"WE SHOULD CALL Eunice and Jason," Lila suddenly announced when they were almost at Bellington. "They study there, they'll know some good spots."

"Oh yeah!" Livia arched her head to see her friend. "That's a good idea. They'll know where we should go. But don't you have that restaurant you want to go to?"

"I don't mind trying something else," Lila said with a shrug, turning to her step-sister. "I mean, if we really want to, we could always drive back down for it with my mum and your dad. But you two, you two won't be as fortunate as that."

"Technically," Livia pointed out, "I'll be studying in the UK too."

"But not near Briarville."

Remiel piped up. "Mind I ask who this Eunice and Jason are?"

"They study at Bellington University," Brie explained. "Some new friends of ours, you see, Remy."

"Ah, of course. Of course."

Lila hadn't bothered waiting for a response. She was already furiously texting on her phone, and it didn't take a genius to figure out it was Eunice. Livia wasn't sure about the state of their relationship, but it had to be going decently.

And when Lila puts her mind into this kind of stuff, it usually went her way. Her mother being Helena Anderson and all. Most of Lila's pursuits at least lasted through the entirety of the honeymoon period, after which they generally chose to split up on good terms.

Lila was excellent at remaining friends with all her exes. Somehow there was never even a bit of awkwardness. One of her talents, Livia supposed. One that she would never quite understand. Not that Eunice was an ex yet, though Livia suspected she'd be one by the end of the summer.

Despite the fact that the two girls hadn't even started dating yet. But Livia knew the pattern, she knew the trajectory all Lila's relationships went through.

She knew Lila.

Livia didn't say anything as Lila began talking of some of the places Eunice had offered as suggestions. She and Brie both knew it was really just an excuse for Lila to talk with Eunice anyways—the suggestions were just a cover for the real deal. This was flirting, pure and simple. Besides her, Remiel seemed to notice that too, and at the next stop, Remiel raised one brow in amusement as she glanced over at Livia.

Livia slowly shook her head. Not a word.

Remiel nodded in understanding, and the light turned green so they continued driving again.

It was like they were all third wheeling Lila and Eunice together, and Eunice wasn't even here. But none of them decided to say anything about the sheer awkwardness, not wanting to ruin Lila's mood. Or trigger some bad attitude from the girl known from it.

It was entertaining anyways.

It didn't take them much longer to arrive in Bellington. It was a short drive, and the two cities were practically neighbouring each other. Bellington was far quieter than Briarville, that was already clear as Livia got off the car. Remiel had parked in a shopping centre which was apparently quite close to her museum. Lila glanced at her phone at what was either Google Maps or her chat with Eunice.

"Apparently there's a really good restaurant right upstairs," she finally declared after much scrutinising. "Pizza and burgers."

Remiel wrinkled her nose. "Always pizza and burgers."

"Yes, well, there isn't much else, and you two shit on all the Asian restaurants that exist in this country."

"Not if they're actually owned by Asian people," Livia pointed out.

"But all other Asian restaurants."

"We're justified," Remiel scoffed.

"I have to agree," Brie said, amused. "Alright. Is there nothing else, Lila?"

"There's apparently a really good Argentinian steak restaurant two streets away too."

"That sounds decent," Remiel murmured.

"Yeah, I'd like that," Brie grinned. "Should we head there instead? I'm already kind of hungry, might as well have an early lunch and then head around here."

That was the plan they eventually agreed upon, and they soon found themselves eating their meal. The restaurant was quite good, though Livia didn't know if it reached the godly standard it had been bestowed by Lila (with evidence from Eunice, she was guessing). After they finished eating, they went to a nearby outdoor market, not unsimilar to the one in Briarville but with vastly different shops. She ended up buying a small bronze figurine of a swan. Remiel bought some antique jewellery for her friends, while Brie got a poster. Lila bought nothing. Nothing that fitted her taste, apparently.

And then, the museum.

But there was a familiar face, when they arrived at the small house.

