Chapter 3

"Everything's a mess!" Olivia hissed in annoyance as she slumped into the sofa in her living room.

She had less than twenty four hours till she had to introduce a man to her parents and she still hadn't found anyone that seemed normal enough to play the part.

Both dates turned out to be a complete mess and in a fit of rage, she totally ended up going off on Ciara but it seemed like Ciara didn't mind since she was already used to Olivia's five minutes madness, as she called it.

"You can do this Olivia. There's still enough time to get someone for the role," she tells herself, trying to encourage herself not to give up but it didn't work as she knew she was definitely this close to getting caught up in her stupid lie that will eventually lead to an unwanted marriage with Tom.

"Fucking hell," she cursed underneath her breath, getting up from where she sat and pacing around her living room like someone who was on the verge of losing their mind.

Olivia also had a habit of talking to herself whenever she had a lot on her mind and this is because, growing up, she never really had any friends since most people only ever approached her because of who her family was. When He realised that no one really did like her genuinely, she cut everyone off and became the rude, insensitive bitch that she was now known for.

Since she had no actual friends, she learned to solve any of her problems by herself and this is why talking to herself became a habit that helped her think.

"I can't possibly marry Thomas Hardy, I can't let that happen to me. What the hell got into you, stupid, stupid idiot! Why did you have to claim you had an actual boyfriend when you can't even get a fake one," she hissed at herself, angrily kicking the air, running her hand through her hair roughly and making a mess of it.

"Excuse me madam," Martha, the maid, called her, distracting her from her thoughts.

"What is it!" Olivia yelled furiously, taking out her anger on the poor woman who looked like she wanted to sink into the ground.

"I'm sorry madam for interrupting you madam. It's just that y... you haven't been...," she was explaining and Olivia cut her off in frustration.

"If you can't get straight to the reason you're here, get the fuck out of my sight Martha!" she yelled loudly, taking Martha completely by surprise.

Olivia hated the fact that she had taken her anger out on Martha but at the moment, she could not bring herself to care too much about how Martha felt because the only thing that concerned her at the moment was the disaster that awaited her the next day if she did not find a solution to her problem soon.

Martha swallowed the lump that formed on her throat painfully. She had been working for Olivia for over four years now and she still wasn't used to her nasty attitude. She thought by now her yelling and cursing would be something she would be accustomed to but is always surprised to realise that nothing had changed for the first week she had started working here.

"Your secretary Felicia called earlier and asked that I tell you that Mr Foreshore would like to meet with you as soon as possible," she blurted out quickly.

"The fuck does that old piece of trash want!" Olivia hissed in irritation as she wondered why Foreshore would even want to meet with her.

Mr Foreshore was one of the biggest investors in the construction industry and he also happened to be a major shareholder in her company. The only problem was that he was a misogynistic bastard and they never got along because he always underestimated her and treated her like she didn't deserve or belong in her position as CEO.

Ever since her father handed the company to her, Mr Foreshore had done nothing else but constantly remind her that she was unfit for the position and that the company had more chances of failing because of her. He still kept going on and on about it even when she had proved herself to be deserving countless of times.

"All thanks to Brian, I will have a lot of defending to do," she muttered tiredly, realising that Foreshore finally got the excuse he had always wanted to go off at her.

"Call Felicia and tell her that I accept his invitation," she instructed.

"Understood madam," Martha replied before walking out of the living room and leaving Olivia to herself.

The meeting with Mr Foreshore didn't go well at all and for the first time since Olivia took over from her dad, Mr Foreshore had finally gotten something to use against her.

He didn't for one second let her explain things properly and he just went off on her, calling her irresponsible and validating his narcissistic believe that a woman shouldn't run a company.

As she walks back to her office with her secretary walking behind her, she sees someone familiar from afar. The closer she walked towards the person, the more familiar he became.

He turned out to be none other than Scott Richardson, an acquaintance of hers who was her senior back in college and is also one of her father's favourite architects.

He had been working for their company since he graduated from college and he was personally scouted by her father. She had known who he was for years now but she never actually tried making a conversation with him at all.

She recalled that he had tried talking to her a few times but after she dismissed and ignored him, he stopped trying.

The only time she and Scott actually had any thing closely related to a conversation was when she first started working with her father and he introduced her to him since he was pretty much the hottest architect in the company when she arrived and he was also in charge of the first ever project she witnessed, which was the Wisconsin's family project that everyone considered as a huge success.

They had spoken a few times during the project and Scott had been very understanding with her since she was still a newbie at the time but after everything with the project, they never had any reason to speak to each other again and Olivia being the unfriendly and I don't care person she was, did not ever attempt to make eye contact with him, much less greet him.

Another reason she avoided him was because, back in college, a classmate of hers had told her that Scott had an interest in her and since she didn't consider him to be her type.

"Omg!" she exclaimed suddenly as an idea popped into her head.

"Good afternoon ma'am," Scott greeted as soon as he spotted Olivia approaching.

"Scott Richardson," she called and Scott could not believe he had just heard her call out his name.

"Yes ma'am," he replied, trying to mask his surprise as best as he could.

Scott Richardson was a thirty one years old structural engineer and architect who had been working for the Octavos construction company since he graduated from college at age 25. He was pretty well known in the industry for his unique designs and his successful projects.

"If you don't mind, can I speak with you for a moment?" she asked and Scott was surprised that she had spoken so casually to him instead of in her usual formal tone.

As much as he tried not to appear nervous, he couldn't help it as different thoughts on why she'd want to talk to him ran through his mind and most of them were not exactly positive.

"No problem madam but does it have to be right now?" he asked.

"Yes Mr Richardson, right now," she replied and Scott could feel his heart beating extremely fast in his chest.

The fact that Olivia had spoken to him already made his heart flutter and words could not even explain how much he admired every single thing about her.

He snapped out of his thoughts quickly, clearing his throat before replying.

"As you wish madam," he replies and she turns towards her office with Scott following closely behind her.

"Mr Richardson," she called as soon as they settled down in her office with a smile on her face.

Since Olivia rarely ever smiled to anyone, Scott could tell that there was most definitely a reason for her smile and he was curious to know what it was.

"Yes ma'am?" he answered.

"I want to propose a deal to you and it may sound weird but I promise it'll be beneficial to you," she said, trying not to sound rude.

The skin between his brows creased in confusion. What deal was she talking about? He thought to himself.

"Can you please elaborate on what you're talking about?" he requested calmly.

"It's a good deal. I wouldn't say it's simple but it's not that horribly," she replied, making Scott even more curious.

"No offence miss Olivia but I'd appreciate it if you can be a little more clear about what you're saying," he requested.

"Okay, here's the thing...," she paused for a few seconds, letting out a deep breath.

"I want you to play the role of my boyfriend for a while," she said and Scott's eyes widened in shock.