Lila got out of the flashy car that her brother had asked her to take out. He told her that she would need to begin to establish herself in society so that people would become curious about her. The truth was that if she did it right, the price of their stocks could go up very drastically, and that was what he wanted. They were on top, but he desperately wanted to be in first position; that was the only way he could remain at the top.Lila walked slowly into the restaurant; she was supposed to meet with Arietta for lunch at a random diner that she was comfortable with, but Oliver had overturned all of her plans. When she woke up that morning, there was a makeup artist, a hairstylist, and a clothes stylist to help her get ready."All this fussy for lunch with your girlfriend?" At that point, Lila wished that she had agreed with Arietta's earlier suggestion of having lunch at home. That way, her brother would not make such a fuss about anything. She sighed when he did not say anything i
Arietta and Lila had a nice lunch, and Lila was pretty sure that she would make the news. She saw Arietta out and then came up to meet with Zach. The truth was that they had nothing to catch up on, but she wanted to talk to him. He was supposed to be the normality she would have in recent times."So sorry I am late""It's no worry; a man has got to do what a man has to do," she said with a smile lingering on her face."Oh, I see you've got a sense of humour," he said, and she shook her head."Oh no, I would not dare call this that; I am just a girl," she said, raising her shoulders a bit."I would have invited you for a late lunch, but you just ate so..." he trailed off as his mind spun on activities that they could do together."Do you have to go back to work?" She asked, looking around. He was not popular like any of the other CEOs, which meant he was either an office worker or someone who owned a start-up. The restaurant was pretty much empty, as everyone who had come in to have an
"What are you doing today?" Oliver asked as his sister sat by the table for breakfast. "Thanks to you, I have to go to meet that old woman," Lila said, taking up the toast from the pile and taking a bite from it."Old woman?""The woman from the church," she said before taking another bite from it. "This is really good," she murmured with her mouth full. "Can you please for once at like your class?" he asked, rolling his eyes. She dropped the tray to the plate in front of her, crossed her legs under the table, and turned up her nose. "I am sorry, did you want me to act snobbish?" she asked, trying to fake an accent. "No, I do not want you to act snobbish or do a terrible accent impression. I want you not to talk while you have food in your mouth," he said. She wondered how hard it was for him to take a sarcastic joke; she had made sure to sound out her sarcasm so he could know what she meant, but suddenly he was dense. "I wonder how the company survives," she muttered before taki
"You look like someone who is in urgent need of soem boozze and hoe," Daniel said as he sat down to Gavin's table at the bar. Evangeline had finally taken off her yes from him, and he was all set to meet up with his friends regularly. If he was being honest, marrying her was not what he thought he would like. If he had gotten married to Lila instead, he was sure that he would have been free to do whatever he wanted, but with her, she was trying her best to cage him down. "Maybe that is what I need—some alcohol to numb my brain and a woman to make me feel like a man again." Gavin repied his eyes, scouring the dance floor of people moving to the beat. "Then I would take it upon myself to get that for you," Daniel offered."You do not have to do such a thing," Gavin told his friend before he got out of his seat. "So you are saying that you would rather look like a monk at a place like this?""Do you want me to turn up dead?" Gavin asked, taking up his glass and chuging it down. He was
"Where are you?" Damien asked over the phone. "Mr. Damien Calloway, don't you think you are obsessed with me considering that we are in a fake relationship?" She asked over the phone. She had waited all afternoon for Rosa's call, but she did not get one, and since she did not have her number, she could not call to check up on the woman; her brother was being a pain and was not getting her calls. All she could do was pray that the woman was all right. If she had known that all she would have been doing all day was to lay down and not do anything, she would not have turned down Zach's invitation to lunch."Fake relationship?" He gasped as if she were making up things, and he did not know what she meant when they had agreed on it together. "What do you want?" she asked, ignoring his fake gasp and pressing her lip into a thin line. "I want to treat you to dinner, so what do you say?" he asked, and she shook her head. She most especially did not want to see him; his presence was too ov
Lila jumped out of bed almost immediately, and the call dropped. She dropped her phone to the bed and looked down at herself. She was still in the clothes she had put on in the morning. "What do I wear?" she exclaimed, looking down at herself as she rushed into her closet. It was almost next to empty. She did not really care about things like that, and since she got back, she has been trying her best to get pieces of clothing for herself. She only got a new one when she needed it, and now out of the pieces of clothes everywhere, she had no idea which of them she was going to throw away to get a cute outfit for her to wear. One thing she very much wanted to do was have something that looked like she threw something together without putting much thought into it. "Maybe I do need to get myself some clothes," she murmured, holding a piece of cloth to her body as she stared in the mirror. After doing the same for almost everything in the wardrobe, she decided that before the end of the w
