A Bride Worth Billions (22 page)

Olivia sat down, dropping her bag onto the chair next to her and leaning in to speak to Mark, who had barely acknowledged her presence.

“Just turned in my Classics paper,” Olivia informed him and then added teasingly. “What’s my grade?”

He marked the page on his massive book and looked up. “C plus.”

“
What!
”

Mark raised his eyebrows at her. “Just kidding.”

“Dear God,” Olivia said breathing a sigh of relief. “Why would you do that to me?”

“You’re the one who’s always telling me I need to lighten up,” Mark pointed out.

“Not at my expense,” Olivia said shooting him a pointed glare.

She glanced down at the book he was reading. The title read, ‘The Mystical Science of The Future and Those Who See It’.

“I’ve known you two weeks now,” Olivia said. “And every time you’re in here, you’re reading another book about psychics.”

“Was there a question there?”

“My question is why?” Olivia asked. “You have the gift, you know how it works. Why are you reading up on it?”

“Because there are some answers I don’t have about his ‘gift’ of mine,” Mark replied, that note of bitterness entering his tone.

“Why do you talk about your ability like it’s a bad thing?” Olivia wanted to know.

Mark fixed his unsettling hazel eyes on her. “What makes you think it’s not?”

“I… well… come on Mark,” Olivia said. “You can see the future.”

“And it’s incredibly lonely,” he said unexpectedly. “This so called gift has isolated me from the world. I can’t be around people without seeing their futures. And more often than not, I’m not looking at happily ever after either. It’s easier to avoid them altogether.”

“You don’t avoid me.” Olivia reminded him.

“It’s different with you,” he replied brusquely.

Olivia felt her breath catch a little; she couldn’t deny how pleased she was by his offhand words.

“How so?” she asked keeping her tone level.

“Because you’re one of the most indecisive people I have ever met,” Mark said.

Olivia was taken aback by his answer. “I’m… indecisive?”

“Very.”

Olivia fell silent, trying to determine if that were true. She wasn’t sure if she was or not. She turned back to Mark. “For the sake of argument, let’s say I was indecisive. Why does that make it easier to be around me compared to someone else?”

“Because you’re future has not set yet,” Mark explained. “You change your mind so often in regards to life choices that I can’t see you clearly.”

“Oh,” was all Olivia could say in response, and then she added in a small voice. “That’s a bad thing isn’t it?”

“It makes it easier for us to be friends,” he said.

Olivia smiled. “That’ll be my silver lining then.” She eyed the book in his hands. “Do your parents know about…”

“They never had a chance to,” Mark replied.

“What do you mean?”

“My first ever premonition of the future was of them,” he said softly. “I watched them wave goodbye to me and drive off…”

“And then?” Olivia prompted.

“And then my head was filled with images of their car crashing into this massive black pickup truck,” Mark said tonelessly.

Olivia stared at his sad hazel eyes. She wasn’t sure if she should reach out and take his hand. “They didn’t make it did they?”

“Mum died on the spot,” Mark replied. “Dad was in a coma for three days. But I knew he was dead, I knew they were both dead before they had turned the corner in their white Volvo.”

“Did you believe it?” Olivia asked. “When you saw it… in your head?”

Mark nodded. “Part of the package… you can’t deny it once you’ve seen it.”

Olivia walked around the table to the seat next to Mark. She slipped in beside him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Has it really been that bad?” she asked.

He nodded slowly. “No human being should be able to see the future before it happens. It messes with your head. It makes you believe you can control certain things…”

“You can,” Olivia reminded him. “You saved me that night.”

“Yes,” Mark agreed. “But I was always meant to save you. That’s what I
saw
… I saw myself pulling you out of the way. If I had seen you die that night… then nothing I could have done would have saved you.”

“You could have still tried,” Olivia said softly.

“I could have… but some things… they’re more complicated than we know. By trying to help… I might have brought about the premonition I saw in the first place.”

