5. THE FUNERAL.
There were flowers all around her, colorful petals falling along the grassed aisle. Her fingers grazed the edges of her lavender gown as she set her eyes to the front. He stood there, in no blazer than the usual. Black, but somehow still very much different.
Damien’s gait was firm, steady as she gripped the mic. Her eyes instantly met his, and he didn’t budge. Neither of them did, instead he halted, the coffin open to the skies behind him. It was then Agatha reached for her niece’s hands, instantly drawing her attention and Liv turned to her, nervously.
Her eyes were limp, close.
The skies above them had turned crimson and they were at the forefront of the crowd that had come for Hank’s funeral. And while Omar and Alli were sneaking glances of their own, Damien didn’t take his eyes off Liv. Perhaps it was something about the dress she had worn, she was different than the usual skirt and shirt. She was appealing, and he wasn’t ashamed of looking at her. “My father was—“ He closed his eyes, finally continuing.
“Someone told me he might have been the sweetest soul you’d ever meet, and there’s some truth to that” He scoffed and Liv immediately turned to him but he’d looked away. “Olivia” Agatha softly called her name. “This reminds me so much of your father’s funeral—“ She continued and her shoulders fell, realizing she remembered nothing from it. Perhaps her own coping mechanism.
“There wasn’t a funeral funeral”
“What?” Came a subtle response with an arch between her brows. “Its—“ Agatha stuttered. “There’s more to what you know” Her voice was frail as she gripped Liv’s hands. “I think it’s time you know the whole truth about what happened that night”
Her eyes closed, transforming back to where we left off—
—where she could remember.
A WEEK EARLIER
The document fell to the table with a thud as Liv shook, closing her eyes. She peered over, careful of the tension that infiltrated the air. “What is th—“
“It’s a fucking NDA, Odessa” He raised his voice, hands on his hips as he paced towards the windows. “Olivia” She muttered under her breath and he turned to her, letting out a scoff. “You think this is a joke Ophelia” She rolled her eyes.
“Ophelia? Come on”
“Apparently i didn’t think we needed an nda but here we are. After you went around blabbing your mouth to the one fucking reporter you were supposed to—“
“You said i should keep her company” Olivia interrupted. “Yeah right, not offer unsolicited opinions to a fucking reporter. What happened to fucking staring contests or whatever” He was furious and tense, and you could see it in his eyes. And she just let out a sigh from her lips, picking up the pen before her.
“How am i sure this isn’t some marriage arrangement?” She let the sarcasm get the best of her, and she was the only one that let out a chuckle while Damien just stared disappointingly. “You just outdo yourself with being dumb, don’t you?” He asked and she looked to him ferociously. “Don’t you dare”
“You didn’t think i saw you with your tongue down this same woman’s throat. So why didn’t you just convince her not to air your dirty laundry to the public if you were that intimate” He eyed her. “Not that it’s any of your business but Amelia doesn’t mix work and personal with each other” Liv scoffed.
“Well clearly i believe that” She remarked, blowing raspberry. “I dont need this right now, Ola. Just sign the goddamn papers” He raised his voice. “And don’t ever peek at me again”
“God no.” Olivia blurted out. “I could never, not that it’s even very flattering” She penned her signature down across the open space and then looked to see his snarky smirk. “You’d never find out” He grasped the document back into his hands and she let out a soft chuckle. “I’m good, billionaire boy” She whispered and his eyes pierced her from behind.
She did turn around, but only when she was at the door. “For the record, i am sorry. Not for the things i said. But your mistress who i said it to” She stuck her hand in her hair and Damien gnashed his teeth. “You get one more strike, and then you’re fired.” His face went dead serious and she pushed a lump down her throat, knowing all jokes and sarcasm apart—
—she couldn’t lose this job. “You wouldn’t” She stuck up and his fingers pressed against his desk. He pushed a lump down his adam’s apple as they locked eyes from a distance apart.
“Try me” He mouthed, barely audible. And Liv scrunched her nose before closing the door behind her. She heaved a sigh when she was out. They both did because he tore the newspaper that was right before him, scattering the shreds to the ground in anger. “Fuck” He pressed his fingers against his head and Olivia heard his groaning from behind the door.
She pulled away, feeling a sting of guilt in her heart. She would love to call it even, but even she couldn’t shake off this feeling.
She suddenly felt an arm pull her back. “Hey.” It was Alli.
