Chapter 34

OLIVIA

MY CONVERSATION with Chase stayed in my mind all night. It left me pondering this decision I made to better myself. It seemed that even if I failed numerous times, Chase would always believe in me, regardless of the situation. He appreciated every bit of my effort, my courage, my urge to dream, and it made me realize that there was no harm in failing and trying again. Life was, indeed, designed that way.

If the people around me believed in me, who was I to doubt myself? I did not want to disappoint anyone, so my courage fueled my determination to try my luck once again.

That night, I busied myself with browsing the internet on my phone while lying in bed, checking for other universities that I could try on. It appeared that there were a lot of universities in the city that focused on entrepreneurship, but Stenfield's University was top notch. I sighed at the thought that I'd missed my chance to attend that school.

The door of our bedroom was pushed open, and I saw Chase coming in while holding a phone to his ear. "Thank you, Mr. Sullivan. I greatly appreciate it. Oh no, I love to sponsor that cause. Please don't mention it." His gaze landed on me, brows furrowing when he realized I was still awake. "Gotcha. Take care, Mr. Sullivan. Bye."

"You went home early but made numerous work calls at home. Don't you know that's cheating?" I told him as I narrowed my eyes.

"Business..." He flashed an apologetic smile, and crawled into the bed right beside me. "And why are you still awake? It's already past midnight."

"Well, I can't sleep," I replied, and showed him my phone screen, where there was a list of good universities in the country. "I am looking for other universities to try on."

"Reese, didn't I tell you to wait for the result first?" He said it carefully as he gave me a stern look.

I pouted my lips. "I know, but I want to prepare myself, just in case I'm rejected."

With all honesty, I already had a feeling that I would be rejected, and I did not have the time to wait for that rejection email anymore. I mustered up the courage to try again. On the other hand, Chase seemed very persistent, telling me to wait for the result of my exam at Steinfield's even though we were both aware of how I screwed that exam.

"You're really stubborn," he uttered as he snaked his arm around my waist.

I shifted my weight to the side and looked him in the eyes. His face appeared to be fresh and even a little glistening, his scent was truly enticing, and his eyes were truly angelic. I traced every feature of his face with one hand, beginning with his forehead, moving down to the bridge of his nose, and finally his soft and kissable lips...

"You look tempted," he said teasingly.

I stopped what I was doing, embarrassed. I scoffed at him, but he only laughed at me.

"So going back to what I was saying, let's wait for Steinfield's first."

"What makes you think that I would pass the entrance exam, Chase?" I asked curiously, and then chuckled. "I told you, I screwed it. But you're still pushing it and you seem so confident."

He cleared his throat and smiled. "Because that's your dream university. I am pretty sure you did well even if you didn't finish answering the whole test."

"What if I didn't do well?"

"Then we will try other universities. Simple as that."

"Why not now?"

"Because we're still waiting for the result..." he said, and I felt his hand move all the way down between my legs.

I was completely speechless. My cheeks flushed as a result of his intense stare at me. When he started rubbing his finger right down there, I took a deep breath and held it. In a split second, he became undeniably sexually active. He only raised his body slightly in order to place himself on top of me.

My face turned red when he parted my legs, and without even breaking our eye contact, he made me feel his hard on that was pressing in between my thighs. A soft moan emitted from my mouth.

"I think we should do something that will make you fall asleep afterward," he uttered.

His tone turned so sexy that I felt a wave of emotion rolling over my entire body. A churning feeling went through my stomach when he leaned down and claimed my lips.

Minutes passed and I found our skin slapping together, my body rising to nirvana as I screamed his name.

***

I COULD NOT bring myself to open the email that Steinfield's University had sent me this morning, so I sat in front of Chase's laptop, biting my fingernails, and wishing I had more strength. Chase was right behind me, his arms crossed against his chest as he waited for me to be ready to view the freaking email before he could do anything.

"Hmm, so… are we just going to stare at your email inbox for hours, baby?" he said, breaking the deafening silence while I contemplated.

"I'm rejected, Chase. That's for sure." I bit my lower lip and spun around to gaze up at him with his swiveling chair.

He simply gazed down at me, raised one eyebrow, and gave me a confused stare. He was like a very strict husband who was wearing a bathrobe and was hiding his naked body inside. He looked damn hot with his messy hair, but I could not appreciate his beauty as the pang of fear engulfed my chest. My heart raced so fast and hard to the point that it felt as if my rib cage was going to explode.

"You haven't opened their email yet," he remarked, tilting his head, forehead creasing evidently. "Open it, Reese."

I instantly shook my head as I palmed my face. A surge of frustration rolled over into me. My eyes went back to the laptop screen and I looked at the unread email the university sent me. I was well aware of the result already, but seeing that email made my palms sweat so hard out of anxiety. Chase added to the high emotions I was feeling right now. He wanted me to read the content of the email.

