A Husband, A Stranger

2

Marco's POV

There's banging on the door, cameras clicking sounds and people shouting. I got up and rush to the front door, I open the door, camera flashing, people pushing mic to my face, "How did you become Jean Kirstein's fiancé?" "Was the tweet from Jean Kirstein's mother on Twitter true?" "When will the wedding be held?" "How do you feel about it?" "Have Jean Kirstein been cheating on Mikasa Ackerman with you?", reporters pushing bunch of questions. I close and lock the door, "What tge hell are they talking about? The tweet? I rush to my room and check my phone. It's a tweet from Mrs Kirstein, "My son, Jean Kirstein is getting marry soon to @MarcoBodt and yes him and Mikasa Ackerman are no longer official", I read. It's tweeted in 1:35 a.m., I check the comments, "Damn! He's cute" "Are you serious?! Are we all invited???" "I was a huge fan of Jeankasa, but now you've ruin it for me" I scrolled through the comments one by one, "This is Mikasa Ackerman official, I am no longer dating Jean Kirstein, this is all true. I am now dating Annie Leonhart", a comment said. I check the account, she posted a pic with Annie on a date. "Marco! What's with the reporters doing in front of our house?!", momma yelled while coming in from the back door. "Momma! Mrs Kirstein tweeted something about the wedding and reporters showed up", I said handing my phone to momma. She scrolled through it, "It went viral faster than I expected", she said, her phone started to ring. "Hello?", she picked up the phone, "You'll be here in 20 minutes? Okay, we'll get ready", she hung up. "Marco go get ready, Mrs Kirstein will be here in 20 minutes", she said going on to her room. I got to the bathroom and did my routine, I change my clothes and wait on the couch. "Yes? You're here already? Alright, we're coming out", momma said on the phone. When she open the door, the reporters run to us, "You must be Mrs Bodt, Marco Bodt's mother" "Mrs Bodt how do you feel about your son getting marry to Jean Kirstein?" "Mrs Bodt is your son gay?" Momma ignore the questions while I just follow behind. There's a black limo, Mrs Kirstein's pesonal secretary open the door for us, "Please show some respect, sir, no photo please, no more questions", she said to the reporters and got into the car. Jean and Mrs Kirstein is sitting across us, "I'm very sorry about them, but don't worry you'll get use to it soon", Mrs Kirstein said. "I've saw the tweet", I said, "Yes I know", she said smiling, "Mom, show them around the company, I need need to see the shoot for the magazine", Jean said scrolling his phone. "Can't they do it without you, dear?", she asked, "No I need to check if everything is going smoothly", he said sounding annoyed. "Alright, sorry dear", she apologised, we arrived at the company I got off the car, I stare and the tall building. "Kirstein's Art", I mumbled, "My mom name it for me", Jean said standing beside me. I look at him, I'm actually quite short standing right beside him, "Let's get going", he said. "Jean, bring Marco with you, I'm going to show Mrs Bodt around", Mrs Jirstein said walking up the stairs. There's a lot of people walking around and greeting Jean, "Good morning boss, the others are waiting for you at the photo shooting room at the fifth floor", a woman said handing him a file. He take a look at it and hand her back the file, "Put it on my table and call Sasha and Connie, I need to talk to them", he said getting into the lift I follow behind. Sasha and Connie? Sasha Braus is so far the best female archers in competitions, she won six golden medal and two silver medal last year in a row, Connie Springer is know as the funniest comedian in the city, I used to watch his show every Saturday. "Ding!", we got out of the lift, "Good morning boss, the shooting is going well so far", a man said leading him to the set. "I need more lighting over here!", a woman said, "We still got five scenes to go", he said. "Alright, I'm gonna watch you guys just do your thing", he said standing behind the camera. I look around everybody is busy with their own stuff, I walk back to the lift, 3A...5...6...7... I press the number 7.