"Aurelius!" Livia exclaimed, surprised. "Didn't think I'd see you here."

Aurelius looked startled to see them as well, eyes widening. He glanced over at the boy who stood next to him—dark olive skin, charming smile, thin figure—sheepishly before turning back to Livia. "Didn't think I'd see you here either. Shawn, this is Livia. My neighbour in Briarville."

"Nice to meet you."

Aurelius turned to the rest of the group. "What, is this a girl's trip?"

"Somewhat," Remiel snorted. "You've grown even more than your brothers."

Aurelius' eyes only narrowed.

"That was a compliment," Remiel offered. "And what, is this a boys' night out?"

To Livia's surprise, Aurelius blushed rather than offering a response. Shane was the one who responded, sensing his discomfort. "Just hanging out. I dragged him here, basically."

"Do you live in Briarville?" Livia asked, tilting her head as she regarded him. He looked comfortable and at ease, forming a contrast to Aurelius, who was all but fidgeting in his position.

"No," Shane explained, shaking his head. "I live in London. I'm a schoolmate of Aurelius'. I heard he was in Briarville and I wanted to come see the museum, so I got him to come with me."

"Yeah," Lila sighed, "that's basically what Remiel did as well."

In response to that, Remiel glared daggers. "You all willingly came here with me."

Because she wanted to tease Remiel, Livia responded mildly, "Did we?"

More glares, as was customary. A small smile stretched on Livia's face as she twirled a strand of hair around her fingers.

Remiel cleared her throat. "Right. Did we come here to chat, or actually visit the museum?"

Brie tilted her head. "We can do both at the same time, you know. It's not one or the other."

"Right," Aurelius said, shaking his head in dismay. "You girls go have your fun. Me, I'm going to go with Shane here inside." That was accentuated with a pleading glance towards Livia, as if she was the one who'd understand the situation and help him.

He'd bet right this time around, though. Livia had more or less pieced together what was going on, and so with a few more words she dragged her three friends away from the two boys.

"What was that about?" Lila asked with a frown. "Aurelius was acting strange."

Livia didn't say anything, but she was thinking to herself too. Had Aurelius ever mentioned anything about his sexuality? Neither of the twins had ever mentioned him coming out of the closet or anything like that, but those two? They were not on some friendly hang out. That was a date if she'd ever seen one.

But Livia could swear that Aurelius had a girlfriend some time ago. Perhaps he was bisexual. He'd tell her about it in due time, no point rushing him if he wanted to stay silent about it. The Calvert-Egertons would be able to handle all that anyways. It was their privacy.

The museum tour itself was a mixture of actually reading the descriptions the museum had put up and listening to Remiel rant about what she already knew. It was better than Livia had expected it to be, especially since she'd never even heard of half these people or terms until then. Psychology was not a subject she had ever been particularly interested in. Or anything regarding medicine, for that matter.

And as Remiel had promised, the place was rather small. They ran into Aurelius and Shane too more times throughout their visit, but every time Livia saw that coming she directed the girls in another direction. Remiel looked confused at first, but once she saw the two boys, a layer of understanding appeared in her expression.

Livia didn't bother explaining her hypothesis. It would only be awkward in the case she was wrong (which she probably wasn't, but still. Just to be careful).

They drove back to Briarville as the night fell. The four girls discussed their oncoming week.

"Flying back in less than three days," Remiel sighed, leaning backwards. "Can't say I'm not looking forward to it."

"Oh yeah," Livia muttered. "You're flying back on Saturday." She turned her head to glance at the Anderson/Carmen sisters. "You guys are going to Madston's party on Saturday, yeah?"

Brie nodded. "Wouldn't miss it for the world."

Lila scowled, glancing at her. "I hope you're not excited because you want to see Mark Arron again."

"No," Brie said with a blush. "That's completely over. I haven't talked to him in a week."

Lila's eyes widened. "A week? You've talked to him recently? Brianna, what the fuck?"

"It's not—"

"Who is this Mark Arron?"

