Unwrap Your Desire

OLIVIA

DAYS PASSED so quickly and my first day of class had arrived. I could have sworn that I could not wait to attend classes. Chase, who had been a supported husband, sent me to the university. While on the road, he offered me some advice: how to stay focused during class, how to study and the likes. There was no doubt that he was truly excited and at the same time had high expectations of me. With that, I could feel my emotions running so high. It fogged my brain, making it impossible to concentrate as to the other things he was saying to me.

My excitement turned into anxiety that it made me want to go to the bathroom and vomit in the sink.

“Are you alright?” Chase asked worriedly, noticing my sudden silence on our way.

“I am. I think I am just excited and anxious at the same time…” I replied faintly and took a couple of deep breaths to calm my heart a bit.

A couple of minutes passed and we arrived at Steinfied’s University. Chase went out of the driver’s seat and opened the door for the front seat for me. He chuckled when he saw me huffing and murmuring life reminders for myself.

“Come on, my love. You can do it. Do not overthink and just enjoy,” he said, cheering and then leaned down to kiss my cheek. “I love you so much, and I hope you have a good time on your first day.”

“Thank you so much, Chase…” I offered him a sweet smile and held his arm a bit.

We both heard his phone ring. He immediately answered it and I glanced at him while he talked over the phone. I realized it was his father because I heard him calling the person on the other line as ‘dad’.

“Yeah, I will be there shortly… I sent her to the university. It is her first day… Alright…”

Chase glanced at me. I gave him a confused look when he handed him his phone.

“He wants to speak with you, Reese.”

“Oh, okay!” I said and took the phone. I cleared my throat and spoke. “Hi, dad.”

“Hi, Reese. How are you doing?” His voice was seemingly lively.

“I am doing great, dad. How are you?”

“I am doing fine, sweetheart. Chase told me that you will start attending school today. Are you excited?”

I chuckled shyly. “Yes, dad. Very much so…”

“Great. I had a friend who used to attend Steinfield’s and he learned a lot during his two year of studying there. I am confident that you will be nurtured.”

“I hope so, dad. Thank you,” I sincerely said. He was the reason why I decided to take a business entrepreneurship class as he helped me figure out what I would really want to do in my life.

“Make me proud, Reese. I am rooting for you…” he added, which made me stunned for a brief moment.

His words were stuck in my mind. Those were the best words I had heard today, if not him mentioning Reese’s name that made me a little bit downhearted.

Was it too much if I hoped that one day the people around me would actually address me on my real name? I bet it would have been more fine if he said, “I am rooting for you, Olivia…”

It was a mere thought, yet hurt so much.

“Have a great day, Reese.”

“Thanks, dad. Take care of yourself,” I said and bid my goodbye to Chase’s father.

He talked to him for a few seconds and then after that, the call ended.

“Make friends and do not be overwhelmed. Just be yourself, Reese,” Chase remarked in a sweet tone. He leaned down and kissed me on my forehead. “Call me on your breaks.”

“Sure thing, Chase. Be careful when you drive,” I said and smiled at him.

“I will. I love you.”

“I love you too…” I replied and sighed in relief.

With a smile, he went into his car. I waved at him as I took a peek into the car’s window. He chuckled a bit and mouthed, “I love you,” once again. After that, he already went away.

I huffed in and spun around to look at the university. It was undeniably enormous. It was as if a downtown city with open parks, museum buildings, cafes and library, and a slew of other beautiful places that I wished I would have more time to explore later on.

“Don’t disappoint those who believe in you, Olivia…” I uttered to myself and then entered the main gate.

While I was walking in the hallway, trying to find the correct class. Suddenly, someone approached me by tapping my shoulder. When I turned to this person, I saw a familiar face of a woman who was smiling at me.

“Hello there! I’m glad to see you here!” she said.

Her face looked very familiar. I thought I had seen her before, but I could not tell where exactly.

“It’s me. The staff in the restaurant on the beach side, remember? You were the lady who brought her sister-in-law to our restaurant even without a prior reservation, right? I am pretty sure it was you,” she added as she looked at me as she was scanning my face.

My eyes widened when I realized that she was indeed the same person in the restaurant, let alone the nice girl who helped me during the enrollment period!

