The Lonely Billionaire (Marriage of Convenience)

Mrs. Kon's Plan

The original plan of Mrs. Kon is to invite every beautiful maiden in the land and she's sticking to it. This morning, she is busy booking their schedules. She don't mind that Celine Adriada, who at the moment is roaming the garden in her skimpy bikini, is still in the house.

Celine took a selfie while lying near the pool and posted it in i********: where her huge following start guessing where could the photo be taken. While she's lying near the pool, the maid that she recognize from last night approached her.

"Good morning Miss Adriada, here's an orange juice for you courtesy of Christopher Kon." Isabel said.

Celine smiled. "That's sweet of him, Thank-you." She told Isabel before getting up to take a sip of the orange juice. "I have a question for you. I hope you don't mind me asking."

Isabel replied, "I don't mind", before she notice that Christopher is approaching them. Adriada is looking at Isabel so she did not notice that Christopher is standing behind her now.

"Is Christopher gay?" Adriada asked. Isabel did not expect to hear that question so she don't know how to react. It's awkward as Christopher is right there behind her. He heard the question himself.

"No! He is not."Isabel replied as if she is in haste. She don't know how to tell Adriada to not say anything anymore.

"I am just wondering why he don't have a girlfriend yet. He is surrounded by beautiful women too like you. Don't he ever flirt with you?" Adriada go on to say, unsespectingly!

This time Isabel is just staring at Christopher who is also staring back at Isabel. The latter seems to be the one who's embarrassed of the situation while Christopher remains cool. He is even smiling at Isabel.

Isabel wants Christopher to simply just leave but he did not. He remained standing there watching Isabel in the hot seat. Christopher knows Adriada is waiting for an answer so Christopher nodded to Isabel before he winked. Isabel find that odd.

"No he don't." Isabel replied as Christopher's gaze start to wander on Isabel's body and this time, finally, Adriada realized there's someone behind her so she looked at her back.

Christopher is caught in flagrante de licto in the act of assessing Isabel from head to toe as if an almost n***d model don't exist infront of him.

Adriada look at Christopher in disbelief. She's surprised to find Christopher is standing right there behind her but she's more surprised to find him literally checking the maid from head to toe. Then at this very moment, Christopher is in eye contact mode with the maid! "Hello! Christopher, how long have you been standing there?" Adriada asked. She don't look embarrassed at all, rather she looks upset.

Christopher did not reply so Isabel replied. "He just arrived."

"I arrived early enough to realize how beautiful my maid is." Christopher said while winking at Isabel.

That wink is wink number two in a minute. Isabel thought.

"Remember you mentioned about my maid being beautiful? Well look at that, an eye opener to a closed eye."

Isabel don't know if that is sarcasm or what. But one thing is for sure, Celine Adriada don't accept being insulted. Let alone be made to compete with a maid.

Celine did not say anything. She just stood up and ramped gracefully out of the garden to the house. Isabel is about to follow Celine but Christopher hold her hand. Before Isabel could say a word, Christopher pulled her close to him.

"Please don't react. She's watching." Christopher whispered before kissing Isabel without a warning. Isabel's world suddenly spinned. She don't know what's happening. She's as if lifted in another dimension as Christopher's mouth conquer hers.

She don't remember when was the last time she was kissed by a man. All she knows is she held tight to this man as he lifted her up.

Christopher is tall and Isabel is not. Instead of bending, he lifted Isabel and kissed her before moving her in a spinning motion. Adriada cannot watch them anymore.

"I'm not gay, for the record." Christopher said in a hoarse voice while maintaining that eye contact with Isabel.

Isabel is lost for a moment before she got furious. She pushed Christopher but the more Christopher hugged her tightly. "Calm down, please." Christopher said before finally letting go of Isabel when he saw that Celine is no longer looking.

Pak! Isabel slapped her boss on the face. One thing she would never allow is to let anyone disrespect her. She don't care if Christopher is her boss.

