Pearl
My eyes travelled from his hand, which firmly gripped my wrist and when my gaze met his face that was etched with a faint smile, I felt my heartbeat rise against my chest.
This man looked like he just walked right out of a fashion magazine, with his more than six feet height. The colour of his skin was like that of dark chocolate, and his handsome face had a neatly kept beard guiding his sharp features. This man was a freaking ten, but then it felt like I had seen him before.
Even with his handsome face that had me distracted for a moment, I still felt anger in me. I was angry at Kelvin, John and men in general at this point. Him, being a man, he was not exempted from it.
My brows drew close in a furrow, as I pulled my wrist away from his firm grip. "What?" I turned to face him.
He itched between his brows, and the smile on his face slowly faded, leaving his face in a blank expression. "Uhm... Can you spare me a minute," he pointed at the seats under the shade, before settling his dark brown eyes back into mine, "Maybe we can sit---"
"Do I look like I have time to waste on a stranger?" I asked.
His lips pursed in a smirk, and he slipped his hands into his pockets. "Are you always like this? Rude and impatient," he asked and I raised my brows at him.
It seemed like men were been sent to annoy me, because why would someone I didn't know from Adam, throw such questions at me? What was going on?
"And what do you mean by that?" I held my hand to my waist, taking two steps closer to him. "By asking if I was always like this, I mean."
"I know you don't remember but the other day at the restaurant, your big forehead jammed into my chest," he said, pointing at my forehead and before I could stop myself, I placed my hand on it, trying to weigh it and he chuckled lightly at that.
I rolled my eyes forcing back the urge to slap that laugh off his face. At that moment, I remembered where I had seen him before, and why he must have thought of me as a rude person.
I watched as he leaned closer to me, "You didn't even offer to pay for my shirt dry cleaning, so rude." He said.
I felt a little rise in my heartbeat and quickly, I took two steps away from him.
"I apologised for that and secondly, you don't know the whole story but here you are calling me rude," my hands left my waist and fell beside me. "So what do you want? Money for dry cleaning? How much is it? Give me your account details, so that I can transfer it to you." I went on and unlocked my phone screen, I was about to click on my bank app when he placed his hand on mine, stopping me. His touch felt good against my skin.
"I have another request for the payment," he smiled when my eyes met his. A faint line drew between my brows, I hoped it wasn't what I was thinking because security would have to drag me out of the hotel premises for beating up this man.
"What request, I don't have much time, I am here for a wedding."
"Well, that makes the two of us."
"So?" I arched my brow at him.
"Why don't we help each other, I will help you convince that man, that you have a boyfriend and you will have to convince my mother--"
"What?" I chuckled. I had thought he was going to ask me to sleep with him but this? This was funny. I wasn't expecting him to say something like this. It seemed like something that would happen only in the movies, hence, It sounded like a joke to me. "What do you think this is, a movie? Perhaps you heard when I told him that I have a b--boyfriend." I tried to sound as convincing as I could.
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.
~~~
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