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I was ready to face all of it. I was ready to come clean when it came to this. I would give up everything I ever had just so I could be with Olivia. Instinctively, I took a deep breath, preparing myself for my entire empire to fall in one fell swoop.
“Okay! Thank you, OVT, for having Jebediah Olson, but this interview is now over!” Out of nowhere, Olson’s campaign manager completely pulled him off the stage before he could reveal the photo in his pocket.
“What are you doing!? Let me go, you stupid shithead!” Olson cussed out his campaign manager as he was being dragged out of the building. As he passed the exit, the photo fell from his hands, and I almost sprinted to pick it up as soon as possible, but it came to my surprise to see my father retrieve it and hide it in his pocket.
Then, I realized that I was still live on television, and, again, like a switch, I reverted back to my professional talk show demeanor.
“And that was a very eventful interview with Presidential candidate Jebediah Olson. Thank you for joining us here at OVT Broadcasting Network. Please stay tuned for your local news.” I ended the show flawlessly, and Mark gave me a thumbs up, signaling that I was officially off-the-air.
There was silence in the air. Everyone was simply staring at each other, then to me, back and forth, over and over. The room’s reactions were very understandable. A lot of it felt like a dream, but slowly… surely… intensely… we knew… we knew that—
“WE DID IT!” Lucy screamed out in celebration, everyone else following suit. I never thought she had that much volume in her, but it was an energy I welcomed.
A lot of staffers jumped in joy. Lucy and Janet were hugging each other in glee. Mark ran around the room with his crew, absolutely ecstatic. Eric gave me the tightest hug, to which I gave one back, as thanks for staying by my side after all these years. I couldn’t have asked for a better best friend. My father, to my shock, smiled at me genuinely before taking a seat in one of the nearby chairs to rest.
And finally… the woman that made all of this possible for all of us. My eyes scanned around the room that was brimming with celebration, looking for the woman who was the love of my life. I turned and turned, looking for her tender hair and her captivating hazel eyes. I continued to spin around the rapturous room… until finally… I saw her in the middle of all the happy chaos. A wide smile slowly spread across my mouth as I made my way over to her, and all I felt was nothing but how my heart yearned to hold her close in my arms.
“Hi,” I greeted, no longer caring about the countless number of people surrounding us.
“Hi,” Olivia greeted back, a small tear of joy trailing down her blushing cheeks.
At that point, I was tired of words, and I did as my heart desired. I pulled her into my arms, promising to never let her go, no matter what happened beyond this day.
It was a new chapter for OVT. And it was a new chapter for Olivia and I. Who knew where it would take us next?
Chapter 19
Ben
Everyonewasecstaticaboutwhat just happened. Everyone was in such high spirits that I said, screw it, we were going to have a corporate-wide party.
With the help of Eric, several hours later, the entire OVT building’s banquet hall was filled with an array of catered gourmet food, a DJ, and an open bar for today’s successful show.
“Well, this is certainly a way to celebrate,” my father commented, as I assisted him toward the hall. “You know, I once interviewed Bette Davis in these very halls, and now you’re having…whatever this is,” he waved his arm, covering seemingly everything. I was expecting him to be more irritated by the colorful lights and the thumping sound of the DJ’s tracks, but he seemed relatively peaceful. Which was saying a lot, considering it was my father.
“Oh, come on, Dad, let loose a little,” I urged. We had our differences in the past, for sure, but I never hated him. He was tough and sometimes negligent, but he was still my father. Everything I experienced with him helped make me, me. Learning from Olivia what I was missing, made me know what I wanted. I didn't need to regret the past.
Not to mention, I just recently confirmed that he really did care for me and respected my decisions. “And, I wanted to say thank you, Dad,” I said, leaning down a bit to look my father directly in the eyes. His old eyes had seen a lot in his lifetime, but this was the first time I saw it with such relief and gratitude washing over him.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he immediately responded, and honestly, I kind of expected him to say that. “But if anyone waslegendaryenough to use his connections to delete a certain photo, I would say it was within his plans. Now someone get me a drink!” He covered up his first few mumbled sentences with the sudden volume of his last one, and that was such an expert move to deflect the topic from his true intentions. Well, he wastheJohnson DuPont after all.
He left me after that, which wasn’t entirely new, but thankfully, a beautiful woman immediately came to my rescue by tapping on my back. I turned around with a quaint smile. No matter how much I wanted to drop everything and kiss her hard on the lips right now, I knew that was a hurdle for another day.
“Hello there, mister iconic host,” Olivia greeted with a drink in both of her hands. She proceeded to hand me one of them. “Cheers to a successful night?” With a wink, she raised her drink up towards mine.
“Cheers,” I replied, clinking my glass with hers and taking a deep sip. I also deeply regretted doing that as I had never tasted this liquor before, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. “What on earth—?”
“Oh, come on, mister fancy pants, it’s a rum and Coke. I used to drink that all the time in college!” Olivia defended. “You need to get more to the cheaper side of things. Everything’s more fun over here, you know,” she proclaimed, taking a sip of the drink and enjoying herself.
I scoffed, taking another swig of the drink. I winced. I just really did not like it.
“Maybe you could come to this side, instead? We could enjoy some caviar along with some of my favorite Italian wine?” I counter-offered, with a teasing look in my eye.
This time, she was the one to scoff.
“Not everyone has a company that makes a ridiculous amount of money every day, you know.”
“Ah, but you forget that OVT is currently hemorrhaging money.”
