54 Sudden Passiveness

"Why did you kick me? And why are you getting violent by the day, Olivia?" Maxen whimpered and clutched on his shin as he limped. However, when Olivia was about to reply, the burning smell of food caught them by surprise.

Fortunately, the thick smoke of white snaked up to the kitchen hood, saving them from any unnecessary cleaning all because a little prince pretended to know how to cook.

"What the heck, Max? Are you trying to burn my flat?" Olivia raised her voice as she shoved Maxen to the side. She snarled at him upon seeing how he set the fire too high, quickly burning the skin of the fish.

"Yes! So you can move in with me," Maxen smoothly spoke his heart's desire, feeling no remorse for his blunder. He pulled an awkward smile and playfully accused her, "Hey! You kicked me first. It distracted me." However, he stood ramrod straight when Olivia sent him an evil glare while her hands were busy rectifying his error.

"You don't have to impress me," Olivia called him out as she faced Maxen with one hand on her hip while the other held a stainless steel thong.

"I need not impress you," he bit out, annoyed at how he wanted to convince Olivia, but even he can't convince himself with the words that came out from his mouth.

"If that's what you say so, Your Highness," Olivia shrugged before moving her attention back to their food. Out of words and patience to deal with a whiny little prince, Olivia ignored him and focused on searing the fish fillet on the skillet pan.

Olivia gave him a small smile before flipping the fish to the other side. They scrunch their noses in unison when the heavy and pungent smell of burnt meat penetrated their nostrils. Blaming Maxen, Olivia said, "You will eat the burnt one."

"Yes, ma'am," Maxen chuckled. Even with her searing tone, Maxen nodded in a beat, not at all offended even when no one had ever spoken to him in such a demeaning manner. Olivia was the first.

Behind her, Maxen watched intently, hypnotized by Olivia's domesticated side. He felt butterflies in his stomach and made a mental note to give the kitchen staff an extra day off so Olivia could cook for him more in the future.

When Olivia looked over her shoulder, she saw Maxen grinning like a fool that she automatically raised her brow—vexed at how charismatic his smile was.

Her short appreciation of Maxen was short-lived as a frown formed on her face in a flash when she was reminded of that morning's ordeal.

How could this little prince smile an oh-so-carefree smile when she hasn't cleared him yet of his nympholepsy?

Seeing the scowl on her face, Maxen stepped closer but was instantly blocked by Olivia.

"Pardon me," Olivia said, pushing Maxen two steps away from her with the handle of the stainless steel thong. She waved her arms around her, forming an invisible personal bubble and said, "May I remind you to keep your distance. Thank you very much."

She didn't wait for Maxen's reply and turned about face to break from his piercing stare that raised goosebumps on her skin. She shuddered at the memory of how his eyes that were as blue as a clear sky, had momentarily darkened like the Cerulean Sea. Just the thought of it was shaking her resolve.

'Was that a look of hurt?' her heart wondered.

'Wait a minute. You're the one who got hurt, Olivia. Okay? Why are you considering his hurt feelings? It's not like you are pushing him away. You are only setting boundaries. Be selfish for once,' her brain said.

Biting the inside of her cheek, she internally reprimanded herself and listened to her brain. One more second of eye contact and it would definitely make her lose her rationale, completely surrendering to Maxen's presence.

Seeing the frown on her face before she turned away from him, Maxen captured her in an embrace, pinning her lithe frame against his. He wanted to end this push and pull between them tonight, and it doesn't matter if he had to force himself into her imaginary bubble.

"Damn that personal bubble!" Maxen cursed in his thoughts. Unbeknownst to him, he said it loud enough in his head that his mouth subconsciously uttered the words for him.

Insulted, Olivia retaliated to his defiance and swung her head backwards, hitting his chin that sent Maxen a step backward. The force of impact was hard enough for him to lose his footing. He was thankful that his hand was snuggly coiled around her waist while his other hand held the side of his head.

"That hurts! Olivia, why are you so violent?" he demanded an answer, tilting his head to the side to get a profile of her face. He blinked one, two, three times just to make sure his eyesight was working.

He would not lie. His head took a hit from her assault that he felt like he had a concussion.

Shaking his head clear, he trailed his free hand on Olivia's forearm and laced his hand with hers that they are now both holding the stainless steel thong as they wait to flip the fish to the other side.

He could feel her anger through her sharp breathing yet even though she's fuming mad, he would not let go.

"Stop fighting with me, please."

Mumbling, she replied without facing him, "Then stop being an ass. I told you to stay in your lane."

Maxen decided it was wise to keep his mouth shut and let a cloud of silence ensue as Olivia was laser-focused on her task. Just a few more seconds and their food would be ready.

Thankfully, Olivia didn't push him away, which relieved him for the first time tonight, so he thought of breaking the news to her. "Fact or fiction," Maxen dared before he continued, "I moved her away from us."

Olivia's grip on the stainless steel thong tightened as her mind went on an overdrive before she ended up with her final question: Why couldn't he say Fiona's name? So she asked, "Why can't you say Fiona's name?"

"I can say her name. Fiona. Fiona. Fiona. See? I did not want to offend you by mentioning her name that is why I did not say it the first time," he clarified.

"Okay. Don't utter that name again and I thought we're done with this game?" Olivia asked, glancing towards Maxen's direction. Although she didn't want to answer, she still gave him a curt reply, "Fact."

Even without Maxen telling her, or even if he had no intention of letting her know, bad news traveled fast and had reached her ears. Earlier that evening, before Olivia could warm up on her seat, Secretary Gail briefed her about Maxen's recent offer to buy her penthouse suite for the purpose of 'moving in with his girlfriend'.

However, before she could pop the confetti at the amount of money she could make out of her penthouse suite, Secretary Gail rained on her parade and divulged the useless detail about Fiona being evicted from her eighteenth-floor apartment.

Although the relocation somehow made her feel better, she realized that that's not the crux of the matter. Olivia assessed how she should deal with her dilemma but instead of a solution, she came up with another question: Up to what point or how long would she feel 'secured' until another girl comes in and Maxen would be like the maniac that he is? Lucky for her, she was swamped with web conferences all night that the plaguing question in her mind was muted for a while.

Her reverie was cut short when she felt Maxen's breath tickled her ear as he spoke behind her, "I was thinking the whole day how to explain myself but no matter how hard I think, I could not come up with something to explain my behavior this morning. I messed up. I'm messed up," Maxen said as he tightened his coiled arms on her waist, tensed that Olivia would push him away again. He inhaled her apple-scented hair and nuzzled his nose on the curve of her neck.

Hearing regret from his words, Olivia reached out a hand to cup his cheek before stretching the skin away and snarling at him, "Ok. Can we stop talking about that topic? It's not like we can change what already happened."

Hearing her words, she berated herself when the memory of Lance's cheating poisoned her heart, numbing it yet again. Instead of asking the questions that hounded her mind, she decided it was best to keep it all in. After all, with how fast they are progressing, one of them, Maxen most likely, was bound to trip and fall and whatever it was going on between them would end when it's due its course.

When the food was prepared to her liking, she sent Maxen a sweet half smile before she transferred their food to the plates followed by Maxen who did the honor of delivering it to the dining table.

The two ate in complete silence which bugged the heck out of Maxen. Olivia's sudden passiveness did not sit well with him and it felt as if she's bottling up her thoughts, and her emotions too.