Amanda's POV
Everything is ephemeral. What comes now has to go tomorrow. If you're poor today, you'll definitely be rich tomorrow. If you're facing failures now, success will knock you down soon. The truth is our life is subject to various variations.
I was in Starbucks with my java chip all alone at 11 am in the morning. Yes, it was a day off from college which meant I could totally focus on my office work for now.
I drank a sip of my favorite frappucino. I was all alone because I wanted some space for myself. I felt good, to be honest, for a while. I was out of all the drama and felt peace looking at the green and fresh environment outside the glass window.
"Are you okay sir?" a man with nerds and dense beards was continuously coughing right next to me. It looked like he was waiting for some people. He dressed quite casually. His facial features resembled someone very likely. I couldn't recollect whom. His side face gave me a gist of Mr. Reynolds but his presence here was quite impossible.
"Yes, Thanks ", he replied but seemed quite shocked while confronting me, like he didn't expect me here.
On unseating himself, he came right next to me. He smelled like someone I knew. Like Mr. Reynolds. But, his chin was quite hairy and it was beyond the bounds of possibility to grow such dense beards in one day. There could be more scents of the same kind, the company may manufacture. I diverted my mind which wandered totally about my devil boss.
"What are you doing here Miss Waters? " he whispered silently in my ears maintaining his rude accent.
I was completely shocked after hearing his voice. The weird man I doubted a while ago was no one but Mr. Reynolds, all dressed casually along with beanie and nerd glasses. He was definitely on a mission to deceit someone. He could really do anything for the welfare of his business.
"That's you?" I inhaled deeply. This wasn't a dream, it was real. He was real.
"Yes me! Dare you to ruin everything ", he warned with wide eyes. He yet looked great with nerd glasses and dense beards.
"Okay. I won't give a reason to complain. You made my exit from my favorite place easier than ever", I thumped my feet while possessing the standing position.
"Yes, go for now", he murmured. Suddenly, we were joined by a group of people all dressed in formals. Without a ritualistic invitation, they settled themselves on the vacant seats surrounding us.
"Who is this young girl, Mr. Steve ", one of the men from their group asked while looking at me. He watched me several times with cornered eyes before opening up the question. Mr. Steve? Yeah, maybe it was Mr. Reynolds's fake name which he projected for the meeting.
I kept silent for a while and refused to answer the question. I was aware of the fact that my mouth was garbage. It could either spoil his meeting to some extent or spoil his meeting to a greater extent. There's nothing in between.
"She is? Umm, she's my one and only wife", Mr. Reynolds aka Mr. Steve grasped me closer to him through my waist with his right hand and kissed me on my cheek tightly.
I could not resist the butterflies I felt in my belly. I blushed, a little. His hands were warm and his kiss was sweet enough to suffice for the sugar-free coffee. My thinking capacity came to a standstill as whatever his plan was, I, now was a part of it.
"Just a Husband - wife casual meet", he continued and I nodded with a smile.
"If it's a meeting, for now, I guess I should leave ", I tried running away from the situation.
"No, it's okay Madam. You can stay here because we're here for a while. Don't worry we're just borrowing your husband for some moments", all of the men gestured me with so much of respect.
"It's okay, baby! You can sit with us", Mr. Reynolds pushed my chair in an outward direction so that I could settle myself in. The flattering words out of his mouth felt weird, his smile was extremely fake, 50 shades of fake.
I nodded whilst agreeing to him. I answered slowly "Yes, sure"
I kept numb. Mr. Reynolds along with the men discussed things, things which were very professional. The talk continued for an hour.
"So, I guess we consider this meeting a deal ", one of them spoke up and everyone agreed.
Mr. Reynolds hurriedly questioned, "So where are the contract papers?"
"Not before you attend tonight's party with your loving wife", the dominant one of those men proposed a small invitation card in his direction.
