Chapter 5

"No, I did."

Looking away from Knox I found a girl no older than 18 standing next to the table. She was severely pretty and it only took a glance at her eyes to find the resemblance. She was clearly Knox's sister with the similar face structure and bright green eyes, but while he had brown hair hers was blonde.

Does their entire family have good genes? Was my first thought.

"Olivia?" Knox questioned, turning to his sister. I watched as she took a deep breath and straightened her spine as if she was getting ready for something.

"I replied to the ad." She looked directly at her brother as she spoke before she glanced over at me.

"What was the ad for?" Each word was clipped as they felt Knox's mouth. I could tell he was trying to reign in his anger.

"To be her fake boyfriend for christmas." With each word Olivia's voice got softer and higher pitched. As soon as the words left her mouth Knox glanced back over at me. I couldn't help but blush under his intense glare.

"That is the stupidest idea I've ever heard." He ground out. I knew it wasn't the best idea but the way he said it made it sound like I was I was some idiot who didn't know my right from my left. I opened my mouth to snap back at him but he was already turning back to his sister.

The hard look he sent her was enough to make me want to cower, I couldn't imagine what it was like if it was directed at me. The look he had was one of authority and dominance. As Knox started whispering to his sister I looked over my shoulder towards Leah and Oliver. The two of them stared at me in confusion. Leah gesturing towards Knox and his sister. I just shrugged not even sure what was going on. By time I turned back around Olivia was sitting down glaring at her brother.

"This seems to be a misunderstanding. I'm not interested in your ad ." Knox turned those intense green eyes on me. I wanted to shrink back but I held firm.

"You know you could have politely declined instead of being rude about it." I crossed my arms across my chest.

He continued on staring at me as if doing so could get rid of me. This wasn't going to work but with this guys attitude I wasn't sure I wanted him as my fake boyfriend anyways. Turning away from his glare I met the eyes of his sister. She sent me a small that held an apology in it. I sent her one back before pivoting on my heel and walking away from them.

Moving away from their table I felt my irritation grow. How rude was that!? He could have said no more politely instead of being an ass, and making me feel like an idiot.

The moment my butt hit the seat Leah was firing questions at me.

"What was that about?"

"God he was such a jerk!" I instantly ranted. "Apparently his younger sister replied to the ad and he didn't know about it. So when I went up to him he was confused but then he turned into the biggest jerk." I looked over my shoulder at Knox, glaring but he wasn't even facing me anymore.

"You don't want a guy like that Aub." Leah reached across the table and softly patted my arm. I agreed with her but I couldn't help but feel a bit hurt by the way he spoke to me. Like I was a bug on his shoe he couldn't scrape off.

"Whatever." I muttered, grabbing my coffee.

"Do you have any more guys interested?" Oliver asked.

"No." Knox Mikelson was the last option. There wasn't enough time to find someone and get to know them a bit before leaving in four days.

It seems like I'll be going home for Christmas alone like every other year. On the plus side I wasn't out anything but time at this point. Sighing as disappointment washed over me I stood up.

"Where are you going?" They both looked up at me in confusion.

"I have a proposal I need to work on. I'll catch you guys later." Before they could respond I grabbed my coat and bag, and headed for the door.

I knew they both didn't know why this whole fake boyfriend thing was a big deal. They had no idea how important it actually was to me.

Not wanting to think more about it, I stuck my hands into my coat pockets and walked the three blocks to my apartment.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Knox

"I can't believe you did that Olivia." I said through clenched teeth as soon as we got home.

"I had to!" Olivia turned around and glared at me. She looked so grown up at that moment. It threw me for a second seeing my little sister so grown up. It went away quickly as my anger came back.

"You replied to an ad behind my back! The person could have been a creep."

"She isn't a creep."

"Someone asking for a fake boyfriend over the holidays screams creep Liv. You don't know how people are."

"Knox I looked her up okay! I found her on all her social media accounts, I found out where she works too. She isn't some weirdo." Olivia rolled her eyes at me.

"Someone who puts an ad like that in the newspaper is a weirdo. How did you even get my computer?" I questioned, following her into the kitchen

"It was open on the counter when you got home from the store." Olivia's voice going soft. I pinched the bridge of my nose as she spoke, trying to stop the headache that was already forming.

"Why did you do it?" I've wanted to know since the moment the attractive woman walked up to the table earlier.

"I..." She trailed off. Opening my eyes I found Liv standing there arms wrapped around her middle, a sad expression on her face.

"You can tell me Livvy." My anger instantly vanished and I moved around the counter to stand closer to her.

"I just thought we could maybe go somewhere else for Christmas instead." Knowing exactly what she was meaning I moved and pulled her small frame into a hug. Seconds later she was sobbing into my chest, clinging onto my shirt.

It had been a hard year. A very hard year actually, and I could see Liv not wanting to be here for Christmas. But to go with some stranger to their home for Christmas?

"I don't want to be here without them." Olivia sobbed as I barely made out her words. I held on tighter to her as I swallowed thickly. Knowing how hard this past year had been on her I found myself saying,

"I'll...think about it. Okay?" Liv just nodded into my chest as a reply.

Inwardly I sighed. There was so much to think about but with Christmas only a week away I didn't have much time to think it through much. But if I was going to agree to this I needed to find out more about this Aubrey lady and exactly why she wanted a fake boyfriend for christmas.

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