"Brie's on-and-off," Livia snorted. "He's an ass and toxic. I don't know what makes you like him so much, Brie."

"I don't!"

"Your actions say something different."

"Fuck off, Livia."

Remiel hummed. "Word of advice from an elderly, Brie. If it can't be stable for a long period of time, it isn't worth it."

"Some loves are more tumultuous than others," Brie protested. "It doesn't mean anything. The process doesn't matter, the ending does."

"Please tell me you're not planning on marrying Mark Arron," Lila said, horrified. "I will not accept it."

"It's not for you to decide!"

Livia thought about Zeth then, and his fruitless, long-standing crush on Brie. She was immediately struck with a sense of sadness, but that was how some loves were meant to go. Some people met people who were simply too bright and perfect in their youths, and always found it difficult to move past that afterwards. In Chinese they had a word for it: bai yue guang. White moonlight. No one could beat your bai yue guang. They're the person your heart ever sped up for, the person you gave all your most innocent and purest love to. And they're the one that got away.

Did Amphion count as that for her? In a way, perhaps. But not one who held so much a position in her heart.

Besides Livia, Remiel chided, "Lian ai nao." A brain blinded by love. It was a phrase regularly hurled as an insult in China these days, towards young girls and boys willing to give up far too much for a love that was not worth it. For Brie, it seemed to fit. Her obsession, her never-ending patience and tolerance for Mark Arron despite his lying and cheating and toxicity was something no one except Brie herself could ever understand.

They'd just need to convince Brie that it wasn't worth it at all. Or wait until the summer ended and they were separated for the rest of the year, or their life, depending on whether they decided on returning to Briarville in the future at all.

Even if they did, Livia hoped from the bottom of her heart that they did so always at the right time, so that they never met up. There wasn't much else she could do about it. If she and Lila intervened too much, it might just end up with the opposite effect. It seemed to have already. Brie could always find a way to talk to Arron, even if they did their best to separate them. They needed Brie to figure out that this relationship wasn't worth the pain, and then all would get better.

They'd already tried for a whole summer. What was another to add to it? Sure, time was running out. Sure, it might already be too late.

But they were young. They could afford a couple mistakes.

They drove back in time for dinner. After dropping the sisters off at their house, Remiel drove them back to the Wong mansion.

"Did you have fun?" she asked as they watched Brie and Lila head up the little path to their front door.

"Yeah, it was decent. Aurelius, though..."

"Didn't know he was into boys."

"I didn't either."

"Well, don't tell anyone else, then. He looked embarrassed."

"I'm not an idiot."

Back home they joined their family for dinner. Livia's mother looked pleased that the two girls had finally decided to do something other than lounge around all day, which Livia wanted to point out wasn't completely accurate—they'd done plenty over the past week, but parents never saw that.

Nai nai scoffed at that. "They're kids. Let them do what they want."

Livia's mother's smile had faded quickly. Livia offered her mum a reassuring smile, but it had failed to bring back the cheer that had been banished.

It just kept happening, and there was nothing Livia could do about it. Mother-in-laws would never be pleased, could never be pleased, no matter how long the relationship had already lasted and how much you had contributed to the family. Livia's mother was proof of that.

Dinner was an easygoing affair. Auntie Xu hadn't cooked up much, but there was still far more than enough for Livia to feel stuffed afterwards. She went back to her room and sat down, and realised that Zeth had texted her some time ago.

WANT TO GAME

Livia checked Zeth's gaming status—he'd already started his game, probably after waiting a bit for her response. She texted back, I'll join next game lmao, was eating dinner

Livia sat down in front of her desk, turning on her keyboard and connecting her mouse before booting said game in question. It was a MOBA game, of course. Livia's gaming preferences were almost classically girly—she tended to play the support role, and greatly preferred ranged champions rather than melee ones. In Amphion's words, the skill-less champions. But Livia didn't care. If she could still destroy the enemy, it made no effect on her whether her champion was mechanically challenging or not. She'd leave that for Zeth and Amphion, who liked to show off with their flashy moves and fancy combos.