"What? Me? ", everyone's attention rested on me because of my instinctive reaction to the term 'wife'. I had to make up for this so I continued "I mean what I will do in a professional party. I hardly know anyone there", I plastered my face with a smile.
"Don't worry madam, it's not one of those professional parties. You'll really enjoy with other ladies out there. It's an anniversary party of our boss ", he signaled towards their boss who smiled slightly.
"Yes sure, we're going to attend", Mr. Reynolds aka the fake Steve guy held me firm with his hands through my arms. After some minutes, they left sparking up another trouble to my troublesome life.
"Now we're in trouble", I murmured after seeing all the men completely out of sight, Mr. Reynolds slowly loosened his grip over me.
"You are the one who created it, so now you've to act like a wife. I'll pick you up by 8 pm, I don't like latecomers ", he totally transferred the blame on my shoulders but how about asking me my permission first?
"You were the one who came towards me", I cleared myself.
"You were the one who questioned me", he instinctively replied.
"Why are you lying?" I wanted to understand the situation in order to be a part of one.
"Their company will never assign a contract to Aaron Reynolds. They need someone who has a favorable image and is more of a family man. They feel that only a family man can understand a situation better in a cool and calm manner", he smirked. I knew he was silently laughing at their thoughts.
"This is a fraud then", I tried judging.
"Not when I'll have the original papers in my name", he completed his master plan.
I cleared my trafficked thoughts, "They sure will read the papers ",
"Not when you're going to distract them", he raised his eyebrows evilly as he looked at me. I had no idea what his plan was but I was scared already.
"What? Me? , I'm not really a good actor."
"Will some increments to your salary make you one?" he was totally trading me with money.
I thought for a while and answered "I'll give acting a shot then", why would I let go of a chance of having a handsome amount.
"Get ready and be prepared. Don't come to the office today! ", were his last words while leaving Starbucks.
I stood there for a while and left for home. I was happy that there was an off for office today along with college. I chose to walk till home as I had a lot of free time. After reaching home, after a while, I decided to take a quick nap so as to give rest to my mind as well as body.
On hearing continuous knocking over the door, I woke up instinctively. There was a man with a parcel in his hand. He looked familiar, after closer observation I realized that he was the clerk of my office. I grabbed the parcel from his hand and thanked him for getting it to me. The inner devil within me wanted to hit him very hard for waking me up when I was half asleep.
I carefully closed the door and took that parcel towards my room. I kept it on my bed. Initially, I was scared to open it because previously the parcel from "Reynolds Associations" contained a waitress's dress. This time it could be a dress of a unicorn, who knew?
I, whilst opening the parcel encountered a small note at the very end of it. It read "wear this tonight, couldn't trust your old fashion sense -Aaron Reynolds ", I crumbled the paper and threw it towards the closest bin in my bedroom. I didn't know either to thank him for the dress or grudge against him for considering my fashion sense inaccurate.
On realization of the time, I took a quick shower and draped the dress on my body properly. It looked quite fascinating and expensive. It was an off shouldered black dress which was perfect for showing off of collar bones. Beneath the dress was a pair of black wedges.
I quickly wore it. It was 3 inches above the knee. I didn't prefer wearing short dresses, but I had to wear it anyway. I gave a smokey look to my eyes and made a messy side-parted hairstyle leaving them open. I decided to go with a hot pink lip shade. I wore the medium heeled wedges and marched towards the door.
I waited for the knock at the door and when I could hear one, I quickly ran towards the door and opened it. It was Mr. Reynolds dressed up completely in a grey tuxedo. He had his hairs a bit messy. His dense artificial beard added sparks to his look. He had the pair of nerds in his hand which he was going to wear directly at the party, I guess.
"I'm ready sir ", he was already staring at me from head to toe. It made me uncomfortable so I matched my eyeballs with him and examined myself to see if anything on me was weird. Fortunately, everything looked fine.
"Yes, I could see that. Presentable much ", he smirked and continued "Try not calling me sir or Mr. Reynolds for tonight, Steve okay?"
