So, Shall We Get Married?
Chapter 34

-Mr. Palmer, you will be late for your meeting.” The bodyguard interrupts his intentions, the CEO looks at the jumble of people for a second longer and then at the time on his watch.

-Shit!

He gets back in the car and orders the chauffeur to move forward….

[…]

She blinks a couple of times as she feels a bit lost, suddenly a bright light makes her frown and she closes her eyes again. Olivia tries to sit up, and that’s when she opens her eyes fully.

-You woke up! -The brunette hears a female voice next to her, and turns to look at her.

-What happened? Where am I?

-You passed out at the school entrance, you’re in the infirmary. You don’t remember anything? -Olivia looks at the woman’s outfit, and she’s dressed as a nurse.

-No, I just remember…

She is silent for a moment as she remembers Caleb working at the same school her daughters attended. She hoped that wouldn’t be a problem.

-Are you okay? Do you need anything? The administrator told me that if you wanted to take the day off, you could….

-No, it’s my first day, how do you think I’m going to ask for a day off,” she replies, standing up. I feel fine now.

-Are you sure? I think you should get yourself checked out by a doctor.

-Why? -Olivia frowns.

-I’m not really sure, but I think…” The nurse looks both ways. I think you’re pregnant,” she murmurs close to her.

Olivia takes a step back and ends up sitting on the bed once more. Without saying a word, she continues to stare at the young woman before her. But what the hell was that woman saying? What do you mean, pregnant? Suddenly she began to feel unwell, and her body went down a little.

Immediately, the nurse grabbed her and tried to lay her down on the bed….

-You see, I think you need a doctor to check you and see how you are doing.

-No, it’s not possible…” She kept denying.

-Take it easy, it’s just a theory of mine. Maybe it’s not true, you need to calm down.

-But it can’t be true, I can’t be,” she insisted to the woman.

The nurse was trying to calm her down, when out of nowhere, the administrator enters the infirmary and sees both women.

-Is everything all right?

-Well…

-Yes, everything is fine. I feel better already.” Olivia jumps up before the nurse can screw up.

-Can she start work today? She can take the day off if she wants, she’s pretty pale.

-Sure, no problem.

Olivia and the nurse looked at each other, the brunette smiles at the young woman and then leaves the infirmary.

While she gave everyone a reassuring smile, inside she was bursting at the seams. She kept going over and over in her head about how she could be pregnant, she remembered clearly when Caleb…

She saw him, and it all happened outside of her body. There was no way she was expecting Caleb’s child, besides; she felt absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. It had to be the nurse’s wrong assumption, yes, that was it!

So, Olivia got to work and forgot all about the nurse’s wild assumptions. She felt quite well, and with faith that she was carrying no baby inside her.

[…]

With his mind elsewhere, Caleb paid no attention to the meeting he was in that afternoon. He’d spent the whole day going from meeting to meeting, and to be honest, he’d had enough of having to listen to new proposals, how to make the hotel run better, and the complaints of employees and customers.

It’s not that he didn’t care about his hotel, but that day, he wasn’t in the mood for such matters. The only thing that provoked him was to be stuck in his office and not to be disturbed by anyone. As he put on an expression that everything was looking interesting to him, his mind was drowning in the memory of Olivia.

It had been almost three weeks since he had last seen her, and he imagined that by then, he wouldn’t think about her anymore. But look how wrong he was, not a single day had he been able to get her out of his damn head. It was as if he didn’t want to leave, and it was tormenting him.

Every time he was provoked to go looking for her, he always reconsidered and told himself that he shouldn’t do it. What the hell was he going to do if he met her anyway? There was absolutely nothing between them. The situation was uncomfortable and frustrating.

He rubs his face, trying to stop thinking about her at least for a day…

-Everything all right, Mr. Palmer? -The one who was explaining the hotel’s finances brings him out of his musings.

-Can we leave the meeting until tomorrow? -The man blinked and looked at the rest of the shareholders.

-Sure, no problem.

Caleb stands up, adjusts his suit and immediately leaves the meeting room. Honestly, he wasn’t in the mood, he didn’t want anything that day. He was so angry at everything that had happened, at Olivia for walking out, and at not being able to see her again.

Then, before he went into his office, he got a call from the headmistress of his daughters’ school. They asked him to come personally to pick up his daughters, and with that the headmistress would take the opportunity to talk to him about Talia.

The CEO rolled his eyes, he didn’t even want to imagine what his daughter had done…

[…]

-Mrs Mevere, I’ve organised all the files you asked for. Do you need anything else?

