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How did it all come to this?
My eyes were glued at the sleeping stud on my couch. Marcus was still unconscious from my sudden and unlikely greeting-- a head-butt.
I couldn't help myself! The news from the other day made me agitated! I guess it was all the pent up frustration all gathered and delivered in one, massive head-butt.
"Ow."
I glanced over him as he hissed in pain. The ice pack I had placed over the purple bump on his forehead rolled over the floor as he attempted to muster his strength to speak up.
His eyes roamed around the studio like a patient in coma who had seen light for the first time. Despite his short appearance, he was heavier than I thought. Erin and I had to drag him from outside the studio door. I secretly prayed that he wouldn't notice the dust stain behind his fancy suit.
"Better?" I asked as I shot him with an icy stare.
"I guess I am." He grunted as the sun hit his face like cold water. "I'm not dead, am I?"
I rolled my eyes at him. "Heaven won't open up to take you anytime soon."
"Is your skull made of steel?" He got up to a sitting position, pressing on the bump I mercilessly gave. "Why did you do that?"
"Because you're being an idiot. Why didn't you tell me about Catherine Elton? I saw the news the other day." I told him, pressing the cold ice pack on his forehead with a little more force. He grated once more.
"I don't know what's more amusing—your headstrong personality or the sheer fact that you can head-butt with someone taller than you." Oh how I'd love to head-butt with him again. He hadn't learned his lesson.
I scowled at him. "Well? Why do you want me to pretend girlfriend when you know that someone as famous as Catherine Elton is in the picture? Are you insane?"
Instead of providing me a direct answer, his attention was easily captivated by the splash of art around the room. We were in the studio, after all.
"Did you do all these?" He asked with amazement in his eyes. "So? What's up with you and Catherine?"
He let out a defeated sigh. "And here I thought you're going to easily say 'yes' since I'm offering you a handsome deal."
I shot him daggers. "No. There's no way am I going to say yes now that I know you're engaged to someone."
"I'm not engaged and I surely am not marrying her."
"Why not?" I probed, matching the intensity of his copper orbs. We fell silent for a while. I knew it. He had no intention of answering me directly and it pissed me off.
Marcus slowly walked up to me. "I have my reasons and let's leave it at that."
His stern look matched the finality of his tone. Did he thought that I'd gleefully accept his offer without some sort of explanation why exactly he needed my help?
"Fine, then. Find someone else." I spun around to exit the room but he quickly caught my arm.
"I hate to play the bad guy here, Emerald, but I mean it when I say I'll do anything necessary to make this property mine."
We were now face-to-face, his usual friendly face morphed into something I knew I'd hate to see often. Marcus' threatening tone only made my blood boil.
"Are you blackmailing me?"
"You can call it whatever you want, but all I'm saying is my secretary is one call away from giving your family the news about a buyer of this house."
"You wouldn't dare," I challenged him and he reached to his pocket, revealing his phone to me.
"I beg to differ."
I crossed my arm over my chest. "Why me? You have gazillion other ladies out there that you can play the part—oh, and they will willingly play the part."
"That may be true." He confirmed, smugness painted all over his face. "But you know why I'd rather have you do it?"
Marcus stepped closer that we were now chest-to-chest, a slanted smile drew on his lips as he grazed his brown eyes on my whole entity. I thought I was going to explode at our very close proximity.
"It's because your goal is to get my hands off of this property. Simple. If I were to let someone else play the part, they'd want more than just one thing from me. I say you're the perfect one for the job."
I gaped at him. "Well isn't that ironic? You don't want to be controlled by someone else yet you're doing the same to me. Who do you think you are? A heartthrob? Do you really think all women will bow down before you and kiss your feet?"
Marcus shook his head in amusement. "I'm not saying that all women will, but I'm a son of a billionaire, and mind you, a very eligible bachelor. Heck, even without the CEO position, I'm already at the top 1%. Do you really think I can easily trust a random person?"
"Then why pick me? I'm the epitome of the most random person in your life. Heck, you probably don't even know my full name." I spat to him but his optimism was overwhelmingly impressive. It was as if any retorts I say would get either denied or replied with wit.
In a nutshell, Marcus could not take "no" for an answer. Heck, he didn't seem to understand the word "no".
I couldn't help but grunt at that. He was a tough negotiator.
"Marcus, do you not understand how much deep shit you're going to put me into? The media is involved here, genius. What if, one of these days, my mom sees my face in those nonsense magazines, huh?"
"We're doing this privately. I don't intend to parade you around just so my parents and the rest of the world see how "serious" I am."
My feet dragged me back to the couch to sit down and think. If I were to agree to his lunatic plan, Marcus would leave me alone about selling the house.
"So? What's your plan?" I asked him with a clear decision in mind.
"Does that mean you agree?" Marcus beamed.
I rolled my eyes at him. "If I say no, will you stop bugging me?"
"No." he deadpanned.
"Exactly. I have no choice but to say yes."
