Chapter 7

The door to Scott's office was partly opened and Olivia knocked gently on the door causing Scott to raise his head up to see who it was.

He wasn't exactly surprised to see that it was Olivia as he had already expected her to find her way back to him since the news of her engagement was posted on every social media outlet.

"Good morning," she greeted nervously, adjusting her already perfectly fitted dress.

Scott cleared his throat immediately. "Good morning Miss Octavos," he greeted as well and immediately continued with what he was doing on his computer.

"Can I speak to you?" Olivia asked.

"Unfortunately, I have a lot I'm doing at the moment and I can't entertain any distractions," Scott answered in a firm tone, even though he only said that to her to get a reaction from her.

Her brows raised up slightly in confusion.

"What exactly is keeping you so busy that you can't even entertain a conversation with me?" she asked.

"Do I really have to give a reply for that?" Scott questioned, after hesitating for a while.

Olivia let out a sigh before walking closer to his table. She hit both her hands on his table making sure she was loud enough enough to get his attention.

"I want to speak to you Mr Richardson," she spoke sternly, wearing a confident look on her face.

Her actions were of no surprise to Scott as he had actually expected that she'd throw a tantrum as usual. She has always loved to give orders and boss people around and even though she was the one who needed him, she still won't ever humble herself enough to be polite.

"What exactly do you have to say to me, Miss Olivia? What else are we supposed to even talk about?" he asked, pretending to be oblivious with a small smile playing on his lips.

Olivia cleared her throat briefly.

"Well, I'm pretty sure you must have seen the news going around. After I introduced you as my boyfriend the other day, my parents have decided that I get married and they took the decision to announce a marriage that I wasn't even aware of," she explained to him and Scott frowned.

"Excuse me if I sound rude or anything but, what exactly should I do about this information? What does it have to do with me?" he asked.

"Well, of course it has something to do with you. You're the man they think I'm going to marry. The situation has gotten a lot more complicated than it was and now, my dad has put me in a very difficult position," she explained to him.

"I'm confused, miss Olivia. Why are you even explaining any of this to me? You only asked me to act as your boyfriend so your parents would stop pestering you to marry some other guy and as promised, I already did that. So what else do you want from me and what has this talk about marriage gotten to do with our expired agreement? How does it even concern me?" he questioned.

Olivia rolled her eyes. She pulled back the seat opposite him, sat down and exhaled deeply.

"Listen Scott, I know all of this has absolutely nothing to do with you at all but...," she trailed off.

"But what?" he asked.

"I know this is shameless of me and I know you're not obligated to even listen to me, much less help me, but I really need you to help me out once again," she said, bowing her head slightly in embarrassment. She hated the fact that she was helpless and that she had no other choice but to plead with him like this. She blamed her father for putting her in this position and she also blamed herself for being rude to him the last time he was at her place.

Before coming to his office, she had a mental conversation with herself about the situation and her father's words of taking her out of the company if he didn't obey him and give him what he wanted. She only introduced them to a a man to get them off her back but now, nothing worked out the way she thought it would and her entire scheme had only made things more complicated for her but after hours of deep thinking, she finally came up with a plan.

"Are you going to elaborate on what you just said or not? I really do not have all day," Scott demanded snappily.

"Well Scott, like I said, I really need your help once again and you are literally the only one that can help me out," she spoke in a soft and gentle tone.

Scott was taken aback by her sudden calmness as he had never expected to hear her speak to him in such a gentle manner. He felt his shoulder sag as he heard the desperation in her voice.

'The ridiculous things I would do for this woman' he muttered within himself, hating the fact that she had this much hold on him even when she didn't exactly deserve it.

"You need my help with what exactly Olivia? You need to be clear and direct with me so I'll understand you," he said to her, avoiding direct eye contact with her.

"I will be very honest and straight to the point with you Scott. My dad said wants me to get married and since I'm not ready for that step, I told him that I couldn't possibly get married now but when I told him that, he threatened that he would remove me from the position of CEO and that I won't work here anymore," she explained honestly to him.

Scott was taken aback by her explanation. He never expected her father to put her in such a situation simply because he wanted her to get married. It didn't seem very fair to him at all.

