Chapter 19 19

The irritation in his eyes was gone and I just stared at him as he gave a breathtaking smile to my parents. Then his eyes landed on Olivia. He looked at her for a moment, frowned a bit until his eyes fluttered to meet my wide eyes. And then in a picosecond, his charming smile dropped and his lips pressed in a straight line. His eyes hardened and they openly glared at me causing me to shrink back a little in fear. Nobody's gaze, or rather glare had ever intimidated me so much. He looked extremely scary when he glared at me like that. It was like he was trying very hard to send me six feet under with his glare. Probably sensing the tension at the table, Mrs. Jenson cleared her throat. "Well, this is getting awkward." She muttered under her breath. "Um...let's start dinner," Olivia said as her stomach made a low grumble. "Yeah," I said, looking away from Ethan Evans' murderous glare. Soon enough, four servants came out of the kitchen. They started laying down the plates, forks and spoons. I silently watched them do their work, inconspicuously stealing glances at the man sitting opposite my best friend who just might be planning my grand murder for as petty a reason as pushing him into the pool, accidentally. He wasn't looking, well actually glaring at me anymore, for which I was thankful. But he had this deep frown on his face which told me he was irked. As the servants served us the steak with a side dish of mashed potatoes which we were having for dinner, along with some side dishes I didn't know the name of because I never had the pleasure to taste them before, Ethan started a conversation with dad about business. "I think I'll have to make a trip tomorrow to France to check up on Slice Of Life. Their has been complaints from the customers about the poor quality of food, irregular service and also the hotel staff's behavior due to which we have noticed a rapid decrease in customer base over the past few months. Our profits have gradually decreased. We'll have to fire some employees, train the remaining ones, ensure better quality and quantity, make the prices affordable to all. I think we'll be able to pick growth pace and profit increase rate in about three months," He finished with a poker face. Mr Jenson nodded slowly. "So I think you'll be back from Marseille around Wednesday night, right?" "Yes, sir. I think I'll be back by then." "Good because I want you to supervise my Encore casino from the next day of your return. I'll trust with it's decisions for the next two month. But I'll take the final call." "Yes sir, thank you." Mr. Jenson's eyes crinkled at the ends as he smiled. "You're doing great, Ethan. I'm sure after two months or so, you'll be able to handle your own family business just fine. Peter will be so proud of you," he said, before taking a sip of water from his glass. "I don't know why Peter would think that I'll be able to train you more better than him. He is the top in the Forbes list of the most influential businessmen after all." "Yeah he is, but according to him you are more experienced." "I don't know. I don't agree." "And he told me you're the most modest person too," Ethan gave a small smile to Mr. Jenson. Mr. Jenson chuckled and shook his head. "No talk about work at the dinner table," Mrs. Jenson said, looking at Ethan and Mr. Jenson. "Of course, darling," Mr. Jenson said. Then he glanced over at me and surprise flashed across his still handsome face and I almost got a heart attack at the thought of him finally realizing that I was not Juliet. "Juliet! I'm so sorry. I know I've been a terrible dad to you." "Oh no Mr. Jen-DAD!" I almost shouted. "I mean no dad, you're really amazing." He smiled ruefully at me. "I wish I could make things right between the two of us." Ethan cleared his throat before shoving a piece of steak into his mouth. My dad glanced at him. "Oh! I'm not sure if you remember each other," He said, glancing at him hopefully. "I hope you remember her. Or has two years apart made you two forget each other?" He laughed. "How can I forget her? I didn't," he said sickly sweet. My dad looked at me. "I guess Juliet doesn't know much about what has happened here. Juliet, Ethan will be staying with us for a few months so he can learn from me. He just graduated from the Stanford Graduate School of Business with an MBA degree. He's twenty three. He's going to take over Peter's business in a few months. And I think he's deserving and can handle it very well." Stanford Graduate School of Business? That was like the most prestigious business institutions in the whole wide world. "Cool," I said flatly to which I saw Ethan's eyebrows rise ever so slightly. "And this is Olivia, Juliet's friend," my dad said, gesturing to Olivia. Olivia gave Ethan a tight lipped smile before focusing back on her food, which she was oh so gracefully shoving down her throat. We continued the rest of the dinner in silence. It didn't feel like I was dining with the world's richest people. If any, I just felt like I was having dinner with a family, well an almost family because I was the one who filled in the daughter's place. I thought dining with rich people would be an awkward event in which I'd embarrass myself, one way or the other because sometimes these people were just too intimidating. And to top it off, there had to be Ethan who threw glares my way every now and then. I tried my best to ignore him but it was difficult, given he was sat right opposite my best friend. The silence was not awkward and I took special care of how I was eating, ensuring I didn't do anything stupid or make annoying noises with the plates and spoons. Thank God for my mom teaching me table manners and dinner etiquettes when I was young, they were especially useful now. If I were to eat like how I did back in my normal life, I'd be seen as someone worse than a cave woman. "This is so delicious, Mrs. Jenson," I heard Olivia say. I looked up at her to see her shoveling a big piece of cheesecake into her mouth. Olivia has a very serious relationship with food. More than a boyfriend, she cares about food the most. Anyways it wasn't like she had a boyfriend. So for one's own safety, it's very important that no one should touch her food. She took it as a very serious offence to her and the least she would do would be to pummel you to the ground. "I wish I could make food like that. The last time I tried, I almost burned down the kitchen and the food was coal black," Mrs. Jenson said with a sheepish smile. "Don't worry, Mrs. Jenson. If I was in your place, I probably would have burned the whole mansion down. Good thing, Juliet knows how to cook or I'd be starved dead." Olivia said and I stomp on her foot. She let out a whimper.?We didn't know if Juliet knew how to cook or not! The woman frowned. "Juliet knows how to cook?" She asked us incredulously. She looked so surprised as if Olivia just told her that I was a pregnant virgin. Olivia, realizing her slip up, gave a bright smile to cover up. "Y-yeah, she can. I taught her." I face palmed myself internally.?She taught me? She freaking taught me?! And what was she saying a minute ago about burning the whole house down if she attempted to cook?! "But you said you're not good at cooking," my mom said with her brows knit in confusion. "Y-yeah...I don't but I did. I mean I used to know...how to cook but when I taught her, I forgot how to."?That?made?no?sense?at?all. "Um...okay. But Juliet knows how to cook is just, wow...I don't know what to say, it's amazing. Juliet had never entered the kitchen, except if she wanted to tell the chefs to hurry up with the cooking. So this is such a big shock to me," she said. We didn't sat anything. "So what can you cook, Julie?" She asked and my eyes widened when I realized she addressed me as Julie. I stared up at her, gulping nervously as I waited for her to speak up and tell us how pathetic we were for trying to act like Juliet. "J-Julie?" I stammered when she said nothing further. "Well, yeah. You told me when you were young about how you don't like your name at all and wished it was Julie instead." "Uh...yeah," I said, clearing my throat.?We?weren't?caught?after?all!?"Um...I can cook pretty much everything. Not any recipes that chefs cook though, just simple food." She nodded. "Something is better than nothing. I was afraid you wouldn't even know how to cut a tomato."