Oh Cinderella: True love next door

The Roommate who is a Stranger

"Well, well, well, if it isn't my beautiful and amazing 'suspended from work' friend." Josh said with sarcasm as Olivia flung open the door.

"Hahaha, very funny. You can as well say goodbye to getting in." Olivia replied with a half smile and then jammed the door in his face before he could come in.

"Olivia, you know I didn't mean that. I was only pulling your legs." Josh quickly offered an apology but Olivia knew he was still playing around so she refused to let him in. Though, she stayed at the door.

"Go away my handsome and amazing 'not suspended from work' friend." She chimed in too.

"Okay, I'm sorry." Josh apologized again.

"Go away Josh. I'm busy." Olivia replied in a pretend distant tone so he would think she was no longer at the door.

"You know I have the keys right? Standing here is just a formality. I could use my keys and come right in" He revealed which made Olivia open the door with the speed of light.

"What? You have the keys? Who gave you? How did you get it? Did you steal them from me?" She rained questions on him.

Josh didn't utter a word yet, he made sure he got in first. He then raised a hand in greeting which Olivia ignored.

"Steal? It feels so nice knowing you think so high of me." He replied.

"How are you my princess?" He chimed in as he made his way through the hallway into the living room. Olivia hurried after him too.

He made the 'princess' part sound like he was speaking to a five-year old girl.

"Oh, please will you quit talking to me like I'm a child. And you haven't answered my question yet. How did you get the keys?" Olivia repeated while she stood to attention and her hands akimbo.

"I don't." Josh answered casually while he took a seat.

"I don't have them. I only said I do just so you would let me in." He added.

"What if I didn't?" Olivia quizzed. She wasn't willing to admit to Josh's win.

"Ohhhh, you're so cute... I can predict every of your moves and reactions, trust me." He replied with a wave of his hand at her face. Olivia made an attempt to smack the hand but she missed. Josh dodged it.

"Ohhh so you predicted I would let you in right?" She said with a smirk.

"Well, you did, didn't you?" He replied with much satisfaction.

"Argggghhhhh I hate you..." Olivia cried out as she also took a seat across him.

"I love you too." He chimed in with a broad smile.

"I'm so famished. I've been so busy with work since morning, I didn't even have the time to eat. It wasn't until I got into my car after the day's work that I realized I haven't eaten all day." He revealed while he leaned into the couch and rubbed lazily on his belly.

"I don't believe you. You don't joke with your meals so quit the lies and pretense." She let out with a raised brow.

"The management didn't get a replacement for you..."

Olivia didn't let him finish the sentence before she interrupted him. Her eyes lit up as she heard the first part.

"Ohhh really?" She asked with much excitement.

"Maybe not yet..." Josh chimed in in a pretend mocking manner. Olivia in turn hits him playfully on the chest. This time, she got him.

"Well, I don't know much about that. You know how Carrie can be. She doesn't reveal her cards, she just pulls a fast one on you when you least expect it." He retorted.

"That's true." She affirmed while her countenance changed back to normal before the excitement.

"So without a replacement, your work is automatically transferred to me, you can imagine that coupled with mine." He added while she nodded in affirmative.

"Yeah, I understand. But then, you should try and schedule your time well. Or probably, get the interns to help. You know they are there to learn right? And they can't do that if you keep doing all the work yourself." She advised.

"I'm not the type to force work on people. It might take me a while to get my work done but it doesn't bother me. I enjoy working." Josh said with so much pride but Olivia soon crushed it.

"That's a perfect example of a bad leader." She replied immediately.

"Are you seriously calling me a bad leader right now?" He asked while pretending to be hurt by it.

"As a matter of fact, I indeed am." Olivia affirmed confidently.

"You should learn to delegate duties to people under you. It lifts the burden off of you, giving you more time to attend to other important tasks while also keeping your subordinates occupied and productive in the process." She explained.

"Wow, I'm really loving this new you. What if I told you I never knew all this before now?" Josh said with sarcasm.

