The Billionaire's Contract Bride

Olivia looked at the pearl earrings in her hand. Her late mother’s. The sunlight peering through the window glinted off their surface, casting rainbows in the room. Olivia admired the beautiful round studs with their gilded outline. They weren’t really her style, but she was sure her mum would want her to wear them today. “To make you look professional,” she would have said, “and for good luck.” She recalled her mother’s words often in the past two years since her parents died.

The old grandfather clock chimed seven. Olivia quickly put the earrings on and popped her head out of the bedroom door.

“Jude, are you ready, buddy? This is not a day to be late.”

“Coming,” her little brother replied, and soon enough she heard running footsteps in the hallway.

“Hey, no running, remember?” Olivia said when the boy entered her room.

“Pfft, I won’t break, sis.”

Olivia gave him a tight smile. Jude was still a kid who wanted to do all the things the other kids his age could do. But Olivia only saw the pain her brother had to go through every time he needed a new surgery. She wanted to let him enjoy life’s little joys more than anything, but she was also afraid that one wrong move could mean losing him as well.

“Come on, then. Let’s have a quick breakfast and get you ready for school. I can’t be late on my first day at work.” She ruffled his dirty blonde hair as she passed by him on her way to the kitchen, which earned her a grunt.

“Hey, I told you not to do that. I’m not a kid anymore. You can’t be messing with my hair. What will Alice think if I don’t look good?” He followed her down the hallway.

“Who’s Alice?” Olivia asked, as she was getting two bowls out of the cupboard.

“My new girlfriend.”

“Your what?” Olivia gaped. “Aren’t you a little too young for that?”

“I’m twelve. I’m practically a man now,” Jude said, straightening his body.

Olivia bit her lips to stifle her smile. “Of course, you are,” she said once she composed herself. “But we’ll discuss it later. Eat your cereal now and let’s get going. I need to catch my train to work.”

“Where’s this new job again?” Jude asked between bites.

“KimCorp. I’m their new administrative assistant.”

Jude passed her his empty bowl. “What does that mean?”

“Probably making a lot of coffee,” she replied and put their bowls in the sink.

“Probably bad ones too,” Jude said, and ducked to avoid the water Olivia splashed him with.

“Go get your schoolbag, smartass.”

Olivia finished washing up and went to her room to grab her bag as well. She blew a kiss to her parents’ photo on her bedside table. Wish me luck, she thought.

***

Olivia saw Jude onto the bus with all the other kids awaiting their ride to school, then headed to the train station, nervous but equally eager to start her day at her new job. Rush-hour traffic began to fill the street, commuters in cars and people on foot hurrying to work. Olivia joined the general rush, hastening down the stairs to the underground station as quickly as the human traffic allowed.

At the bottom, she took a moment to find her way underground. She joined the large but fast-moving queue for the barriers. After impatiently waiting in line, she beeped her pre-charged card on the sensor. The barrier clattered open, and Olivia darted through, then hurried on to the escalators. She checked her watch, then checked her heart rate. Not running late, no need to run.

The crowd spilled off the escalators and into the familiar long, white-tiled corridor deep underground. Olivia turned left to the southbound line where sound echoed strangely with the hubbub and clatter of hundreds of people moving individually yet in near unison.

Hot air blasted down the platform where she waited, emanating from the train tunnel. The tracks sang, then came a rattling thunder, and the train appeared. The doors pinged and opened. She moved with the crowd towards the nearest sets of doors.

When her stop arrived, she jumped out of her seat to beat the exodus for the doors. Ahead of the rush, Olivia stepped onto the escalator, stopped, and took a breath. She straightened her shirt collar, smoothed her skirt, and checked that her mother’s earrings were both still in place. The window of light at the top drew nearer. Olivia stepped off the escalator and out of the station.

The cold air was a relief after the dry warmth of the train tunnels. Olivia looked about, then headed for the nearest set of traffic lights. The roads were choked with cars, taxis, and buses coming to a standstill in rush hour. Olivia waited a few moments, bouncing on her toes impatiently, then hurried across the road when the lights turned green.

She checked her watch again, making sure she was on schedule. Last time she was in the neighborhood, the day of her interview with KimCorp’s HR manager, she had spotted a café opposite the office building. She had deliberately left time to get a coffee before going to work, knowing she would want to calm her nerves.

Entering the café, she saw the queue. She sighed. She stood for a few seconds, considering the queue. As she turned to open the door and walk back out, she bumped into a tall man, lost her footing, and hit the ground.

“Watch it, lady,” he said, and moved further into the café without bothering to help her up. “No, I’m not talking to you, Jillian,” he shouted into the phone in his hand. “Some psycho messed with my suit.”