“Mark,” Olivia said gently. “You’re looking at it the wrong way. You did save me the other night… and if you hadn’t seen that, it would never have happened. My point is that your gift can do a lot of good. It just might not be able to save
everyone
.”

“Then what exactly is the point?” Mark demanded bitterly.

“The point is that you
can
save people,” Olivia said. “You
can
make a difference. You’re just focusing on all the people you haven’t been able to save, as opposed to all the ones you have.” She paused for a second and then continued, “That’s why you don’t invest in relationships isn’t it? Because you don’t want to become close to someone you know you can’t save.”

Mark looked away from her his eyes clouding over. “You don’t know how amazing it is to be around someone like you. Someone whose future is still mysterious, still open, still blank.”

Olivia nodded and then she wrinkled her brow. “You did see my future though… that night…”

Mark hesitated a moment, his hazel eyes burned with soft hues of gold. Olivia found herself falling into them. He didn’t seem to want to answer her question, but eventually when he met her eyes again, she knew he would.

“I wasn’t seeing your future Olivia at all,” Mark said in a voice she had never heard him use before.

“You weren’t?” Olivia asked, wrinkling her brow.

Mark shook his head. “I was seeing
mine
.”

Olivia didn’t know what made her do it. One moment they were sitting together talking, and the next moment she had leaned in and touched her lips to Mark’s. At first it was the softest of touches, his lips felt like silk against hers. Then it deepened, and Olivia felt like something tremendous and powerful was pulling her in and she could not fight it.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Mark pulled apart from her, he was breathing deeply but his eyes had clouded over. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said.

“Why not?” Olivia asked.

“Because… I’m… not good for you,” Mark replied, avoiding her gaze.

“Why don’t you let me decide that,” Olivia told him.

Mark turned to her with a strange expression. It meant something, Olivia just didn’t know what. She suspected he was keeping something from her, but instinct told her that he wasn’t one to give out information just because he was asked.

Mark stared at her a moment longer. “Regardless… I’d rather not run the risk of having that change,” he mumbled, mostly to himself.

Olivia’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion at his incomprehensible words. She wondered if he was answering her or some illusive premonition of their linked future.

Olivia ran her fingers across the pile of books that she had arranged out onto her bed. All of them were ones that Mark had already read. She knew that Mark was searching for something, there was no other reason for why he spent so much time in the library. Olivia just needed to figure out what it was he was looking for.

She examined the books in front of her. All of them contained some sort of information about the art of seeing the future and the people who practised it. That was the word the books used, ‘practice’ as though it was a choice on the part of psychics. Some books had obscure information and others took a more scientific approach, but at the end of three hours Olivia was forced to abandon her quest. Apart from similar subject matter, the books told her nothing about what Mark was really searching for.

It had been almost a month since Mark had come into her life and Olivia found it unnerving that she was unable to remember her routine before him. It wasn’t that he consumed her thoughts every waking moment of the day, it was simply that she felt more comfortable with him than she had with any other person in her life. A feeling that made her more uneasy knowing that Mark did not share the same sentiment. Most of the time, the two of them could sit in contented silence and barely exchange two words. Other times, they would have a conversation that could last hours, but there were moments in between, when Olivia noticed something in Mark’s eyes change.

She couldn’t quite describe it, but it was like he receded into himself, as though he wanted to distance himself from her but he didn’t know how. She never asked him why he did that, she sensed that the answer was too personal to share, at least before he was ready. Her thoughts were distracted by the sound of a sharp knock on her door. She wondered if Molly, her roommate had forgotten something. Olivia opened it to find Mark standing there.

“Mark,” Olivia said in surprise. “I… wasn’t expecting you.”

“I… don’t know why I came,” he said bluntly, looking unsure.

Olivia opened the door wider. “Come in.”

Mark walked in see the pile of books on her bed. He froze in place and then looked towards Olivia questioningly. “What are you doing with these books?”

