Olivia
Another usual day went by.
Woke up in the morning, took a shower, brushed my teeth, made breakfast, and went to school. The usual routine for a sixteen-year-old girl such as myself. Going to school every Monday to Friday, attend the class, make some friends, and that was it.
“Man, this suck,” my friend-Karen whined. We were in a café while doing our homework and as usual, my friend over here will be whining every single minute because of this assignment. Well, that was the life of us, high schooler.
“Come on, Karen. It’s no use doing that now. Let’s get this over with so we can go home,” I said.
“You mean so you can go home.” I looked away because that was what I intended. I loved to be around her but we already here for quiet time and I didn’t want to get myself into trouble just because I was home late. Not with him.
“Okay, you know what? Fuck this,” she said while closing the book. “Let’s talk about other things.”
“Like what?” I asked while still doing my homework. I didn’t want to let myself be affected by her. I knew her so well. Karen was my friend since Junior High. She had dark hair with a pair of brown eyes and very tall. She always dreamed of being a model and currently doing it now. She sent one of her pictures to the agency and they liked it and asked her to be one of their models. Lucky her, I suppose. But although she was doing good in modeling, she didn’t do the same with her school. Sometimes she would ask me to do her homework since she was too tired to do it. Nope, she was not tired, she was just lazy. But me being her friend and I couldn’t refuse her, I did it in the end.
“Guys, maybe? During our four years of friendship, I never see you with the opposite sex. You don’t like me, right?” she jokingly asked.
“Of course not! I am straight and I like guys.”
“Right, but how come you never interested in one? You didn’t do it because of me, right?”
“No, Karen. I just…” I paused, thinking back to why I never got myself a boyfriend.
“Just? You are quite popular, babe. There’s no way guys will let this jewel slide especially…” she paused and moved her body closer to me. “You are still a virgin, right?”
“Yes, I am,” I answered honestly. It was not weird since I was still sixteen and underage. Well, not with Karen. She already lost it with one of the male models. She told me it was an accident because she was drunk. I was confused on why that agency gave alcohol to her since she’s the same age as me. Lucky her because she didn’t get herself pregnant. I didn’t want to know how her parents would react if they found out their daughter got pregnant with some random guy.
“See? Guys will practically be drooling over you. Not just because you are pretty but because of how you are still able to close that creamy legs of yours. I bet they will be targeting you because of that if they found out. Conquering a virgin, that’s what guys mostly do,” Karen explained.
“I suppose so.”
“Oh, is it because of your hot daddy?” My eyes widened a bit hearing her said that. I glanced at her and she was so excited to talk about my father. She was his hugest fan.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, you know what I mean? I’ve seen your father and he’s like the reincarnation of the Greek God. Damn, girl! He is so hot! I never thought he is your father. I practically want to throw myself at him just because of how sexy he is. If I do that, I will become your mother.”
“Oh, no. Please, no.”
“Hey!” she elbowed me as I laughed. “Do you have any idea of how many girls are always eyeing him if he came to school?”
“I know. They usually came to me to ask about him. They were shocked when they know he’s my father. Some of them even asked for his phone number, but I didn’t give it to them because I know how he will get mad at me if he found out that I spread out his number. He’s scary when he gets angry.”
“Really?” I nodded. My father, or should I say, my stepfather took me under his wings when I lost my mother five years ago. That time, I didn’t have any relatives who wanted to take me and almost sent to the orphanage. I remembered I was crying because I didn’t want to go there and begging someone to take me, but no, none of them cared about me. They were just watching me like there was a show in front of them. Until…
I’ll take her.
Blake appeared. He told everyone that he would raise me until I was old enough to take care of myself without him being involved. At that time, I didn’t care who was going to be as long I didn’t go to the orphan. Blake was not one of my relatives so some of them did not agree with his decision to take me as his daughter. He informed them that he married my mother before. I was surprised by his information because I never heard anything about him from my mom. He married my mother after I was born so we were not related. But they separated like, six months after they married. Really, mom?
