Chapter 216: GIRL NIGHT, SLEEPOVER
"Why do you want to sleep in my house?" Olivia was being suspicious. "Are you going to dig up information from my family?"
"You are being paranoid," Hazel said with annoyance. Of course, Olivia was right. "Having a sleepover with a friend is not weird."
"It’s weird because it’s you. Everything that came from you is weird."
"Hey, you are being rude now." Hazel frowned. She saw Ashlyn was laughing with Peni. "I will come over tonight; be sure that you are not going anywhere."
"Are you mocking me?" Olivia was under house arrest after her last escape. Lyle was being scolded heavily because of that; therefore, how could she go anywhere? "Whatever, but I am not sure my family will open their door for you."
"I will take care of that." Hazel then ended the call and walked over to check on Peni and Ashlyn. Both of them were fine, and they bonded pretty well. It was obvious that Peni was great with little kids.
Not long after, Renna came with a bottle of milk for Ashlyn. The old woman liked Peni too. They got along well.
Seeing this, Hazel relaxed, knowing she would be able to move freely since matters at home had been taken care of.
And now, she only needed to inform Ranon that she wanted to have a sleepover at Olivia’s place.
Currently, Ranon was in his office, taking care of a few matters related to his new business venture. He was on the phone when Hazel walked inside. It was her fault for not knocking first. But when she was about to walk back, Ranon waved at her to come over.
He was in the middle of a serious business conversation when Hazel approached him.
"I will call you later." Ranon watched Hazel sit down on his desk, waiting for him to end the conversation. "I have an important thing to do."
"Important thing?" Hazel grinned. "Am I that important to you?" She teased, but Ranon pulled her to him so she sat down on his lap.
"What do you need? You don’t usually come here." He didn’t answer her question.
"I want to have a sleepover with Olivia," Hazel said cheerfully. "I want to have a girls’ night."
"When?" Ranon frowned. This was not a simple girl’s night if Hazel wanted it. It was the McKenna family, after all.
"Tonight."
"Tonight?" Ranon raised his brows. "All of a sudden?"
"No, we have been talking about this when I met with Olivia the other day, but I forgot to mention it to you. And just earlier, Olivia called me to remind me about it. She had cooked for us and prepared a horror movie, too."
The lie was very smooth; even a lie detector wouldn’t be able to catch it. If Olivia heard this, she was going to explode. The only meal she was going to prepare for Hazel was breadcrumbs.
Speaking of this, Hazel had not yet opened the present Olivia gave her the last time they met in the café.
"I don’t have a social life since I quit college," Hazel said in a pitiful tone. "Please? She is the only girl friend I have."
"You don’t have many friends to begin with."
The corner of Hazel’s lips twitched when Ranon said that. "Seriously? Should you say that?" She was annoyed now. She planned to act coquettishly to get what she wanted, but if this was how he would react, she would change her plan.
But then, Ranon kissed her forehead. "Go, but you need to pick up my call whenever I call you, so I know you are fine."
"Possessive much?" Hazel giggled when Ranon kissed her neck. "You are being so clingy. Will you be able to sleep tonight without me?"
"Hm. Should I change my mind and not allow you to go?"
***
"Hazel Leighton is here?" Deryl frowned when he heard his subordinate report this to him. "Why is she here?"
"She said she would have a sleepover with Miss Olivia."
Deryl thought about it for a while, but Kyle suggested that he let Hazel come. "There is no harm. Olivia is close to her. And she was the one who helped her the last time. We should thank her for that."
There was only a handful of people who knew about Hazel’s involvement in the last incident in Olivia’s apartment.
"Let’s see what her real intention is to be here."
Deryl thought about it and agreed with his son. He told the guard to let Hazel in and take her to Olivia’s bedroom.
With that, here Hazel was, standing in front of Olivia’s bedroom door, while the owner looked at her in disbelief.
"You are really here?!"
"I told you that this morning." Hazel strolled into her bedroom. She only had one backpack, since she would only stay for one night.
She knew Deryl would let her enter the house. If it were not him, then it would be Kyle. Both of them were rather predictable. Their curiosity must have gotten the best of them.
They must be wondering what her real intention was in coming here, since they believed that Hazel was related to River, but they couldn’t ask about it openly.
"Tell me, what do you want to do? I know you have another intention to stay at my house." Olivia lowered her voice; she was close to not having any privacy here. She then followed Hazel inside and closed the door behind her.
"No. I want to have a girls’ night with you." Hazel flashed her a harmless smile.
***
Tonight would be the first time Ranon slept alone, and he found the bed was too big for him alone. The apartment was very quiet, something that he used to like, but now it lacked life.
He couldn’t sleep. Therefore, he walked to the balcony and reached his pocket to get his cigarette, but then he remembered he had quit since second-hand smokers get it worse.
Not to mention, he had a baby here.
Ranon rubbed his face roughly and stared at the city lights. He knew Hazel liked it very much and then pulled out his phone. He checked the red dot on the screen, indicating Hazel’s whereabouts. She was indeed in the McKennas’ house.
Not only that, Ranon prepared a few guards to be around the area, just in case he needed to reach her quickly.
"I am going crazy," Ranon said to himself. It was wrong in many ways to put a tracker on her, however, this was the one that allowed him to find his wife when Arthur kidnapped her.
It was not like Hazel didn’t do illegal things against him, though. Ranon knew she did some shady stuff behind his back.
Her movement was within his grasp, but he still didn’t understand her or what her real intention was, nor did he understand her connection with River. She looked very devastated when she saw River’s dead body.
Ranon had dug so deep, but still, he couldn’t find any connections between the two. It was like they were living in different worlds, yet seeing how Hazel cried made him wonder if he had missed something.
Right at that time, Ashlyn was crying; this was around the time she was awake and hungry. The baby took Ranon’s mind off Hazel for a while as he cared for his daughter.
***
Ranon was not the only one who couldn’t sleep, because the feeling was mutual with Hazel. She was restless. She was on high alert, and when Olivia made the slightest move, it would wake her up.
This was how she used to be in the past. Hazel wondered how she could survive that long without crashing down. Now that she could get a good sleep with Ranon by her side, she imagined this nerve-wrecking alertness was unbearable.
Last night, she had dinner with all the McKennas’ family, including Deryl. He specifically thanked her for saving Olivia’s life, and Hazel was not surprised that they knew this detail.
Meanwhile, Lyle didn’t say anything. He was the quiet one among the siblings, and Kyle tried to open a light conversation with her.
They were conversing about a ’safe topic,’ without mentioning anything related to the Lozens or River. They were testing the water with her.
And when midnight came, and Olivia had fallen deep into her sleep, Hazel got out of bed. She walked towards the window and got out of the bedroom.
She had been in this house a few times, and she knew where all the CCTVs were. Therefore, the best option for her to avoid them was to walk outside like this.
She trod the wall carefully and headed towards Deryl’s office. There was a balcony there, and usually he didn’t lock it.
Thankfully, Olivia’s bedroom and his office were on the same floor; thus, it made it easier for Hazel to sneak in.
Her movement was not as swift as before, since she had just exercised recently, but this was much better than the original Hazel’s body. Her stamina also improved.
When she reached the balcony of Deryl’s office, she heard a few people talking, as expected. Deryl didn’t usually sleep around this time.
And then, there was this particular voice that caught Hazel’s attention immediately. She would recognize his voice everywhere.
Arlo. He was here.
Hazel clenched her fists and tried to calm herself down. Her impulsiveness told her to kill them right there and then, but her logic knew better that it was impossible.
Therefore, she crept closer and listened to their conversation.