Olivia North

"Erin, I'm so sorry but I really can't come to the charity ball tonight. Zac gave me tons of work that should be submitted to him tomorrow for him to review before I present it to the shareholders meeting on Monday. Can you ask Jowee instead? I'm really really sorry." I explained while I review the document in front of me.

"It's okay, Livy. I know very well that you're schedule is quite hectic and quite indefinite because 3 divisions are already under your leadership. As per Jowee, I already asked her but she's scheduled to go to Spain tonight to check their grape farm." Erin assured me and I can't help but feel guilty for her. I promised her last week that I will accompany her to the charity ball that their company's holding tonight. If only Zac wasn't being difficult I could've accompanied my best friend tonight.

"I'm so sorry, Erin. I promise I'll make it up to you." I apologized again.

"I told you it's fine. But both of you better make it up to me." she said in serious tone but I can sense the joke in it.

"We will, anyway, I'll call you later ok. Zac's calling" I replied as I looked on to my office phone's caller ID.

"Ok. Bye." she said and hung up. I rolled my eyes and clicked the speaker button.

"What took you so long to answer your phone?" Zac bursted

"Take a chill pill Zac, I was on the phone with Erin. What do you want?" I asked and rolled my eyes.

"Where are the Tim Burton files?" he asked. I furrowed my browse to try to remember what the hell are those files. I jumped a little when I heard Zac shouted, "Olivia! Don't tell me you  forgot about it."

Oops, busted.

But suddenly I remembered that it was a file for the textile division he asked me yesterday. I looked onto my desk and saw the green folder labeled Tim Burton. Gotcha, I told myself.

"What the hell, Olivia! Don't tell me you..."

"It's on my desk, Zachary. I will ask Nikkie to bring it to you now. Geez no need to be this grumpy." I interrupted him and before he hung up, an idea popped inside my mind.

"Yo, Zac? Are you busy tonight?" I asked cautiously. There was a slight pause, I assume he checked his calendar.

"I'm free after 6pm. Why? Olivia if you think that I will help you on the reports then you're nuts." he said in a tired voice. I furrowed my brows and rolled my eyes again. What did he think, I am not capable of finishing my report?

"That is not what I meant, you moron. So you're free tonight. As in free free." I stated happily.

"what do you want?" he asked.

"You know, it's time for you to pay me back. Afterall, I did everything you wanted me to do since I first started working here, might I add, without any complaint." I said cautiously while still gauging his mood.

"If this is about your arrangement with Niccolo, leave me out of it. I have a lot of things in my mind, the last thing I want is to add drama into it."

"Don't worry about it, Zac, this isn't about that. Anyway, since you've been asking me to be your proxy in your meetings, I think you need to return the favor." I said while signing the documents in front of me.

"Those weren't favors, Livy."

"Whatever, brother. Now listen to me, I was going to attend a charity ball tonight but since you're being bossy to me, I want you to..."

"If you want me to attend that ball tonight, sorry Olivia, I wouldn't trade a good night's sleep for that." he cut me by saying that. This made me annoyed.

"Will you allow me to finish. Anyway, I promised Erin that I will accompany her tonight to their company's charity ball but since I'm busy doing these reports, and Jowee is going to Spain tonight, Erin doesn't have a date. And Zac the least I can do was to look for a partner for Erin. Please Zac, please be Erin's date tonight. I promise I will buy you a watch after this. Please, my super duper kind brother." I pleaded desperately. I heard him sighed and spoke, "What time? Give me the details."

I squealed happily and gave him the details. I called Erin to inform her about Zac agreeing to be her date. She told me that she's really fine having no date at all and it's not necessary to asked Zac. I told her it's the least I can do to her.

-------------------------------------------------------

I was the last one who went out of the meeting room. Thank God my presentation went well, the shareholders asked a lot of questions as if testing me if I really was fit to be a part of this company. Too bad, I was not as dumb as they thought I was.

I was smiling broadly while I was heading to my office, I looked at my watch and saw that I still have 30 minutes before lunch time, so I still have time to call Erin and Jowee to have lunch with me.

Before I enter my office, Nikkie, my secretary, informed me that dad wanted to see me in his office. I took a deep breath and went up to the executive floor.

Upon my arrival to the executive floor, Lisa saw me and smiled at me. I smiled back at her and asked if dad is alone inside. She told me that he was with Zac. I nodded then went inside without bothering to knock.

As I opened the door, the two men looked at me proudly and smiled. I saw Zac sitting on one of the chairs in front of dad's desk. I returned the smiles by smiling to the both of them and sat on dad's couch.

"So, what do you want, dad?" I asked gently.

"I want to congratulate you, my Livy. You really put them into place." he laughed.

"Well, dad, thanks to me. If I didn't review her slides last Friday, I believe she'll be an awkward potato in front of them a while ago." Zac took the credit and laughed. I scoffed, stood up and went to him to smack his head.

"What the hell!" he said surprised. I laughed and took a sit in front of him.

"I would still nailed it even without your help, Zac the pig. Between you and I, I was the who graduated with honors both in college and graduate school." I countered and dad laughed heartily. I smiled because Zac couldn't think of anything to rebutt. Hahaha. Funny.