A nasty comeback choked on Olivia’s lips as she hurriedly stood up and straightened her skirt. Now she needed that coffee more than ever. Apparently, this wasn’t going to be her best day. She sighed and walked back to the queue, which fortunately had moved quickly.

“What can I get you?” the barista asked her.

“A large caramel latte, please.”

“Name?”

“Olivia Kensington.”

“O.K.” the barista scribbled down on a coffee cup. “Please wait at the other end of the bar.”

“Thank you!” she said as she paid the cashier and moved to the other end. She noticed the man she had bumped into. Tall, lean, with short black hair… and a face to die for, Olivia thought. If only he wasn’t such an ass.

***

“Sir, you can’t just jump the line like that,” the barista said.

“A double espresso,” Owen said, ignoring the complaint. “And make it quick. I’m in a hurry.”

The voice on the other end of the line screeched in his ear. He pinched the bridge of his nose annoyed. “Yes, Jillian, I am always in a hurry because I have a company to run. I’m not lying in bed fixing my nails or whatever it is you do all day.

“And what makes you think I care? We are done.”

“Name?” the barista interrupted.

“What?” Owen looked at him confused.

“Your name, sir? For the coffee order?”

“Owen Kim,” he replied, and returned to his phone call.

“O.K.” the barista put down on a cup and pointed him to the other side of the bar, obviously nervous to interrupt again.

“What did you think, Jillian? That I was going to marry you?” Owen snorted loudly. He noticed people around him were looking at him curiously, but he couldn’t care less. All he wanted was to get that damned coffee and go to his office and forget all about Jillian and everyone else.

“I’ll say it once, loud and clear for your little brain. We are over! And don’t you dare call me again.”

Owen turned off his phone and walked to the counter. He saw a cup with his initials, grabbed it, and hurriedly walked out of the café.

Outside, he took his sunglasses out of his jacket pocket and crossed the road to his office building. The doorman greeted him and opened the door. Owen headed to the lift and pressed the button. Waiting for it, he took a sip of coffee.

“What the hell is that?” He spat it out, coughing. Annoyed, he entered the lift. When the doors pinged open again, he stepped into his office, put the coffee and his briefcase on the desk and sat in his leather armchair.

He rested his head on the back of the chair and exhaled noisily. What a day, he thought, and it’s not even nine yet. He took another sip from his coffee. It’s not bad once you get used to the taste, he thought.

He reached inside his pocket and grabbed his phone. He knew that if he turned it on again, Jillian would be calling him every five minutes or so until he picked up, but he couldn’t be at work without his phone. After all, it wasn’t the first time he had ditched a woman, and he knew how to handle the situation if it got worse.

Recalling his phone call with Jillian, he snorted. Really, what was she expecting? I thought she knew the deal. I don’t do relationships. I don’t have time for that. I just want some fun to take my mind off my duties for a bit.

Owen looked around his office. This is important—to run the company, to continue my family’s legacy. His own thoughts were interrupted by his grandma’s voice asking him in his head how he was going to do that without having his own family first. What kind of legacy would he leave behind if he didn’t have kids of his own to pass it down to?

His secretary’s voice from the intercom reminding him of his meeting in half an hour brought him out of his reverie. He opened his briefcase and took out the portfolio he had prepared to present to the board of directors. He decided to have one last look to make sure everything was in order.

***

Olivia’s turn finally came up and she approached the counter. She smiled back when the lady handed her the coffee cup.

Once outside the KimCorp building, she took a minute to check her skirt and make sure it wasn’t dirty from the fall. A small run in her stocking was already making its way down her knee. She closed her eyes for a second and breathed deeply. She took a sip of her coffee, and the strong flavor made her open her eyes in surprise. That’s not my coffee. She thought about going back to ask, but a quick look at her watch told her it was nine.

This isn’t my day! Cup in hand, she hurried into the building.

From outside, the building was nothing special; a brownstone office block like all the rest lining the street. Only the sign above the door, chrome on black, identified it. The windows were dark one-way glass.

Olivia tried to ignore the heat of the coffee searing through the thin paper cup and resorted to swapping it from hand to hand.

The doorman hit the keycard sensor and the automatic mirrored doors swished open before her. She walked in hurriedly, her body at least committed to not being late. Inwardly, half her mind was still in the coffee shop, replaying in irritation the encounter with the rude man.

A blast of cold air hit her as she entered the lobby. Air-con, an expensive and unusual luxury that most of the offices she had previously worked in did not indulge in. The novelty of it threw her back into the moment, and the lobby of the KimCorp building.

The floor was clean, white marble, matched by black marble tiling on the walls and ceiling. A curved reception desk dominated one corner, but no one was there. Olivia slowed to a halt halfway across the lobby, wondering how to proceed. Last time she was here, the HR manager had asked her to leave her tax documents with reception on her first day.

