Contractual Romance

9

"I know that all of this will bring so much work and stress for you but we have to talk about what we have to do to convince the media and general public about us."

I listened to his words and nodded in understanding. He was right. There were things we had to do to show them that we were together. Simply putting out a relationship and then marriage would make no sense at all.

"Fine, Anthony. What do you have in mind?"

Anthony smiled and rubbed his stubbled jaw as he kept on a thinking face.

"We will have to go on dates. Even if it's to appear like we are on one. I know those sneaky gossip pages will have their interns on the lookout for us and we need them on our side if possible."

"But it's not every time that you're being followed by them."

Anthony sighed. "That's true and I wouldn't want to waste our time going on useless dates."

The way he phrased it made my heart sting. He saw us going on dates as useless which made me painfully remember that this man didn't see me the way I did. I mean, his behavior every time shows he will forever friendzone me.

"If only we have someone who can probably take pictures of us on our dates, pretending to be a paparazzi," he said.

"But doing that would soil our plans. We can't trust someone we hire to suddenly take our pictures and post them. I would have told Gina about it but she's too busy with her art gallery to be doing this with us," I suggested and an exasperated expression on his face appeared.

"This is harder than I thought."

I shrugged and flinched when my phone vibrated constantly in my purse sitting on my lap. I opened it and took the phone out. Displayed on the screen was a notification, telling me Gina had sent a text. I unlocked my phone and opened the text. My eyes bulged at the threads of website links she sent and all of them were about me and Anthony leaving the building just half an hour ago.

"What is it?"

I was too speechless to reply as I was reading the headlines and the distant pictures of us. None of them showed my face, even up until we got into the car. I blinked and handed my phone to Anthony who took his time to stare at it before giving it back to me.

"This is good, right?" I asked, facing him with my body on the leather seat.

"Yes. We now know that the media knows about us and may have to keep tabs on us for updates. This is perfect," Anthony said with a clap of his hands. "We can now go on our dates and give them materials to publish about us."

I nodded. "And how long will we have to do this?"

"My parents know we've been together for a month. So, we need to at least, act like couples. We need to display public affection for maybe another month or two before I propose to you. There's no news of the company being handed over to someone else trending yet, so we have the time to clean up any incoming mess."

The way he said it, one would think this was going to be easy as ABC. The way my heart was beating fast out of fear that this won't work. That something was going to expose us or someone? It made me jittery.

"So, Sandy. From tomorrow until the next month or two, we have to go on dates and act with PDAs to fool the public, that includes at work."

I blinked. "But there's a ban on relationships between staff."

"Pfft. Do you think that rule stops those people from fucking each other at work? There are at least ten of my staff married to each other, still working for me. So, I'm sure they won't be mad that their COO is dating his assistant. Besides, aren't you the one who claims that there are rumors of us fucking each other?"

I swallowed as I remembered how six months ago, there was a rumor that went around that Anthony and I were always sleeping with each other in my office. I wouldn't blame them. At that time, he had a muscle cramp and he would always come to me for me to massage his shoulders. The type of moans he let out was too sexual.

"I don't know, Anthony. This is becoming so serious that I don't want us to mess up."

Anthony grabbed my hand and squeezed it softly. He offered me a kind smile which I returned before ruffling my hair. I grumbled and smacked his arm, feeling at peace within my head. I started to think of Anthony and me going on fake dates. This was something I had imagined and it was now happening, the only difference was that he wasn't in love with me.

"What are you thinking?" I heard his deep voice coarse through my thoughts.

"You know, things like this come with rules," I said.

"Rules? What type of rules are you talking about?"

"Okay... Let's do this. We'll both take turns making rules that will bind this thing we are doing. Rules that will protect our plan and also be important to us somehow. Rules like dos and don'ts."

A look of understanding crossed his face, followed by his mouth forming an O. He blinked owlishly before nodding and motioning for me to go on ahead.

"Rule number one; You must put an end to your constant partying and womanizing."

"What?! No way! You know that's going to be impossible for me to do." He argued like a child, pouting his lips and furrowing his eyebrows.

I grimaced at him. "Seriously? Do you want your face to be smeared on every social networking site as a cheater?"

He sighed. "I guess you're right but... it's not going to be an easy one. This is something I do to calm myself from the stress the office gives."

"Then we should put an end to this fake thing going on."

I made a move to open the door but he stopped me by holding my hand again. I was kind of happy that through this fake relationship, Anthony would quit his bad habits of over-partying all the time and seen with too many women every weekend.

"Fine. I'll accept the rule."