“Is this real? You were the one who helped me during the enrollment and the same girl who irritated me in that restaurant? Tell me you’re kidding!” I blurted out in disbelief. “My goodness! I didn’t recognize you!”

“I haven’t introduced myself properly. My name is Hailey Mia Brown. My friends here call me Mia, and about what happened in the restaurant? I am truly sorry. It was my hormones who overtook me that time,” she said and offered me a thin smile.

I inspected her from head to toe. “You wear thick eyeglasses, and your style is completely different compared to your outfit in the restaurant. I thought they were two different women.”

“Yeah, I know I kinda look old-fashioned when I am at school. I get that comment a lot.” She then giggled.

“I cannot believe it! So, are you an employee or a student here at Steinfeld’s?”

“Student.” She jerked her head. “My father inspired me to become a successful businesswoman and I want to follow the same path he’d taken.”

I recalled the man who intervened when we were having a heated conversation. “Do you mean you are the daughter of the owner of that restaurant? Matthew, isn’t it?” I asked her curiously.

“Yes, Mathew Brown is my father, but I normally call him ‘Sir’ whenever we are at work.” She smiled.

“I see…” I said, nodding.

“Seems like we are in the same block,” she said as she checked my identification card. “We better get going because the first class will begin in a few minutes.”

She jerked her head and then started walking.

So we were classmates? Cool!

“Let’s get going, Reese!” She turned to me when I didn’t make any move.

I came back to my senses and nodded.

“Sure thing!” Then I walked beside her.

I fought the urge to ask her some questions however my smartass mouth could not be stopped at the time.

“Mia, right?” I asked.

She gave me a glance. “Yes, you can call me Mia, or Hailey. It’s up to you…”

“I will call you Mia then,” I said and cleared my throat. “You mentioned that you want to become a successful business woman someday and you want to follow the same path your father had taken. May I know what inspired you to come with such a decision?” I asked out of curiosity.

Simply by looking at her physiques, I could really tell that she was much younger than I was, and I could not help but be amazed that she already had the courage to pursue a business degree at her age. She was even working as a waiter at their restaurant.

“Well, my father started the business from the ground up. Currently, we already have twenty restaurants in the country and we are planning to extend our business internationally. We have begun operating in China, Singapore and Taiwan. I believe my father can’t do this on his own so I want to make sure that our business will continue to grow. My father told me that I will be the one in charge of it in the future so I want to be ready to handle it so he won’t regret his decision.”

Her explanation surprised me for a bit. The fact that I heard all those things from a young woman truly amazed me. Based on her appearance, I believe she was also just in mid-twenties, and might be younger than me. But despite that, she really looked like someone who was independent and can be reliable on business matters.

On the other hand, all I knew was how to pole dance and perform in front of men. Business did not cross my mind even once when I was still working at the bar as my goal was to earn some cash to support myself.

I chuckled as I recalled the memories I shared with Lara.

“Hey, what’s funny? Does my explanation seem strange to you?”

“Oh, no! Please don’t get me wrong. I just remembered something in the past. You see, I really hadn’t thought about starting a business until I got married. All I did was to focus on how I can earn money quickly. But I hope everything will completely change this year. I dream to be a successful business woman too!” I exclaimed as I smiled at her.

“I see what you mean. By the way, how old are you?”

As soon as she asked that question, I stepped back.

“Well, only if you don’t mind telling me,” she went on to say.

“I prefer not to answer that!” I responded, and then gave her a harsh look before laughing.

“That’s fine. But you are also fairly young looking. That’s why I asked.”

I giggled and nodded. “Well, you can say that I am young.”

She then chuckled as we continued to walk our way through the hallway.

I must admit that I felt so relieved to have someone like Mia to accompany me. I knew for sure that it would be quite difficult for me to make friends here, given that most of the students here were all from the elite world.

My eyes wandered around and I was astonished by the fact that there were some elderly students enrolled at this university too. There were foreigners on the elevator, and based on their appearance, I assumed they were from Europe or Asian countries.

Group of students walked past us. The first group was dressed in suits and ties, while the second ones was dressed in crisp white polos, then there were folks who were dressed in plain white shirts that were neatly tucked into their well-fitting pants.

I could smell the exquisite perfumes that those gentlemen were wearing. I could not help but give them a second look. Admittedly, most of them were undeniably handsome too.