If I knew it too, I would say how crazy she was for letting go of a man like him. Blake was the Director also the owner of the Morgan Enterprise. He was ridiculously rich, handsome, hot, sexy. Women would get on the line to get his attention. Yeah, he was attractive but…
Our relationship was terrible.
Few years after he adopted me, we barely talk. He began to leave me alone while he was doing his work. At first, I thought because he was busy but then I began to realize that he was avoiding me. I asked him before why he did that but he only told me that he was tired. Maybe I would believe him if he was avoiding me for a week but until a couple of years? I didn’t think so, Mister.
“Olivia?” Karen’s voice made me break my senses. I didn’t realize I was daydreaming and thinking about my father.
“Sorry, I’m just…curious of what’s he doing now.”
“Is he still avoiding you?” I only nodded. I told about Blake’s odd behavior to Karen after I realized there was something more behind tiredness. “Did you do something, maybe?”
“I asked him before but he only said no. Only tired and tired and tired. He even rarely at home. Not even on the weekend.” Yep, right after he avoided me, Blake always never been home. The time he came home, I was already asleep and whenever I woke up, he was already gone. But he still ate my dinner for him which made me quite happy. He even washed his plate.
“Well, girl. At least you still have your eyes vitamin,” Karen joked. Although she could be annoying, she’s still my precious friend. She would cheer me up if I was having a hard time with my stepfather.
“Yeah. Well, I should be going home now. Here’s the assignment in case you don’t want to do it by yourself again,” I said while giving the book to her.
“Oh, my God. I love you so much, girl. See you tomorrow.” I stood up from the chair and headed to the door.
I walked passing the window and saw Karen as I waved my hand to her and she waved me back. Along the way home, sometimes I would glance to some of the shop’s window to see if I could get myself a part-time job. I need to collect some money for myself. I couldn’t rely on Blake forever. He still gave me pocket money every month and it was so enough for a high school girl like myself. I mean, seventy-five thousand dollars per month? I didn’t think any parents would give their children quite a lot of money. I wanted to talk about this to him but he was nowhere to be found and it was hard for me to see him. Sometimes if I wanted to talk to him, I could only go through to John-his Secretary. I couldn’t understand him. I was his daughter and he couldn’t spare five minutes to listen to me? Oh, maybe because I was just his stepdaughter so there’s no need for him to spare a little bit of time for me.
“Olivia!” I blinked a few times until I looked back to see the person who called me.
“Josh?” He ran towards me and stopped right in front of me.
“Are you going home now?”
“Yeah.”
“Great. Me too actually. Mind if I join?”
“Sure.”
“Okay, let’s go then.” Josh and I walked home together. “Did you always come home around this hour? I think I saw you with Karen went straight home after the class is over.”
“Yeah, but we went to the café first to finish our homework.”
“Oh, let me guess. Karen is borrowing your homework again?”
“Yep.”
“Well, girl, you need to stop doing that. She might be your friend, but she needs to do it by herself. It doesn’t matter if she has a job, she needs to do her homework by herself,” Josh advised.
“Yeah, you’re right.” I’d been thinking the same as him. Karen might be my friend but she couldn’t rely on me forever. She would be in a lot of trouble if I was gone from her life. “Thanks, Josh. I’ll think about it,” I said.
“My pleasure. Oh, how’s home lately? Is it okay?”
“Well, it’s just like the usual. Wake up in the morning with no one say good morning and came home without any welcome home. Or maybe at night with no good night. It’s just normal life for me. I’m used to it.” I also told Josh about my problem with Blake. He was my friend since Junior High as well, together with Karen. He knew what’s going on in my house.
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk this to your father? I mean, well, he might be not your real father but he’s still your legal guardian. He can’t do this to you forever. I’m worried about you, you know? Even my mom always asked me about you if you are okay with him or not.” I really appreciated how Josh worried about me. Even his mother as well. But this was my problem and I didn’t want anyone to get involved.
