A/N- Happy New Year by the way. Cheers to a lovely year ahead🍻
                              
Today has been so exhausting and it's just twelve p.m. There is so much a girl can take with the taunting Liam has been doing.

So flashback to when I first entered the office. Liam taunted me about walking into the office building without a bike and of course he wanted to know if I'll still be working with them now I was famous. I assured him that I just filled in because I wanted to help a friend,  which if you ask me isn't totally a lie. I wanted to help Brie, well kind of, but he doesn't have to know that the company is mine.
If I'm completely honest, I totally dreaded the day that Liam was going to find out about all this, because for how long can a secret remain a secret?

"Hey biker girl, do you remember we have a business lunch this afternoon?" Liam asked as he teased me again.
"Of course I remember, shoeless CEO," I smirked as I added the last part.

Liam just shook his head and smiled. Of course, he didn't reply 'cause he started it. He just continued putting his things together as we prepared to leave. I was putting my stuff together, when I remembered something, "Hey Liam," I called out and he raised his head from his desk giving his attention to me.
"Are we still coming back to the office?" I asked but somewhere deep down in my little heart, I mean not on the surface but way down in my heart, I wished he'll let me go back home after the business deal because I was spent and what I really wanted right now was to just lay on my bed and sleep.

"Your face says you don't want to come back to the office," Liam smirked as he said this.
I gasped in shock, a part of me wanted to deny it but we already agreed to never lie to each other. Although I added a clause in mine that Liam doesn't know about. I won't lie to him but if he ever finds out, I'm going to tell him straight up. If he doesn't and the six months elapses, I'll count my loses and let go. Liam has been so good to me and I don't want to repay him with evil.

"For real?" I asked.
"Yeah... For real. Do you play poker?" He asked.
"No... Why?"
"Good... 'cause you will definitely suck at it." He said without a bit of emotion.

I suddenly started laughing but not this small, undertone laughter. More like this bellowing kind of laughter, the right word- Belly laughter. When I finished laughing, I glanced up and noticed that Liam was staring at me with a puzzled expression.
"What's funny? Why were you laughing?"
"That's cause you just said the truth and made fun of my lack of poker skills, yet it's funny how true it is. I'll tell you about my poker Royal flush when we finish the business dinner with our associates if that's okay with you.
"Of course! When we're done with the business associates, we're going to have a friendly dinner at one of my resorts and I expect you to act as the name entails- a friend. Forget I'm your boss because we're leaving all that behind as soon as we leave this office building. I want to know you more than just an ordinary staff because you've never been one to me." He smiled as he finished.
"That touched me right here boss," I said placing my right hand on my chest dramatically.
"That's lovely to know. How about we fix this boss issue? I'll call you B.G and you'll call me S.C."
"And that means?" I drawled.
"Ohhh... Biker girl and Shoeless CEO. It'll be like our own inside joke." He smiled.
"I'll love that." I smiled back at him as I picked up my bag.

We stepped out of the office and Liam hurriedly Joanna that we'll be going for a business lunch and we won't be coming back.
When Liam turned to leave, Joanna hurriedly tapped me and 'Have loads of fun.' She mouthed and wriggled her brows. I mouthed back at her "It's a business lunch, not a sex escapade." She laughed as I walked away.
She's one of the people I'll miss when I finally leave.
            * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"So that went well?" Liam smiled at the just concluded business meeting. A huge oil mogul wanted to have his daughter's destination wedding at one of our resorts in Dubai. Liam had to assure him that the staff there are good and will make the wedding arrangements as high as his standards want it. I saw the love in his eyes for his daughter and but he had doubts.I watched Liam reassure all those doubts. The man wasn't difficult, he was just looking for the best for his princess and that was so adorable. When he was finally convinced, he shook Liam's hands and told him he'll send the plans that are in motion already so that Liam's staff could continue. He made Liam promise to come to the wedding and also made me assure him that I'll also be there. I'm sure he was thinking Liam and I were together or something... Like that'll ever happen.

"Yeah, it sure did." I smiled too.
"Well now that's done with, may we please have dinner cause you sure are looking like food right now. I might want to take a bite of you." Liam said.
I look so shocked at his statement. Not sure how to go about it, I decided to joke around.
"And that made me so scared." I fake shuddered and attempted to look scared.

Liam burst in laughter and suddenly I joined him. Some people in the restaurant were staring at us like we were both crazy. It doesn't matter if they think I'm crazy, I was having fun and loving every second of it.
Liam stood up still laughing and shook his head, "Only you Lettie, only you."
He walked away probably to talk with the manager to fix us something. He came back after ten minutes and sat down.
"Where did you run off to?" I questioned immediately he sat down.
"Well the manager wasn't around but I talked to the head chef to fix something for us. So let's get to know each other. First, tell me the poker story because I'm sure it will be hilarious."
"OK so apparently my cousin and I wanted to celebrate our twenty-first birthday and all that. We are birthday mates and the same age, so we're kind of twins. We decided to do something a little less exciting and more brain tasking. So we decided to play poker since my cousin didn't know how to play poker well but could keep a really neutral face, we decided she'll play while I'll just give directions since I sucked at keeping a neutral face. All was going well, and we were close to winning when I felt so pressed and decided to go to the restroom. I passed by someone's card and the person's card was royally flushed and the irony was he was the most confident on the table, so I started laughing at his cards and I pointed at him and said: "Man you are so screwed." So as cute as I was, I mean come on look at me," I fluttered my eyelashes at Liam. Liam looked like he wanted to burst into laughter, but he controlled himself and muttered a 'you sure are so cute',  so I continued with my story, "The  man didn't appreciate my comment one bit so he ordered security to throw both I and my cousin out of the poker building." I finished.