"Then, how about I open it for you?" he offered.

"No! You will only be disappointed in me, Chase!" I scoffed and pursed my lips afterwards.

He chuckled a bit and clicked his tongue. "It's too early for you to overthink, my love."

He tried to move the chair a bit so he could get a hold of the keyboards of the laptop, but I immediately blocked him. My arms were stretched sideward, exposing my naked body as the tie of my bathrobe loosened.

He licked his lower lip and grinned widely. "Are you trying to strip tease in front of me?"

My face turned red in shame, and it made me cover myself as if this was the very first time he had seen me bare and naked. This time, he laughed, and all I could do was give him a deadly glare. He realized that I was upset, and tried his best to hold his laughter.

"I'm sorry, baby…" he said carefully, suppressing the smile that wanted to escape from his lips. "Let's just open the damn email, alright?"

"We don't need to open it," I said frustratedly, then ran my fingers through my hair. "I don't want to read the word "rejection" in the email. It will break my heart."

"But what if you're not rejected? Come on, Reese. You have to check so we'll know what to do next."

My lips pouted as I could not contain my emotions. I was embarrassed as I looked like a teenager who didn't want to be confronted by the hard truth via damn email. I pulled my hair and screamed a bit.

Chase laughed once again, then he held both of my shoulders and massaged them.

"Just relax, alright? Whatever the result is, I will never be disappointed in you, if that's what you're worried about." His voice was so reassuring that somehow it boosted my courage to view the email.

I huffed out in defeat and looked up to meet his gaze. "Promise me you won't laugh when you see the word rejected."

"Silly. Why would I laugh at you?" He leaned down and kissed my cheek. "Alright, take a deep breath and count from one to three, then open it."

"Fine, I will open it."

I inhaled sharply and looked at the laptop screen once again. I swallowed hard, mustering all my strength. I navigated the cursor and pointed it to that specific email. I breathed once again, closing my eyes and clicking the email at the same time.

Then the deafening silence started. Chase did not say anything, and I was very nervous in my seat. Eyes still closed, I elbowed him, encouraging him to say anything before I threw a tantrum in my place.

"Were you able to read it? Was the rejection word written in all caps and bolded?" I inquired, a little nervously. "Hey, say something!"

"Why the heck are you closing your eyes?" He laughed.

I felt his hands on both of my eyes. He tried to open them, but I immediately covered my face. "Just tell me that I am rejected and delete the email. I don't want to read it!"

Still laughing heartily, the next thing I felt was him hugging me from behind.

"It's okay, Reese…"

"Well, yeah! I told you, I'll just move on and search for another university. You are the one who insisted on checking this goddamn email!"

"I mean, it's okay for you to open your eyes and read it yourself," he clarified.

"What for?" I asked, still covering my face. "I don't want to feel embarrassed the second time around. Just delete the freaking email, Chase, and let's move on."

"Alright, but I am not good at memorizing details." He cleared his throat, and then continued, "It states here that you passed, and you can enroll starting tomorrow. You will need to bring some necessary documents, such as a valid ID—"

"What?!"

I opened my eyes and immediately looked at him, astounded, confused... What did he say?

He smirked boyishly, jerking his head for me to look at the laptop screen. My heart pounded more and I could no longer swallow, even if I wanted to.

"See it for yourself, baby."

I caught my breath, slowly turned around to check on the laptop. My eyes widened immediately as soon as I was able to read the content of the email.

Dear Mrs. Reese Jones-Maxwell,

We are pleased to inform you that you passed the entrance evaluation for Steinfield's University. Here is the list of requirements that you need to bring upon enrolment…

"I passed…" My voice got so low. I could not believe what my eyes were seeing.

"You passed…" he said in his soft tone of voice.

I shook my head. Was this a dream?

"I passed?" I said it once again.

"Yes, baby. You passed…" Chase hugged me. "Congratulations!"

I was just right there, sitting and looking at the laptop screen for a brief moment, trying to digest the content of the email my dream university had sent me, until it all sank in my head.

"I PASSED!"

I screamed in happiness, felt giddy and, in one swift move, jumped on Chase and hugged him tightly. All I heard was his soft chuckle. He held onto me tightly as I hugged and wrapped my legs around his waist.

"That's right. Congratulations, my love!" he said.

I began to sob on his shoulder. "I am so happy... Damn it, I thought they rejected me, but it turned out I was able to pass their exam! I got there on such a roller coaster of emotions, huh?

"No one can reject you, wife. You worked hard to be able to get in. For sure, they have seen your effort."

I withdrew from our hug and looked at him. I smiled and caressed his cheeks. "Thank you, Chase. You always believe in me."