Her, she'd just steal the kills and have a good laugh out of it.

She wondered if Amphion was playing with Zeth. She'd deleted Amphion on her account, so she couldn't see his status at the moment. He most likely was. That was alright. It wouldn't be too awkward. They could both be civil for a while.

When Zeth's game finally ended and Livia was dragged into the party, however, she was surprised to see another player in it, making it a four-stack rather than the three she'd been expecting. But the person's username was what surprised her the most. One that was rather familiar.

Picking up her phone, she texted rapidly, when the fuck did sarah start gaming?

Zeth's response came a second later. She's actually decent now, ngl. Just bare with it.

Sucking in a deep breath, Livia joined the voice call. She was immediately greeted with three voices. Rather than joining in on the conversation, she stayed silent as they began queuing for a game. When they finally did get in, she asked no questions, picking the champion that countered the enemy, and that she thought fitted the one Amphion had picked, since they were playing the duo lane together.

It wasn't what he wanted, but the only other role that was open was top lane, and Amphion had always despised that role with a singular passion Livia had always failed to understand.

Sarah was playing mid lane, and Zeth the jungler. Livia expected nothing from Sarah—this was a game that required a lot of experience, and from Sarah's account's level it didn't seem like she'd played for too long. As long as she didn't feed—as in die many, many times—the game was still playable.

As they loaded into the game, Amphion referred to her for the first time. "Livia, all in at level three." That was when their two champions would hit a spike in power, allowing them to overwhelm the enemy.

Zeth asked, "Do you need me to help?" As a jungler, his role would be to clear the camps and monsters in the jungle and help gank when the enemy was in a poor position.

"Don't think we need it," Livia murmured, "as long as we play it well."

"Gank me instead," Sarah laughed. "I'll need it a lot more than those two."

That was true. And Sarah's lane opponent was a champion with no movement abilities, so they'd be easy to catch out.

Level three: Amphion didn't even have to say it. Livia gave him her protective abilities and he dashed forward, quickly lowering the enemy marksman's health bar to below fifty percent. Livia narrowly dodged the enemy support's engage.

"Nice." Amphion said nothing else as he continued hitting the minions in the lane. Livia mumbled something incoherent in response. It hadn't resulted in a kill, but the game would be far easier just off that trade.

She hadn't played with him for a whole year. But there were certain habits of each other that were stuck in their bones. Years of playing together, it wouldn't be rubbed away by time that easily. The memory of how each other liked to go around with things, where they liked to put wards for vision, when Amphion wanted to go in.

The game went well—Sarah's lane was peaceful, their randomly assigned top laner had three kills and zero deaths by the end of the laning phase, and Zeth successfully ganked multiple times. Amphion's kill-death-assist ratio was a beautiful 6/1/2, while Livia's was a perfect 1/0/5.

The enemy forfeited the game soon after. Zeth whooped with joy, and Livia could practically hear him leaning back and stretching as he went, "Another game? Or?"

"I'm free," Livia murmured. "Nothing to do."

Amphion murmured his agreements. Sarah said, after some hesitation, "I can do one more, probably. But I need to go after that."

"What for?" Zeth asked curiously. "It's like, eight o'clock."

"I promised Brian I'd watch a football game with him tonight," Sarah said. "I think it starts at like, eight thirty. I can be a few minutes late for it, so I can do one more now."

"Alright then," Zeth said. "Anything for little Brian. Let's get this over quickly."

And so they queued up for a second game. It went less smoothly than the first, dragging onto the thirty-three minute mark before they finally won a decisive teamfight and finished off the game. By the end of that, Livia felt slightly sore, and she stood up to stretch for a few moments, headphones still on.

"Off to watch the game now?" Amphion asked Sarah.

"Yeah, pretty much," her voice came back in return. "I'll see you guys at Madston's party, yeah?"

Murmured agreements, though of course Livia remained silent. She had nothing to say to Sarah unless she had no other choice. They'd stopped being friends a long time ago.