"I give up. You can stifle yourself in work twenty-four hours a day for all I care." She let out with a dismissive wave of hand in the air.

"Olivia I'm hungry." He digressed back to the main subject.

"I'm sure you know the way to the kitchen. By all means, make yourself comfortable in there." She added.

"I already know you wouldn't even lift a finger to help." He replied while he made his way to the kitchen.

"I feel so relieved that you know that already." Olivia chimed in while looking unbothered.

"First things first, I need a chilled drink..." Josh said as he opened the refrigerator.

It was the perfectly cooked chicken wings that first caught his attention. The chicken was dished in a flat tray and wrapped with a transparent covering.

Josh could see how delicious it looked which made him salivate. His stomach could also bear him witness as it rumbled in that moment. He let out a soft chuckle as he looked down at his flat belly.

"Oh my God, who prepared this sumptuous chicken wings. I have to taste a bite." He said out loud so Olivia could hear. He took out the tray, unwrapped it and was about to devour when he suddenly saw Olivia before him.

It was as if she grew wings, she appeared before him in a blink of an eye. She must have sprinted from the living room.

"Oh no no no, don't you even try it. That's not for me." She said firmly as she quickly snatched the tray from him and hid it behind her back. She also warned him off with her other hand not to make an attempt at taking it from her.

"Ohh you mean you're saving this delicacy for someone else while your best friend is almost dying of hunger." Josh countered.

"Of course not... Well, it's not my fault you decided to bury yourself in work rather than feed yourself." Olivia argued too while Josh ignored the warning and tried to take the tray from her. He got a light smack on his hand instead.

"What did I just say? It's for Ryan. I didn't cook today, I ordered in this morning." Olivia clarified while she carefully put back the tray in the refrigerator and closed it.

"Just tell him I've eaten it then or I can just ask him myself. Is he home?" Josh asked while he tried to open the refrigerator again.

Olivia didn't let him. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him away from the kitchen.

"No, he isn't. And mind you, even if he is, I don't want you getting all "Joshy" with him." She answered while still pulling him along with her into the living room.

"And if I may ask what do you mean by 'all Joshy' with him?" Josh inquired.

"You know how extra and unnecessarily friendly you can be with strangers. I don't want that with him. I'm the one you're friends with so I'd appreciate it if we left things that way." Olivia said as she finally let go of his hand and sat back in her spot.

"Ohhhhh... I didn't know you love me this much and wait, is that jealousy I smell on you?" Josh asked with a taunting laugh.

"It looks so good on you though," he taunted further.

"That would be in your wildest dreams. He is a stranger and I'm only watching out for you." She said firmly while ignoring the taunt.

"Says the one who is living in the same house with the supposed stranger." Josh replied with the last part in an air quote after which he started laughing at Olivia's funny face.

He laughed for a few seconds more and then stopped. It was time to get serious.

"Olivia, he is your roommate, not a stranger. Yes, I agree that you don't know everything about him yet but don't forget that we did our due diligence before we chose him. Or isn't that the reason we went through so much stress checking their profile bios and the thorough interview. You have nothing to be scared of." He assured her.

"I know but please respect my wish too." Olivia chipped in.

"Fine." He asserted with a serious face.

"I'm not passing on this though. It looks and smells too sumptuous not to taste." Josh said as he pulled out a chicken wing from his back.

Olivia had noticed he was hiding one of his hands behind him but she didn't think it was something worth looking into.

She pretended as if she didn't care about the chicken which made Josh relax. As he was about to take a deep bite, Olivia quickly snatched the chicken from him and ran into the kitchen to return it. Josh didn't even know what to do, he just sat there with his hand still pointed toward his mouth as he watched Olivia's display.

"No means no." She said firmly as she appeared from the kitchen..

"I will order a pizza for us." She added.

"Us? Now you're hungry too?" He quizzes but Olivia didn't answer.

She grabbed her phone from the couch and made a quick order. It was to arrive in ten minutes. She then laid quietly on the couch while staring blankly at the wall.

"How are you?" Josh asked gently.

