A/N: Just in case, I think I should recap or explain about Natasha’s betrayal in 4 steps! :D
1. Natasha’s father owns a company called ERLA and they are becoming bankrupt. Rafferty Parker actually thinks that ERLA Company is doing well and that’s part of the reason why he wants Henry to marry Natasha. He’s friends with Natasha’s dad. (He mentions that he wants Henry to marry her in chapter 14).
2. So, Mr Parker and Natasha team together to try and break Henry and Lainie up.
3. In chapter 24, Natasha ‘looks after’ Lainie’s purse at while she dances with Keith and that is when she takes her cell phone.
4. Then, in chapter 26, she gives the phone to some media person. The phone was ‘the object’.
My hands wobbled as I searched the pockets of my jeans for my cell. I then finally remembered that Natasha had taken my phone. A groan escaped from my lips. I did not want to go back in there and face her again; I wanted to get as far away as I could. An idea then popped up in my head and I headed towards the lift to find the receptionist in the lobby.
When I reached the administration desk, the receptionist’s eyes bulged and I knew that my plan would work. “Do you think I can use the phone please?” I asked in a polite tone. Maybe I wouldn’t need to be scary.
I watched as she shifted her eyes. “Phones are only for members and workers of the-”
“I’m sure you don’t want me to fulfil my threat from last night … right?” I batted my eyelashes and made my eyes wide, so I could look innocent.
She sighed irritably and shoved the phone to me. “Hurry up. I might get fired if my boss finds out that I’m helping out people like you.”
I didn’t bother asking what that meant. “Will do,” I muttered. I stared at the phone and tried to remember Keith’s number, but I only managed to remember the first four numbers. I would have to make do with Henry’s.
It rang twice before he picked up. “Hello? Who is this?”
“Henry!” I let out a relieved sigh. “Do you think you can pick me up from somewhere?”
There was a pause from the other end of the line. “Where are you exactly?”
I smiled sheepishly, even though he wouldn’t be able to see it. “Uh … Hilton Curacao? You know the hotel?”
“How did you end up there?” Henry asked, in a rather slow tone.
I heard a cough from the other side and Keith saying, “Uh well … that was me.”
I listened in onto their conversation. “What?!” I heard Henry demand.
“She has to say goodbye to Natasha as well! I dropped her off but I got called here.”
“You left her stranded there?”
“I was going to pick her up when she rang!” Keith exclaimed defensively.
“Lainie’s cell was stolen.”
“Oh …”
I sighed exasperatedly. “Henry! Stop interrogating Keith. Do you think you could come for me or not? I could walk back or-”
“Of course,” he answered in a heartbeat. “I’ll be there in twenty.”
“Kay,” I answered. When I hung up, I gave the phone back to the receptionist, who gave me a small smirk. The nerve of her. “Trouble in paradise?”
I gave her a big, fat smile. “The opposite actually.”
She leaned forward with a not-so-convincing sympathetic look. “It’s ok to admit it, you know. I advise you to see a counsellor.” Her voice then dropped to a loud whisper. “It might help.”
I held my hand to my heart. “Oh honey, I’d advise you to see one too. You need to get your issues sorted out.”
“Sorry to disappoint you, but I have no issues,” she replied back, smiling smugly.
I widened my eyes on purpose. “Why, don’t you remember about the stick up your butt?” Before she could retort, I walked away, eager to escape from the annoying presence of the stuck-up receptionist. Everywhere in the world, there would always be the good, the bad and the downright ugly. It was a shame.
I checked out the hotels restaurant by the beach and drooled over the menu for a minute. I had no cash on me so I couldn’t buy anything. I decided to just sit on one of the chairs and ignored the weird looks the few waiters were giving me.
My thoughts went to Natasha and Mr Parker. I still couldn’t get over the fact that they had been behind all of this, although it all perversely fitted together.
I wasn’t that surprised that Mr Parker was involved, since he was such a prick and had seemed pretty determined to have his son marry for a business alliance. I had underestimated him – even in jail he was still capable of stirring trouble. I wished I could strangle the stupid, old bat. Natasha on the other hand, had betrayed me. Our friendship had meant nothing to her. Hell, it wasn’t even a true friendship if she had been lying to me the whole time and faking her friendliness. To know that it was all an act hurt me. I could never forgive her. Henry and I weren’t the same now.
If they hadn’t started to articles on the engagement being a sham, Henry wouldn’t have confessed to the public. We both could have gone under the pretence of being engaged until Henry proposed to me for real, and then we could have gotten married.
