Chapter 1: The Reluctance

Cavan Olsen’s POV

“I can see why you need my help in finding a groom for your daughter, Cavan. She was a stubborn girl,” my friend, Levine, stated as I sighed. I was looking at him before I saw two people coming our way.

“And I assumed that you have found him?” I asked as I was looking at him. Levine smirked before he was turning to see the approaching guests.

“Ah, just the person that I need to see right now. Pearse, I want you to meet Cavan, my friend and I hope that we can all be acquainted,’’ Levine said as I was shaking hands with Pearse. He was the same age as me as I can see from his feature before a young man with fair hair and cobalt blue eyes were staring at me.

The same eyes as Pearse.

“Nice to meet you, Cavan, I’m Pearse Park and this is my son, Eliot Park,” he said as I was smiling at the young man. I shook his hand as well.

“Well, I hope you enjoy the party. I know it was nothing but I tried my best. It was kind of a rush decision as well,” I said as Pearse laughed.

“I’d say that you have outdone yourself again, Cavan,” he stated before Levine was chuckling at our conversation.

“So, Eliot, have you enjoy the party? Finding someone that might interest you?” Levine asked the young man as he shrugged.

“Eh, nothing’s fancy me as they knew I was the heir to a powerful empire and a genius. They did not dare to approach me,” he said as I saw that he was scanning the crowd.

For someone that was not impressed, he did seem to fidget about something.

“Is that so?” Levine asked before he smirked. Then, he sipped on the wine as we continue to banter as I was eyeing the young man. He seems restless. I wondered why.

Eliot Park’s POV

I was sipping on the wine as I was hearing to my father’s conversation with the other two old men that were an acquaintance of each other. If I was reading this correctly, my father was planning to get me a wife.

And I think I might puke at that statement.

Me, the notorious playboy that goes out with different women every week? Having a wife? What a joke!

I was looking around as I was remembering the conversation that I have with the woman that was a stranger in the secluded area. Her sweet voice was filling my ears as we were talking in Norwegian, assuming that she was Norwegian before she replied in the same tongue.

I smiled as I was remembering her sassy mouth and comment about the party. Usually, if I was approaching a woman, they would try to impress me or throw themselves at me. But she did not.

She just stood there, making sure as if I was not an existence to her.

It intrigued me to get to know her.

I was searching the room as I know that she would be among the crowd that was lurking around in the ballroom right now.

I don’t know her physique and I don’t know her name. I think I was on a goose chase right now.

“—would be a great solution to that. What do you think, Eliot?” Someone said my name before I was snapping to the moment. I was looking at the men that were talking animatedly before I saw that old man, the grandfather of Tyler that I met weeks ago in Finland, was looking intensely at me before smiling knowingly.

I think I might have been a target for fun right now. An old man’s fun.

“Sorry, what was the question again?” I asked as I was looking at them. Levine was chuckling before he sipped on his wine as my father and the other man were shaking their heads.

“It would seem that this party has taken an interest out of you, son,” my father started as I was shrugged.

“Eh, not much. Just a person,” I mumbled before I turned to look around again. The men laughed before my father was patting my shoulder.

“For someone hard to be impressed, you’re sure looking for this particular person now. Was it a woman?” He asked me as I was arching my eyebrow at him.

“And if it was?” I taunted him before my father sighed. He knows about my wild ways and I think he was giving up to tame me.

That’s why he turned to his trusted friend, Levine Virtanen. You want to know why? Here’s why.

Levine Virtanen was a ruthless businessman that ruled half of Finland with his wealth from the empire that he built, aside from the Finnish Royalty. Then, he befriended all the royalties that you can name in Europe.

Be it King of Hungary, relative to Danish monarch, King of Sweden. You name it. And here, he was the closest friend of a reclusive Green-tech genius, AKA my father as well as this renowned scientist.

See what I was telling you here? You don’t want to mess with Levine Virtanen as he was a force to be reckoned with.

I smiled before I was excusing myself as I wanted to get some time out of the ballroom. I think some fresh air would do be something good as well if I wanted to make a good impression for my supposed fiancée that I was about to meet.

But she was not around and I am tired of waiting for her.

I sighed as I was taking in the cold air of Norway as I was looking at the city of Oslo right now. Cavan Olsen was one of the leading scientists of Norway and has published a lot of scientific papers and journals that he was a most-sought scientist in green tech as well as a physicist that has been helping with the government on how to run with the anti-matter technology for the next generation’s energy consumption.

He was that good.

I sighed as I wanted to be like him, to be renowned for my inventions, not by being the notorious playboy or the heir to the green technology. Also, I missed my mum as she was in the States, being a professor at a department at NYU.

I think I might go visit her in the nearest time. I smiled before I was looking at the sky. It was bright tonight and it shone like diamonds in the sky. I closed my eyes before I was turning to make my way into the ballroom as I know that I would have to listen to my father’s ranting and conversations.

You see, he was a recluse and rarely meet up with people but when the old man, Levine Virtanen, called him up and asked him to come, he said yes in a heartbeat.

I can see how much power of that old man was holding up to my father. I got chills just by thinking about it.

But seriously, I still cannot figure out who was that woman that I was conversing in the secluded area. But I know, when I found her, I will make sure that she was mine to behold.

Astrid Olsen’s POV

I was smiling as I was looking at the backpack that I have packed for my escape. I was in my bedroom as I was ditching my party that I know my father would be too busy to notice me that I was gone, out of the country, and nowhere to be found.

I was smiling as I was looking at the one-way ticket that I have as I was looking at the bright sky of Oslo, Norway.

“Goodbye room. Don’t miss me,” I said as I was getting to the window before I was looking at the ground. My room was on the second floor but this will be easy. I don’t think that I would be jumping off from this height but I don’t care.

I am not ladylike anyway.

I was wearing a black hoodie as well as pants because I can blend in with the shadows to escape the security. I smiled as I was tightening the grope and the hook that I will be swinging from my bedroom to the tree nearby. I was looking at my bedroom before I smiled.

“I’ll be back but I don’t know when. So, I see you later,” I said before I was turning to the bright city of Oslo. I will miss my hometown.

“Goodbye, Oslo, until next time,” I said before I was swinging across the compound of my father’s mansion before I was getting to the city for my Lyft and went to the airport as my plane will be leaving in 4 hours, too late for my father to be catching my trail.