08: DIRTY
OLIVIA HART
The Bvlgari Hotel is chic with Italian decors and designs. From the lobby's leather couches, vast space, high ceilings, and a centered fireplace that boasts its elite appearance. The spa and restaurants give the guest a fully extraordinary experience with a Maserati car available for the tourist to get around the city. The bar adjacent to the lobby is famous for sightseeing celebrities hanging out day and night for a drink.
Olivia walks past the grand reception and goes straight to the luxurious lobby, to get through the elevator. She didn't mind going to the receptionist welcoming visitors warmly to ask for Elric Exelon's room because she expects the man will not book at a hotel under his real name. Olivia is used to their confidential meetings like this, where they discuss how to weaken a company he envisions to own for himself.
Olivia took the elevator to take her to one of the limited 119 rooms of the hotel. She gently knocks at the door three times before a tall man wearing a black tailored suit opens it. His bald hair contradicts his bright smiling face that makes him look more friendly than hostile. He smirks at Olivia and calls his boss who immediately walks out of the bedroom.
"Thank you, Jeff," Elric Exelon says to the man who left the room after telling him to leave and wait outside.
Elric took an alcohol bottle out of his leather bag and sprayed it on his hands. One of the unusual peeves of the billionaire is getting microbes and bacteria that can infect him and compromise his health. He offered Olivia a sprinkle and the woman nods, stretching her arms to submit her hands to the man.
"How's Seoul?" Elric Exelon inquires with a wide smile on his face. The white teeth he displays are well kept to bring him better confidence.
"Good. I thought you told me I can stay there at least a week for vacation." Olivia replies with a tone of disappointment. She rarely has time to rest since her boss found a new vision to follow.
"They announce the transition of the CEO faster than I expected." Elric goes to the table where a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Champagne rests in an elegant gold bucket filled with dry ice.
The champagne brand is known to be the official spumante at the weddings of the royal family. Beside it, rest a titanium cork puller and two tall tapered conical shape glasses. He opened the bottle and poured the contents on the crystals before lifting it from the table and handing it over to the woman.
"Yes, I saw the news and it's hardly called a transition. Everyone knows the woman is behind the newfound success of the LCDC company." Olivia says before sipping the white wine from the long-stemmed glass.
"My contacts say they will never let her be the CEO of the company." The man stands near the window of the room while holding his glass of champagne, looking at the perfect scenery of the sun shining at the east and illuminating the contemporary beauty of the urban life in the city.
"Never???" Olivia raises a question for herself. The implication piqued her interest more than she already has. A woman not being allowed to take over a company needs further explanation and a bigger reason than discrimination of her gender.
"Yes. That's what my source said. He will never allow the woman to take over." Elric continues to let himself be mesmerized by the trees blending themselves into the tall buildings at the center.
"Did your source tell you why?" Olivia walks toward the man and takes a glimpse of the view from the window and turns to the billionaire to read his expression.
"No. Isn't that interesting?" Elric replies smiling before taking a sip from the glass of champagne.
"Very much." Olivia rolls her eyes and walks away from the man. Her boss's interest in the CEO is growing fast yet she knows it isn't loved.
Olivia hasn't seen the billionaire step into the category of "being in love" for one good reason. Money attracts women and when you have a lot, you can buy their affection.
"What is it?" Elric's brow raises as he sees the woman scowl at his curiosity for the CEO of LCDC.
"Elric, if your source didn't say any good reason why maybe there's certainly no good reason." The woman replies, strutting her long legs on the wooden floors going in the direction of the long couch at the center of the room.
"What do you mean?" The billionaire turns his body and follows the woman whose hourglass figure gets enhanced by the black dress she's wearing.
Olivia is sexy. However, Elric's interest never gets malicious to the woman he cares for like a sister. Since the day they met, Mischa or Olivia is simply his right hand for him.
"Zhang Wang Xiu is not related to the Long family, for them, that is reason enough not to let her be the CEO." The woman expresses her thoughts frankly while she sits on the soft leather sofa still holding the glass of white wine in her hand.
"Closing a deal with CEO Kang to make LCDC their main construction company of all his businesses in Macau is more than a reason to let Zhang Wang Xiu become the CEO and yet they still don't want her?" Elric's face creases from his forehead to his lips. The unusual behavior of a family-owned company like LCDC is beyond reason for him.
"Maybe she did have sex with him to get that huge deal." Olivia curves the side of her lips, mischievously grinning at the thought of a young prominent woman sleeping with the dirty old man almost three times her age.
