Catch You!My Billionaire

Volunteer

Parking site near the back entrance of Verselion company’s office, a blue Rolls Royce enters and finds its way towards an empty reserved spot for the company’s owner. Once the car settles on its right station, Glen Hopkins hops out of his car, and his secretary follows. During their short walk to the entrance up until the top floor of Glen’s office, his secretary presented him the list and the appointments he has for the day. Glen made a few modifications on the list since he doesn’t want to attend all of those events or meetings. Most of the situation during his meetings on other businesses pitching an investment with him wastes his time through blabbers and nonsense talks about themselves, and their goals, even if his interest relies on the products and services they are selling. The businesses presentations irritate his ears over repetition of how good are their product’s design and the story behind it, but when Glen asked each of them about the people’s interest in their products, these founders go back on boasting their products. Glen schedule always piles over with important other meetings, appointments, and tasks needed for the completion of his own business, and every time he sits in front of them, the desire to leave whispers in his mind, “Order them to get out of your sight!”, yet he resisted, and even gave suggestions. These businessmen are starters from the industry, something never in his life, had he experienced since Glen inherited his business from his father, in order to maintain it, he climbed on thorny mountains with huge boulders rolling on his way, a threat which pushes him to fall.

Glen ordered strict instructions. All businessmen, he has an appointment with could use twenty minutes only in pitching their products and services. He believes that in a short span of time, he can discern excellent products apart from the ones in need of improvement. His secretary brought the charity giving on their conversation, she asks his plan on attending the event. “Clear my afternoon schedule until four”, Glen said.

“Noted, sir”, his secretary began typing on the tablet in her hands.

When she and Glen reached the doors of his office, the secretary handed him a paper containing the names of the new volunteers for the event later. Glen found it useless to look onto the list, he has no interest in who were the volunteers, but the number of people helping at the event is what he values. The more people handing out the goods his organization bought, the earlier it will finish. Glen still grabbed the paper from her hands and scans the numbers on the list, yet his eyes caught a familiar name near the beginning, “Olivia Clark”, he throws into surprise. His other thoughts for his schedule on the day were erased all of a sudden. Replaced with questions of why’s spirals into his mind. Why did she join? Why does she want to involve herself in my affairs?

Glen walked into his office empty-minded until he sits down. His secretary didn’t follow him inside, because she needs to make him a cup of coffee, out of their routine. He flipped open the laptop on his desk and checked files of folders. However, when he tries to read each of them, Olivia haunts him and the thought of her joining the volunteer program stays in his head. “She really is eager on her subtle investigation of me, perhaps I am one of her suspects in the murder, or is it just me overthinking? It might be her concern for the children, nothing more”, he sighs. Glen must not miss the charity giving later, or his mind will never put him at ease, he needs to see

Olivia at once.

Glen glances at his silver wristwatch with a few carats of diamonds inside. The watch pointed on the numbers ten and twelve. Three hours from now, and he’ll drive his way towards the biggest covered hall in the city.

His secretary enters his office and delivered a hot smoking coffee on his desk. Glen thanked her, and the secretary left the room. He worked and finishes all the tasks, the faster he can accomplish, his schedule will be more clear and free later in the day. Glen pre-occupied himself with his task and daily meeting with other company staff on the updates of their business. It took an hour for them to finish, after a long deliberation on their new marketing style and future programs. Glen gives all his undivided attention to his work which ended up forgetting his schedule in the afternoon.

Thirty minutes before one o clock strikes, and a single bite of food didn’t fall in his stomach yet. Glen drives at once to the covered hall a few kilometers away since he has to cross cities. His car stops on the driveway of the nearest fast-food chain he spotted from the destination, then he ordered a meal for his lunch. The operator handed him a double cheeseburger and a cola right away upon minutes of waiting.

His car dashes on the road, Glen ignored the consequences of a speeding ticket, since he can pay more than the price placed on his actions, but the important thing is to see Olivia. A way of asking a question straight to the person can be a crucial hard thing because sometimes it becomes the root of misunderstanding. Glen goes out of his car, without an idea of how can he find answers.

Crowds of people sit on every chair at the sides of the covered hall. Volunteers in a red plain t-shirt with a little logo of the organization on their right chest bring down each box from the huge eight-wheeler transporter truck. It’s been a year since he last visited the charity giving again. When Glen entered the hall, the volunteers noticed him. Each of the volunteers greeted him with a warm smile on their faces, he walked towards the boxes and looked on the opened one to see if it contains all the items they planned. Canned foods, a half-sack of rice, pasta and canned sauces, milk powder also in the can, and tinned meat.

