Joshua’s POV
My night had been going incredibly well. Ever since Olivia agreed to go on a date with me, I had been over the moon and counted down to the day of her launch event, since she told me that the date could only happen after that. So, when the day came, I woke up with a spring in my steps. I even got myself a fresh haircut and shave before dressing up sharply. When I entered the hall, I could feel all eyes on me, especially the ladies, but I only wanted my woman to look at me.
Where are you, Via?
Ignoring my face that was plastered all over the posters around the room, my eyes scanned the crowd in search of Olivia, but to no avail. When I did finally see her, it was too late and the event began. Then, after Ms. Preciozo officially launched the campaign, I observed as Olivia was pulled aside. I didn’t know what was happening, but whatever it
Olivia’s POVMy pathetic reflection stared back at me through the mirror, judging me based on what I was wearing at how I looked. It was Monday morning and we had to go to Ms. Preciozo’s office to sign the contract. Honestly, if that wasn’t scheduled for that morning, I would have called in sick. But, since it was inevitable, I forced myself out of the bed and into clothes that described how I was feeling.Over the weekend, I transformed from a sad, pathetic state into a f*ck it all, boss babe state. Don’t get me wrong, I was still sad and upset that I had screwed up my life and theirs, but I guess everyone eventually reached a point where they don’t have the energy to go on anymore. That was exactly where I was.Dressed in long black slack pants and a loose gray blouse, I tied my hair back into a ponytail to stop it from disturbing my face
Olivia’s POVA sense of warm comfort washed over me when my eyes met Joshua’s, despite how shocked I was to see him there. Obviously, I knew that he was acquainted with Ms. Lana Preciozo, but perhaps after avoiding him since Friday night, I was surprised to see him right in front of me. Though, I had to admit, seeing him felt nice and I realized how much I missed him. But soon the awareness that I was still with my colleagues hit my mind and I quickly stood up with the box in hand.“Olivia?” Joshua said, equally confused to see me there.“Hello, Joshua,” I said as I signaled him towards Ms. Priya and Nadia with my eyes, silently reminding him that they were looking at us.Luckily, Joshua understood and turned his attention toward them. “Hello, Ms. Priya. Hello, Nadia. What a pleasant surprise.”
Olivia’s POV My hand trembled slightly as I held the phone in front of me as it dialed Joshua’s number. Even though I was already emotionally drained after talking to Sam that evening, I had to get it done, so that I could finally sleep soundly. To be honest, there was a small part inside me that hoped that Joshua said all the right things to convince me to lean more toward dating him even though it was still a little hard to wrap my mind around the idea of dating Joshua Taylor. Not even five seconds passed when he immediately answered the call and his deep, husky voice filled my room. “Via, hey.” F*ck! His mere voice churns my stomach! “Hi, Joshua. Are you free to talk?” I asked as I placed the phone on the bed on the loudspeaker and nibbled on my fingernails. Joshua remained silent for a while before he continued, “Sure. Just give me a minute.” Now, how do I begin? Unlike Sam, I had something to start the conversation with since I was so insistent and impatient to tell him ho
Olivia’s POV The week flew by surprisingly fast and before I knew it, it was already Saturday morning. Thankfully the week went by smoothly and without a hitch, much like my usual routine before the boys entered my life. I went to work, did my tasks, came home, and chilled before repeating it the next day. Sam kept his distance as promised but still was friendly when I needed his help with work while Joshua dropped a few texts now and then. After spending the whole week glued to my desk going through Preciozo Jewelers files, I was desperately in need of some fresh air to move around my limbs. So, out of the ordinary, I strapped on some running shoes and headed up to the nearby public park. Channeling everything that had happened into my mind, I ran along the path as fast as I could to release everything into the open wind. By the time I finished one lap around the whole park, I felt lighter and more relaxed. Why didn’t I think about doing this earlier? Slumping down on one of the
Olivia’s POVDarkness enveloped me as Joshua’s motorcycle moved forward. It was already scary enough to be a normal seeing passenger on his sport bike, so being blindfolded as we cut through the wind was terrifying and I couldn’t help but wrap my arms tighter around Joshua’s waist. Occasionally, he would tap my arms to comfort me and I scooted forward to make myself more secure. Still, it was turning out to be an interesting date and things were going well so far even though I didn’t know where we were heading.“Are you okay?” Joshua shouted out and gripped my knee when we stopped, probably at a traffic light.Oh, even his touch gives me tingles. Lifting the visor on my helmet, I moved my head closer to his ear. “Yeah. Are we close?”“Yes, we should be there i