“Have you seen this?” He hefted up the papers and Liv gasped, snatching it from his hands. “Will you put that away?” She gritted through her teeth as she tossed into the trash.
“What?” Alli was clueless as she dragged him towards the cafeteria. “It’s literally my fault” She whispered as she pushed open the door. “It’s my name there because my dumb ass went blabbing what not to a dumb reporter” She looked into his eyes, noticing she had lost him staring at something behind.
She waved before turning around.
Only to see a million more papers scattered on the desk, and eyes peering into her soul. Disappointing ones. And her arms fell just as Alli stepped forward. “That explains this” He pointed to them, unfazed and she looked to him.
“It’s just like high school again, Olivia.” He smiled, hefting up his thumb sarcastically. “Great Olivia” He added as she stepped forward, grabbing as much articles as she could in her arms and she looked to Donald, striking a finger in his face.
“Don’t you dare give me that look, Donald. Or i’ll tell on you and Marcia” She looked to the woman shaken up in the corner and then she halted, looking back to Alli who rolled his eyes.
“Yikes” She exclaimed, and the amount of second hand embarrassment that flooded Alli’s insides were so overwhelming but it all calmed the moment his eyes fell on that familiar face—it was the man from the previous day, gorging on a piece of sandwich while naively waving his left palm.
Alli pushed a lump down his throat, reluctantly raising his hands to wave as well, half a smile morphing on his lips. Then he was drifted back to reality by Olivia who’d called on him.
“Come on” She was oblivious to what was before her as she pushed open the door. And they were both back in the hallway as she flooded the trashcan. She sighed when she was done. “Now, where the fuck are we going to eat lunch?” He asked.
Her hands slipped in her pockets. “I know a spot” She smiled.
-
“Come on now, our cubicle?” Alli had reached a whole new low for his disappointment as Liv sat on her desk. “This isn’t high-school anymore more Alli. We don’t have to eat with the cool kids. I don’t even have lunch” She shrugged her shoulders.
And he fell into his chair. “Except we never did sit with the cool kids. And now, after months that we were beginning to settle in. You go ahead and ruin it” He rolled her eyes. “Come on., i told you it was a mistake. I should apologize to you too?” Alli scrunched his nose. “These aren’t students. They’re our coworkers” He muttered under his breathes. “And being friends with them is the only way that this job would be more enjoyable. Easier to get by” He added and for some reason, there was a smile forming across her face. “What is it—”
“Alli.” She dragged.
“Are you just worried because you don’t get to be with your office crush?” She chuckled, punching him lightly in his stomach and he’d turned pink. “What, no!” He exclaimed. And Liv just couldn’t control her laughter. “I hope it’s not Marcia. Or Martha or any of the M’s” She held her chest.
And Alli’s heart sank in his chest, realizing the one thing he couldn’t even come clean with to his best friend—that it was not a woman. Instead, he just scoffed. “It’s really not” He rolled his eyes for the nth time and Liv reached for his shoulders.
“Are you sure?“
“Yes, i’m sure” He looked to her. And she pounced on her feet. “Alright tell me all about her, and i’d take a wild guess” He eyed her, trying his best not to smile. “Like middle school now?” He asked and she chuckled, holding unto him.
“Come on now, there was only just one boy” She said, and he scoffed. “The boy from summer camp” The moment he said that, the smile had vanished from her lips. “You still remember him?” He added and she sighed. “Of course i do”
That was true, occasionally in high school, she still thought about him, hoping that things might have been different and making up different scenarios in her head where it worked out.
Where they worked out.
“Alex.” Alli said and she instinctively looked behind her to Damien’s door and then back at him. “Can we uhm—“ She cupped her chin. “Can we not talk to Alex?” She asked, so much different from the person she was a minute ago. Alli nodded respectfully. “So what do you want to do?” He asked.
“Just—“ She looked to the ceilings and the empty hallway beside them. “Just stay here in silence” She realized she still held his palms and Alli just shrugged his shoulders. “Okay”
And silence had indeed fallen between them, but for only for a while before he spoke. “You should meet Mr Archer though. The newspap—“
“Alli” She squeezed his hands. “I’m just saying, if it were me, i’d have you fired in that instance” He chuckled and she tapped him. “Come on, silence” He finally quieted, placing his chin against her head and she smothered into him as she dwelled on what he’d said last. And she knew what she had to do.
But right now, she just wanted to stay here.
