Spill the Beans

Olivia's decoy apartment

The sound of the doorbell brought the big and static apartment to life. Yana, who was busy in the kitchen seasoning the asparagus that lined up on the tray before it goes in the oven, glanced at the door with narrowed eyes and a single raised brow.

Who would buzz the door that early? It was only four in the afternoon and Olivia wouldn't be home until before six in the evening.

Yana stopped working on her dish and her eyes followed Secretary Gail, who walked from the hallway to the door with a poker face. The secretary had been her companion the whole day at Olivia's decoy apartment, cleaning and sorting stuff, making sure everything is even. Secretary Gail would give Yana instructions and pointers for the random occasions that Olivia would tag the little lass along in the future.

Now that Yana had an idea of what her day would be like, she downloaded a webnovel app on her phone, so she could read during her downtime.

"Look who's back," Secretary Gail sneered when she peeped into the door's peephole before she opened it for their slightly expected visitor.

Yana had a hunch who that might be given at how many times the poor guy called Yana and Secretary Gail that morning.

"You looked like a dressed chicken, Jack," Secretary Gail's comment earned her a puppy eye nod from the man outside the hallway. She gave the poor guy a once-over before letting him in inside Olivia's flat, patting his back in consolation.

This morning when Secretary Gail arrived just before Maxen and Olivia left the apartment, Jack looked like an esteemed butler — hair in place, uniform nicely ironed, and the air that he carried was upright and robust.

"Tell me about it!" Jack complained under his breath, afraid that the one who feeds him would hear his voice from a thousand miles away.

"Ever since my boss met your boss, it has been nothing but a series of crazies for me," Jack whispered next to Secretary Gail's ear before he walked straight to the kitchen island where Yana waited for him.

Even before Jack stepped into the kitchen, Yana already knew he would be coming and so she handed her new comrade a piece of banana right away — which was his third for the day. "Bring your own banana next time," Yana's lips twitched as she warned Jack who didn't even flinch with her scalding tone. He accepted the banana and comfortably sat on the breakfast stool, his feet happily dangled as he ate the sweet tree-ripe fruit.

"Thank you so much for your generosity," Jack said as soon as he finished devouring the fruit in his hand. He made his way to the compost bin and discarded the peel inside, washing his hands thereafter.

"His Highness, Prince Maxen, is on his flight back to the country and would be having dinner with Miss Olivia so you," he pointed at Yana who pointed at herself too mouthing a 'me', "yes, you, Miss Yana. You don't have to prepare a thing for tonight."

"Excuse me, Jack," Secretary Gail interrupted, her index finger pointed up in the air before continuing, "but the president has a list of scheduled calls and meetings tonight. I'm afraid Prince Maxen has to move his dinner date to some other night."

Since when did Jack call the shots in her turf? Secretary Gail couldn't believe what her ears just picked up that she had to inform him that Olivia's schedule had to be followed.

"Please don't say that," Jack sprang up from his seat and pulled Secretary Gail's hands. "They need to have that dinner date or else my boss would kill me with another list of laborious requests."

The sudden attack of Jack took Secretary Gail by surprise. He was grasping her hands as if he was hanging onto her for his dear life. He pleaded with his eyes and his forehead creased three lines as he besought the secretary for mercy.

"Okaaay," Secretary Gail freed her hands from Jack's constraint then continued, "I guess I can move her last call so she could finish early. For your information, her meetings tonight would end at around ten in the evening."

Even with Secretary Gail's warning on how late Olivia would be finished with her work, Jack looked seemingly more relieved as he took out his pocket square and wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead. 'Better to be late than never,' he thought as he mouthed a 'thank you' to Secretary Gail and went out and about to make the preparations for his boss.

"We're a team now," Jack stated as he started to prepare his Hollandaise sauce from scratch. He saw Yana grilling asparagus earlier so he thought that the Hollandaise sauce recipe that he perfected would make the best dip for it. "I'm not one to count one's chickens before they hatch but seeing how Maxen looked like a lovestruck fool, there's a high chance of the two marrying."

"Ay-ah! Why does it have to depend on your boss? What about my boss? She has the right to pick who she wants." Yana felt she had to defend Olivia's right to choose. She glanced at Secretary Gail like a little student vying for her teacher's nod of approval which she got, making her beam in delight.

"And I don't believe he's serious for my boss," Yana continued with finality in her tone. She supplied her words with facts which silenced the room to a point where you can hear a needle drop. "Isn't the prince dating Fiona Chung? I saw them out for lunch a couple of days ago and they were even touchy-feely under the table. Hmph!"

"Sssssh!" Jack dropped the whisk in his hands, sweeping his eyes around the room. He warned, "Don't you dare bring up that name."

Hearing and seeing Jack's fretful vibe, the two ladies inched closer to him as if coaxing him to spill the beans which he gladly did.

"I told you we're a team so I will share this information with you but you have to keep it a secret." When he got the response that he wanted, Jack continued to relay the tidbits to his comrades.

"So you're saying, you forced the TV network to move Fiona to a different building? Does the TV network have such power?"

"Apparently, the unit that she's staying in was a 'prize' from the TV network and there was a loophole in the contract too so it was easier to move Fiona Chung out of their sights. Remember, out of sight, out of mind."

"What about the penthouse suite, why did you put up an offer to the owner?" Secretary Gail curiously asked. It was too late when she realized how she had accidentally slipped a tongue.

Earlier that day she received a call from Olivia's property manager that Rockaway Tower's building superintendent gave them a call and talked about buying out the penthouse suite with a blank check.

"How did you know about that?" Jack raised a single brow in question at Secretary Gail. He shrugged off her comment under the rug, distracted by his desire to explain himself first for the first time in forever. Honestly, he didn't need to but he wanted to because he rarely gets the chance to explain himself. In his decades of working as a butler, he could only nod his head and never talk back to his bosses but now that he had comrades, he finally had a voice and had the liberty to talk and reason out.

"I did put an offer because Prince Maxen wanted to move in with Miss Olivia. It's a security nightmare using the common elevator, don't you think?"

Secretary Gail and Yana collectively breathe a sigh of relief when Jack seemingly forgot about Secretary Gail's slip up. They kept quiet and moved on, afraid to say more things that they're not supposed to, leaving Jack to cook up a storm in the kitchen, a meal befitting for a royal family.

An hour and a half later, the doorbell rang, whisking Yana's feet from the kitchen, where she was assisting Jack, to the door where she saw Olivia through the peephole, therefore, opening the door for her boss.

Olivia and Secretary Gail busied themselves in Olivia's office as the former's schedule of meetings from the other side of the globe started. Since her main company was established in the United Kingdom, Olivia had to adjust her schedule to a later time because of the eight-hour difference between the two countries.

Not long after Olivia arrived, another ringing from the doorbell prompted Yana to stop what she was doing and check who could be on the other side of the door. But before opening the door, she should at least get Secretary Gail's approval, right? So she walked towards the office's direction and gently knocked on the door.

The sound of Yana's knock was so faint, it was as if she was afraid to wake up a sleeping dragon inside. It took her a few tries before Secretary Gail stepped out of the office.

"Secretary Gail, we have a visitor. Prince Maxen is outside," Yana announced as she tiptoed to level her mouth into Secretary Gail's ears whilst covering a corner of her lips.

"Next time just let him in. President's order."

Yana mouthed an 'OK' with a matching hand ring gesture and a wink which made Secretary Gail go all smiles at how full of life Yana was.

The trio — Jack, Secretary Gail, and Yana — welcomed the prince who looked out on his feet as exhaustion from his day's tight schedule sap the life out of him.