Chapter 10

Halfway through her second lunch, Olivia's office phone rang. "Tech support." she said once she pressed the beeping button on the phone so that it went on speaker.

"Ms Muhl, you have a guest waiting for you downstairs." It was one of the women from the reception downstairs.

She took another bite off her chicken burger. "May I ask who is it?"

After a short pause and several muttering in the background, the receptionist replied, "Caroline Muhl. Would you like us to send her up, Ms Muhl?"

"Yeah, please." Olivia wiped her mouth with a piece of tissue. "I'm in my office."

"Okay, Ms Muhl. Good day."

"You too." And with that, they both hung up. Olivia grinned and fist-pumped the air. She hadn't seen her sister-in-law, Caroline, since the wedding over seven months before. Busy with both her interior design business and being a housewife, she never had the time to stop by Olivia's office... or even grab a coffee for that matter. Olivia was busy finishing school, moving into her parents' house and moving on from her college heartbreak.

"Where my gal at?!" a thick Canadian accent was heard from the other side of the corridor. Olivia stood up from her chair and burst out of her office, where she saw her in-law on the other side, arms open. They shrieked as they ran towards each other to hug tightly. "I missed you, lil one."

"Yep! Me too!" Olivia replied, struggling to speak as she was being hugged super tightly. "Um... need... to... breathe..."

Caroline giggled and pulled away. "Sorry! It's just... I haven't seen you in a while! And you got promoted too! Congrats, little one!"

"Thanks, Roly-Poly. Let's go into my office, shall we?" Olivia motioned her hands towards her office door, emphasising on the word. She always boasted on having her own office. It was the one thing that made her love her job even more.

She gasped. "You have your own office?! Dang, girl! All I have is a small studio office uptown." The girls laughed and made their way towards the office, when Dean showed up from round the corner.

"Liv, hey." He grinned, holding several envelopes.

"Smithy." she greeted him back through gritted teeth. "Forgetting something?" Silence. "Still nothing huh." she muttered, rolling her eyes.

"These were mixed with my mail." he explained, and handed her the envelopes. The tips of their fingers touched, causing Dean to grin at the sight of Olivia blushing. For the first time, he noticed the tanned woman standing n front of him, mouth ajar as the corners of her lips were curled.

"Uhhh... Okay." Caroline laughed. "There's definitely some tension up in this place. And I have no idea what's what, so..."

"Caroline, this is Dean Smith, from Sales and Marketing." Olivia explained. "Quite a forgetful person. He might forget your name by the time we enter my office."

"If I forgot something that's important, then you should at least tell me what it is." Dean told her. "You've been avoidin' me all day for no reason and it's kind of getting to me."

"Good." She snapped. Turning to her sister-in-law, and told her, "Let's get outta here."

"Olivia, please." Dean pleaded.

Caroline clapped her hands together and squealed. Then she frowned and told Olivia, "Give the poor boy a chance! He did say please."

Olivia rolled her eyes and looked at Dean. "Fine. You forgot..." She realised Caroline had no idea she was dating someone. But right then, it didn't care. She wanted the whole damn place to know. "You forgot we've been... seeing each other..." Caroline gasped. "...for a whole month. Exactly one month since we ate dinner in your office."

"Whoa. You're dating someone and you never told me or your brothers?!" she exclaimed. "I'm... disappointed and glad you didn't say anything at the same time. Imagine the hard time your brothers would give you huh, considering you're the only single—"

"Wait, I didn't forget our anniversary." Dean admitted. "I... I actually thought you wouldn't make a big deal out of it, really." Olivia blinked. "And..." He sighed. "Ash kinda told me to pretend I forgot to tease you and stuff... big mistake."

"Wait, Ash told you to pretend not to know?" Olivia asked. "Why?"

"I wanted to surprise you tonight, but then the casino night with Adler happened, and I was about to cancel, but Sam and Ian told me they were taking you to a one-night stay and the Dragonfly. I didn't want to get in the way of your friends' night out, Liv."

