Chapter 103: Olivia's Reflection

The paintbrush was hanging over the canvas—a tool for creation—yet riveted towards inaction. Olivia stared into the open view in front of her as if it were not an outlook on potential art but rather a reflection showing the jumbled landscape of her thoughts. With a sigh, she put the brush down; solace from such turmoil was not to be found today in creativity. Nathan's confession was like a whirlpool of memory and emotion that drew Olivia into the swirling depths and put in her face things from her own past that she had long avoided. She drifted towards the window, staring out over the city skyline, and as her mind slid away to a time that felt both distant and painfully close,. Sixteen-year-old Olivia's heart was pounding as she stood in the doorway of her father's study. "Dad? Can we talk?" Her father looked up from his computer absent-mindedly and asked, "Can it wait, sweetheart? I'm right in the middle of something very important." The bravado in Olivia began to falter, but she