She switched the coffee to her other hand again, fighting down panic. The rising certainty that she would be late despite her best efforts began to crawl with icy fingers up her spine. Forcing herself to calm down, she scanned the lobby again, looking for a bell on the reception desk or any other means to call for assistance.

Her gaze fell on a stain on the otherwise pristine marble floor, a pool of brown liquid right in front of the lift doors. Someone else, apparently late too, had hurried through just moments before she arrived.

Just as Olivia was cursing inwardly that she had not been here sooner herself, the doors to the street opened again. All Olivia saw in that first glance was an elderly Asian woman in a crisp all-white business suit. Olivia barely registered her face at first; it was the woman’s height, or lack of it, that struck her. She walked straight past Olivia without a glance and towards the lift.

In the next instant, almost without thinking, Olivia called, “Look out!”

The woman stopped, one foot hovering above the spilled coffee. She stepped back with poise and turned to look at Olivia for the first time. Dark eyes, impassive and unreadable, studied Olivia as she hurried over.

“I suppose,” the small woman said, raising one eyebrow and glancing at the floor, “that that was not you?”

“Oh, no, I mean…” Olivia stumbled over her words.

The ghost of a smile softened the older woman’s stern gaze. “Clearly, it was not,” she said, in a calm tone. “If it were, you would not be standing in the middle of the lobby, helpfully warning old ladies so that they don’t trip. No, the guilty party has already fled, without so much as a thought to get a mop.”

“It seems so,” Olivia said. “Such a beautiful lobby deserves to be treated better. I mean…eh…whoever did that” — she pointed to the stain on the floor — “should have at least spared a minute to put a tissue on it or something to warn others. If not bothering to clean it up…” Seeing how intensely the older woman was looking at her, Olivia bit her lips to stop herself from saying more, fearing she had crossed a line. Typical of her, to start nagging about messy rooms as though she was at home talking to her brother. Flustered as she was at that moment, she failed to notice the woman’s faint smirk

“Calm yourself,” she said in the same soft yet firm tone. She glanced over at the reception desk, and finding it empty, she let out a small sigh of irritation. Her face then settled back into impassive calm within a moment. To Olivia, she said, “And how may I help you?”

Olivia hesitated. There was something about the woman, small as she was, that put Olivia off balance.

Again, the older woman exhaled loudly, clearly irritated for being held up here. “You can only be the new hire,” she decided.

“Um… yes,” Olivia admitted. “How did you…?”

“It is precisely nine o’clock,” was the matter-of-fact reply. “And you are here, plainly baffled by the inexplicable absence of anyone to direct you further than the lobby.”

“Oh no,” Olivia started, “I know where my desk is. I was just asked to leave something here for the HR manager, but since no one is around, I don’t know what I am supposed to do with these.” She retrieved a manila envelope from the huge handbag she was carrying.

“Come, let us see how we can solve this together,” the old lady said.

She walked to the reception desk, stepped behind it, and spent a moment scanning the complicated intercom system. Olivia guessed that it must be the first time the woman herself had ever seen the desk from that side and marveled at the cool confidence on display. After a few moments, the old woman pressed a few buttons and picked up the receiver.

“Good morning, darling! There is no one at reception, and I have a nice woman here…” She glanced at Olivia and gave her a tight smile. “Says she has some papers for you?”

She covered the speaker with her hand. “I shall need your name, my dear.”

“Oh, um…Olivia. Olivia Kensington.”

The old lady repeated the name and without waiting for a reply from the other end of the line, she said, “Pick up the envelope she will leave here, will you?”

Olivia gaped at the authoritative tone but dared not say anything about the abrupt way the lady had hung up.

“Um…thank you,” Olivia said automatically. “I guess I’ll head to my desk now then.”

“Well, we certainly do not want you to be late. You want to make a good impression on your first day to establish high standards, do you not?”

“Oh, um, yes, yes, I do,” Olivia said reluctantly. The coffee cup had cooled, forgotten during the encounter. She transferred it to her other hand again anyway, nervously.

“Come with me then.”

They approached the lift again. The old woman glanced down at the spilled coffee on the floor.

“I dislike mess,” she confided, stepping over the coffee puddle. “It shows disorder.”

“I know, right?” Olivia hesitated for a moment, but her conscience just wouldn’t let it go. She would never allow such a mess at her home, and she always treated her workplace as home too. “Well, since no one else is here to take care of that…”

She opened her handbag and took out a packet of wipes. She bent down and proceeded to clean the coffee stain.

“My, my…you come prepared, don’t you?” the old lady said.

Olivia lifted her head and saw the woman staring at the insides of her bag. Embarrassed, she shut it quickly and got up, holding the drenched wipes.