Gray had advised him and asked him to study her as it would make her feel he was really interested in her, but he reminded his assistant that as much as he would have loved to give a tailored experience to his enemy, he still wanted to work within the time frame that Kevin had given to him. Even though he did not have all of the details figured out, he knew that, as it stands, he had wasted an entire week and had not gotten anything done. He needed to find a way to speed up the process so that he could get everything done soon. "I would suggest slowly getting to know her," Gray said, sounding just like Sam. "I want to take revenge, not marry her. Why on earth would I slowly get to know her?" Damien murmured. "I do not have enough time for all that, so I should just ask her."Gray wanted to tell him that women were like search and rescue dogs who could easily sniff out insincerity, but he held himself from saying anything. He nodded instead. "I will be ready to take any further instr
"He was asking me what I would like to eat," Lila asked herself, staring at the phone. She had been so sceptical about him, and as much as she thought that his action was supposed to clear off the doubt she had, she feared that he was plunging her into more fear by the day. She dropped onto the bed with her eyes closed as she tried to steady her beating heart and convince herself that her heart was only doing that to her because she was feeling a bit stressed even though she had barely done anything all day. "Can I say something, sir?" Gray said out of the blue, and Damien raised her head to him. "I do not think you might like what I am about to say.""And yet you still want to say it?" Amien asked, shocked at his assistant. Gray had always been simple and took his words as law; he had never thought of speaking back at him like this, so Damien was curious as to what he wanted to say to him. "Yes, sir," he replied with a small nod. "Go on," Damien told him. "Sir, I do not think tha
"Look what we got in the mail," Evangeline said, waving the card in hand in the air happily. It was one of those rare mornings when they both sat at the table and ate together. Gavin always rushed out in the morning, while Evangeline stayed in bed longer than she should. "What is it?" Gavin asked, not impressed by the paper in her hand. For all he could know, that could be their bills or a bank statement on one of her numerous credit cards. He wondered if having a crippling debt on her card was a flex for her. "Your credit card bill?" "Of course not," she said, furrowing her eyebrow as she sat down in the chair opposite him. "That is exciting, but not as exciting as this news I am about to share with you." "Gee, what could be more exciting than your wonderful debt?" He said it in a dry tone. "Keep on being stupid; I will still tell you anyway," she murmured angrily, raking out the card from the envelope, dropping the envelope to the table, and turning to him as she began to read.
"You are back early," Lila said when she saw her brother walk in. She was going to talk to him the next morning since she thought he would probably be out late since he had a date with Arietta. It was strange to her that he was already at home. "The date finished early," he said, and she frowned with her lip running downwards. "What is that supposed to mean? What do you mean by the date finished early?" She asked, getting from the couch, to go meet him by the door. "Arietta gave me good news, and I wanted to come hear from you about it.""She told you already?" Lila gasped in disbelief. "So how did this happen?" "I ran into Gavin's new wife, and she pushed me to the wall—the wall I did not know that I had built up. It was not a good feeling, but I know that if I let her continue with me like that, I would like it.""I think you have made the right decision," Oliver said proudly. "And I am glad that you made the decision all by yourself." "What does that mean?""Damien called me
"I am so sorry, ma'am I was not aware that you came into our store; if I had known, I would have come out to attend to you by myself." "It's okay," Lila said. She did not want them to make a fuss overanythingg; she had made her point to Evangeline, so now she could relax."The present staff do not know any better." Lila could remember coming into the store with her mom when she was younger, and she could remember how members of the staff fussed over her. Her mom did buy a lot, so maybe their actions in themselves were not entirely bad, but it already made her feel self-conscious about it all."It is fine; I am fine." "How is Mrs. Carson? It's been a while since I heard from her," the manager said, trying to make small talk."Having the time of her life," Lila said a bit only because she genuinely did not know how her mother was. She was convincing herself that no news was good news and that if anything had gone wrong, they would have heard about it."How can I serve you today?" The