"As you can see I'm fine." Olivia answered slowly with a cute smile.

"Yeah I can see. But between you and I now, how are you holding up?" Josh asked again while Olivia flinched and let out a soft breath.

Fighting back the tears, she tried not to let emotions take over. She had cried enough in the last week to float a ship. Deciding to change and forget about a former partner sounds so easy but in reality, it isn't. Once in a while when she remembers Bobby, the hurt comes rushing back too.

"Sincerely, I don't know. But I feel fine, a little bored but definitely okay." Olivia asserted with a straight face. She was able to get a hold of herself.

"That's good to know. You don't have to stay indoor all day, you know. You could go out, a little sightseeing, a fancy park, or anywhere at all." Josh suggested.

"I can't afford that for now. I just have to make do with what I have at my disposal which is the four walls of this apartment." She replied with a smirk as she gave the part of the house she could see from her seat a quick scan.

"Never in a thousand years did I imagine I would hear you talk like this. This new modest you is really good." Josh added.

"Don't patronize me please." Olivia said and then threw a pillow at Josh who caught it and then carefully handed it back to her.

It was his way of saying he wasn't playing around. Olivia got it too so she stopped the tantrums.

"I could never. I like that you are using this time to do some deep reflecting. Its showing on you. I assure you, this is just a phase which will soon pass." Josh assured her.

"Thanks. It really means a lot to me. So how about Carrie? Has she said anything about me coming back?" Olivia asked.

Deep down, she had been hoping Carrie would change her mind and call her back to work. But with every mail she gets, her hope slowly dwindles as none was ever from Carrie.

"None that I know off. Just her reluctance to get a replacement which I don't know if I should be happy for or not..." Josh replied while Olivia gave him a fierce look which knocked him back to his senses immediately.

Olivia believed Carrie's reluctance to get a replacement meant her job was still intact.

"Definitely happy." He quickly added.

Just then, the doorbell went off. Olivia knew it was the pizza delivery man, so she swiftly made her way to the front door. She soon came back with a box of pizza.

"That was fast." Josh exclaimed.

"They are the best, always on time, basically the fastest and tastiest. It hasn't even been the ten minutes I was told to expect it." Olivia added.

"Even more than Pizzamptious" he asked.

"Yes more than Pizzamptious" she affirmed.

Pizzamptious is the pizza shop close to their work where they frequent. Almost everyone in the firm, sometimes Carrie too, goes there everyday to have a taste of the 'sumptuous pizza' which is the literal meaning of the shop's name, 'Pizzamptious'.

"That's nice then. I've always rated Pizzamptious so high. I have literally never tasted any pizza better than theirs." Josh retorted as he dived in the box.

"I've been there too, until I found this." Olivia asserted as she took a bite too.

"Verily I say unto you Olivia, a new record has been set this day. This is heavenly." He added after a few bites.

"I know right." Olivia mumbled with her mouth full.

With so much shock, Josh quickly turned to look at Olivia when he opened the box and saw it was just a pizza square left in there. He only had two so it came as a surprise where the remaining three went.

Olivia didn't say a word, instead she rushed to take the last one but Josh beat her to it. He immediately moved away from her knowing well that she would try to take it from him.

"Thought I was the one who complained of hunger." Josh chimed in as he gulped down the pizza. He kept pacing the room out of fear that Olivia would still come at him.

"Well, the last time I checked, it was Olivia who ordered the pizza. And besides, you should be thanking me for giving you a new record." Olivia replied while they both laughed it off.

Glancing at the clock, Josh quickly downed the tiny piece of pizza left in his hand.

"I have to leave, I'm going to hit traffic." He let out while Olivia gave out a half smile. Josh could sense she didn't want him to leave.

"Or I could probably stay till your stranger gets back." He suggested.

"No. You have to be at work early tomorrow and don't forget you work double tasks now." Olivia countered

"Are you sure?" Josh asked

"Go." She affirmed.

He did. She saw him to the front door where Josh insisted she went back.

As she closed the front door behind her, Olivia felt the silence fill the house again.