Joshua’s POVI was in heaven, absolute heaven. Finally, I was kissing my dream girl and she was letting me. We were on the beach, in front of the ocean and under the moonlight, while Olivia was partially in my arms as her hand trailed through my hair. More importantly, we were still kissing and honestly, I couldn’t make myself stop. It was intoxicating and every time my lips touched hers, all I wanted was more.F*ck! How did I ever survive this long without this?Frankly, I was shocked when she asked me what I was waiting for since I was expecting her to hesitate or even push me away after I revealed that I wanted to kiss her. But, when she gave me the green light, I took the chance and it was everything I had ever imagined and more. It was perfect, she was perfect. When she ran her fingers through my hair, a soft growl vibrated within me, stirred b
Olivia’s POVJoshua looked at me with shock and hesitation after I demanded that he kiss me. But, that was expected since I went from rejecting his feelings to complete silence to suddenly kissing him when he was right on my lap. Honestly, I still couldn’t believe I did such a thing. It was just that when he got up to walk away, it felt like he was walking away from me and I couldn’t bear for that to happen, so I did the only thing that flashed through my mind—kissing him.Everything I had told him was right. I was so close to revealing everything that he had done, but it didn’t feel right since I had forgiven him in a way and vowed to move forward. Plus, I was worried about what would happen to him if he found out what he did to me in the past. The new Joshua didn’t deserve to feel that guilt that might drive him to do something stupid.So, I stayed silent for some time as I stared at the crashing waves and thought about everything deeply. Obviously, I liked Joshua a lot, possibly mo
Olivia’s POV My heart skipped a beat and I gripped Joshua’s shoulder tightly before I tried to sit up straight. The poor man fumbled off me and to the side while shooting me a confused look. I couldn’t help it, it was Adrina and that woman had some weird sense when it came to me. Just by voice, she knew I was with a guy and was getting pleasured. But, what worried me was that she now knew that I had a guy in my life, which meant that she wouldn’t rest until she found out more about him, and if she found out that the mystery guy was Joshua, she would kill me. F*ck, f*ck, what do I do now? Joshua touched my shoulder and flashed me a questioning look as he sat next to me, but all I did was show him my palm and ask him to wait. I needed to calm down and think straight before I could start talking to the investigative sleuth that I called my best friend. Inhaling a deep breath of air, I smiled and placed the phone back to my ear. “Adrina, hey, girl! What’s up?” I said cheerfully as I b
Olivia’s POV About five years had passed, yet Westminster High School was still standing strong but the only difference was that it was now an elementary school. The place I used to call my own personal living hell was now about to have a new student, Nia Marie Jamerson-Taylor. “Mommy, will it be scary?” my Nia asked as her little hand held onto my hand as we got out of our car. Letting out an exhale, I knelt down and adjusted her brunette hair. “Yes, at first. But then you’ll start to enjoy it so much.” Despite having my own unpleasant experience, the last thing I wanted was to unload that burden on my daughter. So, the day I said ‘I do’ to Joshua Taylor, I buried all my bitter memories away and vowed to look forward. To be honest, it felt like just yesterday I agreed to marry him and then, six months later, I walked down the aisle with Nia to Joshua as our friends and family witnessed us. Adrina took some time to warm up to Joshua but she eventually did and stood as my maid of h
Olivia’s POV “You’re doing great, Olivia. Keep pushing for five seconds,” Dr. Kingsley instructed as Joshua held onto my hand tightly in the delivery room. Shaking my head, I leaned back against the head with a grunt. “No, I can’t. I can’t push anymore, I can’t.” “You’re going to have to if you want to see your baby girl. So, push for me, Olivia!” Dr. Kingsley ordered, patting my thighs. Joshua kissed my forehead and gripped my hand. “You are doing great, baby. Just a little while longer, okay?” “Okay, Olivia. I see her head. Now, you’re going to have to push even harder. Go! Push!” the doctor yelled, but I couldn’t take it anymore. Tears streamed down my face and sobs escaped my mouth at how guilty I was feeling that I was unable to push my own baby out easily. I felt useless and unfit to be a mother before my child even came out of me. “Via, no. I know that look. Listen to me, I know you can do this. You endured my bullying, you gave me the middle finger proudly, you moved t
Olivia’s POV I slowly opened my eyes to a blue hospital room and a pounding headache that echoed in my ears. I fluttered my eyelids as I desperately tried to remember what happened but I was so confused and I couldn’t remember how I got there. The last thing I remembered was being in the cab and the light changing green, and then, there I was, in horrifying pain as I lay motionless on the hospital bed. Then, I recalled why I was in the taxi in the first place and my hand immediately reached out to my belly as an indescribable feeling of fear paralyzed me. But, as soon as my palm touched my swollen belly and felt the faint movement inside, relief washed over me, making me finally release the breath I didn’t know I was holding in. Gently moving my neck to look around the room, I caught sight of a few flower bouquets, balloons, greeting cards, and finally, a head resting by my hand. At once I knew who the head belonged to, but just as I was about to lift my arm and touch the head, I f
