Be my fake boyfriend

"Hi, it's nice to meet you again, Miss Alicia," Ren smiles at her politely as he quickly stands up to his feet to greet her. 

Glaring hard at him with her blood boiling in rage, she feels like grabbing the glass of wine on the desk and spilling it on his face, but that'll be too harsh. Not that he has done anything bad to her, just that she never liked him from the onset, or maybe it was because of her hatred for men trying to get close to her unnecessarily. 

"Now that you're here, you can't just leave like that, right? We should sit and talk," He smiles at her politely, and she sighs briefly. Contemplating whether to sit with him or not, her phone suddenly beeps and she checks the screen 'I'm sorry for arranging a blind date between you and him, I don't mean any harm. Ren doesn't look bad, you can introduce him to your parents as your boyfriend, and sort it out later. Good luck, darling' she scoffs after she finishes reading the text that her friend sent to her. Is she crazy? Her parents will definitely find out that she introduced a fake person to them, and she will be screwed for the rest of her life. 

She finally sits across from him hesitantly. 

"I'm sorry I have not done a proper introduction of myself. My name is Ren Houston..."

"You said that when we met at the bar. There's no need to repeat yourself. What do you want from me, Ren?" She asks harshly in pure disgust. 

"My bad..." He purses his lips and looks away. The atmosphere is awkward as the two of them stay silent. Staring at the man sitting before her, Alicia can't help but have a second thoughts about what her friend said in the text. She knows that this doesn't feel right, but she needs to do something about this before her parents get her married to some old random guy, right? 

"How old are you?" She suddenly asks out of the blue, and Ren raises his gaze to look at her with a confused expression on his face. For some seconds, he stares at her beautiful face as her pair of hazel eyes pierce into his, and his heart melts slowly at the sight of those beautiful eyes. Damn! This woman is gorgeous. 

"Are we doing a staring contest here?" Her voice snaps him back to reality, and he looks away in embarrassment. 

"What was your question again?" He asks like he didn't hear her the first time she asked that. 

"How old are you?" She asks confidently for the second time, staring keenly at him like she can see through him. 

"Twenty-six..." He replies and bites his bottom lip, while she stares at him in shock. Here she was, thinking that he will be around thirty or thirty-one, because of the kind of his appearance. 

"Twenty-six?" She asks to be sure that she heard him right, and she scoffs when he nods his head. Now, she can't do this. How can she possibly introduce him to her parents as her lover? That doesn't make any sense, right? 

'Since you couldn't provide your boyfriend to us, I'm introducing you to a friend of mine' the imagination of what her dad would say to her later on hits her, and she sighs briefly. Looks like she doesn't have a choice at this point. Maybe giving this a shot wouldn't be a big deal. Besides, they're only going to be together for some time and there's no way she can ever fall in love with him. Never! 

"I'll go straight to the point, Ren..." She pauses and places her hands on the table while staring straight at him. 

"I want you to be my fake boyfriend..." She stops to observe the expression on his face, and as expected, his eyes widen in shock. 

"I'll pay you any amount that you want, I promise. I'm just going to introduce you to my parents as my boyfriend, then we're good," She says to him like it's so easy to do. How can he ask a stranger to be her boyfriend, just like that? Does it make any sense? 

"What do you think of me? That I'm desperate for money? That is the craziest thing anyone ever said to me," He scoffs unbelievably as he bites his bottom lip. 

"Hey, it's fine if you don't want to do it. There's no need to give me that look," She rolls her eyes, and without waiting for what else he has to say, she stands up to her feet and grabs her purse from the table before walking out of the restaurant angrily. Turns out that coming here was a waste of time. She didn't expect less anyway. Her dates always go wrong. Not that she ever wanted to go, but her crazy and annoying friend would always find a way to push her to go. 

She strides to her car and hops in, driving out of the place afterward. 

Lilian's apartment a few minutes later... 

Barging into the living room angrily, Lilian almost jumps out of her skin as she snaps her head to look at her. She was busy having all her attention on her phone. 

"What the... You startled me, girl..."

"You should've just fainted. I think that'll satisfy me more," She laments, and Lilian understands immediately that her date didn't go as she has planned. 

"Come on, Alicia, that was harsh. So tell me, how about..."

"All thanks to you, I was embarrassed by a little boy young enough to be my little brother if I had one," She cuts her off with eyes roll. 

"That's harsh, girl. Ren is twenty-six for crying out loud and not a baby," Lilian rolls her eyes. 

"You knew he's twenty-six? Oh my God, Lilian. You're unbelievable. You know what? I don't ever want to see that jerk anywhere around here. Tell him to never call me if you don't want me to spend the rest of my life behind bars for murdering someone's son," She threatens as she stands up to her feet. 

"I think you'll eventually end up behind bars because he won't stop coming here," Lilian smirks at her. 

"Try that then," She utters before she starts heading to the staircase angrily. 

"That reminds me. Your dad was here," Hearing Lilian's voice, she stops abruptly and slowly turns to face her. 

"He said that there's going to be a grand dinner at his house in three days. I guess your cousins from both sides will be coming, and according to him, he asked you to be there with your boyfriend," Lilian says to her, and her heart sinks into her stomach. What the heck is all this frustration?