CHAPTER TWO

“And that’ll be all for today.”

Sounds of murmurs, papers shuffling, leathers scraping and shoes hitting the floor were all Oliver Finn heard as he watched people hurry out of the conference room. He glanced at his wristwatch, mentally taking note of the time as he wondered why they all seemed to be in a hurry.

“I don’t have any other appointments today, right?” he asked his personal assistant as he watched her approach him, shuffling files in her hand.

“No,” she replied him, dropping the numerous files on the table. “You’re free for the day. You were supposed to have a meeting with the CEO of Darsoft but it got cancelled.”

“Alright,” he nodded. “So, I would be taking my leave then.”

He was about to get up when she quickly reached out to stop him.

“Um, sir!” she said in a hurry. He stopped in his tracks and watched her quickly grab the files she had just dropped on the table again and walk towards him. “Before you go, I need your signature on these, sir.”

He watched her struggle with the papers and after a while, successfully lay them on the table. As she bent to pinpoint where he was to sign, he watched a button of her shirt pop open revealing her fair cleavage.

“Oh my God, I’m so sorry sir!” she quickly got up to rebutton her shirt.

It was at such moments Oliver Finn felt glad he was gay.

Shifting his gaze, he picked a pen and quickly signed in the blank spaces. Then he got up, grabbed his briefcase and made his way out of the conference room towards the elevator. He glanced at his wristwatch again as he headed to the last floor. It was already past 6pm and the office oddly felt emptier than usual.

“Sir?” his driver said, managing to pull him out of his thoughts. “Home?”

“No,” Oliver shook his head then got into his black car. “I won’t be going home directly. Drive me to my parents’.”

His driver nodded and immediately revved the engine of the car.

Oliver took out a file from his briefcase to go through it, his mind quickly wavering as he began to wonder why his parents had called for him.

He normally frequently visited his parents. Living alone in his mansion got lonely sometimes and during such times, his parents’ were his escape. But unusually, they had asked him to come home cause they supposedly had something to talk to him about.

He was curious. A little nervous, he couldn’t deny. What could be the matter? It couldn’t be about business, could it? He was still able to secure a contract worth millions last week, wasn’t he? Things couldn’t have gone wrong with the contract, could it?

He seriously doubted that being the issue though. Not to brag, but he was confident he was good at his job. Graduating Harvard with a degree in Architecture and proceeding to get his Masters degree and finishing it with excellent grades- he was smart. Both book smart and street smart.

He was the only son of his parents and they had a lot of affection for him. Their affection for him was one they never hid which was probably one of the reasons he grew up so happily and content.

He grew up perfectly lacking absolutely nothing and was always content. He was the perfect son who always came home with good grades, excelled in the few sports he partook in and had a decent clique of friends.

He took joy in making his parents proud and was always able to do that effortlessly.

Realizing he was gay came to him with fear. Thanks to his already existing good relationship with his parents, he was able to quickly confide in them about his newly found sexuality. Not much to his surprise, they were very accepting and helped him get more in contact with his newly found side of him.

Living like that, he proceeded to the university where he continued to excel. He graduated at a young age and was able to join his parents in running their firm. Not long after he joined, he was able to lead the firm to massive success and automatically have himself begin climbing the ladders of success. Few years later, he was already making names for himself as one of the youngest and most successful billionaire. To add more spice to his title, he was a gay one.

“Sir, we’re here,” the driver announced the end of their rather short ride.

Oliver stepped out of the car, immediately turning to head into the house. Feeling confident, he glided through the garden and on getting to the main entrance, opened the front door without hesitation.

He walked into and around the living room silently marvelling at its structure. He had been living in it since he was a little boy and it still never failed to leave him in awe whenever he observed it.

It was a rather wide living room painted in cream colour. It had multiple exits each exit having a curve that made it seem like it the way to another room rather than being an exit.

There were fancy curtains in brown and silver that only seemed to highlight the cream colour of the living room that always looked freshly painted. Matching furniture decorated the floor, throw pillows littering. By a corner of the room, a huge vase stood with artificial flowers sitting in it.

“Oliver.”

Oliver turned at the sound of his name. He spotted his parents walking into the living room side by side and he smiled at them in response.

“Mum, dad,” he walked towards them, taking a seat as they did. “Good evening.”

“Evening, sweetie,” his mum, Ashley Finn replied him. “Did you just wake get off work? How was your day?”

“Yes,” he replied, honestly. “My day has been fine. A little stressful but it went well.”

“That’s great.”

“So,” he quickly added, taking a seat. “You guys asked me to come over. Why?”

“Nothing much,” it was his dad, Harry Finn’s turn to talk. “We just want to talk to you about something.”

“Oh. Is it something important?” Oliver took turns to look at both of them. “Can’t we talk about it over dinner?”

