Fake Date With Mr. Billionaire

Chapter Eleven

The drive to Wilson’s was fairly quiet with slow music playing in the background.

The duo had different things on their minds- Charlotte suddenly feeling anxious about her cooking while Wilson suddenly worried if he left his place in a tidy state.

After close to an hour of driving, they finally got to Wilson’s place, Charlotte awed right from the moment they drove in. it was just like in the movies- his house was literally a mansion.

Looking like about a dozen of her tiny apartment combined, his house was a huge single storey mansion. It was wide, the parking lot alone taking huge space as it housed several fancy cars.

“Welcome to my place,” Wilson said as he helped her out of the car.

“Do you live alone?” Charlotte asked. Simply staring at the exterior view of the house, she could already guess how huge it was going to be inside and the thought of living alone in such a huge house simply terrified her.

“Yeah,” he replied, Charlotte’s eyes widening. “Anyways, let’s go in, shall we?”

Holding on to her basket, Wilson led the way inside. They stepped in, a gasp almost escaping Charlotte’s lips. Just as predicted, the interior of the house was just as huge. It was painted white, some corners being in different shades of white. There were tons of expensive looking furniture lurking around with a huge chandelier hung up in the centre of the room.

It wasn’t an exaggeration for her to say she had never been to a place like that. It looked like all those fancy houses on TV she could only dream of ever setting foot into.

“Your house is really pretty,” Charlotte had to comment. “And wide too. Isn’t it scary living alone?”

“Scary? No,” he laughed lightly. “I have been living alone since I clocked 19?”

“That long? Why? Is that a rich people’s thing? Moving out early cause I mean, I’d never move out at the age of 19 even if I was chased.”

Again, her words brought him to laugh. “No. I didn’t attend college in the country and I never was a fan of on campus dorms so I just lived by myself the whole time.”

“Wow,” Charlotte whispered. “Throughout your whole four years? Didn’t you at least live together with a friend even for a short while?”

“No, I didn’t,” he replied, his expression immediately changing. “That’s enough talk about me and college. Let’s eat. The food must be getting cold already.”

“You’re right,” she lunged her basket forward. “I could reheat it if you want. Actually, I should.”

“Okay the kitchen’s that way,” he pointed in the direction of the kitchen. “Make yourself comfortable while I set this place up for our little dinner date. Quick question, do you fancy comedy shows?”

“Yeah I fancy a good laugh,” Charlotte replied with a little smile. “Why? Do you want to make me laugh?”

“I’d love to do that but no. I was thinking of what to put on the TV while we eat. Now go, allow me work my magic.”

With light laughter, Charlotte walked into the kitchen leaving Wilson in the living room to give it a little tidying. As quickly as he could, he dusted the sofa, vacuumed the rugs and turned on the TV to a comedy channel.

“Are you done working your magic?”

“Yes, I am,” Wilson replied, giving the sofa a final touch. “You should have called me when you were done. Your arms look like they could break from carrying those dishes.”

“Now don’t you exaggerate,” Charlotte burst into laughter as Wilson took the plates from her. “This is nothing. I have very strong arms.”

“Let’s say I believe you then,” he snickered then dropped the plates on the rug. “What shall I offer you? Wine? Or fruit juice?”

“Fruit juice. For both of us. You offered to drive me back home, remember?”

“Right,” he nodded then dashed into the kitchen. “The other boring option then. I’ll be back in a sec!”

She laughed, watching him dash into the kitchen to get their drinks then looked around her. She oddly felt at ease, every single anxiety that once poked her skin now gone.

Realizing she had been overthinking her coming over to his place, she laughed lightly again. Other than them being in a fake relationship for the sake of her getting over her ex, she could at least say they had become friends so it only seemed natural for friends to go to each other’s places to have a little fun.

“I’m back!”

With a bottle of juice and two glasses, Wilson announced his return into the living room and walked back to Charlotte. They both then filled their glasses, clinked them and proceeded to begin eating.

Charlotte was a good cook and that night was no exception as Wilson ate every single scrap of food, complimenting her cooking with every bite. Overjoyed, she watched him eat and while taking slower bites, they both finished all the food she cooked.

For desert, they both watched TV, bursting into laughter at intervals. For some reason, the comedy show seemed even funnier as they both laughed out loud like their lives depended on it, literally loosing track of time.

“One more interesting and quite surprising thing about you,” Charlotte commented as the show went on a break.