Olivia smiled. "So... so you never forgot?"

He shook his head. "Heck no." Then he added with a smirk, "And besides, I thought our first date would be dinner at your house?"

"Started off eating pizza though, Smithy." she smirked.

"I am completely lost here!" Caroline exclaimed.

Dean chuckled. "I gotta head back to my office." He took Olivia's hand and kissed it, making her giggle and Caroline squeal again. "I promise I'll make it up to you, Ms Muhl."

"Uh-uh, you do that, Mr Smith." Olivia replied, managing to keeping her cool as she entered her office, followed by a very agitated sister-in-law.

"What the fork-and-knife was that?! You're dating someone... and he's—he's hot! Not that there's anything wrong with that, honey, obviously, but... dang, he's a complete U-turn and upgrade from the last few you introduced me to in the past. I'd hold on to him if I were you."

"I will, Roly-Poly." Olivia winked, sifting through her mail as she ate the remaining of her second lunch.

"So you two met in the office, and he works in finance. That far I know..." Caroline said. "I need more details though, sister. And not to worry, nothing will leave this office."

"Good." Olivia smirked. Her brothers were even worse than parent asking about boyfriends. "I thought he was self-centred, but I ended up liking him a lot. I also found out he paid the people from the mail room to mix our mail as an excuse to start a conversation."

"Aww!" Caroline gushed. "That's some Sparks crap right there." Olivia laughed. Caroline and Mark, Olivia's brother, were probably the least romantic couple ever. The wedding was more of a laughing factory than waterworks. Their first date was when they tried to create a dish together (the two were cooks that met at work). The proposal was over cheeseburgers. "How many dates have you had since getting together?"

"Several." Olivia replied. "We mostly stay in to avoid colleagues from seeing us. But most of the place knows by now, I think." The phone rang, interrupting the discussion. She picked it up after the first ring. "Tech support."

"Queen Olivia, you have delivery." Adam told her.

Olivia frowned. "I don't recall ordering anything, Adam you sure it's for me?"

"Affirmative, Your Highness. We're bringing them up."

"Them? Wait, Adam, tell me what—" It was too late, as Adam has already hung up on her. "What the f...?" she muttered, glaring down at the phone.

"What's wrong?" Caroline asked.

"I honestly have no fucking clue, Poly." Olivia shrugged. "I always write whenever I get things delivered here. Even when it's invoices. I'm always told beforehand when they'll get here."

"I see..." her voice trailed off when outside became louder than usual.

"What now?" Olivia whined, getting up, followed closely by Caroline. The two froze on the spot when they looked outside.

Sam and Ian looked up from their cubicles. "Whoa." Ian simply said, looking ahead.

"Writing this down." Sam grinned, immediately burying his head over his desk, jotting down something.

"What in the name of..." Olivia raised her eyebrows. Not with shock, but surprise. In front of her stood several pots, all filled with red roses. And the deliverymen kept bringing more! "Adam... What is this?!" she exclaimed when he ran over with his clipboard. She signed her name quickly.

"No idea, Milady." he replied with a shrug. "We were instructed to bring them here for you and that's it."

"Holy brocamoly, Livvy! There must be dozens of roses here!" Caroline gushed, walking over to each pot. "And they smell so dang great!"

"Where am I supposed to put these?!" Olivia panicked.

"Already on it." Adam grinned, and snapped his fingers. Immediately, three men ran over and picked up the pots, carrying them inside her office. Everyone was chattering and muttering guesses as to who might have done this romantic gesture. "Oh, and this was with one of them." Adam took out a small envelope from his shirt pocket and handed it to her. She quickly opened it, a soft smile forming on her lips.

'I'm not done yet – Smithy' the note said.

Long time coming! I'm sorry for the delay but exams are in two weeks and – surprise surprise – I haven't started studying yet! I hope you had a great New Year and enjoy this chapter!