“I’m afraid not,” his mum replied, her voice containing a hint of nervousness. “It’s better to talk about such matters while- not having dinner.”

“Okay,” Oliver nodded, adjusting his sitting position. If anything, his curiosity just doubled.

“Mum, dad, are you both okay?!” his voice came out louder than expected. “You both are fine, right? No one’s ill, right?!”

“Oh, Oliver,” his mum moved closer to place a hand on his thigh. “Of course not. We’re both perfectly fine.”

He heaved a loud sigh of relief.

“Oh, better,” he muttered. “You both got me scared for a while.”

They flashed him sympathetic smiles.

“So, what is it?”

“Oliver,” his dad began. “You know you’ve always made us proud, right?”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah we’re very proud of you, Oliver,” his dad was obviously beating around the bush. “And we’re always thinking about you first.”

“Yeah of course I know that,” Oliver was getting really curious. “What exactly is this about though? You definitely didn’t want to talk to me about this, right?”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“So?”

“Um, Oliver dear,” his mum chipped in. “Do you have a boyfriend? I mean, you’re not seeing anyone at the moment, right?”

“No, I don’t have a boyfriend,” he shifted in his seat. “And no, I’m definitely not seeing anyone at the moment.”

He could already guess where the conversation was going. Having came out to his parents years ago and still never introduced a boyfriend to them ever since, they always voiced out their worry.

“Okay that’s that,” she rubbed her palms together. “And you’re still into guys, right? I mean, you’re still gay, right?”

“Mum!” Oliver couldn’t help but try not to laugh. “What’s all these questioning for? Of course I’m still gay. Do you think me being gay was just a phase. Even if it was don’t you think I’ll have gotten out of it?”

“Well,” his mum replied. “Yeah you told us you were gay and you always say that in interviews when you’re asked if you have a girlfriend but maybe you’re not. You can confide in us, you know? If you’re actually asexual and not gay.”

“Okay,” Oliver finally burst into laughter. “Asexual? Come on, mum.”

“Well you can’t blame me for thinking that way,” his mum’s voice came out softer than he expected. “Gay people date and go into relationships and break up too. But you’ve never been with anyone or introduced any guy to us as your boyfriend. Or have you been secretly dating anyone?”

“No,” he shook his head. “I’ve just been-“

“Busy?” she interrupted before he could finish. “Were you going to say you have been busy? Come on, Oliver. You can’t live your whole life being a workaholic. Doesn’t it get lonely sometimes.”

“I’ve just not seen anyone I’m actually interested in mum,” he replied. “Yes, I’m definitely into guys but I’ve not seen any guy I actually want.”

“How would you when you are always working?” She grunted out. “You know it would be really nice for you to actually find someone to be with and you know, settle down.”

“Settle down?” he arched an eyebrow. “You do not mean-“

“Yeah I do,” she blinked her eyes. “Of course not immediately but you know probably find a nice guy and go out a couple of times and stay together.”

“Woah,” Oliver rose to his feet. “Okay where is all this coming from?”

“We’re just worried about you,” she drew closer to him. “You know you’re not getting younger.”

“Yeah?” Oliver eyed his parents suspiciously. “Okay, thanks for your concern?”

He sat down again but this time his eyes weren’t leaving his parents. Neither of them were saying anything and he took it as an opportunity to observe them closely.

“Do you two want to see me get married?”

“Oliver,” his mum smiled at him. “We surely wouldn’t mind.”

“Oh my God,” Oliver was rather taken aback. “I didn’t realize that was all these was about.”

“Son,” Ashley continued “It’s just that we’re thinking about you here. You’re young, successful, a perfect gentleman and our son. Our only son at that. You have a bright future ahead and won’t it be nice to know you have a partner by your side to look at that future with together? But no pressure, we’re not asking you to get married immediately. You could just find a nice boy to be with and after a while-“

“Too bad though,” Oliver laughed nervously. “Like I already said, I sadly don’t have a boyfriend or anyone I want to you know, get married to.”

“Yeah, I know. We already established that,” his mum said, Oliver giving her a questioning look. “That’s why we decided to help. That is, if you don’t mind.”

“H-help?” Oliver stuttered.

“Yeah, help,” Harry took his wife’s hand in his. “Like help you find someone you perhaps would be interested in.”

Oliver sighed. “I’m gay, mum. Where could you possibly find another gay man who would be interested in me?”

“There is someone,” his mum replied, excitedly. “You know the Rueben family, right?”

“The Ruebens?” the name rang a bell. After a short while of him racking his brains, he finally remembered. “Oh, the architectural firm Reubens? The family behind it?”

“Yes!” his mum clapped her hands. “Those Reubens. Their second son is gay just like you.”

“Good lord-“

“And he’s single too,” Ashley continued. “And just like us, his parents really want him to you know, find someone to maybe settle down with.”

Are you both being serious right now?” Oliver looked at his parents and from their expressions, he knew they were being dead serious. “You both are being serious.”