I immediately shook my head to get rid of those thoughts. What was I thinking?! Marrying Henry?! Wasn’t it a bit too early to be thinking about that?
But then images of being with Henry till death do us part flashed through my head. Living in the same house, waking up to his face everyday, eating dinner together … it all sounded so, so tempting.
I leaned my head in the palm of my hand and wondered how on earth I was going to keep myself from falling apart when I would go back to my hometown.
I had enjoyed my stay with Henry but I realised that my stay seemed like a dream, a holiday. This wasn’t right. I wasn’t fit for the world ofHollywood. I still don’t like the lives of the famous and the rich. You were in the spotlight all the time and that meant no privacy.
I was the type of person who liked privacy. I always knew, from when I was a little girl, that all I wanted and needed was to get married and lead a peaceful and homey life as a normal person, but I couldn’t do that if I was with Henry.
Our long-distance relationship would have to remain secret, so we were always in risk of being founded out, and when Henry and I will get together, we’d still be talked about. I don’t know what Henry’s plan was, but I was sure it would still be that way. I didn’t want it. I didn’t want any of this, but I hadn’t realised until now.
I had been too caught up with Henry’s intoxicating love, and now that I had found out that my ‘friend’ was actually my ‘enemy’, I finally had.
How could I live in a world where I’d be thrown into the spotlight constantly? When I wouldn’t know who was my friend or my foe? And wherever I walked, I would be talked about?
I couldn’t live like that. I couldn’t let my future children live like that. Even though it was too early to be thinking about that, I couldn’t help it. I would want them to have a serene, secure home. They could be attacked too if you thought about it.
Being famous was dangerous. Oh god, what was I going to do?
It was twenty minutes later when I looked up at the small, blue clock on the wall of the hotel restaurant, so I walked out and made my way through the lobby to get outside to the parking lot, where Henry would most likely be.
I was wrong.
He was standing in the lobby looking as handsome as ever. I ran up to him and hugged him, surprising him and myself. His warm embrace was the perfect medicine. I was ridded of my anger and hurt over Natasha’s betrayal.
“Hey there pancake,” Henry greeted, sounding happy that I was all for PDA. “Let’s go, shall we?”
I nodded and followed him out of the hotel, but in my peripheral view, I saw the receptionist from before gawking at us, or more likely, my boyfriend.
Henry sensed my negative mood and stopped walking just as we reached the motorbike. I had been looking at the ground while walking so I bumped into his chest. “Sorry,” I mumbled.
His eyes, which had turned black in the moonlight, showed concern. “Are you alright?”
No, I was not alright, but I assured him I was. It looked like he didn’t believe me, but he didn’t say anything further.
When we reached our hotel suite, it was eight-thirty pm. I wasn’t sure whether to tell Steve and Henry about the Natasha thing. After mulling over whether to tell them for a few seconds, I decided that there was no point. I knew that Henry wouldn’t date Natasha in a billion years and if his father tried to force him into anything, he would stick up for himself. How Mr Parker expects Henry to agree to his plan puzzles me. Henry has stuck up for himself and is more confident now.
I also knew that Arianne and April were away from harm. Part of Mr Parker’s sentence was to stay away from his family by a mile radius. I also didn’t want Henry to get into any fights with his father, or go to threaten Natasha. They weren’t worth it.
As I showered, I let a few tears escape. I wasn’t sad or angry … I was just a bit emotional. Everything was kind of overwhelming me at the moment. My life was a mess.
When I finally finished having a shower, I stepped out in my pyjamas and found Henry sitting on the bed, grinning foolishly. I wondered what was up with him. “What are you smiling about?” I asked suspiciously.
“Come here, I have something for you.”
I raised an eyebrow and crossed my arms. “Oh?”
“Please pancake!”
Hearing Henry beg and seeing his puppy dog face made me roll my eyes. It was unfair how his cuteness could persuade me into doing things. I clambered onto the bed to join him and sat cross-legged. I wondered what he had in store for me. A kiss? It didn’t seem likely because if that was the case, he would have done that by now.
He ordered me to face the other way, so I did, frowning. “Will you please tell me-?”
I then felt something cold on the base of my neck and looked down. Oh my god. He has bought me a necklace! Once he clasped it, his lips brushed my ear and I shivered.
“Do you like it?”
