Chapter 3

• She woke up with a smile the next morning. She didn’t care about her apartment that she loathed. No matter how she cleaned and decorated it just couldn’t look beautiful. She didn’t care for her bathroom door that couldn’t seem to close. When she was done spitting out her mouthwash she grinned at the mirror.
• She dressed her best. Spending time on you self really did stuff to your attitude. Today she would take the taxi. She didn’t want to be among others and have to spray more perfume when she got to work because rubbing against other people made her feel dirty. There was a smile that wouldn’t leave her lips and a spring in her step.
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• Nathan woke up and went through everything like he normally did. He decided to do his hair to the side today and maybe curl it messily. He liked that. When he sat down for breakfast the news wasn’t talking about his business though. It was something else completely different.
• It was about him, but there was someone else.
• “What is this?” he asked his butler that stood by his side.
• A magazine was dropped beside his plate. He picked it up harshly. One the cover page it was him and Darlene. It was a picture of them on the steps yesterday. Just after she had fell, when she had turned and was in the process of hugging him. So he looked like he had dipped her on the steps. And how they had took it looked so romantic. It wasn’t meant to be that. She almost died. And they made fake news out of that.
• He opened the page to the article about him. “Business Tycoon, billionaire, and most handsome Nathan Cross of Cross Limited is finally off the market. We were able to spot him yesterday after enjoying a race at the track, and were lucky to get this picture of the normally reclusive man so out of character. Who knew he was one for PDA. Who is this woman and how was she able to bring the lonely bachelor out of solitude”.
• And the article continued further about him but he wasn’t going to read that. This was a problem. There was a magazine, it was on the news. Everyone was talking about it. That meant that people he didn’t want to know would know. He wondered why Stella hadn’t called yet. Well she lived in her own world. She never paid attention to the news. But there was someone who did.
• He stood up completely forgetting his breakfast. Times like this he wished that she wasn’t so different so that they could communicate at least. He would have her number and be able to talk to her before she talked to anyone that she wasn’t meant to.
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• Darlene stepped out of the taxi to see less of the protesters. It seemed like they were getting tired. It was just a few steps left before she got to the front door when she was assaulted. Not physically but with cameras. The flashes had her stepping back and covering her face with her bag.
• “What is your relationship with Nathan Cross?”
• “How long have you two been together?”
• “Is it true that you two are engaged?”
• She didn’t understand what they were talking. Why was she involved? What about her boss? Why were both their names called? She groaned suddenly feeling sick. She couldn’t make sense of anything. As she stepped back the came closer and she almost fell again. She wanted to leave but they were all around her. All her sides. She couldn’t escape. And she felt she was drowning in her own sweat.
• It was all coming back. As flashed of their cameras went off. She had just landed her very first gig. At an event. An important birthday or a wedding she couldn’t remember. She had been standing there in the middle of the room where all eyes had been on her. She had frozen and there were all flashes. Flashes that she thought were going to blind.
• She literally couldn’t breathe.
• She stepped back and she was falling. But something caught her. Something strong and she was pulled away. She let herself be pulled away by the strong arms around her. She was all unfocused. She didn’t know that now she was in a car panting in front of someone else.
• She sucked in a deep breath when she felt something cold against her hand. She looked up to see an advanced woman before her. She looked around in utter panic. When did she get here? She wanted to scream.
• “Water?” the woman asked. She had a warm friendly smile.
• Thinking about it now she was out of breath and quite parched. She took the bottle and opened it never taking her eyes of the woman. She really shouldn’t take things from strangers just because they were smiling.
• “Poor thing” the woman said. “What did they do to you?”
• The paparazzi were absolute vultures. Before he arrived he had been told that they had been there hounding the office goers for questions. Coming out of the car he had to deal with the protestors and the paparazzi. He put his shades on and just kept his head up. It was good to be tall sometimes. He ignored all of them to get to his office.