“Thanks, Josh. But, I’m okay. I’ll let you know if I need something,” I said and we were already in front of my house.
“Sure. I will gladly help you. Hey, if you are alone tonight, how about you come to my house? I’m sure mom will be happy having you around rather than me.”
“Don’t say that, she’s still your mom. And maybe I will be alone again tonight, I suppose—”I couldn’t finish my words when my eyes fixed on the car parked in the usual spot. That black Aston Martin. “It can’t be.” I immediately ran inside. Josh followed from behind.
“This is your dad’s car. He’s already here at this hour?” Even Josh suspected the same. It was still five o’clock and he was already home? I turned around to Josh. “I’m sorry, Josh. I guess I have to skip dinner at your house tonight.”
“That’s okay. I suppose with your dad here, you can’t go out.”
“Yeah. Well then, see you tomorrow.”
“Sure. Bye!” Josh walked away as I continued watching him. He waved his hand to me as I do the same. I turned to the entrance, inhaling, and exhaling. It’d been a long time since he came home at this hour. Or to be precise, he never done that. Before we became like this, he always came home at eight.
“Well, no use thinking about it now,” I said to myself and walked to the door and went inside the house. I could hear voices in the family room. I walked to the room and found my father leaning on his choice of the expensive sofa while watching TV. I knew he was aware of my presence but he didn’t say anything to me. What a jerk.
“I’m home,” I said trying to get his attention.
“Yeah,” he said simply. Well, at least he acknowledged me.
“Why are you here?”
“This is my house in case you forgot,” he rudely said.
“I know that. But isn’t it too early for you to be home at this hour? How’s the company?”
“It’s my company and I can do whatever I want.” Okay, I couldn’t keep up with this conversation anymore. I needed to calm myself so I won’t blurt it out to him. The last thing that I wanted was him being angry at me.
Without saying anything, I walked away from him and went to my room.
I put my bag in the chair and threw myself to the bed. In less than five minutes, I heard my door was being opened from outside. I didn’t have to see who the person was.
“Dinner?” he asked. Wow, he rarely came home and now he asked me to cook him dinner? What I learned from this handsome father of mine was even though he was ridiculously hot, he had zero respect for me.
“Give me five minutes and I’ll be downstairs,” I said and he closed the door. I glanced to the door. “No simple thank you, huh? That’s not the first.” If I thought about it again, he could order something and ate outside and he could just leave me alone. I closed my eyes for a moment and then got up from the soft mattress. I feared if I closed my eyes for any longer, I would fall asleep in a second. I changed my clothes to my usual t-shirt and sweatpants and went downstairs.
I went to the kitchen and found Blake was having a call. Based on his conversation, must be about his works. He didn’t ask me what he wanted to eat so I could make anything that I wanted. I decided to make some pasta. Carbonara sounded nice. I prepared all the ingredients and began cooking.
In the middle of cooking, I could hear a bell from the entrance. I went to the door and open it.
“Hi.”
“Josh? Hey, what are you doing?”
“Uh, my mom wants me to give you this,” he said while handing me a box. I could smell something nice from inside. I opened it and found an apple pie inside. “You always love my mom’s homemade apple pie and she was in the middle of making it when I got home and she told me to share it with you.”
“Oh, my. Thank you so much, Josh. This will be perfect for the dessert. Um, come in,” I invited.
“Really? Tha—”Josh couldn’t finish his sentences when Blake suddenly appeared behind me. Even without him touching me or had to turn around, I could tell his presence. “Um, good evening, Mr. Morgan. I’m just here to delivered my mom’s apple pie if you don’t mind,” Josh explained.
“No, that’s not a problem. I know how Olivia favors your mom’s pie,” Blake said.
“Yeah. Um, are you having dinner now? Olivia is inviting me to join if you don’t mind, sir?” Josh politely asked.