I nodded and fingered the chain. “Yes,” I whispered hoarsely. “Very much so.”
The necklace was a silver heart shaped locket with a rose carved into the front. I opened it gingerly and smiled at what I saw.
On one side, the words ‘Peanut & Pancake’ were engraved, and on the other, sat a picture of Henry and me smiling at each other, with Henry’s arm around me. It was the type of picture every couple wanted.
I was a bit confused about something. “When was this taken? Who took it?”
“Natasha did, at the filming studio. It was the day after we … confessed. She sent the picture to me.”
A pang of sorrow hit me when Natasha’s name was brought up, but I waved it away. “It’s beautiful Henry. Really.”
He grinned like a kid at Christmas and then added shyly, “Thanks. I wasn’t sure if you would like it.”
I gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Of course I would!”
We gazed at each other for a few seconds before Henry spoke up. “Then you’ll like this too!”
My eyes widened as he jumped off the bed to retrieve something from the drawer of his nightstand. Dear lord. Did he buy me something else too?
When he bounded back onto the bed, I saw that he was holding a red box with a strand of a white silk ribbon tied together in a bow. I eyed it warily. “Please don’t tell me there are tickets to go on an outer space journey.”
After his bungee jumping idea, who knew what he had up his sleeve? Or rather this time, in a box. Henry just laughed and told me to open it. I slowly unwrapped the ribbon and once it fell away from the box, I lifted the lid.
A sleek white cell sat there with its instructions and charger, earphones, a small pamphlet about social networking and games, a protection screen, a striped mobile phone sock and other little accessories.
I cracked a smile at my boyfriend’s thoughtfulness, but it was quickly replaced by guilt. I had accepted the locket, but now a cell phone? It was just too much. It must have been expensive too.
“Henry … I can’t take this.”
He blinked. “You don’t like it?”
“No!” I exclaimed quickly. Why did Henry always assume I never liked his surprises? “I do!”
Henry let out a sigh. “Just accept it. It’s a gift. I don’t know what to do with my money anyway. I might as well spend it all on you.”
I shook my head and looked helplessly at my brand new gift. “Don’t worry; I can get my own phone.”
After a moment’s pause, Henry said, “Fine. Consider it as an early birthday present.” I raised an eyebrow and caught his murmur. “Even though I’m still going to buy you something for your birthday.”
“You don’t even know my birthday,” I pointed out smugly.
“Actually I do. It’s the twenty-second of December.”
Henry smirked as he watched my smile fade. How did he get a hold of my birth date? My birthday was going to be a disaster. “First you know my full name and now you know my birthday,” I stated slowly. “Fess up, you’ve been stalking me, haven’t you?”
“No!” Henry looked offended.
“Facebook?” It could be a possibility, but my settings were all on private and I hadn’t befriend Henry yet, or announced that we were in a relationship, like everyone did these days. That would be awful actually. Everyone would be commenting. Anyway, I didn’t even use my account that much.
“I didn’t even know you had one,” my boyfriend mused.
I huffed. “Yeah, well I do.”
“Your uncle told me all the stuff I needed to know actually,” he explained as he was lying on the bed and casually played with my fingers. I looked down at him. “That’s how I knew what type of restaurant to propose to you in, what sort of engagement ring to buy you …”
“What?!” All this time, I had been under the thought that Steve had done all those things. Henry had even told me himself that my uncle had handpicked the fake engagement ring.
He continued on, while I sat there speechless. “You like elegant, but simple. Classy.”
“You bought me the ring? And you lied to me about it?!”
Henry blinked and realised his mistake. He smiled sheepishly at me. “I didn’t want you to think of me as a sweet guy back then.”
I’m not sure why, but I found something humours in it and laughed. Henry poked me in the side so I could stop, but I just kept giggling at his embarrassed expression. It wasn’t something you saw often. He cleared his throat and changed the subject so I would stop. “So do you like your gifts?”
“I love them very much. Thank you so much peanut.” I took his face in my hands and kissed him enthusiastically to show him how happy he was.
“Now you have a phone and we can call each other when you have to leave,” Henry murmured as his lips hovered above mine. He then rolled me onto my back and smiled angelically at me while I was frozen. I hadn’t been thinking about my epiphany I had about two hours ago, but now it all came rushing back to me as Henry’s lips trailed from my jaw and down to my throat. I realised that I was over thinking and that killed the romance, so I pushed the thoughts of leaving him to the back of my mind and concentrated on Henry’s presence instead.