Christopher did not expect that slap. But he also know what he did is wrong. "I'm sorry Isabel. It's just... I hope you understand." He said before entering the house. He wants to quickly get ready, change and go to office before his mom go looking for him. He still remembers that flying apple. Who knows what would be flying next if his mom would find him this morning.

Isabel is left in the garden where Christopher left her. She don't know how long she's been staring blankly at nothing before she look up to see Christopher standing in his room's balcony. He is smiling and he waved when Isabel looked at him.

How did he quickly appear in the balcony ? And what's wrong with him? Why is he suddenly acting weird? Isabel thought. She never thought what just happened today would happen in a million years. She is aware of the difference between them, it's heaven and earth. But she knows one thing, she's not stupid not to know the obvious. Christopher is using her to make Celine Adriada leave the mansion. She don't understand if she should be disappointed or she should be angry. She decided it's better to be angry.

Isabel glared at Christopher to which Christopher replied with a flying kiss. He is getting crazy, Isabel said before she run to the house. Once she's inside the house, she find Adriada talking to Mrs. Kon. The two are having breakfast and they are laughing. at the moment. Celine waved at the sight of Isabel as if nothing happened earlier. Isabel bow her head in embarrassment before she quietly go to the kitchen.

Upon entering the kitchen, Isabel was meet by everyone's gaze. No, she thought, It can't be!

"What?" Isabel asked to everyone.

No one said anything and that includes Mr. Lim who stares at her as if she did something wrong.

"What?" Isabel repeated but still no one said a word.

"I will talk to you in a moment." Mr. Lim said.

Isabel have no idea what would Mr. Lim talk about but she starts to get nervous. What if someone saw her in the garden?

"I saw you." Abe confirmed her fear but she pretended not to know what Abe is talking about.

"You saw me where?"

"In the garden." Abe said with that look she do when she's relaying a very important message.

Did she really see me with the boss? Isabel thought. It cannot be. It would be a big issue. No wonder everyone was looking at me like that. Isabel sighed.

"See, I told you." Abe replied.

"I hate you Abe. Why don't you just tell me what you saw?" Isabel exclaimed. She hates guessing what Abe saw.

"Don't worry, it's our secret." Abe said ignoring what Isabel just said.

Everyone knows Abe cannot keep a secret. If she saw Isabel and Christopher in the garden earlier in the act of hugging or worse the kissing part, she would have already spread the story to everyone like a wild fire.

"I don't know what you're talking about. I better go do my work before..." Isabel stopped talking when she remembered her job is to assist the big boss. "Actually, can we switch job for today?" She asked Abe.

Abe shake her head. Isabel have no option but to leave the kitchen but Mr. Lim called her. "To the storage!" Mr Lim said, he looks very serious today.

Isabel is anxious as she go to the storage room. The storage room is a small office where Mr. Lim talks to anyone he needs to discipline. They call it storage as this room used to be a stock room before it was renovated to be Mr. Lim's office.

"The guest complained about being neglected this morning. Abe saw you in the garden, what did you do outside if you did not serve the guest right? Let this not happen again especially that another guest will be arriving anytime soon!" Mr. Lim said in a loud voice that he seldom do but Isabel is relieved this is not about her and Christopher.

"And please practice more discipline when the new guest arrives. I don't want to see you looking starstruck especially that this one is big name in Hollywood!" Mr. Lim go on to say. Isabel wants to protest but she practiced self control.

"I understand." Isabel replied.

"Good! Isabel Adriada is leaving soon, let's not cause another bad feed back."

"I understand." Isabel repeated her answer. If practicing self control is good for the whole team then she will do but so far as she can remember she did not do anything wrong to Adriada. Christopher asked her to send that orange juice. All she did was to comply to the boss' order. She's a casualty of this game between Christopher and his mom.

Isabel knows that Christopher will be turning 35 in few months. Why does Mrs. Kon make it such a big deal? Some people are still single at the age of 40! That is something Isabel don't understand. Mrs. Kon can invite anyone she wishes to invite but Isabel wants to be left alone. Casualty, no more!