Love Language

2.This was enough.

It was just another day for Matthew Horace, locked up in his cabin, working in silence, drowning in the world of numbers and money when someone burst in unceremoniously,

“do you have any idea you are the new talk of the town Horace?” his close friend Fredrick threw a magazine at him with colors, painful to eyes.

“what’s up?” Matthew was indifferent to his always dramatic friend.

“you didn’t say you and Carol were in relationship?” he made a face at his friend and went on without waiting for a reaction, “you didn’t say you had problems in the relationship already!”

“—what are you barking about?”

“by the sound of it, you are a jackass, a total asshole treating your girlfriend totally s**t. if I were she, we’d be divorced by now” he rolled his eyes urging him to read what he was barking about.

Matthew, perfectly composed read the article ‘Mr Billionaire neglecting his love life, busy making money’ with Carol’s face featured. The article was all about Carol, talking of their not so perfect relationship and explaining the youth the right way to treat a girl, urging them to learn from the mistakes.

By the time he finished reading article, the look of alarm flashed all over his face. He knew and did not want to think the extend of damage this article could have done.

“what the—

“—f**k! Yeah” Fredrick smirked, “Your father is so pissed. You kept denying your liking to Carol and now he gets to hear of your long standing relationship and what a jackass you have been to her all the time”

“this is—

“—bullshit? I thought you had a better taste in woman. Anyay, there is a fine line between being helpful and being i***t. Looks like you crossed that one”

His friend was pressing all the buttons to set Matthew on fire. He can’t remember the last time he so desperately wished the earth to open up and swallow him. THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING!

“Carol dude? Seriously?” Fredrick walked out of his room, offering no help.

Matthew would rather be left alone than this friend chewing his ears off at the moment. He knew he had to do something; fix this before further escalation. He did not want his father to announce his wedding acting on impulse. He called Carol, asking as calmly as possible as to why did she do this to him.

“darling, about time you admit how great we look together. You know this means big publicity, you and I, together” she answered in an overly sweet voice, “besides, the it’s the article that I already am signed with three brand shoots. I’ll make this right if you want, interviewing again how sorry you felt after reading it and all the efforts you are taking to make this right”

“no thank you Carol. Do me a favor and don’t make another public statement before consulting it with me please? I’ll see you this evening. We have to talk”

“okay sweetie”

Matthew sighed, cursing in his head the time he agreed to help her as a friend; agreeing to let her use his name as a boyfriend to sign projects if it helps. He wanted to help a childhood friend establish a career of her dreams, but never in his wildest dreams he had a clue what this might turn out to be for him.

Carol used, no overused his name to seek attention. So much, that his family was positive of this match to last forever and her family seems to be already preparing for the wedding.

Matthew was a man of principles, raised to respect woman at any expense, even his own. He wished Carol the best of her career and success and only for the sake of their friendship, for the sake of respect he thought he owed to her he never contradicted the delusional stories she created of them dating.

Now, he realized, after reading the article, perhaps is the time to stop being so generous and clear the air before this woman announces their wedding next. Carol was a friend, key word was a friend. Not in the slightest he was interested in her romantically. After the stunts she already pulled, romance was out of question.

He called his men to find out the publishers, the writer who scooped up this story and decided to fix the damage himself on priority.

***

Talk with Carol was as useless and his friend’s intentions to help him. on a contrary, Carol begged Matthew to let her give another interview, anticipating the possible fame it meant. Matthew convinced her, with very a great difficulty, not to cause him more damage.

As expected, by the evening when he reached home for a family, the air was buzzing with gossip. Greeting the elders formally, Matthew carefully took place beside his mother who turned to him with a look of interrogation,

“you didn’t say you were dating Matt? Why is it that I hear from a magazine that you have problems in relationship already? You said you and Carol were just friends”

“we are mother. This is…er… the media making up stories”

“the interview quotes Carol’s word for you as a boyfriend” his father added looking at him, “which is disappointing. I never imagined—

“Carol was given a script to perform for publicity. I am to have a word with the writer who twisted her words and wrote all of this rubbish father”

“Carol is not a bad girl, she’s infact” his mother began with a dreamy look, “a potential beautiful bride..”

“mom! We’ve been through this” Matthew knew what was coming.

“the match is indeed profitable and agreeable”

“enough! I’ll decide when I wish to get married you’ll know when I do” Matthew left the dinner table straight to his room. Slamming the door hard behind him didn’t help releasing the frustration he was currently filled with.

Having raised with principles, he felt the pressure to be the right person, doing all the right thing always was sometimes too much for him to handle. He was not an expressive person by nature, hence did not know how to deal with the mess. He knew perfectly well it was nobody’s but his fault to let Carol take advantage of him, perhaps it was his silence that encouraged her so much that her stories were more wild and delusional about their relationship than ever, but he was desperate to think of a way out.

He wanted to get out of this situation, without hurting Carol, if that was possible.

Romance and love never had a place in his heart, for he has always chose the right path, focused path like an ideal son of ideal parents. He did not know how to deal with the rumors him being a pathetic boyfriend without knowing what being a boyfriend meant in the first place.

He rubbed his face, aggressively, determined to stop Carol and this bullshit right away. It was indeed more of him being i***t than helpful.

This was enough.