A small beep indicated that Sarah had left the call, leaving her with the twins. Amphion said, "You want to go mid, Livia?"

"I don't mind."

"If you want to play it, just go. I don't mind playing bot alone."

"Alright, then." While support was her main role, Livia did enjoy playing some games of mid once in a while. And she'd played it a lot more in the past year than she had ever before, since she'd lost her lane partner for most of it (that being Amphion, of course).

"Are you... any better at it?" Zeth asked hesitantly.

Livia let out a splutter of laughter. "Oh don't you worry, Zethus Calvert-Egerton. I can play this shit alright."

"I'm not worried, just asking—"

"I'm better than Sarah."

Amphion's voice came. "That doesn't mean a lot."

Livia let out a scoff. "She did actually go equal in both of the last two games, like she's way better than she used to be." Normally, she'd never defend Sarah. But something about Amphion being the one to make this jab incited that rebellious streak in her, that streak that, while slightly placated since their last conversation, still very much existed.

"Because both of the guys she laned against were shit," Amphion replied.

"I hate to say it, but the guy in the first game did literally run into your tower when he ganked bot lane."

Livia was silent for a moment. "Fine. I'm not going to feed the enemy, is that better?"

"Slightly more reassuring," Amphion murmured. "Alright, then."

So they loaded into the game. Livia chose her best mid champion, earning a gasp of surprise from Zeth. "I cannot believe you learned how to play her."

"Spent too much time on it," Livia laughed, "but I think it's worth it. Just you wait."

"Alright, alright," Zeth laughed. "Looking forward to it. Make me proud, Livia Wong, make me proud."

"Yes, master," Livia snorted. And in a way, Zeth was her master regarding this game. He was the one who introduced her, and he was far better at the game than the rest of them. Even Amphion couldn't rival his game sense.

The game successfully proved Livia right: she solokilled her lane opponent a whopping three times, with two successful ganks from Zeth that ensured the enemy mid laner could no longer play the game by the fifteen minute mark. Even Amphion couldn't argue with that, and he offered a begrudging grunt of acknowledgement.

Livia smirked.

She was never after Amphion's praise—she'd never do that. But at the same time, damn did it feel good. All these years of being looked down upon for her subpar skills, now was her time to shine.

And of course, that was when she accidentally got caught out by the enemy mid laner, top laner and jungle, and offered a large shutdown to the enemy team. Staring at her grey screen, Livia allowed her hands to leave her mouse and keyboard for a moment, letting the silence stew.

Zeth spoke first. "It's fine."

Amphion's voice came, "I have no idea why you decided to invade there."

"Shut it," Livia hissed. At the same moment, Amphion and his support were double killed by the enemy five-man gank.

The silence continued.

"That was a five-man," Amphion said, clearing his throat. "No one could have survived that."

No one said anything. Livia respawned, and she continued playing the game.

The game dragged onto forty-five minutes, but they finally managed to destroy the enemy base and win the game. Livia let out an exhausted sigh as they quit the game, leaning backwards. "I need a slight break, not going to lie. And the bathroom, definitely."

"Well, don't just talk," Amphion snorted. "Actually go, for fuck's sake."

"I will, I will," Livia shot back. "Just let me stretch for a moment. Please. Thank you."

After that stretch, Livia ran to the bathroom and back, right into the middle of a conversation. "She's gotten a lot better," Zeth was saying, "I wonder how much she'd played throughout last year."

To that, Amphion snorted. "Luck, honestly. All of the games from earlier were against weaker enemies. She still plays support the exact same way."

Livia, who was just putting back on her headset, let out a laugh. "Amphion, is it just so difficult to admit that I've improved even a tiny bit?"

"A bit. But just a bit."

"Fuck you," Livia growled. "You can continue playing with your rando supports, I'm staying mid lane. Or maybe I'll play support and steal all your kills just to spite you."

"You hear this, Zeth? Report her for negative attitude."

