“My parents don’t know we’re pretending and they want to meet you.”
Wait, what?
Every word made sense on its own, but put together, they completely fried my brain.
“Hold on. You mean…” I gawked at him, jabbing a finger at myself. “You want me to meet your parents?”
Aaron’s parents.
Oh, hell no. That meant the chairman and his wife.
My chairman. My top–tier boss. My literal bread and butter
I shook my head so fast I could’ve powered a small fan.
No chance. Absolutely not.
If this whole fake relationship thing eventually “ended,” wouldn’t that mean I’d be offending the very people who paid my salary?
Worse still, my mind conjured up those cliché lines: “Here’s one million dollars. Leave my son forever.”
Let’s be real–between my job at Ford Enterprises and the end–of–year bonuses, I could probably save up one million dollars in four years.
As a programmer, I was eating off borrowed time–my youth was my greatest asset.
My dream was to cash out early and retire in blissful peace.
I couldn’t lose my job. There was no way I’d risk getting kicked out of Ford Enterprises.
Seeing my immediate refusal, Aaron didn’t push the matter further.
But fate, as it turned out, didn’t care about my plans.
If I wasn’t going to deal with the problem, the problem came straight to my doorstep.
Aaron, ever the perfectionist, insisted on committing fully to the “act.”
So, during lunch break, I found myself walking out of the office under the not–so–subtle stares of my coworkers. I forced out a wobbly smile, practically bolted down the hall, and slipped into Aaron’s office like I was on the run.
With my hood pulled low and my steps hurried, I was the very picture of “guilty as charged.
“God, one lie really does take a thousand more to cover up, I thought.
I couldn’t stand the knowing, teasing glances from my so–called friends anymore.
I had to set things straight with Aaron now. Whatever it took, we needed to end this charade as soon as possible before it spiraled even further out of control.
2/2
+25 BONUS
Chapter 14
