“Olivia.” I winced and stopped moving. I turned around slowly


    to find Alexander staring at me. “Don’t go just yet.” Then he


    turned to Mike. “Mike, would you mind opening the cake? It


    looks delicious.”


    He nodded and unwrapped the paper bag. He pulled out the


    cake gently and ced it over Alexander’s now empty te.


    Alexander ran his fork through the cake and brought it to his


    lips. He closed his eyes for a moment, then pulled out his phone.


    He started angling the device to capture the cake, but instead of


    taking the photo himself, he looked directly at me.


    “Olivia,e here. Take the picture for me.””


    The request caught me off–guard. Alexander was definitely up


    to something. But what?


    Forget about that, Yve said. This is the perfect opportunity to


    delete the message from his phone. Do it now.


    She was right. I walked back to where he sat and took the phone


    from him. I pretended to fiddle with the camera settings, but


    instead, I went straight to WhatsApp.


    “Careful, Olivia. We wouldn’t want you to identally delete


    anything important again.”


    My body jerked. He knew exactly what I was nning to do, and yet he was letting me do it. I wasn’t about to let this


    opportunity pass me by.


    “Of course,” I mouthed. Then I proceeded to quickly search for my name. The mortifying message was still there. I deleted it


    without hesitation.


    And it was gone without a trace. I could finally breathe again.


    I navigated back to the camera app. Trying to appear casual, I angled the phone toward the strawberry shortcake and


    snapped several shots, capturing different angles.


    Satisfied, and with the evidence of my indiscretion gone, I


    handed the phone back to Alexander.


    *Author*


    The four of them were still gathered in the dining room. Mike


    and Gai were none the wiser. Olivia was still reeling from her


    sessful mission, while Alexander retrieved his phone


    without revealing his inner thoughts.


    He headed straight for instagram and selected his favorite


    photo of the strawberry cake. Alexander considered what an


    appropriate caption would be, but he decided to include an


    emoji with a shy smile and closed eyes.


    Satisfied with the post, he tilted the phone so Gai and Mike


    could see. Gai’s eyes widened in shock. The emoji choice seemed


    so out of character for the Alpha that it left him stunned.


    Meanwhile, Mike simply nodded his approval. He didn’t mind


    his Alpha showing a bit of character.


    In fact, he weed it.


    Watching the different reactions, Olivia pulled out of her phone


    and quickly began scrolling on instagram. And when she saw it, her reaction was perhaps the most dramatic of all. She stared at


    her phone screen,pletely speechless. She couldn’t begin to


    But they all put the matter to rest, filing out of the house, into


    their respective cars as they drove to the office.


    Olivia was still in a state of utter confusion when they arrived


    at the building. Even as they rode the elevator, she couldn’t stop


    thinking about that emoji.


    But then Gai couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer and asked the question Olivia desperately wanted to ask. He leaned close to Alexander and whispered, “Did you use the wrong emoji by


    mistake? What you used is typically associated with shy young


    girls.”


    The Alpha didn’t like this line of questioning. He responded coldly, letting Gai know that he may have slipped and made a


    mistake.


    Olivia, however, had been listening intently. Her eyes widened


    as she realized that Alexander hadn’t made any mistakes at all


    No… he was doing this on purpose in an attempt to tease her.


    Alexander then proceeded to make it abundantly clear that nothing would be changed. He didn’t care about whatever


    chaos he was causing.


    And chaos it certainly was.


    His Instagram update had caused such an uproar that hisment section exploded. His private messages were filled


    with concerned inquiry and some amused texts. Even his own siblings joined in, jokingly asking if their usually stiff brother


    had been kidnapped.


    Among all these were several flirtatious messages from friends. Alexander was not having it. He simply blocked each sender.


    Meanwhile, across town, at Green Pack, Neil was just about to make his usual drive to work when his wife, Helen pulled him


    right back out of his car. She announced that there was a


    situation that required his immediate attention.


    Neil was naturally worried. His mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusion, and he asked his wife, “Is this about our


    kids?”


    Helen gave him an easy smack and shoved her phone in his


    face, to show him the picture of Alexander eating a strawberry


    cake.