Unrestrained Words

Maxen's stomach twisted and turned in rolling knots as he stared at his phone. The usual thirty-minute drive to Rockaway Tower now turned into a forty-five minute drive because of the heavy traffic which felt like an eternity to him.

The whining and rotten spoiled little prince in his head was starting to annoy him. "Are we there yet?" his inner child repeatedly asked him. Finally, he saw Rockaway Tower growing bigger and taller as the convoy drove closer to it, making him subconsciously fidget in his seat.

....

Rockaway Tower

Olivia's decoy apartment

Reaching Olivia's decoy apartment floor, Maxen took long hurried strides out of the elevator and towards her door that air swished around the hallway with his speed. He found MIB1 standing outside the hall, growling at the lady beside him. Holding out his hand with the palm facing up, he said, "Phone, please."

Following his highness's order, MIB1 unlocked his burner phone first before handing it to Maxen who whisked it away from him. After sweeping the contents of the phone, leaving no folder unopened, Maxen passed it to MIB2 instead to MIB1 and instructed, "Have this reformatted."

"As you wish, Your Highness," MIB2 replied without hesitation, although he was left wondering why Maxen would order a burner phone wiped out. He watched as Maxen sent daggers through his eyes towards MIB1's direction whose jaws ticked at his intangible assault.

What was His Highness's problem? Didn't he like his little gift? MIB1's thoughts were disarrayed yet his face maintained his signature stoney gaze. MIB2, who stood at the sidelines, smiled at the two emotionless persons who stood side by side. "Who is she, Bro?" MIB2 asked in a whisper, curious at who the muscular beauty beside the stoneface was.

"None-ya-business," MIB1 sent his buddy a sidelong glare, shutting the usual chatty MIB2 up. MIB2 tilted forward and checked Shadow one more time, his lips curling upwards as he thought of what he could smell in the air between Shadow and MIB1. Was it attraction and a fatal one at that?

Meanwhile, inside the apartment, Yana heard a knock coming from the main door. She briefly glanced at Olivia who was still conducting around the kitchen as if a Maestro in a concert before standing on tippy toes and peeping through the door hole. She was surprised to see Maxen standing outside and uttered as she planted her soles back on the floor, "Kaloka[1], he's back." She bobbed her head and patted her chest to calm herself down. She estimated that it should take another day on the job to make her at ease but she was still nervous at the sight of the Prince. For now she had to relax and get used to the Prince buzzing around her lady boss.

"Miss Olivia," Yana charmingly called Olivia, her voice light and airy making Olivia smile.

"Prince Maxen is outside. Do you want me to open the door for him?" Of course, Yana's not easily swayed with the Prince's identity to just let the man inside without her boss's consent. She watched as Olivia wiped her hands with a kitchen towel and waltzed towards the door.

"Thank you for tonight, Yana. I'll see you again tomorrow," Olivia said as she opened the door. Yana sent her boss a bow and faced Maxen to bow too before walking out of Olivia's decoy apartment.

After closing the main door, Olivia patted Maxen's shoulders, coaxing him to remove his suit jacket which the latter obliged. They shared a pouty smile at how in sync their body language were before Olivia waltzed back to the kitchen, pulling a bar stool under the kitchen counter for Maxen to sit on.

"What made you race back home?" she asked, looking over her shoulder where Maxen was following her.

"Home? Yeah. I can move in anytime."

Olivia's ears burned red at how shameless the little prince was. "This building has my home, and your home, albeit in different locations. So yes, home," she blabbered, huffing at the end of her sentence, annoyed at the smug look on Maxen's face.

"I heard a gorgeous lady prepared something delicious… and it smells wonderful too," Maxen replied as he lazily sat on the bar stool, his long legs stretched out in an incline.

She rounded the white kitchen island and stood in front of the stove, opening the lid of a pot. "It's almost ready," Olivia said, the size of her lungs shrank when she heard and felt the broth rumble and all she had to do was wait for it to go on a rolling boil.

One. Two. Three. Four bubbles popped on the broth's surface. Olivia turned the stove off and moved about in the kitchen like a Maestro; swiftly pouring the broth into a bowl filled with noodles, sesame seeds, and shredded ginger and chicken meat.

Across the kitchen island, Maxen breathed in the sight of Olivia as she focused on her cooking. A loose hair strand fell on her face, prompting Maxen to stand up and go over where Olivia stood. He propped his elbow on the kitchen countertop next to the stove and tucked the Olivia's loose hair with his injured hand which she noticed right away.

"I told you a warning is enough," Olivia reprimanded the grinning little prince as she held his injured hand. She flicked her fingers at Maxen's knuckles as a punishment for taking her words lightly which annoyingly earned her a rumbling laughter from Maxen. She thought to herself just what exactly is this guy's mental age as she picked up the white porcelain noodle bowl and presented it to Maxen, inching it a little close to his nose so he could smell essence of the sesame and ginger from the steam emitted.