Olivia hesitated for only a second. “I… I guess I wanted to figure… you out.”

“Why bother?” he asked, his tone was harsh.

“What do you mean?”

“We won’t be in each other’s lives for very much longer.”

Olivia took a step back as though he had slapped her. “What did you see?”

“Nothing,” Mark replied. “That’s my point.”

Olivia frowned at him. “You know, half the time I don’t understand a word you’re saying.”

Mark sighed. “Maybe it’s better that way.”

He moved as though to turn away from her, but Olivia came forward and twisted his body back around to face her. She held on to his arms, keeping her eyes fixed on his.

“Can you please tell me what you’re looking for?” she said pleadingly. “I can’t help you if I don’t know.”

“You can’t help,” he replied brusquely.

“You don’t know that,” Olivia replied. “Please Mark. I don’t want you to be alone in this.”

He looked at her carefully for a moment. When he did that, Olivia often wondered if he was really seeing her, or a future version of herself.

“I’m trying to find ways to… get rid of my ability,” he said at last.

“You can do that?” Olivia asked in shock.

“There may be a chance.”

Olivia tried to wrap her head around the information. “Would you have to leave?”

“For at least a year.”

“Where to?”

Mark hesitated. “Barcelona.”

Olivia knew it was selfish, but she couldn’t help wishing that he would just stay.

“Mark…” Olivia said softly.

Before she could finish her sentence, he had pulled her towards him in an action that was so fast she almost missed the movement. His lips were hard and insistent against her own and she found herself gasping for breath and pushing herself closer into the circle of his arms at the same time. Mark pushed open her mouth and she felt the coolness of his tongue gently trace the line of her lower lip. She shivered, clutching at him for support.

His lips left hers and started exploring her face; he left a trail of burning kisses on her cheeks, her eyes and her neck. Then he pushed her down gently onto her bed, ignoring the books they displaced in the process. Olivia could feel a book underneath her but she couldn’t even summon up the energy to care. She lay there while he continued to explore her body, pulling out her top and flinging it onto the floor. She felt his tongue on her breasts and stomach and a low gasp escaped her. When he pulled back, his eyes were bright and fierce and they held her gaze unapologetically. He undid her zipper and pulled off her jeans and her underwear in the same motion. He fell back down on top of her and Olivia felt a spasm of excitement as his weight sank onto hers.

She reached out, took a hold of his face and guided him to her; her lips were aching to feel him again. They lay like that for a long time, growing comfortable with one another, growing familiar. He knew exactly where to put his hands, he knew exactly where to touch her to make her shiver or gasp with pleasure. When he eased himself inside her, Olivia closed her eyes and let go of her thoughts. It was just the two of them in a little piece of the world and the future was immaterial because the only thing that mattered was the here and now. As he moved inside her, Olivia ran her hands through his hair, their breathing wound together until she could not tell them apart.

Afterwards, Olivia lay with her head on his chest and counted his heartbeats. She didn’t want to break the silence, because she knew that the moment she did, the future would force itself back into the little room and refuse to leave them to their blissful present. In the end, it was Mark who broke the moment. He disentangled himself from Olivia and got out of the tiny bed. He started to put his clothes back on with exaggerated calm. 

“Don’t go,” Olivia said.

“I have to,” Mark replied in a tone that suggested he was not happy about what had just happened.

Olivia sat up, feeling alarmed at the change that had come over him.

“Why?” she demanded, pulling the sheet up to cover herself.

“Because I still can’t
see
you,” he said forcefully.

Olivia looked at him blankly. “I don’t know what you mean?”

Mark turned back around to face her. His eyes were hooded, but she could see the intensity of feeling beneath them. 

“You’re going to declare your major tomorrow yes?” he asked unexpectedly.

Olivia looked at him carefully. “Yes.”

“In History?”

Olivia nodded. “You saw that?”

“I did,” Mark replied.

