Filed to story: Watch Me Win Alpha (Olivia & Ethan)
Quietly, I sighed as I headed back upstairs. Well, at least now I knew the real reason Alexander was going to Luceland.
It was to spend more quality time with Naomi Wright.
My hands balled into tight, fists, and I walked into the break room for another cup of coffee. I knew I shouldn’t have any more caffeine since I was already jittery, but my late night sleuthing with Ava was catching up to me.
In the break room, Gai was pouring herself another cup of coffee, too.
“How many more meetings today?” I asked as she handed me the coffee pot.
“Five.” she answered glumly. “I need to get this caffeine inserted into my veins through an IV.”
I giggled.
“Alexander doesn’t even have time for his afternoon nap today,” she continued. “He is taking care of everything for his trip on Saturday.”
I frowned. “Right, about that. I think that you should definitely be the one to go with him on that trip.”
She tilted her head as she poured creamer into her coffee. “Why?”
“Well, Alexander is going to go on a date while he’s in Luceland. I don’t think it would be…appropriate for me to join him on this trip,” I explained.
“He’s going on a date?” Gai asked and turned to me with wide eyes.
“Yep.” I tried my best to keep my displeasure out of my voice. “I saw a post on social media from Naomi Wright-the woman that he went on a date with last night. She made a post saying that Alexander and her were going to Luceland on Saturday.”
Gai’s brow furrowed. “Hm.”
I waited for her to say more as she slowly stirred her coffee, but that was it.
I crossed my arms. “What?”
“Well, I just think that it’s interesting that you think I should go on this trip instead of you.” she said without looking at me.
“Why do you think that’s interesting?” I raised one eyebrow
She smirked, grabbed her coffee cup, and walked by me. “No reason.”
Then, she left the break room, leaving me with unanswered questions and the faint whiff of her strawberry scented perfume.
At the end of the day, Alexander called Gai and me into his office. My feet dragged as I walked toward his corner office. I already knew what this meeting was going to be about.
Gai and I sat down, and Alexander stood, leaning against the back of his desk, and crossed his arms. My throat dried when I noticed the fabric of his shirt straining against his large muscles.
I shifted in my seat and scolded myself. I needed to get a grip.
“As I’m sure you both have seen in my schedule, I will be traveling to Luceland on Saturday,” Alexander said briskly. “Gai, you will accompany me to Luceland and Olivia, you will handle any work emails that come through. Understood?”
Gai and I nodded.
I ignored the way my heart fell. I shouldn’t be surprised that Alexander didn’t want me to join him for this trip. Why would he want to bring me along for his second date?
I had already witnessed his first.
*Olivia*
“Good, now that Saturday is squared away, let’s talk about tonight.” Alexander said and clapped his hands once.
The sharp sound made me jump. What did he mean tonight? Did he have another date with Naomi? Was he going to force me to come along tonight to rub it in my face? I crossed my arms, raised my chin. and met his dark eyes. I wouldn’t babysit him on another date. I would refuse this time.
“I’m going to need both of you to work late tonight,” Alexander announced. “We have a few deadlines that we need to meet for some of our VIP clients. Gai, will you please order dinner for the three of us? Whatever you two would like is fine with me. Olivia, bring your computer to my office, we have a lot of work to get done before we can leave tonight.” We nodded and stood up. Despite my exhaustion, I was surprisingly alright with working late. Sometimes, I prefer it. I liked it when the office was dark and quiet and there was no one to disturb me as I concentrated. There was no one to gossip about me either.
When Gai and I were out of earshot of Alexander’s office, she let out a low groan. “Depending on what kind of mood he’s in, Alexander will probably keep us here until midnight. Maybe even later,” she warned me. “One time when we were working on a big project, he had me here until three in the morning. I just slept on the couch in the waiting room and wore the same clothes to work the next morning.”
I shrugged. “That’s alright. Nothing another cup of coffee can’t fix.”
Gai and I shared a smile. In the break room, I poured myself a jumbo- sized cup of coffee. My stomach was fluttering with nerves. A small part of me was anxious about being alone with Alexander in the office. What if he asked me for tips for his date on Saturday? I couldn’t handle that. At least Gai would be with us tonight.
Charter 187
As I researched something for Alexander in the copy room, I finished my coffee. But that turned out to be a mistake. My stomach rumbled, something it did when I drank my coffee too quickly. When I came back upstairs, I found Alexander and Gai in one of the big conference rooms. Takeout Chinese food containers were spread across the sleek glass table. Usually, I loved Chinese food, but the sight of the congealed noodles and glazed chicken made my stomach even queasier.
“Come sit and eat,” Alexander said. “You have to keep your strength up. It’s going to be a long night.”
“Told you,’ Gai mouthed behind his back.
But I couldn’t even find humor in her joke because my stomach was so upset.
With no choice, I sat next to Gai and pulled a container of white rice to me. After a few small bites, I had to push the dish away. I couldn’t even handle rice.
“Are you alright, Olivia?” Alexander asked as he twirled noodles around his chopsticks. “You’ve barely eaten anything.”
“Oh, I had a few cookies that someone left in the break room when I was in there refilling my coffee,” I lied.
Just the word ‘coffee’ made my stomach jolt in protest.
To make sure that Alexander or Gai didn’t think that I was sick, I forced myself to eat a couple more bites of rice. But this made bile rise to my throat and sweat bead down my face. I was terrified that if I moved even an inch, I was
Why was I making myself sick to appease these people? I roughly set down my chopsticks and pushed the rice away from me.
“I’m full.” I announced. “I’m going to go back to work.”
Then, I left the room, gripping my stomach as I walked away.
In Alexander’s office, I grabbed my laptop and logged into my work email. Even though I was sitting down and barely moving, my nausea just got worse. Part of me wished that I could throw up to feel better, but I couldn’t force myself to.
When Alexander returned to his office, his cheeks were red, and he seemed refreshed after a hearty meal. I stared up at him as my stomach rolled. He looked like the opposite of how I was feeling. But I tried not to let my sickness show.
“You can get comfortable on my couch and start reviewing one of Harris’s financial statements,” he instructed and handed me a piece of paper with a bunch of numbers on it. “Make sure that you review it carefully. I want to make sure that there are no mistakes. Harris is one of our most important clients.”
I nodded and straightened my shoulders, getting straight to work. For a few hours, I worked quickly, but diligently. I didn’t want to make any mistakes, but I also wanted to get out of here with enough time to get a decent night’s sleep.
When the clock struck eleven-thirty at night, we weren’t even close to finishing work. My eyes were starting to water from staring at a screen for too long. I excused myself and grabbed my purse from my desk. In the quiet bathroom, I put in my eyedrops to help my stinging eyes.
Even though my eyes were still watery, I left the room because I knew that they would dry by the time I got back to Alexander’s office.
But when I walked out of the door, Alexander was standing right in front of it with his fist raised like he was about to knock.
His cheeks reddened when he looked down at me. “Oh, I’m sorry to intrude on you in the bathroom, I just wanted to check on you because you seemed unwell…” He trailed off when he got a closer look at me. “Olivia, are you crying because we’re working late? You’re free to go home if you’re upset.”
Embarrassment washed over me like a tidal wave. “No, of course I’m not crying,” I rushed out. “My eyes just became sore from staring at a screen for too long. I just put some eye drops in.”
“Oh, well, that makes sense,” he said, and his face flushed further.