“Oliver,” his dad said. “Son, don’t act like it is strange. We’re always thinking about you first and that’s why we made this decision. You are going places and as you advance, you’ll need someone by your side. We know you’re making headlines being one of the youngest and most successful billionaires but trust me when I say it’ll be better to have someone by your side amidst those headlines. Don’t think this was a rash decision, no it wasn’t. We observed you for a while and it was only until we were so positive you weren’t seeing or interested in anyone, we decided to step in. Think about it son. For us- for the face of the company, for you.”

Oliver exhaled at his dad’s short speech. He wasn’t dumb. He completely understood where his dad was coming from.

“Okay?”

“Mhm,” his mum mumbled, pulling out an envelope from her side. “Here, look at him. Does he look like your type?”

“What?”

“Check him out,” Harry said, his eyes on the envelope. “The guy we’re talking about. The Reuben family’s youngest son.”

He shook his head and grabbed the envelope. “You guys must really be obsessed with Architects.”

Aware of his parents’ gaze on him, he carefully tore the envelope open. Alongside a picture turned upside down, there were a couple of papers with information printed on it.

“Whoa, you guys are stalkers,” he sarcastically commended. “Does Mr Reuben know you have a whole file on him?”

“It’s not a whole file, Oliver,” his mum laughed lightly. “Just basic information.”

“The information must be so basic it requires three pages to be compiled on,” he nodded, dropping the paper on the glass table few inches away from him to pick the picture he still hadn’t seen. Slowly, he picked it and turned it so he could take a good look. “Oh. He’s…he looks…interesting.”

He looked attractive, Oliver couldn’t deny. He had fair skin and though he had a head warmer on, Oliver could spot hints of his hair bleached in a bright peach color. With brown eyes that shone as he smiled in the picture, his eyebrows were perfectly carved and his lips, a light shade of pink were perfectly shaped. Underneath his head warmer, he could catch a glimpse of a diamond on his ear making Oliver wonder if that was the only piercing he had.

He was dressed in a grey turtle neck shirt and had a silver necklace on. Over the shirt, was a dark jean jacket matching the dark jeans he had over his long legs. It was a full picture of him and Oliver could already imagine how tall he was going to be. He was definitely going to be tall but Oliver could bet he was taller and could already imagine looking down at him.

He looked completely different than he imagined. Compared to him with fair skin and black hair he never dyed or bleached, he looked exciting. He stared at him through the picture, his gaze managing to captivate Oliver. He wasn’t neither smiling nor frowning and had just a neutral look on his face.

“He’s beautiful.”

“Right?” his mum’s voice brought him back to reality. He noticed they were staring and quickly tossed the picture to a side.

“Um, what did you say?”

“Nothing,” his mum smiled at him.

“So what do you think?” his dad asked, looking at him.

“Well, he looks quite interesting,” Oliver replied, choosing his words carefully. “Are you guys sure he’s an architect?”

“Of course!” Ashley was certain. “He’s a Reuben of course.”

“Oh?” Oliver took a sneaky glance at his picture again.

“Oh, I know right,” his mum caught him staring. “He doesn’t really look it, right? One would guess he’s a model at first sight. You were expecting someone dressed in a suit and looking all formal like you, weren’t you?”

“Well-“

“I know,” she clapped her hands. “He seems very exciting and fresh and just perfect for you!”

“So do you think we should go on with the preparations?” his dad continued. “Of course, you’re not going to be getting married immediately. You both will meet and then be given the opportunity to get to know each other for a while before an engagement and maybe a wedding.”

Realization suddenly hit Oliver. Whatever response he gave at that moment was going to be determining a lot of things. It was probably going to be even changing his life forever.

He looked up at his mum. Her lips were constantly twitching. He wondered what went on her mind as she tried to smile and stay as natural as possible.

His dad was the same. He kept a straight face, his face hiding as much emotions as possible.

“You don’t have to feel pressured,” his mum spoke up before he could. “It’s just a suggestion but I hope you know we wouldn’t do anything that could be bad for you.”

“Years ago when I was your age, my dad also brought a wedding proposal to me,” his dad continued and laughed. “I really wasn’t interested in getting married at that moment but I didn’t have a choice. I knew whatever he did was going to be in my best interest so I went ahead with it and look at me now. I have a beautiful wife I love by my side and an amazing son I’m proud of.”

Ashley cooed, Oliver looking away to let them have the few seconds to themselves.

After a while, he looked at his parents. They were in love with each other and happy together. Maybe, just maybe, that could be him in the future.

“Oliver?”

“Mhm?” he looked up to meet his mum’s gaze. “Oh, right.”

“No pressure,” she smiled at him. “If you need time-”

“No,” he cut her off, looking at Felix’s picture one more time. “I agree. You can proceed with the arrangements.”