I nodded and then carefully locked the door and kept the key in my purse. My mom had the other set of keys so I could carry one freely. He signaled me towards his car. It was definitely one kind of an expensive model. I opened the door of the back seat and made myself comfortable there.
"What do I look to you? A driver?", Mr. Reynolds was annoyed by the fact of me sitting on the back seat.
"I'm sorry. I thought that you wouldn't like it if I sit on the passenger seat next to you ", I apologized
"Well Mr. Reynolds wouldn't like it but since I'm Mr. Steve and you are my wife, try acting like one ", he opened the door of the passenger seat next to him.
I silently opened the door of the back seat and paved my way towards the front seat. Mr. Reynolds closed the door after making sure that I was seated.
The ride began. The only voice which was audible to my ears was of the horns. He kept quiet and I didn't dare to utter a word either. I cornered my eyes and watched him drive, his blue eyes were focused on the road, and mine was focused on him. I made sure that our eyes didn't collide as it would be really awkward for both of us.
"All set?" he interrogated breaking the silence.
"Probably yes" I answered.
"Probably word will never let you win in your life. It's the quality losers possess", he looked straight towards the road.
I didn't reply to him but instead kept quite. We reached the party in some time. Mr. Reynolds aka Mr. Steve acted like a perfect gentleman, he opened the door of the car and let me out after parking it. I tried acting like a habitual 25-year-old woman too.
After coming closer to me, he propelled his left hand in my direction and questioned: "Can I?"
I gave away my right hand to which he quickly intertwined his left. I could feel the warmth of his muscles as they were touching mine. Our bodies were almost glued as we walked by.
After taking gradual steps in synchronization to each other's feet, we reached the middle of the party. Mr. Reynolds didn't fail to surface the pair of spectacles around his nose. I held my purse tightly with my left hand as it had the contract papers in it. The bag was a small sling shouldered bag.
We paved our way towards the party's host i.e. towards the couple who invited us here in order to greet them. They looked so cute together. They were hugging and kissing each other carelessly. Someday, I also wanted to celebrate my anniversary like such with the person I loved.
"Congratulations Mr. and Mrs." I saw their name and surname on the projected screen and quickly continued "Linley". Their couple was the definition of cuteness. Mrs. Linley was so friendly that when I greeted her she directly hugged me. A part of me felt so bad for plotting against them but then I had to keep aside the emotions if, I wanted my job to be stable.
After parting ourselves from the couple Mr. Reynolds muttered under his breath, clear enough for me to hear "I don't know for how long we have to go through this shit".
"Why does working with you mean giving up on the humble side of me ", I whispered in his ear.
"Just a start Miss Waters ", he loved irritating me so much.
The music began and it was a sweet and melodious tone. Almost every couple on the ground went in the dancing area. We preferred staying back.
"You'll really enjoy dancing there, I assure ", a person from Mr. Linley's office who was present in the morning pointed us towards the dance floor.
"Yes! Yes, sure! ", Mr. Reynolds took my hand and pulled me towards the dance floor.
"But I - I don't know how to dance", I whispered silently in his ears.
"Go with the flow", Mr. Reynolds assured me.
The music was My favorite Carrie Underwood's "Heartbeat" which was aired in full volume.
-I love it when we're at a party in a down-town crowd
Oh but I can hear you call me baby with the music up loud-
Mr. Reynolds caught me by the waist and pulled me closer. I curled my hands around his neck. Our heads touched but we made sure to keep some inches difference between our lips.
-Red wine, good times, no I don't mind being with everyone else
And then there's nightlife tonight that I, I want you to myself -
He loosened up his grip over me and then I curled towards him from the right side. My back touched his chest and we swayed our feet together in rhythm.
-And tonight I wanna drive so far we'll only find static on the radio
And we can't see those city lights and I love the way you look in a firefly glow-
I uncurled myself and he took hold of my right hand with his left and wrapped his other hand on my waist. I took grip by catching him through his arms. I tried curling my hands around his neck earlier but it really created an intimidating situation by pushing desires in me to kiss him hard.