Liam started laughing again as he said: " I can't believe you actually said that."
"I told you I can be badass too." I puffed my chest.
Liam laughed and said, "I'm sure you can."
"So what about you? You never got into any trouble did you?" I inquired.
Liam was about to say something but was interrupted when the waiters came with our food. They finished serving and Liam muttered a thank you. Wow! So humble. He didn't even care that it was his restaurant.
"So like we were saying," Liam started as soon as we were done with our appetizer. "I was a recipe for disaster. I did bad things I'm not proud of."
"You?" I asked while looking at Liam in disbelief. Like I can't believe that totally lovable Liam went through the rebellion phase.
"Yeah as hard that is to believe, I actually went through a rebellion phase. I feel like I can tell you things I can't tell other people. Lettie can I trust you?"

Why must I always be put on the spot? If it was initially before the whole bet thing, I could have said 'of course' but now I don't even trust myself.

"Yes," I replied. No matter how desperate I am to win this bet, I can never reveal Liam's secret.
"So I encouraged my dad to marry my step-mom but when she started living with us and doing for me and my dad all the stuff mothers would do for their family," He stopped and shook his head. "It's stupid Lettie."
"Well tell me the stupid thing 'cause I really want to hear it." I coaxed him.
"The thing is it felt like it became clear to me that my mom was gone and she was never going to come back. So I joined the wrong crowd, started coming back late, doing drugs and all that shit. My step-mom cried every time she saw me, prayed for me to change and even begged me to change. She started looking a whole lot like the enemy and a huge part of my heart forgot that I insisted that dad married her." Liam shook his head and sighed while looking down in shame.

I placed my finger on his chin and raised his head up, when I realized that he was my boss and I overstepped my boundaries, I quickly retrieved my finger. I blushed slightly and mumbled a sorry. Liam just nodded that it was fine.
"So how did you know your step-mom since you said you interested your dad married her?" I questioned.
"Well... I was doing Chinese studies in school cause I needed a new challenge."
"A new challenge?"
"I could speak Spanish, French, Dutch, and Japanese. My mom was a linguist and she managed to teach me all these languages before she died. So I wanted to learn Mandarin but without my mom it was hard. So my now step-mom Liliana became my tutor. Liliana is a Spanish-American but she learned Mandarin because she lived in China for ten years. When she was in China she got pregnant with my step-brother Christopher and the father of the baby didn't want anything to do with her or the baby. According to him, it was only a night of pleasure that brought about a horrible result. My step-mom could not attempt abortion, so she kept the baby. She decided to come back to America, it was that time my dad was looking for a tutor for me. She was speaking Mandarin to a Chinese lady in a store when my dad approached her for a job. She accepted and started coming with Chris to our house. I never had a brother before so it was fun to have someone to play with and tell all my secrets to. It also helped that I was only older than him with two years. We could talk about the girls we had a crush on and the silly girls who forced themselves on us. We played matchmaker for our parents, they fell in love and they got married.

"So what made you go out of the rebellion phase?" I asked really captivated. I was seeing the various shades of Liam. His past mistakes, flaws and all that.

"It was because of Christopher. I love him so much because he's seen me at my worst and still stood by me. So one day I came back late and kind of drunk. Chris was up cause he was waiting for me, and he said "Jet Li." He called me like he usually did. He still loved Chinese superstars.
No matter how wasted I was or far out I go with everyone, I never get angry at Chris. So I answered him, "Yeah?" He said that day and I can never forget, "No matter how angry you are right now at everything, I still love you. No matter how much you push me, I'll still come back. You know why? It's because you're my brother and nothing is ever going to change that. He said that and hugged me. I cried so hard that night and I realized how stupid I have been. I have a family who loves me and I keep taking that as nothing. So from that night, I got my act together and stopped acting stupid. "
"Wow! That's lovely. I really need to meet this Chris that made Liam responsible." I smiled.
"Yeah... He's got the whole motivational speech thing going on. Although right now, he's in a whoring phase, so when he gets back next week do stay away from him."
"Yes S. C." I smiled.

We finished our dinner and Liam insisted he dropped me home. When we got to my house, I turned to him and smiled at him. "I had a really amazing time."
He placed his hands on mine folded hands and smiled back, "Me too."

"I'm kind of jealous of you," I admitted.
"Why?"
"When you get a loving step-brother that can move the earth for you to be happy, I get a blood-related sister that hates me so much and would be happy if I died."
"What? Really?" He asked looking shocked.
"Yeah, but it's okay 'cause I'm used to it." I attempted to smile but I failed miserably.

"You know some things are not always black and white. This means some things are usually more complicated than it seems. Give her a chance, maybe she's just being misunderstood. Okay?"

I nodded, not wanting to argue with Liam. He doesn't know that I give Maddie a chance every single day. I hugged him loosely and got off the car. He waved as the driver drove off and I waved back.
I was getting my keys from my bag when my phone started ringing. I wanted to pretend like I didn't see it when I saw it was Maddie, but I decided to do what Liam said, 'Give her a chance.'

"Hey, Maddie." I greeted in a cheery tone like I was happy to receive her call.
"Don't Maddie me, you motherfucking stupid ass dumb bitch." Maddie cursed.
I sighed sadly, So much for giving her a chance.