“Don’t you think there were a lot of hotties here, Mia?” I asked, nudging her arm with my elbow as I did so.

She rolled her eyes and gazed at the group who just walked past us.

“Let me tell you this, Reese. Those men are not for the faint of heart; be careful whenever they are around. The only thing they have in common is their desire for power and success in life. They are similar to us in this regard but deep within, they despise the fact that women are studying at this university,” she remarked in a low tone of voice.

She sounded so bitter when she said those that it actually gave me an impression that someone among that group probably hurt her. Perhaps an ex-boyfriend? Who knows? Or maybe I was wrong to think something like that about her.

When we got to the third floor of the building, we were greeted by another long hallway. I simply followed her till we reached our classroom. As soon as we walked through the door, everyone’s attention was drawn to us. They were all well seated.

It was hard to engage with them since they were dressed so professionally, whereas I was simply wearing a simple blouse and jeans and Mia was dressed in a sweater and in what appeared to be pajama-like bottoms. We were like siblings who didn’t belong in a world full of fashion.

“Please take your seat,” I noticed an elderly lady sitting at the desk on the front platform, checking papers. “I said, take a seat!”

I came back to my senses as I did not expect her to yell. Mia and I glanced at each other and decided to move. We chose to sit at the back but we heard the professor speak again.

“Both of you, sit here in front!”

I winced at her terrifying tone. But then she started giggling.

“I am just kidding. I won’t bite you, so don’t be frightened and sit over here!”

Everyone in the class burst out laughing. In embarrassment, I scratched my head as everyone stared at us. I offered them a shy smile and as my eyes roamed around, a man sitting at the back row caught my attention. He was tall, had a white skin and blonde hair and I admit that he was kind of cute with his thin eyeglasses. He was smirking as he looked at me.

What was he smirking at?

I suppressed my smile and rolled my eyes at him.

Mia tugged me, motioning me to join her to sit on the front row. I nodded and walked with her, then when we were both seated, I leaned forward and whispered, “Our professor was frightening, wasn’t she?”

“I can hear that!” the professor exclaimed, which took me by surprise. I could have sworn I froze in my seat. I only calmed down when she chuckled. “Once again, I am just kidding.”

Our classmates laughed once again and I could only lower my head because of the embarrassment.

“I am sorry if I was trying to intimidate you. I am just trying to lighten up the mood of everyone, since it’s the first day of class. Seems like everyone enjoyed it, huh?”

Some of our classmates agreed, laughing.

At the back of my head, I was asking myself if this was really how the first day of class should look like. I wasn’t able to attend college, and this situation was totally new to me.

Just yesterday, I imagined myself introducing myself as Reese Jones-Maxwell to them in a sophisticated and refined manner, but instead, I became an instant laughing stock or more like a clown among my classmates and professor.

“Way to go, Liv…” I said quietly as I thought about it.

The professor then rose to her feet and addressed the class as if she was one of the students as well, which was acknowledged by the entire class positively.

“She’s not a real professor. She was simply playing a practical joke on everyone,” one of my classmates who was seated on the back murmured enough for me to hear.

“What?” I asked, astounded, leaping out of my seat in surprise. “I really thought she was a terror professor.”

“Calm down! Some of us were also pranked,” another classmate said from the back.

“I came here to study, and I don’t want to be pranked by anyone!” I responded, voice was a bit annoyed.

My frustration caused the entire class to fall silent. I looked around and noticed they were all looking at me. I then noticed some of them truly had an intimidating aura. Some of the girls were wearing neat ponytails; their hair was done neatly while some were wearing nice dress shoes and pumps. Others were dressed elegantly in black blazers, nice jewelry, and dresses.

I came to my senses when my attitude as Olivia Marie Miller– my real identity– came out as in front of them, rather than the Reese Jones-Maxwell that I was attempting to portray to the rest of the world.

I sighed and only sat properly, feeling crushed.

“It is our first day so let’s all take it easy and enjoy ourselves. Once we met our actual professor, we’d miss having all of this free time,” the fake professor said, a smirk on her face as she spoke.

She then walked towards my desk. “My name is Rose Josephine, and I would like to introduce myself to you. You are Reese Jones-Maxwell, is that correct?” she asked.

I blinked several times as my forehead wrinkled.

What does she want?