Niccolo Knights

I was sitting alone at the patio with a beer on my hand. As expected, the party was going well. The kids and the adults were having fun especially Dylan. I am so grateful that Livy organized this birthday party for him even though she was stressing in the process.

Seeing her how hands-on of a mother she is, made me fall in love with her even more.

I shifted my gaze to Olivia and smiled when I saw her laughing at what Jowee's telling them, her eyes sparkles whenever she's happy and laughing. Even when she laughing out loud, she was still as graceful and sophisticated as the heiress she is.

I love how she looked so tough, confident, and intimidating when you first see her but when she let you in, you will see that she's completely and utterly different person. She's such a tender, sweet, loving, caring and the list goes on...

"Needed some solitude?" I heard Zac's voice and smiled at him. He gestured if he can sit with me and I nodded.

"So, what are you doing here alone? Tired of all the fun?" He asked as he sipped the beer he's holding.

I chuckled and sighed.

"Nope. I was just thinking about how we celebrated Dylan's first 2 birthdays. It was mom, Jesse, and Tessa who always planned for his birthday, I was just there to pay for everything." I paused and leaned back on the outdoor couch.

"This year was a complete opposite. Your sister wanted to include me in the preparations such as caterer and bakeshop hopping, buying a piece of costume for everyone, designing the invitation card, it's just everything that you see in this party, I took part in deciding." I snorted and looked at Zac.

"I actually enjoyed it even though I was the receiving end of your sister's stress." I chuckled and continued. "You know how much I tried to endure Olivia's hits? Such a small violent woman." We both laughed at my last statement.

I took a deep breathe and spoke again.

"Your sister completes me, man. She's made parenting easier for me, she unknowingly puts color in my dull and boring life. Cliché it may sound but whenever she's smiling and laughing, it makes happy." I stared at Olivia who's currently feeding Dylan and I smiled even more. Moments like that is what I cherish the most.

I faced Zac and he was also smiling while hey looking at his sister.

"You know, Zachary. When I saw how broken Olivia was when she knew Tony's illness, it broke my heart. The way she clung on to me when she cried, her being so fragile at that time, and her cries. That was the first time I saw her vulnerability and that's when I promised myself that I will do everything in my life to see her smiles and being happy. And if something or someone made her cry, I will be the one to take care of it." I told him sincerely.

He was just looking at me and didn't react but I know that he was assessing me if I was being honest or what. Then, after a minute, he spoke in all seriousness.

"And if it was you?" Zac asked looking straight in my eyes.

I admit, I was caught off guard by his question but I immediately composed myself. I guess it's time for him to know what I feel for his sister.

"Zac, I love Olivia. For the little time that we have spent together, I have fallen in love with her. At first I thought that this won't work out but when I decided to get to know her, I saw what kind of a person she really is. She treats Dylan as her own and loves him unconditionally. She tries her best to win my family's heart even though she didn't need to." i paused and took a deep breathe.

"She takes care of me in her own cute little ways, she can turn my gloomy days into the brightest of days. Her kisses, hugs, and touches are what I anticipated the most whenever we see each other. The way she gets so territorial whenever a waitress, cashier, or someone tries to flirt with me and the list goes on. Bottomline is, she makes me feel complete, she is my happiness, my life, and my world."

"If I ever hurt her, I was actually hurting myself. I promise to you Zac, I will treat your sister as the queen she really is." I promised this to Zac.

"Just remember one thing, Niccolo. If you hurt her by any means, you will be facing me and I don't care if it will end our friendship. My sister is more important to me." He said seriously and offered me a toast. I smiled at him a click my beer to his and replied.

"I understand." And that, we drank our beer and chuckled.

After we finished our own bottle of beer we went back to the party. I looked around for Olivia and she was nowhere to be found, I went inside the house and saw in the living room with her back facing me.

She was talking on her phone and when I got near, I heard parts of it.

"I told you, today's my son's birthday. I can't talk to you now, Adolph... No... I am sorry okay, if I haven't been able to return your calls, I was just busy these days. I'll call you on Monday.... Okay. Uh-uh. Thank you." She ended the call and when she turned around, she was startled and her eyes widened when she saw me. She put a hand on her chest to calm her nerves.

"Oh my God. Were you standing there long?" She asked me in panicked, geez I really caught her off guard and startled her.

I pulled her by her waist and apologized to her. "I'm sorry for startling. I was just looking for you, calm down, okay."

"Were you really just got here?" She asked me suspiciously.

"Yup." I answered and pecked her lips. She caressed my cheek when I pulled away.

"Who were you talking to?" I asked her and she removed herself from me and answered, "Work." and she dragged me out to the garden.

The party was nearing its end and the organizers called us parents and Dylan for the blowing of the cake.

We went in front with Dylan on my arm while Olivia intertwined her hand to mine.

We gave our wish to Dylan, took a couple of pictures, and then he excitedly blew the candle. I don't know why kids were always excited to blow the birthday candles? Why is that?

