Accidentally yours

The show

‘12 hours earlier……’

“Hello and welcome to The celebrity talk show, my name is Mark, and I am your host for today. It is indeed a lovely evening, and we have with us here,the country's heart throb, Miss Christine Washington! from Glitz entertainment, We are so happy to have you here Christine”

Mark teased,shifting his gaze from the live camera to where Christine is elegantly seated across the brightly lit recording room, her snow white skin radiating through the thin fabric of the slutty red dress Penelope made her wear, the thin strands of her jet black hair barely covering her cleavages. She seemed uncomfortable, her shoulders slightly slouched in exhaustion,the thin lines on her forehead indicating her uneasiness. She cursed under her breath as she tried to adjust the hem of her dress.

It had been an exhausting day for her, from shooting two movies and over five commercials to attending a movie premier, and now this?

Christine bit her lips in frustration, trying hard to avoid Mark's piercing gaze. Those dreadful eyes, she thought.

She didn't mind appearing on the celebrity talk show even though she knew Penelope must have intentionally put her on this show last minute to embarrass her, it was after all, the most popular live show in the country and owned by the Pierce family, the wealthiest and most influential family in the whole of Georgia and beyond, but there was just one problem, Mark.

Of all people,why did the host have to be the last man on the planet she wanted to see? She could deal with any other thing at the moment, but not this man. She had been able to successfully avoid him for the past three months, she wanted so much to run away to a country nobody knew her, but that is literally impossible, her contract with Glitz entertainment is not due till another two years, so she has to endure till then. It's the least she could do to repay them for killing their son.

Ever since signing that contract, she has been overworked and heavily underpaid. Getting popular movies and commercial deals is so easy for her because of her outstanding talent and ethereal beauty. She has brought so much money to the company these past few years, and although she was not paid enough, her guilt would not let her complain.

She had met Mark after a year of becoming a signed actress at her debut movie interview. Mark had been the co-host that day. She still remembers just how stunned and starstruck she had been of his charms. Seeing him seating with his legs crossed,in an emerald green tuxedo, sipping his coffee and looking through the interview papers on his laps, his lower lip twitching in full concentration, his body, a visible evidence of long hours spent in the gym,his skin tanned and his beards neatly carved,he had a set of aligned white teeth,a well chiseled chin and coffee brown eyes. She thought he looked just perfect.

But now, looking at the man across the room, all she can see is the faint knife scar on the left corner of his chin, his uneven brows, the small cut at the tip of his right ear and the years of effort and love she had wasted on him. She sighed and adjusted her long, slender legs to a more comfortable position.

“Hello Mark, I’m flattered. It is always a pleasure working with you” she said softly,trying hard to mask the disgust she felt, a fake smile plastered on her oval-shaped face.

“Of course, my dear Christy. So, how have you been doing lately, I heard you’re currently working on really big projects with top producers”

Christine inwardly rolled her eyes the moment she heard Mark call her Christy, her insides turned and churned in disgust. How could he call her that name after everything he did to her?

She could not help hating him even more. That name used to be her favourite thing to hear, but now, she felt nauseous at the sound of it

“I have been doing pretty great these days, I’m almost too busy to look after myself” she laughed softly, knowing fully well what Mark was getting at

“but i'm grateful to have gotten the opportunity to work with extremely kind and beautiful people” she added

“Aha!, speaking of opportunities, what do you have to say about the rumour flying around these days?” Mark asked with a smirk

“It has been said that you having been getting movie roles at the expense of co-stars, how true is that?” he continued when he got no response

“Well Mark, it's just like you called it. A rumour” she had known from the start Mark was going to try to do something silly, but she never imagined he would go to the extent of trying to tarnish her image. She felt so dirty for letting this man into her life, for trusting him with her life, for agreeing to marry him. She has been working her butt off for the past three years, and he knows this. She wanted to scream her lungs off at this point. She hated herself for thinking Mark was her knight in shining armor,the man that would redeem her from the shackles of the slave contract binding her to Penelope’s family; she had thought of him as a resting place, an escape from her world of turmoil. Little did she know he was just using her for his selfish needs.

By the time the show finally ended, Christine was everywhere on the headlines. She did not dare check her phone. She had known this was going to happen. Penelope would probably be the happiest woman on earth at this moment. She thought.

“Ring ring”, Christine jumped at the sound of her ringtone. She had gone up to the top of the building to clear her head.” Ring ring”, the phone rang for the third time. She picked up the call without bothering to see who it was

“Where the hell are you!?” Penelope's voice raged from the other end of the phone

“I will be down in a minute, I just went up to get some fresh air”

“What?fresh air?Are you out of your mind? Who said you could get fresh air after causing such a huge mess!? I want you down here this minute, or you are done for”

“I’m sorry, I’m on my…..” the line went dead before Christine could complete her sentence, she stood there, unable to move, her stomach tightened, she could feel the lump in her throat, she swallowed hard and sniffed to stop the tears that welled up in her eyes from dropping to her face. Penelope had been her closest friend back in college.but everything changed when that incident happened five years ago. Penelope had become a totally different person, a person she could never get used to, her worst nightmare. If only she could turn back the hands of time, she would not have done what she did. She thought sadly.