"We both know that is made up—."
"—by you."
"Yes. The old Long is particularly sensitive to status. Tarnishing one's reputation is motive enough for him to kick someone out of the company." Elric says after drinking all the contents from his glass.
Olivia stood up from the sofa and set her hands on her waist, thinking the man called her out of her vacation for nothing.
"Why do you have to get me here if CEO Zhang is easy to dispose of?" She exclaims.
Elric walks toward the table where the bottle of French white wine is and fills his glass until it's half full of champagne.
"I want to know what the woman did to gain favors from CEO Kang," Elric answers, ignoring the woman's sudden irritation.
"That's all?" Olivia inquires.
"Of course not! You will steal information from CEO Zhang and I will steal her company." The billionaire smile with his lips widely stretched. He raises his glass to initiate a toast with the woman.
"Now, that sounds interesting boss." Olivia raises her glass of champagne and nods before drinking all of its contents in one gulp.
Olivia steps closer to the window of the hotel and stares at the city with verdant trees blending with towering man-made structures. The roads are filled with cars and buses yet the issue of traffic is minimal compared to other cities. It's only eight in the morning yet the city looks alive already. Olivia remembers the blue Ferrari and its driver.
CEO Zhang Wang Xiu, what are you doing at the hotel so early?
π - π - π
ZHANG WANG XIU
"Where were you last night?" A man's deep baritone voice can be heard from the living room of her apartment.
The man is standing with his arms firmly latched together at his chest. He is wearing a white shirt under a grey coat and grey slacks with white sneakers to match. His hair is neatly brushed up from his forehead without a strand swaying out of control.
"Li Jun, why are you in my apartment?" Wang Xiu asks, mimicking the man's gesture and tone of voice.
"Answer my question first!" Li Jun inquire letting his voice go louder yet not calmer to not scare the woman.
"I went to a bar to drink, went to a hotel with a friend, and went home." The woman answers with her hand across her chest. She is still wearing the clothes from their dinner yesterday. A body fit knee-long black string dress and a black flower long sleeves cheongsam coat.
"A friend???" The man asks. His voice goes louder and louder with every question he tells the woman.
"A female friend." Wang Xiu answers with a calmer tone. She doesn't want to have another fight like they had yesterday.
"Where's my car?" Li Jun asks, setting his hands on his pocket. His voice went back to normal when he got satisfied with Wang Xiu's answer.
"Parked in your spot." The woman handed out the car keys from her palm to her cousin and marched away towards the bedroom. She took a peek at the time on her watch and hurriedly undress to get a quick shower.
Wang Xiu skillfully finds clothes to wear from her closet. A dress with white, pink, and black colors combined in a triangular shape. She wears her long black hair down and puts on her white gold earrings with pink diamond studs to match her clothing. When she opens the door, she is surprised to see Li Jun waiting for her to come out.
"You're still here?" The woman inquires, getting her Louboutin heels out of the shoe closet.
The man looks down at his shoes before starting to talk. A gesture Li Jun does when he gets to confess his little devious activities or like when he was a young boy being caught breaking a vase in Yeye's room. "About what I said last night, I'm—"
"It's fine. Don't worry about it." Wang Xiu immediately cut short Li Jun's apology. She turns to the man and holds his arm to stop his words.
"It's not fine…I-I was pissed off by what our Yeye told me." The man begins to explain his rudeness last night and Wang Xiu understands his cousin's behavior but she let him explain his reason for unexpected disregard for her emotion.
"What did he say?" Wang Xiu asks out of curiosity, she predicts the old man will never say good things about her but her cousin being pissed means it is worse than before.
"That CEO Kang gave you the deal because you slept with him. That the new CEO is a…I don't want to repeat his words." Li Jun explains looking away as he recalls the details of the old CEO's words.
"I'm sorry you have to hear those words from him." The woman eases the man's heavy heart by rubbing her hands on both Li Jun's arms.
"I don't believe the rumors." The man confesses gazing at Wang Xiu's eyes. He wanted the woman to know that she has his loyalty. "I know you did your best at Macau and CEO Kang was impressed by your hard work." He added.
"Thank you for believing in me." Wang Xiu replies and gives Li Jun a tight hug.
He has always been close to the man and supports him in everything, including his acting career, but when they made him a CEO instead of her, she knows she has to do something.
Li Jun is not aware that Wang Xiu promoted his career. Talking to producers in television and film so they can give the rich kid a chance to fulfill his dream. The actor's first-time television series came from a deal she has to do.
Like any business, showbiz has its dirty side too.