I took a slow step forward, my eyes scanning the nearest photo. It was me-barely ten years old-grinning with frosting all over my cheeks. Louis stood behind me, making bunny ears over my head while Lennox tried to swipe a piece of cake from my plate. Levi was to my right, holding up a badly wrapped gift with my name scrawled on it in big, messy letters.
I nodded slowly, my heart hammering a little faster as Limagined what tonight might bring.
I turned.
“I think I want to… with them,” I admitted softly. “With the triplets. I know it sounds crazy, but I… I just feel it. Like I want to give that part of myself to them. All of them.” 3
“But what if I want to?” I asked shyly. “What if I want it to be… special but shared? Like… all of us together. I want them to know I’m theirs. And I want to feel that I’m theirs too.”
C
It was the photographs.
Nora perked up. “Really?”
Lolita winked. “Or knock them to their knees. Same effect.”
Within minutes, the blonde was gone-replaced by the rich, glossy black I hadn’t seen in months.
But she quickly turned away, adjusting the necklace around my throat. Lolita shot her a side glance but said nothing.
“It doesn’t sound crazy,” she said gently. “You love them.”
She bent down and slipped a pair of sapphire-blue heels onto my feet, fastening the delicate straps around my ankles. The heels matched the gown perfectly, adding just the right amount of height-and elegance.
As Nora helped zip me up, something tugged at the back of my mind. I bit my lip, debating with myself for a moment before finally turning to them.
I blinked.
“Can I ask you both something… a little personal?”
“You look stunning,” Lolita said, giving my shoulders a little squeeze.
I didn’t even know they had them.
Hundreds of candles glowed softly along the floor, their flames flickering gently in the evening breeze, casting a golden haze over everything. Twinkling fairy lights, hung from overhead, draped like falling stars across the edges of the rooftop canopy. The scent of jasmine floated faintly in the air, blending perfectly with the warm night. 2
Another one of me curled up on a couch, sound asleep, my head on Lennox’s lap, while Levi’s hand rested gently on my ankle-and Louis was in the background, asleep on the floor beside us with a book covering his face.
I walked over and sat too, fiddling with the hem of the gown. “But I’ve never… I mean, how do you even do something like that? With three of them? At once?”?
My breath… was gone.
Lolita, on the other hand just gave a knowing smile. “I have. A few times.”
I hadn’t seen these in years.
Nora sat beside her, still looking a little dazed. “Wow…”
Louis moved quickly, taking my hand and guiding me toward the center of the rooftop, where a round table was set for four. Crystal glasses shimmered beside silverware. All my favorite dishes were beautifully displayed. A bottle of wine sat chilled in the center.
Nora leaned over, carefully applying the final stroke of mascara to my lashes while Lolita adjusted the straps of my gown.
I hadn’t seen that photo in years. I didn’t even remember it being taken. My fingers trembled slightly as I reached out and brushed the edge of it.
And then there were candid shots… raw moments.
Me crying into Louis’s shoulder one night after I failed an important test.
I chuckled weakly but obeyed, letting them take over.
It was how they were looking at me.
Lennox stepped forward first, his eyes roaming over me slowly like he was memorizing everything-my hair, my dress, my lips.
All around me, clipped onto delicate strings and pinned between vines and lanterns… were pictures. of us.
“I know,” I murmured. “I was thinking… maybe I should go back to black. My natural color.”
The triplets stood near the edge of the rooftop, backlit by the soft glow of string lights. All three of them were dressed in fitted black shirts and slacks, sharp and heartbreakingly handsome, but what stole my breath again-wasn’t just the way they looked.
Olivia’s POV
Y
I slowly walked past them, my heart aching and blooming at once. Every picture was a memory. A ghost of who we used to be… and maybe, who we could be again.
I nodded. “Yeah.”
Nora and Lolita pulled me toward my vanity the moment it was 5 p.m.
I couldn’t speak.
Nora’s eyes widened, and she quickly shook her head, her cheeks flushing. “No! I-I haven’t. I’m still a virgin.” 2
Lolita leaned in. “If it’s love-and I know it is-it’ll be unforgettable. Just… make sure it’s your choice.”
There was one of us all at a lake, soaked and laughing, with me chasing Levi through the shallows while Louis and Lennox pushed each other off a dock.
I nodded slowly. “They’re waiting.”
“Do you like it?”
Like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.
Lennox carrying me on his back up a hill because I’d twisted my ankle during training and refused to be left behind.
Levi gave me a soft nod from where he stood, his voice like velvet. “Breathtaking.”
Nora clapped her hands softly. “Then go. Knock them dead.”
Further along, there was another-me in a pale blue graduation gown, cap in hand, tears in my eyes. Lennox had his arm around my shoulder, pulling me in close while Levi stood at my other side, offering a soft smile. Louis had somehow managed to photobomb the shot, halfway through/lifting me off the ground in a hug. 2
When I looked at myself in the mirror, I barely recognized the girl staring back. Not because she looked different… but because, for once, she looked like me.
Lolita grinned. “Now you’ve got my attention.”
Lolita, on the other hand, smiled warmly. “Then you take your time. You talk to them. Tell them how you feel. And when the moment comes-you let them show you, guide you, but also trust your own body. Your own instincts.”
Pictures of me.
I smiled at that, feeling a sudden flutter in my stomach.
But it wasn’t the lights that stole my breath completely.
I hesitated, then looked between them. “Have you two ever… you know… had sex before?”
When I opened them again, I was standing on the rooftop of the Luciano mansion-and the moment I arrived, the air caught in my lungs. 1
My tenth birthday.
“We’re on the rooftop,” he added. “Come find us.”
Just then, a voice brushed across my mind.
Lolita noticed the shift in my expression. “Let me guess. That was one of them.”
With one final deep breath, I closed my eyes and teleported.
“You’re… stunning,” he said quietly.
Their eyes snapped to mine, sharp with attention.
“I love you, Olivia,” Lennox said, voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t even know when ?t started. Maybe it was when you trailed behind us everywhere, that silly little smile on your face. Maybe it was the way you always showed up for us, even when we didn’t deserve it. I fought it-God, I fought it but I couldn’t. I couldn’t stop loving you.”
–
A heavy silence fell over us… not tense but comfortable…
Lennox reached across the table and gently caught one of the tears with his thumb, his touch featherlight. “You’re here now. That’s all that matters.”
Louis nodded. “So much hate, it would’ve made us capable of… killing you.”
“She told me your mother took her to a witch,” I continued. “She was bathed… spiritually. To make her more attractive to you.”
Lennox leaned down, brushing a strand of hair behind my ear. “You deserve to feel loved, Olivia. Cherished. We wanted to remind you of what we had… and what we can still have.” 1
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.