INVISIBLE STRING ― pedro pascal

-MESSAGE & REAL LIFE

"Okay, boo-hoo for you, you're also here, pretty much throwing this on me so I'm not sure why you're—"

"—Just because I was dragged into this—"

"Let's not jump straight into arguing now, you don't have to necessarily get along with each other," Angie spoke up firmly, looking between the pair.

Willow exchanged an annoyed glare with Pedro, both now mildly irritated by the other's presence, rather than standoffish like before.

"As she said," Mason agreed, glancing half-worriedly at CC. "We're all on the same page here. A couple Instagram photos, well-placed adverts, bombshell discovery of your relationship, big breakup, the whole sha-bang. We just have to keep this up for a few months, no more than six, until we're able to—"

"Six months!?" Pedro and Willow voiced loudly together, sharing a haughty look with one another.

Mason chuckled. "Yes," he adjusted his tie, fidgeting. "Six months. Now, Willow, you're at the perfect age where you're not young enough to be questionable to Mr. Pascal's—"

"—Pedro," he corrected.

"Ahem, of course," Mason smiled tightly. "You're not young enough for anyone to question his intentions, but you are young enough to add a controversial flare."

Willow felt sick, sinking her back against the soft cushioned office chair.

"Controversial flare?" She questioned softly. "I—I'm a human being," she looked between the three. "I made a mistake but I shouldn't be paraded off into the highest bidder—"

"—I'm not paying you for it—" Pedro intercepted, anger lacing his tone.

"It's a figure of speech," she spat out. "I don't deserve to be thrown off to a guy I hardly know, who is, quite honestly, old enough to be my dad. Matter of fact," she laughed, the situation finally hitting her. "You're closer in age to my dad than me!"

"I mean," she looked around at everyone. "This is a joke, right? Like how are people going to stand there and believe that we're dating? I don't even like being around him and—"

"—You don't even know me—"

"—And," she ignored his interruption. "You expect us to just get along at red carpet events and joke around in interviews and—"

"You're both actors," CC spoke up, the smile gone from her face. "So. Act."

Willow sunk back, defeated, her mind reeling. She'd never had a choice in anything.

Not her parents, her mother's Instagram photos of her as a child, her hair color growing up, her schooling — homeschool, always — her career: modeling, acting, occasionally singing. And comedy. She couldn't forget the comedy.

Her mother decided everything for her and begrudgingly, after moving out and deciding her own life, Willow found a different love in acting. A timeless, romantic fascination in portraying the average person, or people from far-away lands, all with problems different than her own.

But that life — it was hers.

Now, being forced to be in a public relationship for, lack of a better word, clout, she and an older man — who she would also have to work with in his own show — would have to pretend to be a happy couple.