47 Stifling Atmosphere

"What are you ladies up to?" Olivia asked as soon as she sat back on her chair. She saw that Emily and Ava were discussing something over a piece of paper. "Where's our food? I'm famished," she added.

"Brainstorming for the seating arrangement," Emily replied nonchalantly and kept her focus on the piece of paper in her hand. A few seconds later, she peered at Olivia after sensing the hungry and angry dragon beside her, and rubbed the latter's arm saying, "Food's coming, Livi darling."

Hearing Emily's reassuring words, Olivia contained the angry beast inside her and gestured for the paper to which Emily happily handed to her.

"It's just a birthday dinner, Ava. You don't have to stress yourself about it," Olivia commented. She could not understand why Ava had to trouble herself and others for a mere seating arrangement.

"But it's your birthday and as your sister-in-law, I have to make sure everything goes as planned."

Sensing Ava's sincerity and dedication, Olivia mouthed an 'OK' and the in-laws for the first time genuinely shared a smile. She looked at the guest list and saw familiar names on the paper but only one piqued her interest.

"Why is there a blank seat beside, Max?" Olivia casually asked that earned her controversial stares from Emily, Fiona, and Ava.

The three ladies' thoughts were plagued with questions primarily because nobody called him 'Max'. Why? He'd correct people every time they did. "Maxen. My name is Maxen," he would say. So why was Olivia calling him with much familiarity?

"Oh, thaaat. I heard he met a girl he calls 'O Sui' so I'm thinking he might bring her as his plus one," Ava fizzed, unable to contain the exhilaration of confirming the juice between Olivia and Maxen.

Oh, shoot.

She almost forgot about Fiona. Ava bit the inside of her cheek and stole a glance at the doll-like actress beside her.

"What about Fiona? I don't see her name here," Olivia raised a brow in question at Ava.

"About thaaaat…the hall has limited capacity and…"

"Oh, I'm just helping Ava. I heard she's at her wit's end with all the last minute preparations," Fiona sheepishly interjected. If her seat had an emergency ejection button, she had pressed it minutes ago to escape from the underhanded humiliation she was experiencing at the hands of these elite women.

Olivia reached for the pen in front of Ava and scribbled on the seating arrangement before she handed the paper back to her sister-in-law.

Ava crumpled the edge of the paper in white-knuckle force and she almost fainted in her seat after being hit by Olivia's horn. How could Olivia cross out Henry Lin on the list?

"Trust me, Ava. Henry Lin would be a no-show on that birthday dinner."

Ava pursed her lips and held her tongue as she could feel the hurt behind Olivia's searing words. She just had to come up with a backup plan just in case Henry Lin would show up.

When Ava nodded passively Olivia added, breaking a half-smile to Fiona, "Fiona helped you with the last minute preparations. It would be a waste if she would not see her work come to life. She could take Max's seat because he offered himself as my date so he'll be sitting beside me."

Emily watched in delight as to how things unfolded before her very eyes and how she did not even have to move an inch to exact revenge for Olivia's tears that morning. She smiled proudly like a mother hen after her gal pal straightened things up on her own.

Adding fuel to the fire that would turn Fiona's pipe dream into ashes, Emily said, "Heeey, stop calling him Max. He doesn't like being called that way."

Emily knew what Olivia's answer would be and how it would stir up Fiona. She watched as Olivia reached for her cup and took a sip of her tea, facing Emily as she replied, "Really? But he told me to call him Max?"

Ava and Emily collectively giggled while Fiona forced out a laugh. They regard Olivia in awe at her obliviousness.

"Nobody calls him Max, Livi darling," Emily sweetly sang, implying Olivia's special place in Maxen's heart for Fiona to hear. She also wanted the reality to sink in for Fiona so the snake would stay away and find someone else to coil around.

"So I guess you're the girlfriend he mentioned last night before he left the party and why we met in the elevator this morning," Fiona's voice almost cracked yet she maintained her doll-like smile in place. However, deep down, Fiona's mind was a mess as she recalled how Maxen pushed her away last night, drawing a line between them.

She knew what they had: nothing but a way to release their libido, but she would be lying to herself if she said she felt nothing every time Maxen 'graced' her place.

At some point, she became confident that one day Maxen would even consider taking things further given the many years they spent together but after hearing him say that he has a girlfriend and that girlfriend is Olivia, she didn't know what else to say or even what to feel.

Choose your battles, Fiona chanted in her mind. The last thing she wanted in her life right now was to lose her career over a man who did not even care about her.

If it was a different girl, Fiona would fight tooth and nail but not when the other party was a lady named Olivia Lin.

Fiona raised the white flag in her head for she knew how capable Olivia was. That girl almost ruined Selena if not for her cousin Ava's help.

For now, all she could do was just stay in the sidelines and wait for Maxen to trip over her bed.

Thankfully, the smell of food wafted in the air, releasing the tensed and stifling atmosphere that covered the four ladies' group.

Ava leaned back on her seat when she saw a chef pushing a cart full of food that they didn't order.

Is that why it took a while for their food to roll out?

"I didn't know they changed the chef," Emily remarked.

The chef smiled and kept his words short. "Please enjoy your lunch courtesy of The Royal Kitchen."