บท 11: Chapter Eleven: Olivia's POV

Liam's wife

I can't believe my eyes. My heart skipped a beat as I watched him approach. What the hell was he doing here?

"Olivia…" he trailed off, staring at me like he'd just seen a ghost.

My words got stuck in my throat, I tried to speak but I didn't know what to say.

"Olivia is that you?" He whispered, still in disbelief.

I cleared my throat and straightened my back. "What are you doing here?" Those are the only words that could manage to come out of my mouth.

He parted his lips to speak, and then paused. "What are you for six years I-"

He raked his fingers through his hair. "All this while I thought you were dead!" He stepped forward closing the gap between the two of us, extending his arms to touch me.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on me." My tone was clipped and unreceptive.

"Olivia, how are you even alive? How come you didn't say anything all this while? Where have you been?" His questions came rushing.

"Mr Aiden Tan, I came here to handle business, not personal issues so if you will please-"

"What the hell are you talking about?" He interjected mid speech.

Before he could say anything else, the door opened. I turned to face the man that was standing inside the apartment.

"Hello, good day. I'm Bianca Black I am the project manager. I'm here concerning your refusal to move out of this apartment, this building is marked for demolition, and I believe you have received a notice."

"Bianca Black, " he repeated, testing the words in his mouth. "You're Bianca Black?"

"Mr Tan, I still don't understand what you're doing here, you're interrupting my work."

"Your work? My construction company is the one in charge of building the condo."

I furrowed my brow. It appears that I didn't do enough research because nowhere did I see that Tan corps would be the ones in charge of constructing the project.

To still maintain my composed demeanor, I took a deep breath. "That still doesn't explain what you're doing here."

"I heard about the people that were refusing to leave the building and that was what was holding back the demolition. So I came to see for myself the cause of the problem."

"Mr Tan I believe Titan properties have already put me in charge of overseeing this issue so you may leave now and when the issue is resolved you can proceed with your demolition."

His face twisted in a frown. "Stop calling me Mr Tan Olivia! You know my name! We're not strangers!"

"First off, it's Bianca to you, not Olivia. Secondly, I will address you as Mr Tan because the only form of relationship between us is work, unfortunately."

The door banged shut and the man inside muttered something about us telling him when we're done with our argument.

"Look at how you've hindered my work! If you're not going to be of any help Mr Tan, I suggest you stand by the corner and let me handle this," I lashed out.

He opened his mouth to say something but then stopped. I knocked on the door once again with more force and last time.

The door opened once again to reveal the same man standing behind it. "So are you two done?"

I adjusted loose strands of my hair, pushing them back against my ear. "I'm sorry about that display of unprofessionalism. I'm actually here concerning your eviction."

"Well forget about it because I'm not leaving this house."

"You do realize that this entire building is marked for demolition and whether you like it or not you have to leave."

The man leaned forward, his face uncomfortably close to mine. "Then they will have to run their bulldozers through this building with me and my family standing right in it because I'm not leaving this house."

"If you don't evict this house within the next 24 hours, I'll have no choice but to use force. Armed men will come to this house, break down this door and drag your family out one by one if they have to."

He banged the door shut on my face, the extra wind pushing my hair back. "What a brute!" I yelled.

"Maybe if you tried reasoning with him instead of being such a dictator, he would listen," Aiden's voice rang from behind me.

I narrowed my eyes on him, "alright, since you have such a brilliant mind why don't you go talk to him to see if you can get some sense into him." I moved outside to the corner and leaned against the wall as I watched Aiden knock.

"Please open up."

The door clicked open. "Look, I know things can be hard, especially in this economy. Why don't we find a way around it? What's hindering you from leaving this place?"

At first the man was silent, then he began to speak. "This place is all I have, I raised all my kids here. This place means everything to us."

Aiden turned to share a quick glance with me and I rolled my eyes, tearing my gaze away. A lump was beginning to form in my throat and my hands were shaky.

"But Titan properties give some compensation, you can use that to find another suitable place."

The man scoffed. "The money hasn't even entered my account yet, they say it's still processing."

"You're not the only one that hasn't received the compensation, these things take time. It's an interbank problem. Stop acting like Titan properties are going to run away with your money." I couldn't help but interrupt from the sidelines.

"Olivia please let me handle this."

"Don't call me Olivia," I shot back.

"Is she your wife or something? Because you two argue like a couple," the man said.

Aiden grew silent. "Wife? I'm happily married to Liam Black, I'd never be caught dead with this man."

He was shocked by my revelation, I could see it in the way his face fell. He carried on with his conversation with the man.

"I'll tell you what, I'll personally help you and your family find a new place and settle in while the compensation money is still being processed, fair enough?"

"Fair." They shook on it. Aiden then gave the man a 48-hour grace period.

Since the problem was solved now, I could go back home. Without saying a word to Ethan I began descending the stairs.

"Oliv- Bianca wait!"

I heard him call from behind me but I couldn't care less. Instead, I quicked my footsteps.

Strong masculine fingers wrapped around my arm, dragging me backwards. "Bianca please let's talk-"

Smack!

That was the sound of my hand colliding with his cheeks. He released my hand. I could feel a burning sensation in my palms so I knew that the slap was hot.

I pointed my finger at him. "Don't you dare ever in your life touch me," I warned and then made my way downstairs.

Gladly he didn't follow after me. I hailed a taxi and headed straight home.

As I was sitting in the backseat, my tears began to flow. There was this dull aching in my heart that I couldn't seem to get rid of.

I bit on my lower lip to hold back a sob, but I was still a hot mess. The driver adjusted his rearview mirror and looked at me. "Ma'am are you okay?" He questioned.

I sniffled. "Don't mind me, I'm fine."

When I got home, I paid the driver and alighted, then headed straight for the house.

The first person that greeted me was Maria, she pulled me into a hug saying that she missed me. Her face had aged a bit and she had more gray hair than before.

While we were away she was the one in charge of making sure that everything was still kept in order in this house. "It's good to have you back," she said, tapping my cheeks.

"It's good to be back."

I made my way upstairs to the master bedroom. "How was it?" He asked, walking up to me to plant a peck on my cheeks.

"It was… fine. The occupants are moving out of the place in 2 days."

"That's awesome, I knew you could do it."

"Technically, Aiden did it."

He froze. "You've run into him so soon?"

"Yes, his company is the construction company that's in charge of building the structure, I'm practically working with him."

Worry immediately plagued Liam's features. "Bianca, are you sure this is alright, you can always back out."

"Why back out, when I can make him pay?"

Liam sighed then hugged me. "Just be careful, I love you."

"I know, I love you too."

I took off my clothes and got ready for bed. I grabbed my phone to switch it off for the night, when I saw a text message from an unknown number.