Zeth replied, "Both of you, shut the fuck up. It's just a game. And I thought you all got along better now!"

"A bit. But just a bit," Amphion repeated in response. If Livia wasn't in her own house right now, but instead in the same room as them, she'd hit him with no hesitation for that.

"Your unwillingness to admit that I've improved at all is telling."

"You've improved, oh definitely. But not nearly as much as you think you have, that's all I'm trying to say."

This time, Livia didn't even have to be the one to reply. Zeth growled, "Well, then, you could have worded it a lot better."

"I didn't mean to—"

"Amphion. When someone has put in a lot of hard work into something only to be dismissed so easily, it's not their problem. You're just a dick."

There was silence for a long time. Zeth started queuing for another game, and none of them said anything as they waited for the next game to start. Finally, when they loaded in, Amphion said, voice quiet, "Sorry. I didn't mean to suggest that. You have improved. You're not amazing, but you have improved."

Curtly, Livia replied, "Thank you." Coming from Amphion, that already meant a lot. She would not be greedy and expect any more from him. There was no point in that.

The game went on in relative silence. They lost, at the end, because their team composition was simply weaker than the enemy team's and they lacked a front line by the midpoint of the game, causing them to lose multiple fights in a row. Still, there was no one to blame: they'd all performed as they should have throughout the early stages of the game, not a single fatal error made. There wasn't much they could do about it the moment they had entered the game. Still, it was the first loss of the day, so there was a certain level of disappointment as they queued up for the next game.

Livia glanced at the clock. It was already nine forty-five, but from the way things were going, she doubted they'd rest until at least midnight. On nights like these, they went all out. And a part of her didn't want this moment of blissfulness to stop. It felt like every other summer again. It felt like last year, when there was none of this animosity.

It was in moments like this she asked herself what happened? How did we become like this? despite very well knowing the answer. Still. She was allowed to ask stupid questions sometimes.

She didn't always have to be the smartest in the room. She could be kicked off the pedestal once in a while. She was never really the smartest in the room anyways, she just managed to act like she was, that's all.

Wasn't that depressing to know?

"So," she drawled, "we're all going to that party at Madston's?"

"Yeah," Zeth whistled. "Everyone. It's going to be a hell of a party. Madston throws better parties than Taliyah, and you saw how many people turned up to hers."

"Shockingly many."

"The kids of Briarville are bored," Amphion sighed. "Myself included. It's been a strangely boring summer."

Neither Zeth nor Livia bothered pointing out why. The answer was crystalline clear, right in front of them, if Amphion chose to look it in the eye.

They all liked to be ignorant once in a while, if it brought them a moment of joy. It was something they would not blame each other for, because they all did it regularly. What was the point? They knew what the other was feeling, they knew the truly hidden words in this conversation, layered between each tactically chosen sentence. But none of them would ever admit it.

They were all too stubborn for that.

Because the truth was, even though they might not know each other as perfectly as they like to think, they knew each other far more perfectly than they'd ever like. That was something that could not be changed. It was imprinted in the first seventeen years of their lives, and the eighteenth could not wipe that away so easily. The marks would remain, even decades after. That was how they were.

Even when they all became past tense, somewhere in their heads, all those moments were being relived. They would not forget. They would never forget.

Nine o'clock turned into ten, and then eleven. It was at twelve, after far too many games, that Amphion finally paused. "I feel like we need a break."

"You think?" Livia growled. "It's been four or five hours since we've started playing. My eyes hurt."

Zeth began, "Err, we could reconvene in ten minutes?"

Silence for a moment, and then, "Sounds good."

Yes, this was the way summers were meant to go, perhaps. Sitting together on a call with your friends (even if your relationship was far too awkward at the moment), laughing and chatting, as if everything was okay and you didn't have a care in the world. Maybe that was how the world was meant to go. Maybe this was how the summer was meant to pass.

Of course it wouldn't last forever. Of course, the next day this dream would be burst and they'd all be shoved back into harsh reality. But until then?

This was perfectly alright. She could live with this.