Marcus' smile radiated some more that it was enough to blind me. I must say, he had great teeth.
No! No distractions!
My mind instantly snapped out of its trance when I felt Marcus' arms wrap around me. His scent instantly filled my chest, then the warmth of his breath grazed my exposed neck.
"Thank you! I owe you big time, Emerald! I promise you that you won't regret this." His smile was ear to ear, happiness written all over his face and I just force a smile. He took me by surprise with his hug and my inability to protest was unjustifiable.
Finally, I pulled myself away from him and cleared my throat. "Y-yeah. Whatever. But we will have to set some rules before we play this stupid pretend relationship."
"Of course. Ladies' choice. Your wish is my command." He replied with a hint of playfulness in his eyes.
"My one and only rule is this: we are not going to do anything racy or whatnot in public."
"Oh c'mon. How are we going to make our relationship believable without a bit of PDA?"
"I'm not excluding the fact that we have to make it believable, we just have to make sure we're not seen in public together. I don't want to get caught in nasty rumors."
Marcus rubbed his jaw and nodded. "That makes sense. Anyway, I need to confirm something. You're of legal age, right?"
I shot up a brow. "You're worrying about that now that I agree to your deal? If it makes you feel any better, I just turned nineteen earlier this year so I guess you're lucky."
"Good." He said as he clapped his hands once then rubbed them together. "That means I don't have to hold back."
I stood my ground with horror written all over my face. "You don't mean..."
"Oh, yes I do."
"NO! I'm not going that far!"
"How else are we going to prove that we are in love without doing it?"
I thought a bomb fell over me and shred me to tiny pieces when he had said that. "Marcus! I'm not going to have sex with you!"
Then Marcus burst out laughing and tearing up at the same time. "What?! No, no, no we're not going that far. I mean like holding your hand, embrace you, and possibly kiss you."
I wanted to crawl into a hole and curl into a ball then hide for the rest of my life. My cheeks burned beneath my palms which concealed it. I wish I had more arms to conceal my eyes, too. Oh, why did I jump to conclusions?
Why did I think of that? I'm so stupid! So, so stupid!
"Hey, don't worry too much about it. I should've made it clearer. I'm sorry." Marcus smiled forlornly and it only made me feel worse.
"No, it's my bad. I thought... never mind. Can we just forget that I said that?" I quipped and walked to the other side of the room.
I needed a little bit more of space. What I said earlier had left me feeling mortified.
"Do you still have any more rules that I must abide to?" Marcus spoke up and I just shook my head.
"I can't think of one right now. I'll let you know when something comes in mind."
Marcus' phone then rang and briefly answered it. After his quick phone call, he slid his phone back to his pocket and plastered a smile.
He walked towards me, stretched an arm for a handshake. "Let's shake hands to seal the deal."
My eyebrow shot up. "No paper to sign to make this deal official?"
Marcus chuckled. "In Canadian law, a contract is made by either written or oral so we're good without the papers. If you're really worried about the legal side of it, I can get my lawyer to write up an official paper and notarize it."
I waved it off and shot him an amused smile. "You know what? Forget about it. It's okay. That sounds like a lot of hassle. On the bright side, I finally learned something useful from you."
"I promise you that you will learn so much more from me," Marcus quipped as he broke the handshake which what seemed to be forever. But the moment he pulled away, a void suddenly formed inside me. I could still feel the warmth of his huge hands on mine.
I wasn't sure if his last statement was something to look forward to or to watch out for.
"Yeah, it better be worth it." I teased and giggled, which was weird. I cleared my throat. "Sorry about the head-butt a while ago."
"It's fine. It's my punishment, right? I apologize about not telling you about Catherine. I'll tell you more about it when we meet, okay?"
I walked him out the door as an act of courtesy. Just when I thought he'd completely walk away, he looked back at me. "By the way, I'll see you again in two days and dress nice."
Marcus quickly took off in his expensive all-black car and in a blink of an eye, he vanished before my eyes.
I must've been staring into thin air too long when I felt Erin tap my shoulder, snapping me out of my reverie.
"What happened in there?" Erin said with a hint of excitement in her voice.
"I think I just sold my soul to the devil," I muttered, looking at Erin with anxiety. "Yeah, I think that's what happened."
Erin's eyes were muddled in confusion so I grabbed her hand and sat her down the dinner table and told her everything that we talked about. After I had told her everything, Erin squealed.
"You're feeling a little adventurous today, eh?" Instead of consoling me, she seemed to be more excited than I was.
"I'm taking a risk and I'm betting everything just so I get to keep this house—even if it means to become his girlfriend."
Truth be told, I was partly terrified. One wrong move could mean that this charade could become an exposé for the media to pry and feed on.
My status turned from a hard-working student to a pretend girlfriend of Marcus Don Valentine— my life was turned upside down that easily.
Best day of my life!
Not.
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A/N: Ah, here we go! I'll be posting some more chapters soon. By the way, I hope you guys like it~
Song: ♪ Little Lies by David Barnes ♪