The old lady pointed her to a waste bin on their left.

Olivia nodded and went to throw the tissues away. “It becomes a habit, I guess, when you have kids to take care. You never know what you might need.”

“Oh, you have kids! How lovely!” The old lady seemed to be considering something for a moment. “You seem so young, though.”

“Well, I don’t have a kid, per se. He’s my brother.”

“Oh, I see. How old is he?”

“Twelve…and if you know anything about young boys, you know how messy they can be.”

“You tell me! When my grandson was at that age…oh boy! The trouble he was…”

Olivia laughed. “I can imagine.” She glanced at her watch. “Um, I would love to stay and talk more, but…”

“Yes, yes, of course,” the older woman said, and they both walked to the lift. They waited only a moment before the doors pinged and parted.

In the lift car, the old woman automatically hit the button for the third floor.

“How did you…?” Olivia said.

The old lady just smiled. “So, you didn’t say…are you married?”

Olivia was shocked by the invasive question. “No,” she simply said after a moment.

After that, they rode up the first two floors without speaking more. Olivia felt both on edge and yet strangely calm. The old Asian woman radiated certainty, and a companionable confidence in her silence. Olivia took the few moments to regain her composure and brace herself to properly begin the working day.

Just as the lift lights changed to indicate approaching the third floor, the old woman said, quite suddenly, “Give me your phone number.”

“What?” Olivia blinked.

“Your number. You do have one, I presume? We do live in the future now, or so I am told.”

“Well, yes, of course I…” Olivia was already fumbling for her phone with her free hand. Her coffee was almost cold, but she had nowhere to set it down in the lift. She did not have the nerve to ask the older woman to hold it for her. While she was still trying to retrieve the phone, her phone number came to mind, saving her from further fluster.

Her companion already had her own phone in hand. She tapped in the numbers as Olivia said them aloud, repeating them back correctly.

“Yes, that’s it,” Olivia affirmed. “But what do you need it for?”

The phone vanished again into a tailored suit pocket. “I’ll give it to my handsome grandson,” she said casually.

Olivia’s mouth dropped open. “But—”

“He’s about your age and you should definitely meet him. I think you two will be a great match. Such a nice woman you are!”

The lift doors opened. Olivia didn’t get the chance to argue that she wasn’t looking for love at the moment but just wanted to focus on work. The old woman waved her hand showing her the way out.

Olivia stepped out and was mildly surprised when the older woman did not follow. As the doors closed again, Olivia saw her reach out to touch the button for the topmost floor.

Head office, Olivia realized. Thinking that the old lady might be some important client, she silently prayed she hadn’t made a complete fool of herself. She breathed in and out a few times trying to focus and forget all about the possibility of a date with a “handsome” stranger. Doubting it would ever happen anyway, she set out in search of her desk, eager to begin work.

***

“Good morning, Mrs. Kim,” the secretary said the moment the lift doors opened to the top floor. “How are you today?”

“Annoyed, Mary. Very annoyed!”

“Why? What happened?” Mary rushed to Mrs. Kim’s side to take her handbag.

“I walked into my building and there was no one at reception and then I found a huge coffee spill on the floor.” Mary gasped. Before she had the chance to say anything, Mrs. Kim continued, “If it wasn’t for a nice woman who stopped me just in time, my Armani would have been a complete mess.” She fondly touched the white fabric. “Who was on reception duty this morning? I demand that you find out immediately and send them to my office. That was unacceptable.”

“Of course, Mrs. Kim, right away,” Mary replied.

“Is my grandson in his office?”

“Yes, he came early today.”

Mrs. Kim smiled. “That’s promising.”

“Would you like me to bring you something before the meeting, Mrs. Kim?”

“No, Mary, thank you. Proceed with your duties. I’ll go have a chat with my grandson.”

Mary hurried away to put Mrs. Kim’s handbag in her office.

Soonja Kim, the head of multimillion-dollar corporation KimCorp, walked down the corridor with an air of authority that her small size shouldn’t allow. Nonetheless, anyone who had done business with her ever since her husband died and she became the CEO, knew that she was fierce and not a person to take for granted. Unlike her daughter, Owen’s mother, who had no interest in business and taking over the company, Soonja enjoyed the challenge and thrived, quickly making KimCorp even bigger than it already was.

Now, her only hope was that someday—preferably soon—her beloved grandson would take over and continue her legacy, leaving her space to finally relax and travel the world for pleasure instead of business. And maybe enjoy the company of great-grandchildren, she thought. One or two…or maybe more…Olivia is certainly capable of taking care of children and she’s such a delightful woman. I’m sure she’ll make him a proper wife.

With that in mind, she entered Owen’s office.