Glen searched on the corners of the hall and didn’t find Olivia, is she tricking him? Glen went back to his volunteers and helped them a bit till time passes by until Olivia arrives, and he is right in half an hour, she arrives at the location. Wearing the same red t-shirt, one of the volunteers stationed at the place approaches her to ask a few questions verifying herself before she can enter. In the midst of their conversation, Glen shows up walking towards her way, which made her talking pause and stare at him.

“What are you doing here? Don’t you hate sweaty crowds?”, she asked once Glen stands in front of her.

Glen was about to reply, but he ordered the volunteer first whom Olivia chatted with to leave the two of them alone. The two were now left at a new job corner, and he can throw back questions at her with no worries from eavesdroppers. “Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that?”, he said.

She then reminds him about their conversation last time, so that an explanation won’t be needed. Their topic about Olivia’s past recalls and flashes back in his mind, her reason for helping

out the children is because they don’t deserve to undergo struggles at such a young age. He almost believes her, but a single detail burns down the strong foundation of her credible reason is the fact she once questioned him. In Glen’s ears, it was implausible. “If she’s playing a game with me, I will ride on her facades”. From that moment on, he promises himself to be closer towards Olivia, since the men he ordered to investigate, are still not giving him neither updates nor answers.

“All right, I remembered”, he said

Olivia then wanders her eyes around the place, children playing from their seats with parents on their sides chatting and waiting on the food to be distributed to their families. Tens of volunteers scattered on different tasks. There are volunteers taking out the boxes, and once they are placed on the ground a new set of people counts the hundreds of stacks of them. At the table in the middle of the hall, volunteers begin giving the boxes to the families from the list on their hands. “This is amazing”, she said, overjoyed at how every child from the family who received the boxes had a wide smile on their lips. Some of them even hop and taunt their parents to play with them.

She joined the volunteers in giving out the boxes and Glen followed her. The task on one of the tables stationed seems to not cost any sweats. What the volunteer needs to do is to ask the person for his/her id, search the name from the list and hand the person an id. However, when time passes and the warm air of the afternoon grows stronger, Olivia, Glen, and other volunteers on every desk start perspiring since there was no air conditioning at the place. Glen ordered other volunteers done from the task of taking out the boxes to bring five electric fans, and placed them on each desk.

Although her joints begin to have sharp pains along with the heaviness on her legs, Olivia ignored it, instead, she smiles at every family receiving the boxes and talked in a warm manner. Glen on the other hand sits at the front of the fan because his whole body bathes in sweat. He waits for his perspiration to end, but it seems Glen will take a little more time in order to be completely dry. Then all of a sudden, without his knowledge, his eyes directs on staring at Olivia smiling at the people. He couldn’t help but feel light-hearted, even in simple clothing her beauty stands out. From what he sees Olivia indeed gave her heart towards helping the families through volunteering. “If we didn’t have inner motives towards each other, are we gonna be close friends, or perhaps…even more than-pfft, what was I thinking” he smiles, but diverted his eyes right away when Olivia looks back at him.

Olivia noticed his eyes is on her, yet she wasn’t sure about it, therefore she ignored her perception, and focuses on the list instead. “Next, please”, she uttered to move the line forward. However, when the next person stands in front of the desk, she was thrown into surprise. A boy aged around seven years old lines up alone in dirty clothing filled with holes. Olivia asked the boy where his parents are, but the boy answered through a request, “They said, there are foods here, can I have some?”, the boy said.

Olivia fell silent. The boxes, they are giving out are in exact number for the people on the list, yet not all of them went and claimed it, therefore she made the boy wait. She approached Glen and asked if they have an extra box. Glen wondered why, so she pointed at the boy on the line.

“Some family didn’t show up, maybe we can give it to him instead”, she said,

“But can he carry it?”, he asked. Olivia suggested they lessen the contents of the box especially the canned foods, yet out of nowhere an idea crosses in her mind. “Wait a sec”, she told Glen and approached the kid. She asked the boy if he can direct her towards his place, but the boy shook his head. “Don’t you have a place to stay?----What about your parents? Where are they?”, and the boy gave her the same answer. Olivia’s heart melted, all she can think of is the kid’s situation, poor boy he must have been very hungry. She walked towards the boy and held both of his arms, “Do you want me to find you a safe place to stay?”, she smiles at him, yet the boy kept his mouth silent. Olivia believed he might be afraid of her, so in her pocket, she showed him her badge, “What about when we reached the police station, I let you ride a police car?”, she said. This time the boy nodded and smiles a little, thus Olivia, informed Glen about her idea of taking the boy with him. Glen agreed, even suggested coming with them, but Olivia only thanked him and insisted it wasn’t necessary since he still has a charity giving that he needs.to facilitate.