Maxen bit his lower lip and nodded his head when the flavors of the dish wafted to his nose, the smell made his stomach gurgle as if it hadn't eaten anything for dinner which was not the case.

The two walked back to the bar stools and sat side by side with Maxen digging right away in his bowl of noodles.

Wiping his mouth with a napkin, Maxen asked, "Do you have a date on your birthday dinner?"

"Do I need to have a date? It's just close family and friends. I bet most Lin relatives won't be in attendance too."

"You haven't met all your relatives?" Maxen asked before taking another bite of his noodles and finishing the last drop of soup in the bowl.

Chugging down a shot of sake, Olivia said in a forlorn voice, "Nobody knows me… or my relationship with the tycoon Henry Lin. Not my relatives. Not even you. And I think it's better that way. Saves me from all the family drama." She forced a smile, thankful at the sake's kick because without it, her voice would crack and the dam of tears that she'd been holding might just flood her face.

Maxen's grip on the chopsticks tightened upon seeing how resigned Olivia was. She should be elated at celebrating her birthday at her home country for the first time yet why does it felt like she hated the idea?

"Wait a minute… how did you know Auntie Martha's throwing me a birthday dinner?" Olivia swiveled her seat and faced Maxen. She chuckled as Maxen dropped his chopsticks and his face turned a darker shade of grey.

With her intuition telling her that Ollie's not aware that Maxen and her have already met, she decided to tease the spooked prince beside her. She poured another serving of sake in her cup and said, "How can I bring you as my date if Ollie hasn't given you his blessing yet?"

Maxen swiped his hands over his face, speechless and clueless at how to make a comeback – completely aware that Olivia was toying with his predicament.

With the atmosphere now lighter, the two continued to talk about their schedules for the rest of the week and never touched that sensitive topic they had earlier again.

Seeing the hand painted blue dragon on the bottom of the bowl, Olivia poured him a sake on his own porcelain ochoco cup.

"Mmm. That was good," he said, sending her a thumbs up before asking as he took a sip of the sake, "You made the same food for the others?"

Sensing his discomfort at the thought of her cooking for the helpers, Olivia swiveled her bar stool and faced Maxen. "Yes. Is there a problem? They got tired from fighting and I'm hungry as well. I don't mind sharing a meal with 'commoners'," she air quoted and continued, "Besides, from where I grew up, everybody's equal at the dinner table."

Maxen blinked, he could feel in his eyes how piercing and judgemental Olivia's stare was. It was as if she's telling him through her eyes how snotty he was. He sneered at her, showing his contempt over her words.

The two shared a half-suppressed laugh at how silly they looked like before Olivia got off the bar stool, taking with her Maxen's bowl. As she round the kitchen island, Maxen gulped a serving of sake and quickly gargled, washing away his meal's aftertaste just in case you know…

The pair found their way to the living room, comfortably sitting on the sectional couch.

Olivia leaned on the other end of the couch with one arm splayed on the rest and said, "I want to sleep and wake up next year." Maxen laughed out loud at her statement. His laughter deep and strong, it did things to Olivia's stomach.

She kicked his thigh to make him stop but Maxen caught her foot, jolting her. "Your toes are cold. Let's warm it up." Maxen playfully said and pressed her crimson painted toes, making Olivia arch her back.

"Oh my god. Stop, Max. Please."

Maxen chuckled at how bashful Olivia looked like and how her ears screamed red revealing her innermost desire. She tried to pull her foot away from him but he tugged her closer, sliding her body on the sofa. Olivia squealed at the sudden attack, grabbing a pillow and throwing it in Maxen's direction which he successfully dodged.

"Hey! I fed you and this is how you'll repay me?"

The Little Prince and his Rose were at a standstill.

Maxen let go of Olivia's foot and hovered on top of her, his palms planted on either side of Olivia's face. He held his gaze with hers, her hazel brown eyes spoke volumes of unrestrained words. He bit her ear as if to tell her that he heard everything that she was screaming in her head, pulling away when the rise and fall of their chests started to get in sync.

"Tell me how should I repay you then," Olivia heard him speak in his smooth velveteen voice. Maxen's big clear blue eyes plead that she'd say what he wanted to hear.

"I'm not this kind of girl, Max," Olivia whispered.

"I know," Maxen replied, dipping his head to bite her full lips. He was peppering her neck with kisses when Olivia arched her back and purred in his ears.

"But I feel so dry... The drought down there…"

"How long?"

"I don't know? Half a year?"

"Then I'll make you come six times."