"Sorry about that miss Olivia. I can't even imagine how frustrating that would have been. Now the question is, you say you want me to help you but in what way exactly?" he asked and she held back herself from rolling her eyes at his questions.

'My explanations should already tell you what I need dummy!' she wanted to hiss but instead, she pressed her lips firmly until she was ready to answer his question.

"I want us to get married," she admitted.

"But of course, it would be a fake marriage," she added almost immediately, watching as Scott's face turned from pink to purple and then back to pink again.

Scott swallowed a heavy lump in his throat after hearing Olivia's words. He honestly still could not believe his ears.

For years now, he had dealt with a one sided crush on Olivia, simply staring at her from afar and wishing she could be his from a distance. He never had enough courage to walk up to her and tell her how he really felt about her and even till date, he still wouldn't be courageous enough to approach him first.

Her personality to others was horrible and unbearable but to him, as much as he knew it was horrible, he couldn't care less about it.

He had definitely imagined getting married to her on several occasions and he would even wake up happily whenever that happened and now, all of a sudden, he has found himself in a position where she's personally proposing marriage to him.

If someone had told him a few weeks ago that the woman he had liked for so long would speak to him, ask him to act as her boyfriend and now, ask that he marry her, he wouldn't have believed it for one second. He would have confidently dismissed ever getting Olivia's attention for whatever reason at all.

As much as he knew it was going to be a fake relationship, he didn't mind as long as it would keep him close to the woman he loved.

"First it was a fake boyfriend and now, it's a fake husband? Isn't that going too far this time around?" he said, wearing a serious look on his face to mask the excitement behind his tone.

"Believe me Scott, I know it's ridiculous and I know I'm asking for way too much from you but I honestly don't know what else to do. If I don't marry you, I may have to either marry someone else of their choosing or prepare to lose everything I've worked so hard for. I know I'm being a bother and I know my request is going to far but I promise that if you can help me out again this time, I'll pay you a hundred times more than I did the last time. In fact, all you have to do is name your price and I'll give it to you straight away," she assured him, confident that her inclusion of payment would help in convincing him even more.

Scott felt his stomach sink once again as soon as she included that he put a price on himself. He hates the fact that she always felt everything in life had to do with money and could be resolved with money. The fact she even dared to think that he was that desperate for her money, simply annoyed him to no end and he wished she would just stop trying to throw her wealth in his face.

"It's really not about your money Olivia. I really could care less about it," he told her but she immediately held on to his hands that were placed on the desk.

Scott immediately felt a jolt of electricity run down his spine from her simple touch.

"I am begging you Scott, please help me out here. Please," she pleaded desperately, pressing her palm on his hands and completely oblivious to what her actions were doing to him.

Scott inhaled and exhaled deeply.

"Can I finish talking to Olivia? I wasn't done saying what I had to say," he requested and she nodded her head before withdrawing her hands from his.

"Like I was saying, it's really not about the money Olivia. You want me to become your husband, even if it's a fake relationship and you are aware that it's a lot to ask for, right? Also, how long are we going to have to fake it? We both know we can't deceive your parents forever because surely, they will eventually find out we're not really together. Besides, getting married won't be the end of it. You and your family are public figures and once you and I get married, they'll pay a lot of attention to us. Now my question is, do you really think you can pull off faking a relationship with me for that long?" he questioned.

Olivia had definitely thought about all of this before coming to ask for his help. She knew how it would all turn out and she didn't mind doing whatever it is she had to do. She even already planned on making rules and coming up with a contract for both of them before getting into the agreement.

"I know all of this and I have thought through everything about Scott. All you have to do is say yes and we'll proceed from there," she assured him.

"You make it sound pretty easy but you really have no idea how this is going to eventually bite us in the back later on," he replied as he thought of his own feelings.

She was doing all of this to secure her position and he was doing all of this because of the feelings he had for her.

He knew he would get hurt in the end as he didn't expect their fake marriage to have a happy ending, at least, not for him.

"Give me a day to think about it. I'll get back to you with a reply in a day," he said.

"Okay. I would appreciate it if you agreed to this, Scott and I'm also willing and ready to pay any amount that you would like," she assured him again confidently as she stood up and got ready to leave.

"I hope to hear from you soon, Scott." she told him before leaving his office and heading back to hers.