"Whatever. You don't need to be an honor student to be successful. You just have to work hard." he said in an annoyed tone and I laughed.

"Yes, because that's what they have to do, to work hard, just like you." I teased him even more. (Disclaimer: This is purely a joke between siblings. This scene was not intended to mock those who doesn't have honors. This is just a pissing contest between siblings.)

"Oh yeah, go on laugh your ass out. After that, give this file to Niccolo." he said while tossing me a brown envelope. I stopped laughing when I heard the name, I looked at the file and furrowed my brows.

"Why me?" I asked raising my voice a little.

"Because you're his girlfriend. You need to feed the press Livy. It's been a week since the announcement and yet the press still don't have pictures of you together. Also, there are several news reports that your relationship was just a hoax to conceal your relationship with that actor. It's starting to resurface again the "secret relationship of Cameron James with Olivia North." Zac stated seriously while putting his right foot on his left foot.

I bit my lower lip because I forgot that I already agreed. I rolled my eyes, grabbed the folder and headed towards the door. I went to my office to get my purse and asked Nikkie to call the valet to get my car.

On the way to Niccolo's, I remembered how he flipped out while we're having lunch. I was so shocked because that was the first time he raised his voice at me and the first time I saw him mad. He was kinda scary to say the least. But for the record, I wasn't provoking him that time. I was actually irked not because he kissed me on the cheek without my consent but because I couldn't seem to get mad at him when he did that. It actually didn't feel wrong and I was so irritated because of that.

As I arrived at his building's lobby, I went to the receptionist to list my name and for her to give me access inside the building. She was busy on her computer when I stood in front of her so I spoke.

"Excuse me, I'm here to see Niccolo Knights." I said flatly.

"May I know your name please and do you have an appointment with Mr. Knights?" she asked gently. She looked up and I saw her eyes widened, I feel like she already knew me. 3. 2. 1...

"Miss Olivia North. I'm sorry for making you wait. Is it ok if I borrow your ID for a while in exchange to visitor pass? I'm so sorry but this is a company procedure and Ms. Didith hasn't told us that you will come." she asked in panicked. I literally saw her shaking. She probably thought I will make a scene out here because she made me wait or because she asked for my ID? Geez, is this how powerful I am? Or should I say, is this how they really perceived me?

"It's ok, it's a surprise." I said and she wad surprised when I gave my driver's license to her and smiled at her. She gave me the visitor's pass and I asked her where Niccolo's office located. She told me that she will call a guard to escort me to the top floor but I rejected her offer and said that it's fine. For the second time, she was surprised by my actions. I chuckled and went towards the lift.

I arrived at the executive floor and saw a middle-aged woman in the reception smiling when she saw me.

"Hello, is Niccolo there?" I asked

"Hi Miss, Mr. Knights is currently in a meeting. Do you have an appointment with him?" she asked in a professional tone.

"Uhm, actually, I don't have one. I just came here to give these documents to him." I said as I showed her the envelope.

"Oh, is it ok if you leave it here because I can't give you access inside. Can I have your name please." she asked and looked at her computer to start typing my name.

"Oh ok. I understand, my name is Olivia North." I said and before I give the envelope to her, she looked up at me, eyes widened. Seriously, why do I get these reactions today?

"Oh, Miss North. I'm so sorry I didn't know that it was you. You can actually go inside. Let me usher you to Mr. Knights' office. I'm so sorry because Didith didn't mention that you will be coming here." she blabbered while standing up to usher me inside. I chuckled and replied that it's actually fine.

I looked around the floor and saw the faces of his employees. I can see in their faces the recognition upon seeing me. I maintained my poker face and followed the woman, geez I forgot to ask her name.

We halted in front of a big two-door mahogany door. She smiled at me and said that I can wait for him inside. I smiled at her and learned that her name was Edna. I thanked her and went inside.

As I opened the door I was shocked because I didn't expect to see a crib and lots of toys littered on top of the alphabetical mat. On the wall, I saw posters of alphabets, numbers from 1-100, different kinds of animals, and such. On the far end of the room, a white Mercedes toy car as well as a Harley Davis toy motorcycle were parked. Behind the crib, there located a small slide that can fit a toddler. I realized that this wasn't an office, this was a playroom. I looked around again to see if I really was in a right room. On my left I saw a huge mahogany desk and an iMac computer, in front of the desk were two chairs. On my right, was a couch and behind the couch was a bookshelf full of books, Hung beside it was Niccolo's Forbes cover magazine 30 under 30. On the other side of the bookshelf, there were series of portraits of a baby boy from infant to toddler. One portrait that got me the most was a picture of Niccolo with Dylan on his lap. He was smiling lovingly while looking at his son. You can see in his eyes how much he loves his son, I mean look at this, he transformed his office into a playroom.

I was pulled out of my reverie when I heard a cry. I ran towards the crib and saw Dylan crying, I immediately sensed that he was having a nightmare. I woke him up gently. He saw me and reached out for me to carry him. He was still crying when I picked him up. I consoled him by whispering soothing words to him and rocked him back and fort. Eventually, he stopped crying and leaned his head on my right shoulder.

When I turned around I saw a very shocked Niccolo Knights by the door.