Chapter 3
1020 Words
Alex's POV
"Absolutely Mr. Michael." I let out a fake laugh, as I spoke to the caller on the other end of the phone. "It was all a misunderstanding. She's my fiancee and we're actually getting married in 3 months."
"Well, congratulations Mr. Knight. I'd definitely be flying over to make myself available." He said.
"Thank you once again, sir, for calling to check up regarding the news." I said as I ended the call.
Shit. Absolute s**t.
Everything is s**t and it's all her fault. What was I thinking? If I had just left her and mind my business, all these wouldn't be happening.
My girlfriend has been blowing up my phone ever since she saw that news. Yes I'm glad she finally called after a whole month of silence but— not like this. We had a fight about me being too busy and her never getting to spend enough time with me and now she's seeing online that I'm getting married.
"ALEX! ANSWER YOUR PHONE! I know you're seeing my calls. And I know you see this message. STOP IGNORING ME!!!" She had texted.
33 missed calls just in the space of a few hours.
How do I explain to her that it's all fake without her going public about it, making the present situation much worse?
I'm not unfamiliar with scandalous news like this, being who I am, but this particular one touched a hotspot.
An important prospect had seen the news report and had decided to back out and withdraw on our offer, saying he didn't want his company getting all mixed up in my "social life."
Social life.
That's how he put it.
The only solution was to lie to the man and tell him she was my girlfriend and that we had been dating privately but now we had finally decided to go public, which was the only way to make him see reason and accept that I wasn't some playboy, caught unawares with one of my girls.
"We're actually getting married." I said to him.
"Ah— You should have told me so!" He said out loud and burst into laughter brushing my shoulder. "You had me worried there."
"I'm sorry about that Mr. Kyle." I said and laughed courteously.
"We definitely need to toast to this." He said cheerfully as he waved for his assistant to go get a bottle of wine from his collection.
"To a happy union and a happy business." He toasted as he lifted up his glass to me.
"Cheers!" I responded.
If it wasn't for my PR's sake I would have sued the media house that published that news and I would have sued Vivienne herself for her little "accident", and I still might. But that wouldn't save my billion dollars worth of contract. This was far too important so I conceded, "taking advantage of the situation", as my assistant had put it.
"We're all ready, Mr. Knight." Stephanie said, standing with a tablet in hand. She has been working for me for 3 years now as my assistant and public relations officer. She's the very best.
"What time is it?" I asked, putting on my shoes.
"It's...12:11 pm sir." She answered, as she glanced at her watch.
"Did you tell Vivienne we would be coming to pick her up today?"
"Yes, sir." She responded. "We had a quick talk last night and I informed her about all she had to do before we arrive."
"Good." I said coldly, showing I clearly wasn't happy about the whole thing. "I'll be with you in a few minutes."
"Alright, sir." She said as she turned to leave.
"Stephanie?" I called.
"Yes, sir." She stopped and answered just as she was about walking out of my office door.
"Call Manfred and have him set her room in order. Tell him to use one of my study rooms. He can move everything out to one of the available guest rooms. I'll have everything sorted out myself when we return home." I instructed her, as she was taking notes on her tablet, nodding accordingly.
"And tell him to prepare. We have some reporters coming in this evening to interview both Vivienne and I on our... relationship."
"Absolutely, sir." She nodded. "You can leave it to me."
"Okay, that'll be all." I said. "See you downstairs in 5."
By the time we got to Vivienne's workplace it was already 12:56 pm. I had expected to see her waiting outside already but she wasn't, so I entered the building to go look for her. I saw her standing with her Boss in the office lobby, having a heated conversation.
"Vivienne you need to think this through." I heard him say. "You can't just quit."
"I'm sorry sir." Vivienne responded. "But I've made up my mind."
"At least tell me why. Is it the pay? Do you want me to give you a raise? What? What is it? Tell me." I could have sworn I saw his eyes tear up a little bit.
"I—I'm really sorry sir. It's complicated. I'll recommend a friend to replace me." I heard Vivienne say.
I decided to stand afar off giving them a little privacy and not intruding on their conversation until they finished.
The two of them stood for a little bit in silence before her boss finally let out a sigh before speaking again.
"I only hope you know what you're doing." He said. "Well, in case you change your mind my door is always open to you."
"Thank you, sir." Vivienne said with a bow.
They shared a hug and said their goodbyes before Vivienne turned to see me standing there. She didn't even smile. She looked offended.
"What— No 'hi' for your new husband?" I asked sarcastically.
"I really do hate you." She said as she passed me by before finally deciding to stop and turn.
She frowned when she looked into my eyes and then gave a ridiculous bow, her smile showing she hated this whole arrangement as much as I did.
"Hi." She pronounced audibly.
- Writer
