Olivia Sparks

An hour passed and Olivia clutched on her pillow as she tossed and turned in her bed, vexed that the three thousand dollar furniture couldn't make her fall asleep.

"I'm f*cked," she cursed as she sprang up, combing her hair with her hand. 

Annoyed and disappointed at herself, she stood up and looked far out of the window to clear her mind but was instead left wondering if the moving lights from the sea was the ship that Maxen was on.

Walking out of her bedroom, she grabbed her fluffy robe and covered herself. She dragged her feet from her penthouse suite down to her apartment, lying belly down on the bed that she shared with Maxen.

"What's wrong with me?" she uttered and buried her face on the pillow, baffled at the wrenching pain in her c.h.e.s.t. She lifted her head and faced the empty side of the bed, a tear falling from her eyes. 

She never was a clingy person, and she didn't want such a person near her too.

She knew that people didn't like others' constant and visible presence, yet here she was, silently praying for the days to fly as she looked forward to the day Maxen would annoy her again with his immaturity.

Soothing Maxen's side of the bed, she ran her hands over the spot, warming it with her touch in his absence. Soon enough Olivia finally succ.u.mbed to the darkness of the night and fell asleep.

Up in Olivia's penthouse suite the next morning, Yana went the extra mile and prepared a birthday breakfast special for Olivia: Longevity noodles to represent her Asian side and a stack of matcha pancakes garnished with fluffy coconut cream and blood-red pomegranate seeds.

Meanwhile, in the living room, Secretary Gail busied herself and arranged all the flower arrangements that her clients, Emily, and Eli sent to Olivia, greeting her a happy birthday. 

A ringing phone replaced the silence and stole Secretary Gail's attention.

"Good morning, President. Hap—." She nodded her head whilst gathering the stack of doc.u.ments on the coffee table. "I will bring it over right away."

She glanced at Yana over the dining area and waved her hand to get the latter's attention. "Let's go downstairs, Yana. Let me help you with carrying those."

"Ok. Oh, wait." She held a finger up in the air. "I have a trolley that I borrowed with Baldy last night. Let's use that."

"Baldy?" Secretary Gail c.o.c.ked an eyebrow.

"Yes, Jack the Baldy." Yana giggled, walking towards the kitchen to get the brass trolley which she forced Jack to lend her. She knew it would come in handy and now she almost patted herself on the back, proud that and she was right.

Using the elevator, Secretary Gail and Yana found themselves in Olivia's apartment. To their surprise, they could not see a shadow of Maxen. 

Yana eyed the plates of dishes on the trolley that came in pairs, which she prepared and got a little sad that Olivia would eat breakfast alone on her birthday. 

Huffing, she decided to just arrange food good for one. With one last look, she made sure the number of pancakes were even and two rolls of noodles were in the bowl before she delivered the food on the table.

Seeing the lovely breakfast spread, Olivia smiled at Yana as she splayed a napkin on her l.a.p. "Thank you, Yana. This looks divine."

One, two, three, four bites. Yana counted.

"Mmmm, delicious too." Olivia nodded her head towards Yana. "Do you plan to take formal cooking classes on the side to hone your skills?" she asked Yana as she gobbled up her food.

Yana wrung her hands together and squinted, carefully thinking Olivia's words over. 

"It's ok, Miss Olivia. I've used to work under different chefs before, so I picked up a few of their techniques. I'm saving up for my uni tuition fee. I wanted to enroll for their night school program and get a degree in business."

"Okay. If that is something that you are passionate about then go for it." 

"Haha! I'm not passionate about it, Miss Olivia. I just want to earn a little and live a comfortable life," she sheepishly admitted.

"Best of luck to you then." Smiling at Yana's innocence, Olivia went on and finished her food. 

How could she tell the little lass of the hardsh.i.p.s of running a business? It would only dissuade Yana when she hadn't started her lessons yet.

Olivia was half a cup away from finishing her coffee when her phone rang. The vibrations made it dance on the table. One glance on the phone and she saw it was her brother.

Saving her social energy for later, she flipped her phone upside down and stood up, calling Secretary Gail to join her in the study.

"Here are the results from your physical exam yesterday and the...DNA test." Secretary Gail placed a doc.u.ment on the glass table. She knew Olivia never looked at those results, but she still offered it nonetheless.

"Thank you, Gail. I'll see you later at the party."

Once she was alone, Olivia eyed the doc.u.ment on the table. Her mind wandered to different scenarios, like how Henry would react to the result? Would he find out she cheated on it?

As if the piece of paper was calling her, she reached out for it and held it up to read. However, just as she was about to check the result, her phone rang again.

Ignoring Oliver's second phone call, Olivia flipped her phone upside down and picked up the doc.u.ment instead, skimming the results of her blood work and physical exam.

By then, Olivia knew her phone stopped ringing when the vibration it made on the table ceased. However, in silence, she almost went deaf with the white noise ringing in her ears. Olivia's hand trembled, slightly crumpling the edges of the paper as she read the result of the DNA Test.

She quickly opened her laptop and accessed the database for the security camera feeds in the Lin Estate, hoping to catch something.

Holding her breath, she watched the colorful yet soundless video feed on her monitor, and was surprised when Oliver stormed inside their mother's cabin.

…

Up in the Lin Estate, Oliver strode inside Amelia's cabin angry at what he heard from his secretary that morning. True enough, he saw Henry Lin holding a paper, a smirk painting the old man's face. 

From where Oliver stood, he could see the logo on the paper because of the sunlight. He scoffed when he realized it was yet another DNA test with a result they all knew even before Olivia was born.

"Father, when are you going to stop taking that? Aren't you tired of hurting Olivia and, at the same time, insulting yourself every year just by taking it?"

"Of course, I need to be cautious. I don't want my money to fall into a bastard's hands." Henry Lin placed the doc.u.ment on the table, eyeing his son who sat beside Amelia's hospital bed.

"What if mom wakes up one day and finds out what you've been doing? She won't like it. That's for sure."

Henry scoffed at Oliver's words. To Henry, no matter what Oliver's age was, he still was, and would ever be, a child in his eyes. Crossing his legs, Henry leaned on the backrest of the sofa, his hands cupped on his knee.

"How do I put it in words that would make you understand my sentiments, Ollie?" Henry trailed off. "You're a spitting image of me and so is Finn. One could tell off the bat that we all came from the same mold. But Olivia–"

"Olivia has your eyes, Father. If you can only look longer at her." A rueful smile painted Oliver's face. "She may look like our mother but she has your eyes."

He studied Henry's face yet it seemed as if his words fell on deaf ears and that's when his heart bled for his sister as realization hit him that Henry would never accept Olivia.

Seeing that arguing with Henry was futile, he slapped his hands on his knees and stood from his seat before his anger would get the best of him. "It's Olivia's birthday dinner tonight, Father. It would be nice if you would celebrate it with her for the first time."

"I'll be there." Henry smiled.

Across from him, surprise was written all over Oliver's face. It wasn't because Henry would be attending, but he saw it—the menacing glint in his father's eyes.

Dipping his hands in his pockets, Oliver warned Henry, "I hope you don't pull anything that would upset Olivia, Father. It's her birthday."

He headed to the door, stealing a peek on the doc.u.ment as he passed by his father. He smirked as he read the result in black and bold alphanumeric symbols.

99.99% Match

Back in Olivia's apartment, her brows furrowed as she watched the scene unfold before her. 

Seeing Oliver left the room for good, she hovered the cursor over the close button. She was a second away from closing the security feed window when something caught her attention, rattling her to the core.