JESSICA'S POV.I woke up early the next day, feeling a little giddy and nervous at the same time. Today, Daniel and I would be going wedding dress shopping. Usually in the movies, the female lead would be so happy and excited—maybe chatting about how great her fiancee was while one of her best friends painted her nails. But mine was far from that. My best friend—although fully now in support of the contract wedding—had made it obvious she was only going to be available for the wedding. Though her reason was very much valid—with her Mum's business being mostly solely handled by her, her brothers surgery which was miraculously covered by an old friend of hers, and overally, all the chaos in her life—She had the right to keep away from any form of stress. My relationship with Daniel was currently very stressful and problematic. My mind went back to what Daniel had said earlier and a small smile played on my lips. "You're a strong woman, Jessica." That was like the most satisfying thin
DANIEL'S POV.The rate at which I'd been thinking about Jessica had been alarming and driving me crazy. It was like everything I did and everywhere I went somehow led me into thinking about her. Her eyes, her scent, her dark long hair that cascaded down her shoulders. Even her new fiesty behaviour—everything about the woman was haunting me. And let's not even talk about those thoughts my mind had started to entertain. Thoughts about her body in my dreams that were far from innocent. Crazy thing was, I didn't even find her attractive ... well before those dreams I didn't, and she wasn't even close to being my type. But now? Hell, even her cheap and obviously thrifted clothes weren't looking that bad to me anymore. I was more interested in what was beneath now. I'd gone crazy, I knew, but after so much deliberation on the matter, I decided to just go with it. Allow my mind entertain those thoughts as long as I didn't go for anything real. Dreaming about Jessica must've just been as a
JESSICA'S POV.Daniel walked in while I was watching TV in the living room, dressed in his signature work suit and looking like he just stepped out of a movie. I got up quickly, feeling guilty about being caught slacking. Truth was, I'd started to get confused about my roles in the house. I was the maid, sure but I was also the fake fiancee and wife to be. Was I still supposed to bust my ass working?Daniel kind of answered my question by not talking about it. Instead he sat down on the couch across and threw his jacket down to the couch, giving a tired sigh.I felt unsure of whether to walk away or sit where I was so I asked, "ugh ... Do you want to be alone right now?"Daniel's head shot up and he looked straight at me with an emotion I couldn't read in his eyes. "No. You can stay. In fact I had something I wanted to talk about."I pursed my lips and carefully sat back. "What's up?""Well I ... Ugh ... I wanted to uhmm..." He trailed off, shook his head and continued like he thought
DANIEL'S POV.I woke up from a deep sleep, drenched in sweat and confused as hell. I rubbed at my eyes, trying to shake off the remnants of the nightmare that had just plagued me . What the hell was that?In this dream, me and Jessica were driving home from our wedding, when suddenly the car went out f control and we got into a horrible accident. The wedding ended up being a complete disaster and my dad and all the guests found out that we were faking everything after Bianca crashed into the event. Nightmares were the worst thing ever to me. I'd always hated them since I was little. My hatred for nightmares had started ever since I'd watched a lot of scary movies all by myself one night that my parents had left me all alone with the babysitter. The babysitter had had no idea that when she'd gone to take a nap, I'd snuck into her room and taken the TV remote control she had hidden from me, and gotten myself busy with horror movies. From that day, I'd started to have nightmares. Very b
DANIEL'S POV.I was sitting in my office, staring at the computer screen and trying to focus on work. It was the day before my fake wedding with Jessica, and I was feeling nervous. I knew it was all just for show, but it still felt weird to be pretending to marry someone.Suddenly, my office door opened, and I looked up to see my father standing there. He had a golf club in his hand and a smile on his face."Hey, son," he said. "How about we go for a round of golf? Just you and me, before the big day tomorrow." I was surprised. My father and I had never been close, and he had never shown much interest in spending time with me. But I could tell he was genuinely trying to connect with me, and I it felt weird. "Sure, Dad," I said, standing up from my desk. "Let's go."We drove to the golf course in silence, but I could feel the tension between us. I knew there was a lot of unresolved issues between us, and I wasn't sure if golf was going to solve them.As we started playing, my father
JESSICA'S POV.I sat on my bed, staring at the white dress hanging from the closet door. In less than twenty-four hours, I would be walking down the aisle, pretending to marry a man I barely knew and didn't love. I felt a wave of anxiety wash over me, a sense of unease settling in my stomach. This was crazy—what was I thinking?Just then, my phone rang, interrupting my thoughts. I glanced at the screen to see that it was Julia. Thank God, she was the only one I had right now. "Hey, Julia," I said, answering the call."Hey, Jess! How's it going? You know ... Tomorrow?"I sighed, knowing that I couldn't keep up the pretense with her. "Honestly, Julia, I'm freaking out. I can't believe that I agreed to this fake wedding. I'm seriously rethinking my decisions.Julia's voice was soothing, her words reassuring. "It's okay, Jess. You know that you don't have to go through with this if you don't want to. But if you do decide to go ahead with it, just remember that I'm here for you. You can
DANIEL'S POV.I woke up on the morning of the wedding feeling a mix of excitement and nerves. Today was the day I would officially marry Jessica, the woman I had hired as a maid and barely knew anything about. I got dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans headed over to Schumann's apartment after shooting Jessica a text. Schumann was my closest friend, so he had agreed to be my best man for the day. As soon as I arrived, he handed me a glass of scotch and we sat down on his plush couch to chat."So, are you ready for today?" Schumann asked, taking a sip of his own drink. "Why do you look so gloomy?"I took a deep breath, trying to calm my nerves. "I think I'm ready. It's just a contract wedding, right?"Schumann chuckled, sarcastically. "Yeah, just a contract wedding. No big deal."We chatted for a while longer, discussing what life would be like for me and Jessica after the wedding, and Schumann offered his support and advice, which I appreciated.As we talked, my phone rang. It was my
JESSICA'S POV.As the reception wound down, I found myself standing at the entrance, greeting guests as they left. I plastered a smile on my face, thanking them for coming and wishing them a good night. But inside, I felt hollow and empty. This was not the wedding I had envisioned for myself, and I felt like a fraud, pretending to be happy when I was anything but."Congratulations, Melissa," a random redheaded woman came up to me with her kid latched onto her arm. "Your dress was so stunning by the way, but I couldn't wait to get you alone for this."Get me alone why? Just as I was about to ask her what it was, Greg came up to us with a big smirk. "The dress was from our line. If you're ever interested in our dresses, then we got you?""Oh ... Yeah the dress ...was awesome," the woman said, awkwardly, looking flustered and angry that Greg had interrupted. "I'd keep you in mind, surely.""Thank you. I'll be looking forward to it," Greg said, before throwing me a salute and walking awa