After all the guests left our house, my family and Rebecca as well as Olivia's family and friends stayed to continue Dylan's party even though the birthday boy himself was completely knocked out on his mom's arms. Alex went home immediately after the party because he has an early flight tomorrow.

I re-introduced Jowee and Erin to my family and they were all polite with each other. Olivia excused herself to tuck in Dylan on his room. I, on the other hand, will transfer all the gifts to the drawing room so that later he'll open it all after he wakes up from his nap.

My mom excused herself also to make dinner and all the ladies volunteered to help her.

After I brought in all the gifts, I went upstairs to freshen up and change into comfortable clothes. Then I went to Dylan's room to check up on him. As I entered, there I saw my whole world, the two people I love the most hugging each other while sleeping.

I picked up Olivia's blazer from the ground but two brown envelopes fell from it, I remember that these were the gifts of Jowee and Erin. I picked both of it and was surprised on how thick it was.

What was this? Don't tell me it's money? I looked at both of it weirdly.

"You couldn't believe it also, huh." I looked at the bed and saw Olivia stood up quietly. I smiled at her and she walked to me lazily, she pointed her head to the door so that we wont wake Dylan up.

We were inside our room and she jumped on our bed and laid comfortably, I sat beside her and covered his lap with a pillow.

"They did that not only because they love Dylan but because they wanted to joke around and see our reactions." She said as she sat up. I raised my brows not understanding what she's hinting at.

"The envelope. Let's open and count it. You count Jowee's and I will count Erin's." She said and took the envelope that labeled Erin.

When I opened Jowee's, which by the way was thicker than Erin's, I was so surprised to see the amount of cash inside. I took it all out and saw that it was all $1.00 bills. I heard Olivia chuckled while counting Erin's.

Jowee and Erin each gifted Dylan $500.00. Denomination of Jowee's was  500 pcs of $1 note while Erin's was 100 pcs of $1, 20 pcs of $5, 10 pcs of $10, 2 pcs of $50 and a piece of $100.

Seriously, I didn't know if I will be happy or not because of they just gave my son a $1,000.00. If Dylan's going to use it to buy toys, our whole house will become a kid's cafe. Wow. Just wow. And what did Olivia said, they also did this for fun? How was this fun? We should return this and will get a $100 each from them.

Their level of friendship has transcended boundaries. It's stronger than a sibling bond.

"Let's return these, Olivia. I don't think Dylan needs this much. We'll each take $100 and that's it. The remaining will be returned to them." I started counting for $100 when Olivia laughed.

"Tell it to them by yourself, Nick." She handed me the envelope and I looked at her weirdly.

As we neared the kitchen, we saw them cooking altogether. Tessa and Jowee were laughing out loud with something while Erin, Jesse, and Rebecca were baking. Nana and mom were on the stove mixing something. The only people who's making noise were Jowee and Tessa, Olivia was right when she said that these two will get along when they met.

Jesse was the first one to see and greeted us when we entered the kitchen and everyone looked at our way.

"Hey, sorry if I hadn't helped you earlier, I unknowingly took a nap when I tucked in Dylan. What can I help you with?" Olivia asked but mom halted her by saying.

"Olivia, my dear, we got this. Just rest for now, you've been tiring yourself since you planned all of this." Mom said and smiled at her.

"It's okay, I'm already well rested. Besides, I wasn't the only one who planned all of it, Nick took part into it too." She said proudly and put her arm around my waist. I took a glance at Rebecca and I saw her being uncomfortable. I guess she was not yet used to seeing us like this.

"Anyway, we came here to talk to Jowee and Erin." I spoke and they both looked at me smiling widely.

"We can't accept your gifts to Dylan. It's too much." I said and all the ladies looked at me with confusion.

"We'll just take 20% each and we'll return the remaining 80% to you." I explained in all seriousness but the two heiresses were just smiling at me.

"What was it? Why are you returning it to them?" Mom asked and I just sighed.

"They gifted Dylan $500 each. All in all one grand." I said and they all gasped and turned their attention to both of them.

"We will not accept it when you return our gift. Give it to our nephew so he can spend whatever and wherever he wants. We know he doesn't need it because he has you and Olivia, but we want him to know that he can also rely to us, his aunts." Erin said then Jowee spoke.

"Don't worry if he used all of it, we'll give him more." Jowee winked at me and Tessa gasped.

"I want you to be my aunts also." Said Tessa.

"Jowee, Erin, thank you for looking out to my grandson but I don't think it's necessary to give him that huge amount. Nick is right, he should return it to you." Mom said and I nodded at them.

"Don't use money to woo the affection of someone. And give gifts to toddlers that can enhance their memory, just like what Rebecca gifted to Dylan." Nana said sternly.

"What did she give to Dylan?" Jowee asked aloud.

"Dear, tell them what you bought for Dylan." Nana encouraged Rebecca and the latter faced Jowee.

"I bought him puzzles to enhance his physical, cognitive, and emotional skills. It is a great way to a fun learning activity while it helps the development of his basic skills." Rebecca said sweetly at Jowee.