I waited a while, "Ding!", the door open, it's a hallway full of paintings and small notes beside them. There's a painting of a couple sitting under a tree, I look to the other side, there's a person crying. I continue walking, a painting caught my eye, it's Woman with a Parasol, Madame Monet and her son. It's beautiful, the details and all, I look at the painting at its side. It's two men being parted, their fingers almost touching, they have tears in their eyes. One seems to be stabbed on the chest, and the other have blood on his hands, "The distance", it's what it's named. There's a huge canvas on the other side, "the sun and the moon", there a man in the sun on the top right corner, he have wings and there's a print of the sun on his palm, it looks like he's reaching out for someone. I look at the left bottom corner, he's in the moon there's a tear on his face and a print of the moon on his palm. The man in the sun kinda looks like me, and the man in the moon looks like Jean, there's a painting of himself. It's impressive that he can paint himself so well, "Ding!", the elevator door open, it revealed Jean, he walk towards me. "I was um- uh- looking at the painting?", I said nervously, he sighed "Don't go anywhere in my company without my permission, I got to meet someone, go to the lobby", he said pulling me into the elevator.

I sat at the lobby, watching people walk past me, where is momma? I sat down up and look around, I walk around to find her. "No Connie the wedding is next week, it's well arranged" "I thought Jean said it's next month?" "Whatever we'll ask him later" "Ah shit! I wore all my best suit in my latest show, I got nothing to wear" "How bout the one that Niccolo bought you as a gift one?", I heard a conversation between a man and a woman. I turned around, the woman bumped into me, "Oh I am so sorry, sir, are you alright?", she asked. She have brown hair tied in a ponytail, "Hey, he's Jean's fiancé right?", the man said. "Um hi?", I said smiling a bit, "Anyways we got to get to Jean, I'm very sorry about that", she apologised again. They must be Jean's clients, I still can't find momma, I got out of the company and went to the nearest coffee shop. "One green latte with extra whipped cream please", I said, "Alright please find a seat and we'll bring it to you once it's done", the cashier said. I sat down at the window glass, I check my phone, it's 1:34 p.m. I open YouTube, it's full of news of Jean and I getting marry. I close my phone and look outside, it's a street full of people walking around. "Sir here's your green latte with extra whipped cream", a waiter said setting down my latte for me. "Thank you", I said taking the latte, I plugged in my earphones and start playing songs from my playlist. "Excuse me", I was interrupted by someone, I take of my earphones. "I'm sorry to interrupt you, but are you Marco Bodt?", he asked sitting down across me. "Yes and you are?", I asked, "Just call me Mr. Choo, I'm a reporter", he said shaking my hand, "I wonder if I can interview you like right now, ya know? It's for work", he said taking out his phone. "Sure no problem", I said with a smile, "Great, so try your best to answer all my questions", he said pressing voice record. "What's your name and age?", he asked, "My name is Marco Bodt, I'm 22 years old", I said. "What do you work as?", he asked leaning forward, "I work two jobs, I work at The Ackerman's as a promoter and I also work at The Coffee Bean" "Are the rumours true? The one that is about you and Jean Kirstein the famous artist and also who is famous for his art products getting marry?" "Yes it is true" "Have he been cheating on Mikasa Ackerman, the daughter of the boss of The Ackerman's with you?" "No, this is all a sudden arranged marriage" "How do you feel about the sudden arrange marriage?", he asked. I hesitated for a moment, "I feel like...this is all going to fast, I wish I could slow things down", I said. He pressed stop, "Alright, do you mind if I take a picture of you? It's for proof", he said smiling awkwardly. "Sure", I said fixing my posture, he took a pic of me, "Thank you so much for the help, I'll see you somewhere out there", he said getting up leaving. I waved at him, I check the time, it's 1:57 p.m. I take my latte with me and left.

A/N: If you're wondering why I put '3A' instead of '4' in the lift, it's because in my culture 4 is a symbolised of bad luck and in the country I'm in, we don't directly use '4', we replace it with '3A' instead. But that doesn't mean they're in the country I live in. Sorry if my explanation is not clear enough.