I smiled and relaxed on the seat then motioned at him.

"My turn now. The second rule; is we can have private sexual relationships."

My cheeks flamed up from his words. Was he implying that we were going to sleep with each other? There was no way Anthony would immediately say that.

"W-what do you m-mean?"

"Obviously, we're going to have sexual urges. So, I think we can have people we fuck to relieve ourselves. We aren't that close to be... you know. So, yeah."

It hurt me to hear him say that. No matter how many times I saw and found out about Anthony sleeping around, it still hurt me which made me angry at myself for falling for him.

"So, the first rule just went in this ear and out the other?" I asked while motioning at my ears.

Anthony laughed. "No, babe. That's not what I meant. Listen, I am a man who's very sexually active. I love sex a lot and I can't be celibate because of this fake relationship. You're a virgin and can manage but I can't. So, can we make this part of the rule? We'll make sure our sexual partners don't say a word about it to anyone. It could just be like us cheating on each other."

"And if we get caught or exposed? Do you realize how much of a huge scandal that would be?"

Sometimes, this man acted like he was born without a brain.

"I've had worse scandals. A former staff accused me of sexual assault and she's now in prison for lying. I was hated for months. She had supporters for months until the truth was revealed. What's a cheating scandal to me? Nothing."

I rolled my eyes at the points he was giving.

"Fine. As long as whoever you're fucking is one person only. Because sleeping around will cancel our first rule of you womanizing. Just one person."

"I can handle that."

I racked my head for the next rule and when it came, I saw through it as a way for him not to think that I had feelings for him. Even though I wanted Anthony to know I fell for him, I was scared of him finding out and us breaking every tie we have. This rule would make more sense to him because being married to him may one day open his eyes to my feelings.

"The next rule..." I paused to face him with three fingers raised. "When we are living together, we will not be sharing a room. We will stay in separate rooms."

Anthony eyed me with a comical expression.

"Relax, girl. It's not like I have any intentions of fucking you."

"We literally have to have a child together. I don't trust what's in that pants of yours. It shakes each time a woman is near."

He burst out laughing, clapping his hands as he did before he stopped to stare at me like I was crazy.

"You're just my best friend. I would never disrespect you by having sexual thoughts about you. You're like an annoying, ugly sibling to me and besides, when it's time for a child, I'm sure there are other means. We'll find out," he said, waving his hands as he spoke.

A pang in my heart made me feel like stabbing it. He would always see me in that way. Always. And it hurt.

"Whatever," I said through my hurting.

The car was silent for almost a minute before Anthony started to speak.

"The fourth rule shall be; us displaying public affection but being ourselves in private."

"PDAs? Like what?"

"Hugging, holding hands, and kissing."

I almost choked on my spit at the last thing he said. He wanted to actually do romantic things in public, with me.

"K-kissing?"

Anthony nodded with a look as if I was supposed to know about the rule.

"We will need to do those things in public to deceive people. People on social media are smart, babe. They can sense bullshit from just posting one word. I said this before, Sandy. So, yes. The fourth rule will be; romance in public, friendship in private."

I blinked several times. One part of me was happy that I would get to do the things I've always dreamt to do with him but the other part was skeptical about the result. I would just feel like his one-night stands; we do the deed and that's all.

"I think these rules will do for now. I need to go to bed and think over this," I said, feeling tired all of a sudden.

I opened the door and was about to leave when he got out of the car before me and went around it. He came to my side and opened it wider with a sideways look.

"There's a sneaky paparazzi in the bushes just a few walks behind the car. He's been taking pictures of us since I parked."

I glanced at the back window and tried to look through the tinted window but saw no one. I sighed and got out of the car, making sure my hair covered the right side of my face. I stepped away from the car and he closed the door.

"So, what now?" I asked, looking up at him.

"I have to walk my girlfriend to her door."

I giggled because it was funny to me. I started to walk with him to the front door and when I turned around to face him, I spotted the black-cladded man behind a car on the adjacent side of the street. I shook my head and gasped when I was pulled into Anthony's chest. I pressed my hands on his chest and stared into his eyes in shock. He was staring down at me with a blank expression on his face, making it hard for me to see through his expression.

"Now, I'm going to kiss your cheek."

I swallowed as my heart pumped blood faster than it had been doing a few seconds ago. As he leaned downward, I held my breath and shut my eyes, waiting for the kiss. My heart exploded like fireworks when I felt his soft lips pressing my cheek, dangerously close to the end of my lips.

"This is going to be so much fun," he whispered against my cheek.