- Saying everything without making a sound,
A cricket choir in the background, underneath a harvest moon -
I rested my head on his shoulders and he supported me by putting both of his hands on my back. I've never done a couple-dance earlier but this was the first best experience.
- Standing on your shoes in my bare feet, dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat
Oh Woah, and we're dancing to the rhythm of your heartbeat -
I let go of his shoulders and placed both of my hands on his neck again. He lifted me up through my hips and turned me around. I never knew that Mr. Richie Rich could dance so well.
-I wanna feel it like a kick drum, beating faster in your chest, I wanna feel you holding onto me and make me hold my breath -
He placed me down carefully on the ground like I was the most precious thing in his life. Fireworks were burning within me and butterflies kept fluttering since the moment we entered the party. Since the moment he placed his hands on mine, on my skin.
-You pull me closer, my head on your shoulder, baby we won't beat the song-
He made the sexiest eye contact with me. It was impossible to look away. I really wanted to look away and distract myself from the dirty thoughts but our head touched so I couldn't.
-We'll make a fallen star wish, one more slow kiss, what are we waiting on? -
These words created the most romantic environment ever. He came extremely close to me, our nose touched. Our lips were just centimeters away. He overcame that distance within no time. He slowly placed his lips on mine. "Am I dreaming?" I questioned myself. But no I wasn't. I was living it.
-And tonight I wanna drive so far we'll only find static on the radio
And we can't see those city lights and I love the way you look in a firefly glow-
It was not even one perfect kiss. He just placed his lips on mine for some seconds and then took them apart. But to me, it felt something. I felt something. But whatever I felt had to stop because there were possibilities of only heartbreaks.
- Saying everything without making a sound -
He looked towards me, in my eyes and all I did was blush. I knew my cheeks would have reddened by now.
The song got over and when I turned around I saw that no one except us was dancing. People watched us with "awe". I could see them totally flattered by our performance, they eventually started clapping. I could not control but smile vigorously.
We both bowed down towards the audience and said a "Thank You" in synchronization. I could hear some teenagers saying "couple goals" after looking at us. A cute little girl came towards us with a flower in her hand and gave that to me "One day I would love to grow up as beautiful as you"
"Of course you will. I bet, you'll be prettier", I pecked her forehead.
Mr. Reynolds tightened his grip over me which meant that we have to do what we were here for i.e. the fraudulent practice. It broke me apart. A part of me didn't approve of it. I didn't really intend to let down the people around.
"Go according to the plan Miss Waters ", Mr. Richie Rich explained.
"Yes surely! I'll try", I was not sure that whether I could do it or not because doing something like this was completely out of my comfort zone. The plan was that Mr. Reynolds will carry the contract papers and handle them to Mr. Linley. That very moment, I'll act feeling dizzy. Mr. Reynolds will claim that I am pregnant with his baby and so I'd urge him to leave this party as soon as possible. Mr. Reynolds will force Mr. Linley to sign the papers before my situation gets any critical.
I just wished that everything goes according to the plan and I could portray the role which Mr. Reynolds projected for me.
I and Mr. Reynolds went towards the happy couple. Mr. Reynolds signaled me with his eyes to start acting but I couldn't. I just couldn't. I looked at Mr. Linley and told him the truth. I told him everything we lied about. I told him that we brought up this activity to get access to the contract. I told him that I was nothing but his secretary.
I didn't make eye contact with Mr. Reynolds but I knew that he was raging by now. I apologized to him without actually making eye contact. Later, I ran out of the party where I never belonged to. The papers were yet with me.
I could hear footsteps coming towards me. I could even hear someone shouting my name from behind but I didn't just want to stay so I took the nearest taxi. I knew that I was going to be fired tomorrow and I was kind of prepared for it too.