The Billionaire's Fake Fiance

Chapter Seven

Richard saw the way Grace looked at him, wide-eyed and bewildered. It was a stony glare, full of emotionless candour. He could only guess it was because of him and Jean. Since the day she had seen him and Jean in the store, claiming to be together, she had changed. At first, she had been giving him looks of care and jolliness, but now, it was a hard stare, devoid of any passion. A cold, hard stare that scared him, to be honest.

And in that instance, he knew his plan was gonna work. All his life, he had never wanted anything for himself. He had learned the hard way, just like Alex. He had seen his elder brother suffer, and he had suffered with him, too. He had taken their father's anger too. He loved Alex, well, he adored Vivian, but for Alex, he had some other kinda respect that couldn't be measured, his big bro was his idol, his one and only inspiration.

Richard knew he was a man of fears. He was shit-scared of singing, of fake friends, and of huge audience. Even when he went to big conferences, the amount of people there scared him, it terrified him. As he sat on his chair, his mind rumbling about his fears, he noticed Grace knocking on the open door. "Yes, Miss Clarkson?"

His past was gone, and suddenly, he could see only her. Grace walked inside, maintaining a dull attitude. "I heard there's a new marketing person coming tomorrow. Is it true?"

"Who told you that?" For a second, he was confused.

"I heard you on the phone, earlier. Uh, sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, but-"

He smirked, inwardly. "Oh, I get it. It's alright. And yeah, it's true."

Grace looked extremely perturbed. "Who is it?" Her voice shook like there was some hurricane rattling her voice box.

"It's someone. You'll get to know, tomorrow." He tried to remain as morbid as possible. "And, Miss Clarkson, close the door on your way out." He noticed her nodding and leaving the cabin in a deadening silence.

He admitted that he was desperate. He was anguished about getting Grace. He had truly never wanted anything for himself, his childhood had been tragic, and his college life:  it was pathetic. He had been betrayed by the ones he had considered his friends, his bandmates.

But he had never lost hope. He had never lost his emotions, because he believed that those were the only things that made him human. That kept him sane through all the insane times! He had been keeping so much trash inside of him that he would burst any second, he thought, massaging his temples. He hadn't even shared his complete college tragedy to his brothers. He had told them in bits and pieces about why he had given up singing, but nobody knew the entire truth, except for him.

Richard was a person who struggled to express. No one would believe he used to sing, a few years back. He knew he had weaknesses, and the biggest of them all was the inability to express his feelings, properly. He wouldn't call himself shy because he wasn't shy when it came to having meetings and parties. He had troubles having one-on-one conversations with individuals. Maybe that was the reason why he had utterly failed in conveying his true feelings to Grace. Maybe that was the reason why he had to go to such extreme measures to woo her.

He mentally awarded himself the Noble prize for coming up with such a fantastically easy plan. From tomorrow, Jean would come here and everything would fall into place. He would no longer have to peer in to see Grace, he would have her in his arms within a month!

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Jean plopped down the bed, reading her favourite Jane Austen novel 'Pride and Prejudice'. As she flipped the pages of her precious book, she inhaled the scent of the old, ivory pages that weaved magic with words. Her mind drifted back and forth, from the very romantic love story of the Regency period, to the strange and unusual deal with Richard she had jumped into. She wasn't in a position to judge herself now. She had already done it and jumped into the hellish fire of pretence. God. The whole idea terrified her to the core.