Evangeline stood outside, looking at the store. After the security men had pulled her outside, one staff member followed and told her that her membership had been revoked. She screamed, but nothing was changed. After all of the money she spent on the store, how could they revoke her membership just like that? Who on earth was Lila assassinated with that you think to do something like this to her?"Gavin," she said in a sad tone over the phone. "Gavin boo," she said again. She had been mean to him over the past few weeks, but she had to tell him what she had just experienced. "Evangeline? Darling? Why do you sound so sad?" He asked in a panicked tone. "I was just kicked out of my favourite store." Gavin relaxed; he had feared that she was in danger, but he thought that this was just a little trouble over clothes, and he felt better. "Kicked you out? Why would they do that?" "I saw Lila in the store, and I knew that she could not afford the things in it, so I just asked that she be
Evangeline watched Jane scramble away; she began to think under what name Lila was registered that made her act like that. She had known her before Gvain decided to do away with Lila and marry her; she knew how she clinged to Gavin without money of her own; she knew how she had to meet Gavin to give her everything that she could possibly need in life. She basically relied on him, so how could she have let up so fast that she already had a suagr daddy ready to take care of her expenses?"Oh, I see what is going on here," Evanegline said, sounding like he knew it all. She closed the gap between them and held her shoulder lightly. "You must have latched yourself to a rich man who ought membership for you." Lila had the urge to tell her off, but she held herself to avoid blowing things out of proportion. She had a godstore credit because she was using her mom's membership, and it was valid for them both. "If you get on your high horse, should we wait for the manager to get here first so
"Don't you think this is too flashy?" Lila asked, stepping out of the changing room. She was in a red sequin dress flowing down to the ground; the neck was deeply cut to show a bit of her cleavage and highlighted her silhouette and curves. "You look too good," Arietta squealed as she went to hold Lila's hand."Where am I supposed to wear this to? To have breakfast or watch my favourite series?" Lila asked, turning to the mirror. It was not a lie; the dress looked too good on her, and she wanted to get it. But how could she think of getting something as expensive as this without any reason? "I have no place to wear it, so why should I buy it?" she murmured. "Who knows, you might need to attend an event soon, and wearing this would make everyone look at you." "If everyone is looking at me, then I will feel very uncomfortable," Lila replied, shaking her head.As much as she loved the dress, it was impractical for her to wear. How could she think of buying something that she might nev
"A thousand dollars?" Lila gasped as she picked up the tag of the dress that Arietta had pushed into her hand. "That is quite affordable," Areitta said. They had spent about ten minutes going around the store with Arietta taking out clothes from the display rack and pushing them into her hands. Lila had been taking a peek at the clothes, and they were not the types she could afford. Even though Arietta had told her that she was going to have to pay and that she should not worry, Lila could not help but feel weirded out by the experience. Aruetta had said that this was her way of apologizing for the mistake that she had made, and Lila had said that a simple apology would have sufficed for it. Arietta decided to help Oliver out even though she did not fully understand the concept of it all. That was the best she could do for them. Oliver obviously had a plan, and the least she could do was help him. "Affordable?" Lila gasped.Arietta gave her a glance and muttered to her, "Do not wo
"I am so glad that you thought of me," Arietta squealed as they walked through the mall. "I needed help, and I did not have anyone else to call," Lila said in a low voice. She had reached out to Arietta, asking if she could take her shopping. She needed new clothes if she was going to be able to live her life. "I am still glad that you thought of me even after the way I embarrassed you the other day." "Embrassed me?" Lila said in a dismissive tone. "You did not embarrass me; you just got the wrong idea, and I mean, anyone can do that," she added. She did not want to have a bad history with the girl just because of one example mistake. They could grow to be a bunch of friends and may not even know it just because she decided to keep a grudge. "You ate so nice, and I am going to make sure you have a very nice time as well," Arietta promised, latching onto her hand and pulling her away. Lila felt her phone vibrating in her pocket; she took it out and looked at it. "Oliver is calling
"Mr. Carson, you have a call from Mr. Calloway." His assistant's voice rang through the intercom and then beeped dead. He looked at his phone, beeping a red light back at him to indicate that the phone was waiting for him to pick it up. He picked up the receiver and put it to his ears, wondering if this was some kind of joke on him because Damien never cried out first."Damien?" Oliver was shocked to get a call from Damien. He had tried for years to get close to him, but all that Damien had done was raise a wall between them, and no matter how much he tried, he was blocked every single time. "Oliver," Damien said back. Damien had been surprising himself in these recent times. He had been the one to reach out to Oliver to ask to be steered up with his sister, and now he was getting worried about Lila. He was trying to convince himself that the reason for him crying out to Oliver was not that he was worried but because he did not like to think that a small fry like Gavin was trying to