“What’s that?” he faced her to ask. “Ah, allow me guess. It’s surprising I watch comedy shows?”

“Yes, it is,” she nodded confidently. “You look like someone who would rather watch action movies than comedy.”

“Here’s the thing,” he folded his legs. “I work a lot. It’s safe to say I’m a workaholic so I barely get time to chill like this. So whenever I do, I just want to relax. Literally. Just have a good laugh before I get plunged into my busy life again.”

“You’re a workaholic?” Charlotte knitted her eyebrows. “You don’t really see like one to me.”

“Trust me, I can be. I’ve been clearing my schedule lately to hang out with you but I’m sure as hell, it’s going to come bite me in the ass sooner or later,” he said so casually. “Why do you look that way? Surprised? I’m pretty sure there are more things you’re going to find even more surprising about me so just stick around to find out, okay?”

For the millionth time that night, she smiled at him. He was truly surprising and if sticking around for longer was all it was going to take to get to know more about him and in the long run, smile more, what was there to lose?

“Okay, I definitely didn’t mean that literally,” Wilson jumped to his feet as he stared at the clock in horror. “It’s almost 11pm. Crikey, how did we lose track of time so easily?”

“What? 11pm?” Charlotte joined him on his feet in a frenzy. “Jesus, Rachael is going to bite my ears off.”

“Rachael? Why?”

“Oh I forgot to tell you but we live together,” she replied grabbing her things. “She asked me to not stay out late and I just had to stay out wonderfully late. 11pm, jesus. I’m pretty sure you’ll be asleep already and God, no, I didn’t take my keys with me.”

“Stay the night then.”

Charlotte literally froze, replaying his words in her head over and over again until she was sure he actually uttered them. “What?”

“It’s late already,” he continued. “And you just said you aren’t with your keys and Rachael would definitely be asleep already. Think about it, even if he leave right now, we definitely won’t get to your place until about midnight so…”

No, he couldn’t be making sense. There was no way everything that came out of his mouth made so much sense.

“Also, like you said this house is pretty huge,” he spread his arms wide to gesticulate. “There are a lot of spare rooms available so you can just take one and leave tomorrow. What do you think?”

That was exactly where the problem was. Call her timid but she had never been able to sleep alone easily especially in unfamiliar places. Even at her place, it took months of Rachael sleeping the same room with her before she could finally gather courage to sleep alone.

“Sounds good, right?” he smiled. “What do you think?”

“Y-yeah. S-sounds good.”

“Great let me show you the way to one of the rooms then.”

“Wait,” she stopped him, immediately shutting her eyes in shame. She seriously couldn’t be doing this. “How far away is the guest room from yours?”

“Gosh, are you scared I’ll do something to you,” he asked in obvious disbelief. “Hell, no. And you don’t have to worry. My room’s upstairs while the guest room’s downstairs. You can even lock the door once you get in.”

They were going to be several rooms apart. Just great.

“No, that’s not the thing,” she shut her eyes again, this time biting her lip as she did. “Actually I’m- you know what, I’ll just sleep on the sofa. It seems comfy, don’t you think?”

“Yeah it is comfy,” he eyed her suspiciously. “But why sleep in a sofa when there are more than enough beds you can sleep in?”

“Actually,” her fingernails were her next target as she began toying with them. “Actually, I’m scared of sleeping alone. Don’t get me wrong, it’s just how I’ve always been and I’ve never really had to sleep alone to get used to it. I mean, I sleep alone at home but that’s because I know Rachael’s in the next room so there’s this sense of comfort that comes with that knowledge. Also, your house is big and wide and I’m still unfamiliar with it so staying alone in a room is kinda scary. I’ll just sleep here, okay? Yeah, the sofa is quite comfy enough.”

“Char,” he breathed out, watching her ramble on about her fears. “It’s okay. It’s okay to be scared and have fears.”

“What?” she slowly raised her head to meet him looking at her. His eyes looked different. They looked soft and there was something about his whole expression that gave her a sense of comfort. “Is it though?”

“Of course,” he continued. “Being scared of some things doesn’t make us any less human. If anything, it makes us human. I have things I’m scared of too so trust me, it’s okay.”

“Oh,” she bit her lip then sent her gaze to the floor. “I guess. Thanks.”

“Sleep in my room then,” he said, Charlotte immediately raising her head to give him a quizzical expression. “Chill. There’s a sofa in my room. It’s nice and comfy and it’s a bit far from the bed so yeah. You sleep on the bed and I sleep on the sofa. Problem solved.”

