before he turned to me, his cheeks slightly red, "Huh, I remembered those outfits to be more stylish."

"You said your pants looked amazing on you," I raised an eyebrow at him, smirking. "Didn't you?"

"Yes and I stand by that," he scoffed. Then a smirk broke out onto his lips. "Had you falling for me didn't it?"

I was opened my mouth but no sound came out as my cheeks heated up.

"N-no, it didn't," I stammered, keeping my eyes low to the floor. "And I'm definitely not anymore."

His dark eyes lingered on me for a moment longer before he cleared his throat, tearing his gaze away from mine. I swallowed down the disappointment that creeped up in my heart.

"Come on let's go," he tugged on my arm and we began walking again.

It was definitely a trip down memory lane, they'd even recovered silverware, clothing, shoes and jewelry. They even had photos and portraits of certain political figures.

Surprisingly, I'd recognized some of the men from the balls I'd gone to and some had even come to Father's manor. They'd all been arrogant and had a sense of righteousness.

"Holy," Liam said from next to me. "Look at this, Ophelia."

My heart skipped a beat at the sound of that name. I'd never felt that way before now. I bit down on my lip, it shouldn't have affected me like that, not after what Liam done.

I followed his eyes to a photo on the wall — black and white with horrible resolution. It was a photo of Liam and I from two centuries ago, the same one I had seen floating around online. It was sandwiched between other photos of politicians.

"What do we do?" I asked, panicked as I glanced around. No one seemed to notice my concerned state as they walked around, admiring the various other artifacts and photos.

"Nothing," Liam chuckled, his eyes still on the photo. "We'll just say we're doppelgängers."

"And who'd believe that?" I challenged with an eye roll, even though a smile was also starting to form over my lips.

"I still think those pants were amazing on me," he was adamant with that opinion.

"Sure Liam, you were just strapping," I said sarcastically. "Let's go before someone notices that we are them." I motioned my head over at the photo hanging on the wall.

I was surprised to see Liam agreeing with me as he nodded. Just as we turned to leave, a familiar voice piped up from behind me.

"Woah, what the..." Jackson started, his eyes trained on the photo of Liam and I. "Isn't that you two?" He turned to look at Liam and I, his mouth hung open slightly in disbelief.

"Uh..." I trailed off as Liam and I looked at each other.

"Oh my gosh," Liam matched the incredulous look on Jackson's face. My brows furrowed as I glanced up at Liam and he eyed me.

Oh.

"Look at that. Thalia, they look just like us," he pointed at the photo, looking back at me.

"It's unbelievable," I added, shaking my head. "Like doppelgängers."

"I gotta get a picture of this," Jackson raised his phone to snap one when Liam dove in between the large photo of us hanging on the wall and Jackson.

"If you want a picture so bad why not just take one of Thalia and I?" Liam asked, a smirk evident on his face. He pulled me over next to him.

"Yeah, you have plenty of pictures of me Jackson," I nodded.

Jackson looked between Liam and I, "That's true. I don't need another one. Your face will ruin my phone." He muffled his laughter, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

I rolled my eyes at his words, not surprised that he'd taken a chance to throw an insult at me.

Jackson walked off, leaving Liam and I alone. We let out a relieved breath simultaneously.

"You wouldn't ruin my phone," Liam whispered into my ear. I jumped from the sound of his voice, not realizing how close he was to me this whole time.

"But you'd ruin mine," I looked up at him with a grin. I took a step back from him to calm my racing heart.

The smile dissipated from his face as he rolled his eyes playfully, "That's cold, Ophelia."

"I try," I spun around, the ends of my hair smacking him in the face as I walked off to the next photo. Liam was hot on my trail.

Liam and I finished off the rest of the Victorian exhibit and we plopped down on a bench leaning against the wall. His shoulders brushed against mine as we sat and I sucked in a deep breath. I felt Liam do the same.

I pushed all those feelings away.

Our parents walked in at that moment, still chatting their mouths off. My mom's eyes landed on me, and then they flitted over to Liam.

I gave Liam a slight nod and walked over to my mom. Her eyes were definitely hinting for me to come over.

"Good news," she almost squealed as she pulled me aside.

"What?" I almost didn't want to ask.

I found my eyes scanning the room for Liam, where his own parents had taken a seat next to him on the bench. His glanced up, his eyes meeting mine and he gave me a small, crooked grin. I rolled my eyes, suppressing my own smile.

She could barely contain her excitement when she spilled the beans, "We have been invited over for dinner tomorrow night by Susan and Robert."

"Huh?" my eyes widened.

"Yes, and we will all be going. It'll be a nice, formal dinner to get to know them better," she continued, oblivious to my panic. "You can get to know Liam better." She nudged me and I frowned.

So now, a formal dinner with Liam was in my immediate future.

★★★

𝑇ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑡𝑒𝑟! 𝑃𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑑𝑜 𝑣𝑜𝑡𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑖𝑘𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑡! 𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑚𝑒.

𝐻𝑜𝑤 𝑑𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑤𝑖𝑙𝑙 𝑔𝑜?

~ 𝑆𝑤𝑒𝑒𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠𝐼𝑛𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑆𝑎𝑙𝑡