-
The smoke puffed into the air, with him standing by the edge of the railings. The moment she pushed the door that led to the roof, a gush of winds filled her face.
So much that she took a step back. He was the first person she sighted, but his eyes were close over the nearly tall buildings. His two fingers clasped the edge of the blunt before she cleared her throat. Damien threw his head over his shoulders, immediately connecting eyes with her. Liv stood there, with a frontless novel in her own hands and winds blowing up her skirt.
“I wanted to see you” She yelled so he could hear, and Damien leaned against the metal, focusing all of his attention on the woman before him. The cigarette fell from his lips and he immediately crushed it with the heel of his checkered brogues.
“You’re exhausted.”
“I can see it. In your eyes, and your frustration. And i don’t blame you Mr Archer. Not everyone is born a Ceo like your father” She added and he scoffed, inching closer to her. “Why do i sense sarcasm somewhere in that sentence?” He asked.
Damien was barely inches from her, and Liv filled her lungs with air. She didn’t dare look into his eyes as he stared down at her. There was tension in the air between them, so much that stepped back, placing an arm against him. His strong scented cologne tickled up be nose as she chuckled. “Oh there is—“ She replied.
“But i mean it. I’d be taking some weight off your shoulders” She turned around, leaving his eyes lingering. “I didn’t ask you to do that” Damien replied. “I would handle a majority of the funeral preparations henceforth. That way, not only will we done sooner but you’d also have time for yourself—And before” She struck a finger at him. “Before you give me an egoistical but expectingly disgusting reply, this isn’t about you, Mr Archer” She continued.
“This is about working my team, and gaining trust back”
“And what about mine?“ His voice croaked. “Eventually” She suffixed, pushing a lump down her throat, trying not to do too much because as much as she tried, she was mad at him.
“Why do you hate me so much?” His voice pierced her ears as she walked towards the door. She halted, turning to face him. And then Liv shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t flatter yourself—“ She whispered. “I dont even know you” He nodded, slipping his hands into his pant suit. “Whatever you say Ophelia” He teased, calling her the wrong name on purpose. And Liv rolled her eyes to the back of her head, just like she did the moment she was sat there.
A WEEK LATER
“We are gathered today to celebrate the life, and the legacy of the business mogul, the technology trailblazer, Hank Sebastian Archer. I had the opportunity to work for and with this man, and honestly words will fail you if you were to describe him in what—“ Liv looked to her wristwatch and then back at Damien.
He was standing low, arms folded into each other with expressionless brows. “All i can say is he was a good person, he still is” She added, nervously holding the mic as she faced the crowds and Damien mounted the stage. He reached for her hands which held unto the hem of her black dress. “And i’m sure his son could testify to that” She battled with her eyes as he wedged right in front of her. “That’s enough” He gritted.
And she flashed a smile at him before brushing past his shoulders. “Youre welcome” She let the whisper seethe through his ears as she made her way down the stage—all to the peering eyes of the crowd and Damien bit into his jaw regrettably.
“What was that about?” Agatha’s calming voice fell on her ears as she winked at Alli from a distance. “It’s nothing mum. That’s my—“ She looked ahead of her. “That’s Damien. Mr Archer. He’s my new boss” Olivia continued and her aunt hummed.
“I didn’t know you had a new boss”
“A very handsome one as well” She raised her fingers and Liv let out a soft chuckle. “Ma, please. His character isn’t as appealing as his looks” She rolled her eyes. “Typical Olivia, hard to satisfy Olivia”
She rested her shoulders against Agatha. “Come on agatha, love isn’t in my first five priorities right now” She whispered, gesturing locking her lips. “But that’s a story for another day” She added.
And that familiar voice on the stage fell on her eyes with the silence between them. It wasn’t after a while that Agatha spoke again. “This reminds me so much of your father’s funeral—“ She continued and Olivia’s shoulders fell, realizing she remembered nothing from it. Perhaps her own coping mechanism was to completely forget. Completely move on from her trauma, loss.
“There wasn’t a funeral funeral”
“What?” Came a subtle response with an arch between her brows. “Its—“ Agatha stuttered. “It’s complicated. There’s more to what you know” Her voice was frail as she gripped Liv’s hands.
“I think it’s time you know the whole truth about what happened that night. Because Gerald—“ Agatha looked to her niece. “Your father wasn’t in any accident, Olivia” She gasped, tilting her head just a bit to fathom the news. “He was killed.” Agatha added.
“Your father was killed.”
To be continued…