• They were all smart to stay out of his way. He tapped the button multiple times before it opened. During the entire elevator ride he was impatient. When it finally opened and he stepped out she wasn’t at her desk. There was no one there. She hadn’t come to work yet. That was good. He knew her place so he could go there and…
• His phone rang at that moment. He slid accept before looking at the screen.
• “What?!” his eyes widened.
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• He didn’t even stop to acknowledge whoever opened the door for him. He walked with determination, taking long strides as he followed the path he could hear voices from. Singing voices. No a singing voice.
• He walked all the way to the back where Darlene sat with his mum singing walking on sunshine. His mum smiled and clapped along. He would get to that later. What he needed to focus on now was that Darlene and his mum were together. What had they talked about? What had Darlene said?
• “Oh!” his mum exclaimed when she saw him. “Nathan so nice of you to join us”.
• Darlene looked to him and she didn’t look freaked out. The entire situation wasn’t good for him. “Nice to see you too mum” he walked up to her already outstretched arms and he hugged her. She kissed him on his cheek. He would ignore the chuckle he heard behind him.
• “So mum…”
• “How long were you planning on hiding her from us?”
• “Mum” he groaned. “It’s not as big of a deal as you…and everyone else is making it out to be”.
• “How long have you two been together?” she asked again. “She has been awfully quiet. Seems like you made it clear that you wanted to keep it secret so that’s why she’s being secretive” she smiled wriggling her brows.
• “Mum please stop that” he sighed.
• “You can’t do stuff like that in public and not expect people to talk Nathan”.
• “You don’t just follow people around and take them off the street. We talked about this mum”.
• “Are the two of you engaged?” she asked innocently.
• “Mum!” he snapped.
• “Oh!” his mum clasped her hands. “I’m going to get something ready. Darlene said she hasn’t eaten all morning” and she left the two of them to talk.
• “What’s going on?!” Darlene exclaimed letting all her frustration out with that question.
• “I guess you have seen the news” he explained calmly.
• “Yes. Your mum won’t stop talking about it. She just took me away from the front of the company. Is this what you people do? Why is everyone making a big deal out of this?”
• “Well I’m Nathan Cross. They just love to talk about me” he didn’t sound smug like he usually did. He had been careful about this. Not being seen out with any woman. Not even Stella. But she just had to fall so this was entirely her fault. “You just had to fall”.
• “Are you implying that it’s my fault?” she asked with disbelief.
• “What gave you that impression?” he asked sarcastic. And she would know because that was the same way she always answered him.
• “Your mum thinks were dating, everyone thinks we’re dating just because you caught me from falling. And she wouldn’t say it but it did look like they were about to kiss. She would not bring up the picture that they had also put up of him dropping her off. “She didn’t listen to a thing I said when I tried telling her we weren’t together”.
• “That’s how she is” he groaned. “I’ll fix that don’t worry about it” he assured her.
• “You do that. Even if I were to be fake married, I would like to be asked first”.
• “What are the two of you whispering about” they both turned to see his mum standing there. How long had she been standing there? What had she heard?
• The workers walked past her with trays. Before she sat down she gestured for them to sit which they did.
• “So you’re thirty-three now. I have to ask when the wedding is going to take place. Your dad is retired now, he’s never here. He’ll be happy to hear that you’re finally with someone” then she turned to Darlene. “He had never been with any woman…”
• Darlene had to drink water for this. And she choked a little. Nathan gave her a nasty glare.
• “And we were quite worried. He’s an only child and he’s getting older every day and still no children. I actually bet with his father that he would be out of the closet before his next birthday. But thank goodness for people with no boundaries and we got to know about you”.
• “Mum please” he covered his eyes with his hands red in the face.
• “No please continue”. He subtly pinched her under the table.
• She thought she could play it off, but it really hurt.
• “Can I use your bathroom?” she was already standing before the woman answered.
• “I’ll show it to her” he stood up, but before he could move his mum held his wrist. “I’m so happy for the two of you”.
• God he was in so much shit. He smiled back at her and followed where she walked off to.