“I thought you couldn’t…”

“When you make a decision,” Mark interrupted her. “When you make a solid, whole hearted, sincere decision – one that you’ve thought through completely, I see that. I see that certainty in your future.”

“Oh.”

“You made the decision about your major at twelve thirty-five last night,” he said. “Am I right?”

Olivia nodded again. “Yes.”

“Because you had thought about it… you had weighed all your options and made a clear decision,” he explained harshly.

“Ok… I still don’t understand why that’s making you so… angry,” Olivia said in a low voice.

Mark seemed to take a deep breath. “Because… you’re still not sure about
me
.”

Olivia fell silent, trying to understand what Mark was saying to her. She looked at his face and recognized the hurt hidden beneath his eyes.

“You can’t see… our future together can you?” Olivia said quietly.

“I see wisps of what it might be,” Mark replied. “But that’s coming from me… not from you.”

Olivia fell silent again. He could see wisps of their future…
his
future, which meant that Mark had made his decision where she was concerned. Olivia searched herself, wondering what it was that allowed a person to take a chance on another. Olivia had been in love once before, and she had lived to regret it. 

“I… never thought that far ahead,” Olivia replied. “I don’t know where we’ll be a year from now.”

“It’s not that Olivia,” Mark replied softening his tone. “I don’t expect you to know your future. Just your own mind. Your feelings for me… are confused. And because of that…”

“You can’t see me,” Olivia finished for him.

“I can’t see you,” Mark agreed.

Olivia shrugged in defeat. “I don’t know how to change that Mark.”

“I know,” he said, his voice was sad. “And I shouldn’t blame you. I’m just…”

He trailed off without finishing his sentence and Olivia could not bear to ask him to complete it. They stared at one another a moment longer and then Mark broke eye contact and moved towards the door.

“No,” Olivia cried out after him. “Mark. Please don’t go.”

He sighed deeply, but he did not turn back around to face her. “You’re a good person Olivia. You like helping people… but I don’t want to be your charity case.”

“That’s not fair,” Olivia said getting out of her bed with the sheet wrapped around her at the chest. “I do care about you. I
want
you in my life.”

Mark spun around. “You do care about me, I don’t doubt that.”

“Then…”

“But about wanting me in your life… you haven’t made that decision yet Olivia,” he pointed out with steely eyes that Olivia recognized for the defence mechanism it was.

“Give me time,” Olivia said desperately.

“I’m not giving you an ultimatum or a time limit,” Mark said gently. “You don’t owe me anything. It’s better if I removed myself from your life. It’s easier that way.”

“But…” Olivia struggled to explain it to him. “I… need you.”

“No you don’t,” Mark replied.

“You don’t know that,” Olivia replied.

“Actually, I do.”

Olivia shook her head, in an attempt to clear her thoughts. They were racing around in her head, refusing to settle. She could feel moisture at the corners of her eyes. She didn’t know what Mark was talking about. She
wanted
to be with him.

“I know you want to be with me Olivia,” Mark said as though he had read her mind. “The thing is… you want to be with me
now
. In the present. But you’re commitment doesn’t extend to the future.”

“Why should that
matter
?” Olivia demanded. “That could change. You said so yourself…. the future always changes.”

“It matters because it might not change at all,” Mark replied quietly. “And that… will be too much for me to handle.”

He paused for a moment and then looked up at her. “The more time we spend together… the more… invested I will get. I need to remove myself from this now.”

“You mean… you need to remove yourself from me?” Olivia clarified.

Mark dropped his eyes. “Yes.”

“Then why did you just sleep with me?” Olivia demanded angrily.

“I wanted to see if I could change your mind… if I could cause you to made a decision that would allow me to see our future together,” Mark replied.

Olivia took a step back. “You still couldn’t see my future?”

“No,” Mark replied shaking his head. “And I think that means… it’s time to go.”

He turned and walked out the door. Olivia stood rooted in place, unable to stop him, and wondering at the same time, if she was also unwilling to.