A Love Bargain

007: The wedding 4

He chuckled and pointed in a direction. "Even from where I was seated, I knew you lied and perhaps, the amount of time you blinked right now, gave it away that I was right. You do not only need an acting lesson, but you also need to learn how to lie effortlessly." He said and then glanced around the place. "That young man was not looking like he was convinced, it looked like he left because he didn't want to cause a scene, I'm sure that, he isn't going to give up."

I rolled my eyes at him, I knew I wasn't good at lying and my mom had always told me that when I was younger. I thought as I grew older, I would be better but, it seemed like it was just as bad as before.

"He is my problem to worry about, I don't want to get myself entangled in some sort of emotional disaster, and remember you said yourself that, I am not good at either lying or acting, I might mess it up for you."

"This is quite a simple task unless you are attracted to me and for the acting, I am going to help you. So you don't need to worry."

"Attracted to you? I mean who is proposing this offer? Why will you offer a woman you barely know such a thing?"

He dug his hand into his pocket, "You are beautiful, yes, but attracted to you? No. I am not drawn to toxic energy." He said and I couldn't help but scoff.

Toxic? This man had guts, but unlike John, who was utterly disgusting and made me impatient to deal with. I did find standing here, bickering with him quite interesting.

"That we only crossed paths in my bad days doesn't define who I am, why not wait with the judgment till you get to know me." Normally, I wouldn't care about what anyone thought about me, but there I was explaining myself to this stranger.

"But that will only happen when you accept my proposal, you can use the opportunity and change my view about you and at the same time earn a friend while at it. Trust me I am a good actor and we both won't have anything to lose. There would be nothing much to do, anyway." He stretched out his hand towards me, "And by the way, my name is Onyekachi Phillips, but you can call me Kachi just like everyone else."

My gaze shifted to his stretched-out hand, and my thoughts wandered off with all he had just said, even though he was rude a few times, which made me a little hesitant to shake him, I still stretched out my hand to him. "Pearl," I said and his mouth curved in a small smile.

He was right, Kelvin was going to keep bothering me, I already knew that but I never thought about faking a whole relationship, just to get back at him. But now that he had brought it up, I was seriously considering it because I had always planned to show Kelvin how happy I was, without him if we ever crossed paths. I even fantasised about being married but then, I wasn't.

"So, it's a deal?" He drew his hand away from mine and tugged it back into his pocket.

"I'm not saying yes but---"

"Put in your number here," he brought his phone out of his pocket, unlocked it and shoved it to my face. "We will talk about it better maybe later, since we are here for a wedding."

I stared at him briefly before I took his phone from him, I tapped my fingers on his phone screen, putting down my contact number. I didn't know how the hell this was going to play out, but I couldn't get myself to say no to his request. After I added my number I handed his phone to him and I watched him save my contact in it. "I need to know where I can get a hold of you in case you don't pick up my call, I'm not saying you should give me your home address though, but I need you to give me something to work with."

At first, I thought he was only pulling a scoop, but now, I could not help but wonder how important this thing was to him. Staring into his eyes, I could sense how serious he was with this plan, and that made me wonder why an adult man had to fake a relationship to please his mother. All he needed to do was to tell her the truth or maybe get a girlfriend.

"Uh--" I started but he stretched his phone to me again and I shifted my gaze to his phone screen.

"Put something down in my note, a place I can find you, where you will feel safe."

I took the phone from him, and without any protest, I tapped my finger on his screen noting down my workplace address. I wondered why I was giving in to all his requests. Who the hell was he? But then I noted it down and handed the phone back to him.

"Thank you, Pearl." He smiled and then glanced towards the direction of the event hall, "Why don't we head back together?" He added.

But before I could take a step, I heard my name from behind. I turned towards the direction and saw my sister striding toward me. I glanced at him and without saying a word, I turned and sauntered towards my sister.

"Are you feeling better now?" My sister asked, I nodded as I halted in front of her. "It's dancing time and you can't stay out here hiding when he is in there. Let's go dance together." My sister said as she wrapped her arm around me. I did just the same and we started walking to the venue. Before we got to the entrance, I glanced behind and saw Kachi walking far behind us.

My sister took a glance behind and then, shifted her gaze to me. "You know one of the Phillips brothers?"

"Huh?"

"They're two brothers and this one is the older one, he is a doctor."

"Do you know him? I blinked at my sister as we walked into the venue.

"Of course I do and who doesn't? Although this one is not loud on social media like the younger one, who I think is currently vacating in Maldives. This particular Phillips family have just two brothers, they own one of the best pediatric hospitals in the country. Also, they own hotel and restaurant chains scattered around the country. They are like the best-looking Phillips among the whole family." Amara said as she dragged me to the dance floor and we joined the rest of my family dancing.

I knew about the Phillips family, everyone knew about them. They were not just one man rich, every member of their family with the last name Phillips was known to be wealthy.

They had different enterprises scattered in and out of the country, making them the owners of one of the biggest conglomerates in the country. I could remember people always gushed about how good-looking, classy and rich they were, how they had maintained a good name for themselves but I never cared to pay attention to what some of them looked like. Why would rich, handsome Kachi Phillips ask me to act as his fake girlfriend when he could have any girl he wanted?

I directed my gaze to the entrance,  and there he was walking into the hall like he owned the place. But then, it belonged to his family. Soon enough, his gaze found mine and I slowly tore mine away from him. His face held a blank expression as he walked to his table which was in the VIP section. His aura and expression had changed and he looked different from the guy I was with out there, just a few minutes ago. I was already having second thoughts about his proposal, I wouldn't want to get entangled with high and mighty rich people let alone lying to his whole family.

I was yanked out of my thoughts when I felt money thrown at me, my face lit up in a smile as I danced and watched my mom spray more money on me. We danced a little longer before we all went back to our respective tables. After every one of the guests settled down, it was time for refreshments. There were assorted delicacies, drinks and many other things, and we all chatted away, laughing as we all ate to our satisfaction.

From time to time I glanced at the VIP section and the few times I saw kachi chatting with the man seated beside him, he either frowned, smirked or chuckled each time, I looked at him. He never for once glanced in my direction.

Not long after most of the guests finished with their food, it was time to hand out our gift to the couple, which we did and we in turn received wedding favours from them. 

Once again I trailed my gaze to the VIP, but Kachi was no longer there and the same with the man beside him. For kelvin, I was so engrossed in thoughts of Kachi and his proposal that I didn't even have time to think about him, nor did I see much of him anymore. It wasn't long before the guests started taking their leave and soon enough my sister and I drove home together. My brother drove our mom in her car and we all spent the night in my mother's house.

~~~

What do you guys think about their first interaction? Do y'all think that they can help each other out?

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