“Is there a reason you’re following me?” he asked without turning back to look at her.
Olivia wrinkled her brow knowing that she hadn’t made a sound. “How did you know?”
“I have great hearing,” he said looking through books on the shelf in front of him.
Olivia came to stand beside him. He gave her a cursory glance.
“How did you know it was me?”
He hesitated for a moment. “I have eyes in the back of my head.”
“Very funny,” Olivia said rolling her eyes at him.
He gave a barely audible sigh. “You’d be surprised.”
He was the strangest guy Olivia had ever met. His mannerisms were brusque and cold, and his eyes had this strangely glassy quality that looked as though he were far, far away.
“I… don’t know you name,” Olivia said.
“It’s Mark,” he said in an offhand way, as though he were not interested in committing to the introduction.
“I’m Olivia.”
Mark picked out a book and moved down the aisle without a word to Olivia. Simple unadulterated curiosity caused her to follow him. There was something about him. He was odd; there was no other word for it. There were a bunch of tables pushed up against the library’s massive windows. Mark took a seat at one and opened his book. Olivia slipped into the chair opposite him.
“Why are you still here?” he asked abruptly without looking up from his book.
Olivia stifled her annoyance. “I’m trying to thank you.”
“For what?” he asked.
Olivia raised her eyebrows. “Seriously? For saving my life last week.”
“Oh,” Mark replied. “Ok.”
“Ok?”
“You’re welcome,” he said, but it seemed more like he was telling her what she wanted to hear so that he could get rid of her.
Olivia sighed, as she rose from her seat. “Ok well… I’d better get back to my dorm.”
“Uh I wouldn’t just yet,” Mark said unexpectedly.
“Excuse me?”
“It’s going to rain pretty hard in a couple of minutes,” he told her with a straight face.
“I checked the weather forecast this morning,” Olivia said. “No rain.”
Mark shrugged. “You’re call.”
Olivia hesitated and then sank back down into her seat, watching Mark carefully. She realized suddenly what was so jarring about him. There was something about his eyes; it was as though she could see through them. They were flecked with gold that matched the honey tones in his dark brown hair. Olivia sat there in silence waiting for rain, while Mark read.
A few minutes later, Olivia heard the gentle pitter-patter of raindrops. They’re sound was soft against the windowpane, but a few seconds longer and raindrops hurtled down in a steady onslaught. Olivia stared as though she had never seen rain before.
“How on earth did you know it would rain?” she demanded of Mark.
He looked up for the first time, regarding her calmly. “My pinkie finger twitches just before a storm.”
Olivia rolled her eyes at him again. She noticed the right corner of his mouth twitch up in the ghost of a smile. She thought back to the night he had pulled her to safety, he had made a prediction there too. She felt her own instincts stir. There was a closed book lying next to Mark, between the two of them. She wondered what he would do if she pushed the book off the table. The moment her intention solidified, her hand was in the process of carrying out the action.
“I wouldn’t,” Mark said softly. “You’re right.”
“I am?” Olivia asked breathlessly. “You can… see the future.”
“Apparently.”
“I… how?”
“It started happening when I was around nine,” Mark replied. “I guess I always assumed I was born with it.”
“You can really predict the future?”
“Some of it,” Mark confirmed. “The future is an ever changing beast. No one can truly see it.”
“That’s a pretty big secret to trust a stranger with,” Olivia pointed out, surprised by the speed and ease with which he had shared his ability with her.
Mark shrugged again. “It was inevitable.”
“You mean you saw yourself telling me?”
“I saw that you would believe me,” Mark replied. “And no matter which decision was made, on your part or mine that never changed.”
Olivia wrinkled her brow. “You’ll have to explain that to me.”
“The future changes according to our choices. Once you’ve made up your mind about something, you’re future will set accordingly. But if you change your mind, the future re-sets again.”
“But with me…?”
“It didn’t matter what decision I made,” Mark said. “In the end… you would have found out about me anyway. So I’m accepting the inevitable and making this simple.”
“By trusting me?”
“Yes.”
Olivia leaned back in her seat. “Whoa.”
“It takes awhile,” Mark said calmly turning back to his book.
“Why do you do that?” she asked.
“Do what?”
“I don’t know…” Olivia said trying to describe it to him. “You seem… closed off. Abrupt. Like you’re not interested in… having a conversation… or being around people.”
“It’s because I’m not,” Mark replied simply.
“Why is that?”
“Because then I have to deal with every changing scenario their choices create. And I’m not prepared to deal with that.”
It was the way he said it, there was a distinct edge to his voice. Olivia thought she heard some bitterness coloring his tone. She noticed that his knuckle tightened over the book in his hands and she payed closer attention to the title. It read ‘Psychics and Their Futures’.
After a long silence, Olivia turned to him and asked, “In… your future and mine… were we… friends?”
Mark paused a moment. His face was unreadable, but the hazel gold of his eyes looked as though they were on fire. “We were.”
Olivia took another steadying breath. “Does that make us… friends now?”
“Given what you know about me,” Mark replied. “I suppose so.”
“Ok,” Olivia said. “Ok.”
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 figu
re… 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.
A Bride Worth Billions Page 19