"You talk too much, huh. Just like a parrot." Jowee replied to her and looked him up and down then continued, "Anyway, he can greatly develop his basic skills when he used his money such as spending it to the kid's cafe." Jowee smiled at her condescendingly.

Everyone's looking at them both while the tension in the kitchen was rising. You can clearly see it in Rebecca's face that she was offended when she was called a parrot. I looked at the woman beside me as well as Erin and they were like enjoying what's happening, I guess.

"Well you're teaching the kid to spend money on pathetic stuff." Rebecca rebutted but Jowee spoke again.

"He can spend anything he wants, especially when he's about to be Dylan North Knights. When Olivia and Niccolo got married spending won't be hard for him, in fact what we just gave won't even be a scratch to what will be his net worth. He can buy as many pathetic stuff as he wants in just a flick." Jowee flicked her finger near Rebecca's face.

She took a step to Jowee and was going to answer her when Jowee beat her to it.

"Ooh... Down girl, I didn't know you're easily angered. And I actually don't care." Jowee spoke in a jest.

Nana broke them apart and stood between them then meddled in.

"Enough. The food is about to be cooked. Go to your places and continue with what you're all doing." Nana ordered and grabbed Rebecca to her previous place while Jowee leaned her back on to the counter and winked at Nana.

"You're welcome, Niccolo." Erin stated out of nowhere and smiled at me.

I sighed and just rolled her eyes. They're like Olivia.

***********
My meeting with Mr. Gupta went well and I am now in the lift to head on to the lobby. Then the lift stopped at the 30th floor and it opened, I didn't care to see who entered for I was busy checking emails on my phone.

"So, Niccolo Knights, what are you doing here?" I looked at the woman on my left when she called me. I saw Cassandra Tucker, Olivia's arch enemy. I nodded and gave her a tight lipped smile and went back on my phone.

"I asked you, Nick." She reminded me, I sighed and answered her.

"Had a meeting." I said while still typing on my phone.

"So Olivia has already told you bad things about me, huh." She said and I still ignored her. Why was this elevator so slow? Why was there no one entering in this lift? I don't want to have a conversation with this woman in respect to Olivia.

"I see. I won't force you to converse with me though. But I will warn you. Don't trust Olivia so much, what she's showing you is way more different than what she really is." She said and I glared at her. How dare she talk about Olivia that way? I won't lose my cool though, because she's still a girl.

"Thank you, but I don't care and it's my business not yours." I said sternly at her while looking her in the eye.

She neared me and she put her hand on my chest and looked at me seductively.

"Don't say I didn't warn you." She said and I pushed her away from me and warned her to not touch me again.

What the fuck? This girl is crazy if she thinks that I will believe her. Why would I believe a woman like her whom I barely knew. I looked at the screen and saw that we're at 6th floor already. Ugh why is this so slow?

"Keep this in your mind Nick, some news are true. All you have to do is to investigate and observe." She said and went out when the lift doors opened.

I shook my head and took a deep breathe. She really is a crazy woman.

My phone rang when I exited the lift, I saw Olivia's name and answered it immediately.

"Hello, Olivia." I said cheerfully and went to the valet for my car.

"Hi baby. Did I disturb you?" She asked and I can hear the excitement in her voice.

"Nope. Why? Are you asking me out?" I joked and nodded at the valet who brought my car and went inside and connected my phone to the bluetooth.

"Oh, no as much as I want to have a date with you, I can't tonight. I have to fly to Germany. I have work to do." She informed excitedly.

"Oh. Why so sudden? How many days will goube there? And what's gotten you so cheery?" I asked and she just chuckled.

"Nothing, babe. It's just that I'm having a very good day today and I'll be there for 2 days only." She answered me and I sighed, that would mean four days of not seeing her.

"Oh dear Lord, I guess I won't see you in 4 days, huh." I uttered sadly. Yes we don't see each other often but whenever we missed one another, there's always an option to go and spend time with each other because we're near. Also, Dylan's spending time with my parents so I have no one to spend time with.

"Yup. Don't worry, we'll face time each other."

"But that's not enough. I planned to crash in your apartment this weekend to spend the whole weekend with you. Oh, why don't I go with you in Germa..." Before I can finish my sentence she interrupted me by saying NO!

"Huh? You don't want me to be with you?" I asked in a hurtful tone but I was just joking.

"No no no. It's not that, it's just I'll be there for business trip, not for leisure, I won't be able to spend time with you due to meetings. As for spending the weekend, you can ask Alex to spend time with you. You know, you two hasn't bond for like a long time now." She blabbered and I laughed when I remembered the day she teased me about us being in a boy-love relationship.

"What are laughing about?" She asked confusion was obvious in her tone.

"Nothing, I just remembered something." I said and I heard her sigh.

"Whatever. Anyway, I'll disconnect now. I have to pack. Good bye, Nick. Mwah!"

"Bye Olivia. Have a safe flight to and fro." I heard her say Ok and she hung up.

I took a deep breathe and sighed. Ugh, I was looking forward in spending time with her this weekend. Anyway, work is work, Zac will kill her if she disobey her brother.

Have a safe flight, my love.

Hello!

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