The Lie That Made Me Love You

Chapter 12 - Undercover agent

Sophie Barnes

There were just two of us left in her office. She folded her hands.

“You are sure you want to go through with this, right? Alisha asked. Her hands are intertwined with each other in front of her. Her small body fit right with the huge dull mahogany desk. She was definitely even more serious than she was after withdrawing the collage book from us.

“Of course I am sure. You think I brought a last minute manager because I wanted to see what it was like inside your office?” I tilted my head to the side.

I could see the gears switching into another lane in her head. Behind her dull blue eyes are piercing and holding so much confidence. It made me a bit nervous.

“Fair enough.” She shrugged.

“I asked because you should know by now that you have the biggest role to play in this. You are the light that holds this fake marriage together. In the history of Hollywood fake marriages, it is always the less famous person who has to do most of the work because it is made to seem like they are being done a favor. But not in you and Julian's case. In this case, he needs reparation. Something that would make people see him as less of a cold brute. And that's where you come in.”

I kind of figured that part last night when I couldn't sleep a blink because of the nerves that wrecked my entire body. I definitely saw how that would work. But that was the thing. Not enough people knew me.

“That's kind of the problem. Not enough people know me to have the messiah effect on him and his fans.”

“Then they will. That's why I said you have the most work done. So this is what we are going to do first. Do you have any content from the literary convention?” Alisha asked.

I shook my head side to side slowly. “I don't think so. I mean I took a few short videos here and there, but really nothing of myself.”

Alisha nodded severally, her eyes were unfocused, showing she was clearly brainstorming. “Okay…”

“Does any of the videos you made have anything on Julian? Of him talking or anything concerning him at all?” She asked.

I narrowed my eyes at her, chuckling nervously. “And why will I have a video of someone I have barely met.”

She gave me a ‘seriously’ look.

“You know I saw the way you were ogling him. Surely you must have given into intrusive thoughts and made a sneak video of him.” She seemed so sure. That was the scary part, because she was right. I did make a little video of him as the light struck the tag around his neck. He looked so majestic back then before I got to know that he was an A-grade a**hole.

“Okay yeah…I might have one or two videos of him.” I finally admitted.

I checked Heidi's reaction. She had that almost invincible smile on her face. One she knew how to do so well. The side of her mouth curling upward was a major sign that she was trying to conceal it.

“Good. Before we get on with it, here is the contract. I have emailed Julian his. Since this has some differences to it than yours. That's why I asked him to give us some space. You can go through it now, you can go home and take your time to go through it. It pretty much explains everything. If you are cool with it. We sign, edit and do what we need to do to get this on the road.” Alisha said. I nodded. With the light bundle of paper work in my hand, all of it became way more real than I had thought it would feel.

I looked at the contract and the name of her PR company was on the head. A Marriage Contract.

“Why did you ask if I had any video on him though?” I asked her, recalling she never really said anything about her reason.

“Because you are going to post it on your i********: story, t****k…wherever it is your personal fans interact with you the most. He is still trending on Chatterbox, Twitter and he is in between gaining and losing followers. His little altercation with the paparazzi outside was caught and posted, which is making the literary event trend. All you have to do is insert yourself into the mix comfortably. So tonight, even before you go through the contract. Post a short clip of him. Make sure it is the first thing on your stories. Make the caption some vague that would show some form of attachment and understanding that no one has about him. Let's see how that goes.” Alisha spoke so confidently that it was all I could bank on.

Personally, I had my worries. One of them stood clear under the sky. I have been having low engagements recently. My views don't go beyond 30k and my likes are below 5k now. That wasn't enough viewpoints for someone who wanted to make a statement and still be vague.

“Are you sure this is gonna work?”

My concern slipped out eventually.

“You don't trust me?” Alisha asked casually.

“It is not you I do not trust. It is my engagement.” I confessed. I feared I might f*ck up my role in this plan.

“Don't worry about that. You just do as I say. Post the video. Submit your socials to my social media team and leave the rest to us. We will help them connect the dots.” She assured me.

And that was it. The meeting was concluded. It felt weird shaking her hands so officially like we just signed a multimillion contact. Heidi and I did as she said, submitting my social handle to her social media team of two men who looked so much alike and were obviously queer. Then a lady who was quite on the other side of the room. We exited the building and got into our ride.

“We need a lawyer.” Heidi said as we began moving.

“I think Julian West hates me.”