Joshua’s POVEverything happened so fast that I couldn’t comprehend what had just happened. A couple of hours ago I was introducing Olivia as my girlfriend and the mother of my child, and everything felt fine, perfect even. Then, one minute I was looking around for Olivia who had suspiciously disappeared then, and the next minute the hospital was calling me.Am I dreaming?The minute the nurse’s words reached my ears about an accident, I felt a thundering echo within me. Part of me felt a gut-wrenching pain knowing exactly who she was calling me about, but another part of me refused to believe it.Terrified to hear her answer to my question, I stuttered out my question, “W…who is it?”“According to her ID in her purse, it’s Olivia Jamerson,” she answered.&nb
Joshua’s POVAdjusting my suit, I strolled into the hall majestically as the sound of my shoes tapping against the marble floor echoed through the noisy hall. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Olivia following me secretly, but I didn’t get a chance to call out to her when people started huddling around me.“Joshua Taylor, as I live and breathe! F*ck! Look at you, you beautiful b*stard! You cleaned up nicely, a*shole!” Will, one of my football team members exclaimed as he patted my back strongly.Were these really the kind of people I was friends with?Almost everyone in attendance approached me to hug me and shake my hand, which was expected given how popular I was back when we were in high school. But, as much as it was interesting to see how they had grown up in a matter of a few years, I quickly dismissed them and headed further into the h
Olivia’s POVMy hand glided across my lips as I appeared a layer of red lipstick on it before my lips chapped together. Letting out a long exhale, I looked at my reflection in the mirror and smiled. Joshua had bought me an off-shoulder red dress that curved around my pregnant bump perfectly and that had a mid-thigh slit, making me feel both comfortable and sexy at the same time.“Are you sure about this, Oli?” Luke asked as he leaned against my door frame.Turning to look at him, I nodded as my eyes scanned him dressed sharply in a blue suit. “Yes, Lukey. It’s going to be super awkward for sure, but I promised Joshua and myself that I would do this since I missed prom.”“Alright then. I and Raina will swing by after her friend’s engagement party. Will you be okay till then?” he questioned, adjusting my twisted earring.
Olivia’s POV A smile curved my lips as I watched the big and proud businessman, Mr. Joshua Taylor, pick up a pink strawberry onesie and place it in front of his chest as he stared at his reflection in the mirror. “So, what do you think? I can totally pull this look off, right?” he asked, turning towards me as he danced his eyebrows playfully. Narrowing my eyes at him as I scanned him from top to bottom, I nodded my head. “One size bigger and it would be perfect for you. Though you may have to fight with our daughter over it.” “That’s the plan,” he replied with a wink before turning towards the store employee. Folding the onesie carefully with his big brawny hands, he passed it to her. “Here, pack a set of this onesie in every single color available and send it to the car.” “Yes, Mr. Taylor,” she responded and disappeared to the back. After pushing me towards the exit of the store, Joshua walked beside me as I waddled slowly like a penguin. “You practically bought the whole stor
Olivia’s POV The air in my hospital room turned tense and Luke glared daggers at Joshua. His jaw locked and his palms balled into fists at the mere sight of my ex-bully in my hospital room, about to kiss me. All the sugar-coated story I had created about my pregnancy had been shattered in just a second and now I owed Luke an explanation. “What the f*ck, Olivia? Are you insane?” Luke shouted as he stormed towards me, reacting the same way Adrina did when she found out I was dating Joshua. Pulling myself up to sit upright, I reached out to Luke to calm him down. “Lukey, I can explain. Just calm down and listen, okay?” “What possible explanation can you possibly have, Oli? He’s the father, right? And don’t you dare lie to me again?” Luke snapped at me, gritting his teeth. But, instead of de-escalating the situation, his response made Joshua furious. “Hey! Don’t shout at her, Luke!” “You! Don’t you dare poke your nose in this. Haven’t you done enough to her already? Yet, you impregn
Olivia’s POV Two weeks had passed since I found out that my little bean was a girl, well technically ‘we’ found out, since Joshua had barged into my consultation room. To be honest, seeing him so upset and angry that I hid his child from him twisted my insides with guilt, making me realize that it was wrong on my part to do that to him after I realized that he didn’t leave me on purpose. Things between us were just borderline normal but, I was warming up to him. Annoyingly, I didn’t know if it was the after-effects of falling in love with another version of him, or if Joshua was indeed turning into the version of him that I loved, but there was something about him that I couldn’t hate. Although, I detested every time my office phone rang with instructions for me to see him in his office. “What now?” I blurted out as soon as I walked into his penthouse office. Joshua arched his eyebrow at me from behind his huge table. “Do I need a reason to see my two favorite girls?” “Yes, Joshu