The CEO's Seductive Doll-Chapter 84: The Doll is A... Victim?!

"Are you sure you won’t eat, Eternity?" Olivia asked as she ate a spoonful of Caesar salad.

Eternity shook her head before resting her chin on her hand, her elbows resting on the surface of the table.

"I already had my brunch," Eternity lied.

Olivia continued to eat her salad, savoring each bite as she glanced over at Eternity occasionally. "You seem very thoughtful, Eternity," Olivia said in between bites of salad.

"Do I?" Eternity looked up, surprised by the comment. "I suppose I’ve had a lot to think about lately."

"Like what?" Olivia inquired, genuinely curious.

Eternity hesitated for a moment, considering how much to reveal. "Oh, just... life, I guess. What it means to be human and how to exist in this world."

Surprisingly, Olivia nodded understandingly and commented. "That’s quite deep for someone who looked quite young. Oh, I’ve been meaning to ask, Eternity."

Eternity gestured for her to continue, so she did.

"How old are you?"

"I just turned 23 years old," Eternity lied again, taking into account that 20 was too young according to Cynthia when she asked the same question to Eternity.

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows and hummed.

"Why did you ask?" Eternity questioned.

"To be honest, I thought my student would be in elementary or high school," Olivia said, munching delicately. "I didn’t expect a person in her twenties to still be getting homeschooled--"

Olivia abruptly stood up from her seat, slamming her hands on the table. The bowl of salad jumped a little, and the spoon rattled upon impact.

"BUT IT’S NOT LIKE I’M JUDGING YOU OR ANYTHING, ETERNITY!" She shrieked, which ended up making her words sound rather unbelievable.

"No worries," Eternity reassured, though deep inside, 𝘴𝘩𝘦 was worried because she realized that 20 must’ve been the safer answer than 23. "Please sit again, Olivia."

Olivia hesitantly did, and Eternity was growing more tense by the second.

’It made me seem like a suspicious person,’ Eternity realized belatedly as she tried to make a better, more elaborate lie this time.

"I’m not from this country, you see." Eternity tried to act naturally, while she was panicking deep inside because she wasn’t a good liar compared to Evan. "Education is... different from where I’m from."

She seemed to have aroused Olivia’s curiosity as she stared at her with wide eyes and a slightly parted mouth.

That was not Eternity’s intention and was the complete opposite of what she had wanted.

"Back where I’m from," Eternity continued, hoping half-truths would make her sound more believable than outright lying. "Girls aren’t allowed to have an education, so when I got here, I was completely..."

She trailed off and made a distressed sigh.

’Please let it go, please let it go,’ Eternity begged internally.

"’Bamboozled?’" Olivia supplied for her, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 getting the hint that Eternity didn’t want to talk about it.

"Y-yes!" Eternity nodded enthusiastically, hoping that Olivia didn’t notice her stammer. "I was completely bamboozled that women are allowed to be educated. That’s why Evan, my boyfriend, wanted me to be more..."

"’Informed?’" Olivia supplied again.

"Yes, informed!" Eternity concurred, her voice uncomfortably high-pitched and betraying an apparent lie that Olivia failed to detect.

Or at least, Eternity assumed that Olivia didn’t seem to notice.

"He wanted me to be more informed about the outside world, so he decided to get me homeschooled." Eternity continued. "Hence, why you’re here."

Olivia raised an eyebrow, setting her spoon aside even though her plate was still a quarter full.

"Did he do it for you or for himself?"

Eternity blinked blankly.

"Pardon?"

Olivia furrowed her eyebrows together, propping her arm to her chest. "I don’t want to seem judgmental, but judging from what you said, I can tell there’s something off."

’How was she able to notice this with the minimal information I gave?!’ Eternity thought, as she was close to tears now. ’I finally understand why Evan doesn’t want me to go to an actual school! Socializing and making up stories on the spot is very stressful!’

Eternity felt a knot form in her stomach as Olivia’s penetrating gaze bore into her. She hadn’t anticipated such probing questions, especially from someone she had just met.

"You’re really beautiful, Eternity." Olivia began, her cheeks flaring up from the admission. "I’ve never seen someone as beautiful as you are."

"O-oh," Eternity exclaimed, confused at the sudden shift of topic in the conversation. "Thank you; that’s very kind of you."

"But," Olivia emphasized.

"But?" Eternity repeated nervously.

Olivia leaned in on the table and spoke in a lowered voice.

"I can tell that you’re lying."

Eternity froze.

"What?" She uttered it weakly. "What do you mean I’m lying?"

Which she was, but she had to pretend that she wasn’t, right?

"I don’t think your boyfriend wants you to be more informed about the world." Olivia said, continuing to speak in a hushed voice. "I think he just wants a trophy girlfriend that he can boast about around his peers—a girlfriend that won’t embarrass him in front of them!"

Eternity didn’t know where the hell this came from.

"What?" was all Eternity could utter, but she immediately decided to play along, rattled as she was. "I-I don’t think that’s true. Evan cares about me, he really does."

But it seemed like Olivia was hell-bent on this weird story she managed to string up from the bits of lies that Eternity told her. Although Eternity was glad that Olivia didn’t doubt her but Evan himself, she didn’t want Evan to shine a bad light.

Eternity’s mind raced as she tried to come up with a response that would deflect Olivia’s suspicions without revealing too much. She couldn’t afford to let Olivia dig any deeper into her personal life, especially not when it involved Evan.

"I understand why you might think that, but you’re mistaken," Eternity said, her voice steady despite feeling like a train wreck internally. "Evan is a good person. He’s always been supportive and caring towards me."

But Olivia seemed to have made the story her own because, out of nowhere, she grabbed Eternity’s hand that was resting on the table. Her hand was soft yet clammy against her skin.

"Eternity," Olivia said, looking at her with sincerely worried eyes. "Don’t lie to me."

"Huh?" Eternity was growing more confused by the second. "I mean, yes?"

"Are you a human trafficking victim?"