-No, you can go back to your desk. I have a meeting with a representative in a little while, so I won’t be needing you.

-Very well.

Olivia went back to her desk, she really liked her job, it was quiet and she didn’t have to do much. She was the secretary to the headmistress of the school, so she didn’t have to be involved with the students directly. And that was a relief, since it was going to be difficult for her if it was like that.

The brunette was typing some errands on the computer when she felt the need to go to the bathroom. It was already the fifth time she had gone that afternoon. The constant urge to go to the bathroom was really bothering her, she wondered if she was sick or something.

She gets to her feet and makes her way to the bathroom…

Caleb Palmer asked at the front desk about his meeting with the director, the woman sent him straight to the director’s office, where the director’s secretary would show him in. The CEO led the way there, and just before entering the office, he ran into his daughters, who were accompanied by a teacher.

-Hi daddy,” the little girl greeted him, and he ruffled her hair.

-What happened, Talia? -he asks seriously.

-Nothing! -The blonde answers, looking away.

He clenches his jaw, suspecting that what he’d done was up to no good. And if they made him go to school, it had to be serious.

The three of them walked past, and noticed that the secretary’s desk was empty… the teacher ushered them straight into the headmistress’ office.

-How efficient this secretary is! -the teenager reprimands.

-That’s enough,” her father reprimands her. Alma, stay seated here. And don’t move from this office,” orders her father, leaving the little girl at the reception desk.

Olivia finished drying her hands and rinsing her face, she felt so exhausted that she wanted to go home and go to bed. She definitely had to be sick, or possibly….

-No, no,” she says to herself, looking in the mirror, “Of course not.

Convinced that what she was imagining was crazy, the brunette opens the bathroom door and immediately replaces Alma sitting in the waiting chairs in her office. The girl sees her and is amazed, even she herself was amazed.

She didn’t understand how that little girl had realised that she worked there… was she waiting for her?

-Alma! -Musita.

-Oliviaaaaaa” The blonde runs up to her and hugs her tightly.

Alma was hugging her as if she had missed her very much. Even her smile was strange to Olivia, for a moment she felt really scared, she imagined that Talia was nearby and that between the two of them they were planning to do something bad to her.

Therefore, the brunette did nothing. She just looked around, hoping or looking for the main promoter of the heavy games.

-You don’t know how much I’ve missed you,” the girl says to her.

-Alma, what are you doing here? Have you come to play a joke on me? -Separates the blonde.

-Nooo,” she frowns. “I really don’t want to do that.

-And what are you doing here?

-I’m studying here, Dad’s there with Talia and the headmistress. And what are you doing here?

-Your dad… your dad is there? -She looks at the door with fear, and there it was again, that jumble inside her.

-Are you all right? You’ve gone very white.

Olivia swallows, she had to get out of that office before Caleb came out and caught her. Outside of that, there was Talia, if she told the principal that she’d hit him, she’d be fired.

-I have to leave, I can’t stay…” She makes a move to leave, but Alma’s small hand stops her.

-Why don’t you come back to the house, I want you to be my nanny and my friend. I’ve asked daddy many times, but he doesn’t want me to. Why don’t you tell him, okay?

-Do you want me to come back?

That had to be a joke, Alma was teasing her. Why would she want me to come back? Surely, what she was looking for was to continue with her heavy games. Maybe she was in cahoots with her sister, Talia was using that girl to get her to come back.

-Yes, you’ve been good to me. And you play with me, but daddy says you’re bad. But I know better, my sister said some really mean things that day.

Caleb thought she was bad?

Did he really think that about her?

No wonder he didn’t even bother to call her at least for what he’d left in the note. He didn’t care, she wasn’t important, and it was clear he didn’t want her anywhere near his daughters.

It added to the problems in his work, if he thought badly of her, he would also advocate for his daughters. She would also add fuel to the fire to get the headmistress to throw her out.

-Alma, you have to promise me that you won’t tell your father or your sister that you saw me here,” he kneels before the girl and begins to plead.

-Why? If he knows, maybe they’ll talk, and you can….

-Please, promise me you won’t tell them anything,” The blonde looks at her a little saddened, and Olivia notices it, for some strange reason she felt bad for the little girl. You can come and see me when the headmistress goes to lunch, and we’ll spend it together here in this office. As many days as you want.

-Really? -She was immediately happy.

-Yes.

-It’s a deal,” Alma smiles.

It was obvious that this little blonde was her father’s daughter, she was very good at accepting deals… although it wasn’t certain that she would keep his secret, how to trust her?