Thoughts
1003 Words
Lawrence’s POV
It started to pour heavily on my ride back to my penthouse. Multiple cars honking because of the traffic, people running across the streets to take shelter and those who didn’t even seem to care.
My fingers tightened around the steering wheel, flashbacks of my childhood flooding through my brain as I hit the brake on the red signal. I inhaled deeply, the feelings of anger and frustration building up intensely.
It felt like an hour before the green light came on and I took a turn to the left, entering the apartment’s parking lot and going up to the place I call home.
I unlocked the door, picking up some mail that came in and dropping it on the counter. I opened the fridge, empty.
“s**t,” I cursed out loud, running my hand through my medium-length hair.
I picked up my phone and called a Korean store to order up some food.
Once I laid down my order, I went to my room and into the bathroom. I undressed and stepped into the shower, allowing the cold ripples of water to meet my bare skin.
The rain tapped gently on the ceiling, the wind dancing through the cracks, the thunder groaning in the distance. As I showered, my thoughts wandered through the events of today and the events that surrounded my encounter with my father.
I paused my shower and silently cursed myself for how I still let him control my life.
And as I resumed, my mind wandered again to her. I only met her once, well, barely, but she stirred something in me, an unfamiliar feeling, and that scared me.
I paused again and placed my left hand on my head, realizing how I wanted to meet her, yet I did not know what she looked like, except for the picture on her ID.
I turned the knob of the shower off and stepped out, drying myself. Leaving the bathroom, I entered my walk-in closet and settled on a black jogger and a grey tank top.
I heard the doorbell ring and jogged to open the door, assuming that my order had arrived, and relieved cause I was starving.
Wrong.
Standing in front of me was the only person I loved and one capable of driving me to my deathbed.
“You’re home,” she said in a rather high-pitched tone and strutted inside.
“Come on in,” I said sarcastically and locked the front door, picking up my phone on the counter to check he progress of my order.
10 minutes.
I set my phone down and looked at my little sister, Emily.
“It's 9 pm, what are you doing here?” I asked and sat on my sofa in the living room
Emily took a seat beside me and rested her head on my right shoulder.
“Heard what happened between you and father. Are you okay?” She asked, concern in her voice.
“I’ll be fine.” I lied, and she knew.
The doorbell rang and I stood up to check who it was. Sighing in relief, I collected my order and tipped the delivery man a hefty amount before shutting the door and placing the food on the counter.
“What did you get?”
“Beef bulgogi, Bibimbap and some fried chicken.”
Emily wasted no time in deepening her hands to locate the chicken. She found one and happily bit into the crunchy, juicy chicken.
“So what’s your plan?” she asked with food in her mouth.
“Plan?”
“The getting a fiancée in one week plan”
I laughed, “I’m not doing that.”
“You know how father is.”
“And I’m not giving into his ego”, I replied
Emily sighed and said, “Rather than giving into his ego, why don’t you play along?”
“I’m confused.”
“He wants you to find someone. Then find someone.”
I raised an eyebrow, “You want me to fall in love and propose in a week.”
She reached out for more chicken and pointed it at me. “No, silly. Hire someone to be your fiancée,” she said, then took a big bite out of the food.
“A fake fiancée?”
“Yes. Someone who is not well-established or from high society. Someone who is in desperate need of money and would do anything to earn a few bucks.”
“Wait, you want me to hire someone to pretend we’re engaged?”
“Yes, until your merger is sealed and father’s ego is satisfied.”
“Would he believe it?”
“Not initially, no. But if you play a convincing role, you can trick even the trickster.”
I set my head down and thought about the ridiculous offer. Ridiculous it may seem, it sounded like the most plausible solution.
“Let’s say we go with your idea. How would we find someone willing to cooperate?”
“You’d be so surprised at what people do to earn money. Finding someone won’t be hard, but finding someone trustworthy to play her part? That’d be difficult.”
She was right. Playing along with this means having to find someone who’s willing to be in my life. I hated that idea. But it was the only way I could get the old man off my back.
My thoughts drifted until it got to her again.
If I found her, would she be willing? Why her and not someone else? Could I trust her?
“Do you think Mother would stop Father if she were here?”
“Em, she’s not here. I’ll think of something, you can sleep in the guest bedroom.”
We waved each other goodbye, and I cleared up the kitchen before heading back into my room, lying flat on the bed, my face to the ceiling.
Someone to play the part. To pretend.
Someone desperate yet believable. But who?
- Writer
