That Summer In The Country

Twenty-four:

Twenty-four:

When Alina got to the office after her social media posts had been made that Wednesday, Nadia approached her excitedly. "You won't believe how many hits we got on that!" she exclaimed.

Alina raised an eyebrow. "How many?"

"In the hundred thousands," she said, "and we got ten thousand new followers on insta! Mr. Morozova's been trending for two days because of your little post of him in nothing but his boxers getting his coffee. They've nicknamed him Grumpy Cat."

"Affectionately?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Nadia shook her head. "So, it would seem. Also, everyone thinks you're dating. Or that you should be. They're trending Morlina."

"Morlina?" she said. "I don't know if that's trendy or dumb."

"It's got them talking about the company, so it's trendy. Look it up. They've already started making fancams of the two of you using the footage that you put up."

Alina laughed. "You've got to be kidding."

Nadia took her phone, pulled up her Instagram, and typed in #morlina into the search. Sure enough, there were at least 3,000 posts. A small number but considering that it had only been up there for two days that was a big deal. Alina blushed. Someone had already drawn fanart of the two of them.

"Has Mr. Morozova seen this?" she asked.

Nadia shook her head. "No. And I don't plan on showing it to him. But I did tell him about the numbers, and he's agreed that you should keep on doing the social media posts. Keep on doing #interndayinalife. Just show your normal day."

"I can do that," she said.

"You know, everyone was saying that Mr. Morozova looks like he's in love with you. Fedyor says that the two of your have known each other for a really long time. Has anything ever happened between the two of you?"

Alina blushed. "He's just an old family friend. That's it. He's letting me live in the house because my aunt is the groundskeeper there. It just makes it easier if I am where he needs you."

"You honestly don't have a crush on him?" Nadia asked.

She glanced over her shoulder to Aleksander's office. Normally, he left the curtains closed so no one could see him. But at that moment, the curtains were open, and he was on what appeared to be a very trying call as he was stroking his beard anxiously with his brow furrowed.

"I'm actually dating Mal," Alina confessed, "we've been best friends since forever, and we started going out once I came to live with my aunt. Besides, I'm only eighteen and Mr. Morozova is----"

"All man?" Nadia said with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Alina blushed. "Older than me. He would never go for someone like me."

"Are you sure about that?" Nadia asked. "Because I've heard rumors about the Morozova brothers. That they like to share, for a start. And there was a whole issue when Mal was in high school---"

Alina paused. "What do you mean?"

"Rumor has it Mal had a sex scandal with one of the cheerleaders at his school. Something to do with getting a girl pregnant, and then the girl miscarried because of some car accident. The Morozova's paid the school to keep it quiet, but apparently, he was very nearly denied admittance to Uni because of it. That's why they're not having him get involved with the company right away. The board of directors weren't happy about it, and they didn't think that he was mature enough to handle the responsibility. Mr. Morozova was able to work through college though, as his father's assistant. Of course, some people think it's just nepotism. That Mr. Morozova senior doesn't want someone that isn't his son running the company."

"But they adopted Mal, and he's family," Alina reminded her, "he's Mr. Morozova's cousin."

"Blood runs thicker, and all that," said Nadia.

The door to Aleksander's office opened just then. "Miss Starkov!" he barked. "In my office, now."

Alina blushed. "Got to go, I guess. Don't worry, Nadia. I'll keep posting like you asked."

"Excellent, and maybe you can write something for the company blog on Friday?"

She nodded. "I'd love to."

"Miss Starkov!" Aleksander barked again.

"Got to go," Alina said, waiving at Nadia, and then she hurried into Aleksander's office.

Aleksander slammed the door shut once she was inside, locking the door behind him. "Kiska, did I tell you that it was alright to post the videos of me shirtless, in my boxers, getting coffee early in the morning?"

Alina blushed and wouldn't look him directly in the eyes. "You know, I don't recall. But I do know that Nadia approved the post, and everyone seems to like it so---"

"I saw," he grunted.

Alina raised an eyebrow. "You saw?"

He nodded. "They came up with a ship name for us, did you know? Morlina."

She blushed. "I did know."

"I like the sound of it," he whispered, "you and me."

"I...I told Nadia that I was dating Mal. She was asking questions, and I didn't think you would like that very much."

"You're right," he told her, "I don't like people talking about my personal life. I also don't want you to come under any scrutiny because of this. No, it's safer that the world thinks that you were with Mal."

"Aleks...."

"Yes, Alina?"

"What happened with Genya?" she asked.

"Nothing for you to be concerned about," Aleksander said, "Genya is thriving, married and happy. That's all that you need to know."

"But when everyone talks about her, they make it sound like.... like something bad happened."

"Something bad did happen," Aleksander confessed, "but I took care of it the way that I always do. And I would do the same for you, if anyone ever hurt you. Of course, now that there's speculation about us, you're going to have to do something terrible for the company."

"Oh?" said Alina. "What's that?"

"Go on a romantic date with my brother," Aleksander told her, "tonight, it's all arranged....of course....when you get back, I will have to fuck you. Hard."

She grinned. "I like the sound of that."

"You had better," he said, "now, go do work."