“That will be great, but since it’s rare for me to be home, I want to have some quality time with my daughter before I return to my overload works. If you don’t mind,” Blake said plainly. I didn’t know why but I had this urge that he was challenging Josh. I could see how Josh was quite surprised with his sudden action but he knew it better for him to stand down and not having a fight with my dad.
“That’s…wonderful. I mean, Olivia rarely be with his dad so with you now being here, I guess she could relieve a bit. Right, Olive?” Josh asked as I nodded with his statement. “Well, I should be going home now. Hope you guys enjoy the pie. Bye,” he parted and then I closed the door. I realized Blake was already away from me and headed to the dining. I followed him as I wanted to question him a bit.
“What’s your problem?” I asked, finding him had sat his ass on his chair.
“What do you mean?” he asked back.
“Don’t be a fool. Your action to Josh. Quality time? Are you serious?”
“I am. It’s been a long time since I had dinner with you, right? And I suppose you want to have dinner with me so here I am. But you’re asking me why I said that to that brat? Now I’m going to ask you this,” he paused as his steel-blue eyes fixed on me. “What’s your problem?”
“Well, I’m not a fool, Blake, and I can tell what you were doing. You were like pushing him off. Why? Did Josh do something to you? Come to think of it, you never like him since the first time I introduced him and Karen to you. Why?” No answer from him. Josh was nice and he cared about me. He always worried about me because of Blake. “I demand an answer, Blake. Why?” Again, no answer from him. “You’re not going to answer me? Fine, cook something by yourself because I’m going to make my own,” I threatened. I knew how terrible Blake was around the kitchen. The last time he cooked for me when I had a fever and he almost burnt down the house because he had no idea how to use the stove.
“If you don’t cook something for me,” he said as I was ready to cook something just for myself. “How about if I eat you instead?” His question confused me. I looked back at him and his blue eyes were staring at me. Very intense and straight.
“What do you mean by that? Stop joking around because I still won’t cook something for you.”
“Who said I’m joking?” Okay, I didn’t like this tone a bit. He was serious. No, I won’t let him. He was an adult and adults love to play around with the younger ones and that’s exactly what he was doing.
“You can’t do anything to me, Mister. I’m your daughter.”
“Well, practically…I can. Since I’m not your real father.” Now he scared me. Almost like he wanted to tell me that he was not joking at all. I really wanted him to stop doing that.
“I don’t believe you. You’re just playing me,” I said, still didn’t want to believe his words at all. Until Blake suddenly stood up from his chair and went to me. He stood in front of the counter. I was thankful I had this counter protecting me because if not, I didn’t know what he would be doing to me.
“Who said that I’m playing with you?” Although his question was not that hard, it was too hard for me to answer him. His presence was affecting me, especially his blue eyes. Like they could see deep into my soul. To make me obeyed every single of his words.
Blake leaned down and rested his elbows on the counter. Lowering his head so he would stand at the same height as I was. Blake was really tall. He stood at six foot three. If he stood up fully, I had to tilt my head ninety-degree so I could look at him. He was still staring at me with his beautiful blue eyes. I couldn’t take mine off him.
“You’re not going to answer me, Olive? You were so mad at me when I didn’t answer you and now you are doing the same,” he reminded. I didn’t know what happened to me but I couldn’t open my mouth to say something to him. “Do you want to see me being mad at you, little girl? After you didn’t see your father for a long time.”
To be honest, I never saw him very angry but I knew how scary he was when he was pissed at something. I overheard him when he was angry with one of his staff on the phone because he never showed that side when I was around. If he was that furious with his employee, how he would be like when he was throwing fire at me, his daughter? Maybe some fathers would act differently with their daughters, but I didn’t think that rule applied with a man like Blake. Maybe he would still be mad at me like when he went turbulent with his staff. And I didn’t want to awaken the sleeping lion.
“The dinner will be ready in ten minutes,” I said to him and he smiled at me, wickedly. Like he just won something. Defeated. Damn.
Blake pulled himself away from me and walked away, but not until I heard his words to me.
“Good girl.”