CHAPTER SEVEN

OLIVER

Dallas walked into my home office as if she owned the place. It was her first official day of work. She was already in her maid uniform. I found her confidence really annoying. This woman was a walking headache without a cure, but ironically, she was also my cure. The little monkey was proof that I have not been entirely doomed.

When I found out she came to my house to steal from me, I had decided to pay her a visit to taunt her. I had no plans to get her arrested. I had hoped it will help my bruised ego from losing the chess game to her, but something extraordinary happened. I touched her. I made skin contact with her and didn't feel nausea crawling up my throat. I didn't feel the need to burn myself to remove the imprint of her touch from my body. I didn't shiver.

It was the first time in two decades that I had touched someone without been sick physically. Not a doctor. Not my colleagues. Not even my own mother. But now I have found my antidote, even though her entire existence annoyed me. There is a saying that: God wraps every gift with a problem. Dallas Valencia could drive a perfectly sane man insane.

"I didn't ask you to sit." I said, my voice stern.

"Well, since you were going to ask me eventually, I thought to save you the trouble." she said and smiled widely.

I drew out a long sigh. I didn't know what was about the fierce, unladylike maid that didn't send revolting signals to my body at her touch. Certainly not her horrible fashion sense, I'd seen clowns with better fashion sense than Dallas Valencia. Or her very unruly manner of speech. Or her uneven locks of red hair. I wondered when last she had a proper haircut. She didn't have anything I'd like in a woman. But if being extremely tolerant to her super annoying behaviour will cure me of my ailment, I was willing to go with whatever she does.

"It's called courtesy, little monkey. Ever heard of the word?" I said. I searched through my drawers and brought out a stack of papers.

"Hm, not really. But I'm pretty sure it entails treating your guests right, which includes offering them a seat." she said.

"I'm pretty sure you don't know what the word 'guest' means, Red, because you work here. And as an employee, you shouldn't do anything your boss doesn't want you to." I said.

She rolled her eyes dramatically.

"Can you stop calling me 'Red' or 'little monkey'. I have a name and it's Dallas."

"I will call you whatever I want to call you." I said sternly.

I handed her the papers I was holding.

"These are your work schedule. It entails when your cleaning services are needed, our chess match, and also fencing training." I explained.

"Fencing training?" she asked.

"Yes, Martha." I called her the fake name she gave me at the Valhalla club.

I had a hunch she was Martha when I went through her background information and found out that she was a former olympic fencer who was still serving penalty. Atlas Cooper was her personal coach. Atlas only trains one student personally and that was Martha. I had asked to be trained by her because she was the second best in the academy. Atlas was getting old and I didn't trust his agility. My suspicions were confirmed when she went into full revenge mood after we got into a tie during the first period. It all starts to make sense then. How she knew about the party and how she was able to get in. Lucien had asked a favor when he sold the bracelet to me. He wanted to be invited to my mother's birthday. I hadn't given it much thought then and just agreed to it.

"Christ, can you just let that go?" she grumbled.

"We will have our training sessions right here on my property. I already talked to Atlas about it and he gave his consent. I would ask that you familiarize yourself with the environment but I'm sure you already know everywhere to be able to break in without anyone knowing." I taunted.

"Man, you hold grudges." she said.

"So where should I clean first?"

"The living room downstairs." I said without looking at her.

"What? but it's sparkling clean." she said.

"You're here to work, Red, not to whine. So get to work." I said sternly.

She grumbled before walking out. I let out a long sigh. This is going to be a long day. I decided to busy myself with work.

Work brought comfort and joy. The two things I've been deprived of my whole life. Trading stocks, taking companies by force and turning them into my own, those traits made me untouchable in the business world. literally and figuratively. I didn't have weaknesses that could be exploited, my lack of empathy and consideration being the driving force of that. I take whatever I want. It doesn't matter that I've acquired so much wealth, I still wanted more. Making money was my blood sport of choice. Which earned me my nickname: the undefeated champion.

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The first semblance of normalcy since finding out that my Olympics-trained fencing instructor is actually the same person that tried to break into my house came after five hours of uninterrupted work. My eyes darted to the wall clock and it read a few minutes past noon. My mother would arrive soon. Since her birthday party ended without me choosing, she had developed a tiring habit of eating lunch with me. Well, I eat, and she goes through pictures of potential brides for me. But she has never seen the one she liked. There is always something wrong with the ladies.

As if reading my mind, the door clicked opened and she walked in.

"Hey mum."

"Hey son. How are you?" she settled on the couch and placed her bag on the coffee table. And the bride hunting starts.

"What would you like to eat? I'll ask Tabitha to bring something for you." I asked as I reached for the intercom.

"Oh no! Don't bother. I'll leave soon. Suzy is coming back from her trip today." She said.

Suzy is my aunt. She started living with us after my father's death. She helped my mother snap out her ghost mood and helped me when I suddenly developed a revulsion to human touch. She practically raised me. She has been married two times and is currently preparing for her third wedding. She had only one son, Ethan. She was also very keen on me getting married.

Surprisingly, my mother did not bring out a stack of pictures today. She merely handed three pictures.

"I see you finally narrowed them down, they're all very beautiful, mother." I said, trying to sound enthusiastic about it.

"I know right. I went through so much troubles to finally select this three. I made sure to search for who you will like. They are not very talkative and they respect boundaries. They are all very well-mannered. They have respectable job, and they come from well-respected families. They have perfect figures and are perfect to be Kang's daughter-in-law." she said with so much excitement as if she just won a lottery.

They are sure perfect for the Kang's image, but not as mine. They seemed like a bunch of nepo babies who would want their prince charming to give them princess treatment. That sounds like a lot of work and I'm not in for it. Besides I doubt any of them would last a week with me when they find out how indifferent I can be.

"They seem great." I said and dropped the pictures on the desk.

"You don't seem excited about it." she said.

"I am. I just feel like you should keep searching. You never know, you might end up finding a more suitable bride than this three." I said.

She sighed.

"Am I being too hard on you about getting a bride?" She asked in a low voice.

I tood up behind my desk and went to sit beside her.

"No mum. It's okay. I've just been really stressed with work. It's the reason for my indifference." I said.

"I'm just doing what I thought your father would want." she said and sniffed.

I felt a knot tighten in my stomach. My hands itched to pull her into a hug and console her but I just couldn't. She cried for a few more minutes before she left to meet Suzy. I rubbed my temples gently. I didn't like that my mother was forcing me to get married. But I couldn't tell her that. After all, I took away her partner. She might have forgiven me for killing my father but I couldn't break her the second time.