“Oh, no,” her heart softened. “Thank you but you don’t have to do that. I can sleep on the sofa instead. It’s okay.”

“I wasn’t giving you an option,” he placed his hands on her shoulder then smiled. “I sleep on the sofa, you sleep on the bed. Come, let me show you the way.”

“But-“

“No objections!”

With his hands on her shoulders, they headed to the stairs and walked in the direction of his room. As they walked and passed many doors in the process, Charlotte could only wonder how many rooms his mansion truly had.

They got to the room, Wilson immediately gesturing for her to get herself comfortable. It was a wide room with a large sized bed in the centre while the sofa was located opposite it. It looked just as fancy as the rest of the house did with gold plated furniture and a large chandelier hung on the ceiling.

“Here you go,” Wilson said, taking out clothes from his closet to give to her. “You can get changed if you want. I’ll be downstairs, clearing the dishes so call me when you’re done.”

“Okay,” she nodded sheepishly then collected the clothes from him. “Thanks.”

Immediately he was out of sight, she took off her rather tight jeans and uncomfortable blouse to change into his clothes. It was a way oversized sweatshirt and a pair of shorts that were supposed to reach her mid thighs but somehow ended up around her knee.

She needed no one to inform her of how small her body frame was compared to his.

After she was done changing, the tied her hair up into a messy bun, folded her old clothes and placed them by a corner of the bed then walked to the entrance to call out to Wilson.

His reply was almost immediate as few seconds later, he appeared at the door with a pillow and blanket in his hands. Knowing they were for him as he had given up his original blanket and pillow for her, Charlotte mentally thanked him as she watched him plop into the sofa.

“Can I turn the lights off?” Wilson asked as soon as Charlotte was all tucked in bed. “Or do you need em on to sleep?”

“No, I do not,” she quickly replied then reached for the light close to her. “It’s okay.”

“Okay. Good night then.”

“Good night.”

Silence fell in between them immediately, the ticking sound of the hands of the clock being the only sound heard. Even their breathing was light, the duo tucked in bed and tensed.

Neither of them were sleeping though, both getting into an impromptu staring contest with the ceiling. Laying in the darkness, their minds were busy with various thoughts, curiosity if the other was asleep already topping their thoughts.

“Are you asleep already?” Wilson finally plucked the courage to break the silence between them and asked the question he had been itching to ask.

“No, not yet,” she replied and he literally heaved a sigh of relief in response. “Why aren’t you asleep though? You must have had an exhausting day. Your flight must have also been tiring.”

“I know right,” he said softly. “I guess there’s a lot on my mind.”

Though she somehow feared the answer to her next question, she asked regardless. “A lot on your mind? Like what? Care to share?”

“Like how good your cooking was,” he replied instantly and Charlotte couldn’t be more thankful it was dark as she blushed immediately. “Damn, you really are a good cook. With skills like that you should run a restaurant not a coffee shop.”

A short silence fell in between them again before Charlotte finally spoke up. “That was actually my dream. I wanted to run my own restaurant.”

“Oh?” his voice lowered. “Then what happened?”

“Attending and graduating culinary school cost me and my family a whole lot of money,” she replied. “So by the time I graduated, my family pretty much went bankrupt. Then I couldn’t open my restaurant as I wanted to as for some reason, I just couldn’t find a job. After desperately searching for a job for too long, I eventually decided maybe cooking just wasn’t for me so I gave up and just opened a coffee shop instead.”

She heaved a sigh, feeling unpleasant memories flood back. Other than Rachael, no one knew that much about her. Not even her ex-boyfriend she dated for years.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that,” Wilson spoke up with a very apologetic tone. “But one thing I’m sure of is how faulty the taste buds of the people who refused to hire you were. I mean, your cooking is soo good!”

“I know right?” she laughed lightly. “Half of the time they had me questioning my skills and the other half, they had me questioning their taste. Eventually I just concluded it was never meant to be. That helped me move on and I mean, my coffee shop is doing pretty well now so maybe cooking was just never meant for me.”

“Anyways, I’m glad you know how good your cooking is regardless. Don’t let anyone try to steal your shine.”

“Yes, Wilson Locke,” she laughed lightly then broke into a smile. “We should sleep now. It’s past midnight already.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Wilson nodded, pulling his blankets over his head. “Good night, Char.”

“Good night.”