Change

The older staff members were still telling Laila about how her relationship with Olivia came to be and how it had changed just two weeks in. That was the moment Olivia had the chance to meet Noah. It was a day when Noah happened to come home early to surprise Laila, who had been neglected in his eyes because of his busy schedule. That was the day that he met his wife's newfound friend for the first time.

From the first second that her eyes landed on Noah, it appeared that Olivia's heart was stolen by him. As if his looks weren't catching enough, his treatment of Laila, further fanned the flames of love that had started in her heart. It got tainted with something darker when she discovered who he was and who he had become. The idea of having had the opportunity to grab such a fine specimen for her own and marry him herself, caused Olivia to become jealous of what Laila had today. In her mind, if she had befriended Noah back in the day, had she seen his potential, she would be Mrs. Stephens today and not Laila. The idea that she might not have been his type or that they could have broken up along the way, never even entered her mind. But since she could not change the past, she decided she would change the future instead.

So, where some see a good man and think I should find someone just like that, Olivia had joined the group that follows the notion that you should grab the one in front of you instead. From then on it appears that Olivia decided to do whatever she could to get in Noah's good graces. She would also grab every chance she got to spend time with him. Using her friendship with Laila as her golden ticket. She would purposely come around dinnertime in hopes of receiving an invite, something she would of course always get. She would claim to have baked too much and encourage Laila to bring it to Noah's office, in order to have Noah taste her cooking and increase her esteem in the eyes of his colleagues. Of course she would insist on tagging along and with each month, Olivia's outfits became tighter and more revealing.

When there was no longer anything to improve when it came to her outfits, she slowly began changing her appearance in other ways. It started with simple things like changing her hair colour and wearing more make-up, but when she had exhausted all the power that these particular cosmetic aids had, she went on to more drastic measures. Exploring the potential of plastic surgery over the years, Olivia got her nose done, had a boob-job and butt implants, along with a few nips and tucks to tighten her overall appearance. Though she had chosen the most subtle implants, for anyone who knew the Olivia before, it was clear that she had been under the knife. For Laila it had only been so noticeable before she realized who Olivia was, because she had been in the fashion industry in her previous life. She had seen many beautiful people from up close and could recognize many procedures just by getting a close look at someone. Olivia had been no exception.

With Olivia not getting the results she wanted by changing her appearance to become what she thought was everyone's dream woman, which in most cases would be the truth, at least appearance wise, she changed up her game. Instead of just making herself more appealing, she decided to also work on making Laila less desirable in Noah's eyes. She had seen plenty of marriages crumble and many love stories turn into that of hate. So, all she needed to do was become the source of those first cracks in their relationship and the injector of that seed of hate.

It was when Olivia had made this decision, when she began to really show her true colours but by then Laila was already too caught up in Olivia's trap to be able to see it herself. In her eyes, she was the kind friend who she had met again after years and who had kept her company every day, had brought her food and had even tried to keep her marriage strong. This last misconception was caused by Laila's interpretation of Olivia's intentions when she would insist on visiting Noah at work to deliver food and her inquiries of his wellbeing and the questions about their relationship in general.

So, Olivia had free reign to do whatever she wanted without any resistance on Laila's part. With that power she slowly corrupted Laila's heart and changed her in the worst version of herself. Unfortunately for Olivia and lucky for Laila, Noah was so in love with Laila and had been for so long, that he didn't even notice the change in her. Partly this was because of the effect Noah had on Laila, which was the opposite of Olivia. This caused Laila to show the best sides of herself when they were together, reverting her mostly to the Laila he knew and loved, and partly it was because Noah would be able to forgive Laila for pretty much anything and everything. So, whatever he did manage to see, hear or notice for himself, would be quickly passed off as a mistake or misunderstanding. Turning it into something of the past before it could ever become an issue between them. The staff however did notice, it were these changes in her that caused Laila's relationship with them to become what it had been until today.