The Agreement •MXM• (Book 1)

The press conference

Aaron

Saturday afternoon,after the runway showcase. I spent half- no all of the night away from Cyrus,he was too busy chatting up Zahir. I wasn't happy with that- right now I wish I'd been satisfied with that because this little cheat known as my husband lied to me. I can't believe him.
"Stop frowning Aaron."Cyrus says to me once we sit on the couch,
"You didn't seem to care whether or not I was frowning when you and Mr Patel talked?"
"Oh,come on. Don't be petty,I didn't complain when you were chatting up your fellow business legends."this man and his ability to have no shame,
"Are you heartless-"
"Can we start the interview now?"a nervous journalist asks,we both jerk up a bit because we hadn't noticed her there,which means she just saw us arguing. I ,ake sure to telepathically tell her not to write an article about it,
"Of course."I say moving away from Cyrus discreetly and folding one leg over the other and Cyrus in turn crosses his arms over his chest,his knee bouncing,
"First question... how did you two meet?"Crap. That wasn't in the script. Why wasn't that in the script? Simultaneously we both look at each other both expecting the other to have the answer and upon nothing we both start to laugh nervously. With a weak smile I face the interviewer wanting desperately to tell her to ask another question,anything but this,
"It was October,in the afternoon,last year-"Cyrus starts with a shudder. Coming up with it as he goes,
"An event-"I continue for him and he smiles thinly. I can see the sweat trailing down his face,I also think I'm no different because this suit is starting to suffocate me,
"A charity event!"he yells out of nowhere,I'm tempted to laugh but I contain myself,"It was the first one I was invited to ever. Right,Aaron?"
"Yes. Yeah- I remember-"I don't remember crap,I'm stalling so I can come up with he words,"I came up to you to introduce myself and you told me to piss off."the story we're about to go off of is true,so it's not a lie,
"I believe it was you who then made fun of my accent."he remarks giving me a sideways glance,
"You called me a dork."I shoot back with a sigh,
"YOU made comments about my height-"he's on the verge of laughing his head off and I'm getting the biggest kick out of it,
"Because truthfully you were so small-"A pause as I realise my mistake of past tense I glance at the journalist who tilts her head in confusion,"You are small."
"You're fault for being a colossal monster."he says simply and turns to the interviewer,"Next question?"
"At what point exactly did you two fall in love,was it during the charity event? Or later?"she asks tapping her pen against her clip board,
"Well,you see Aaron instantly got a crush on me-"
"That's not even true and you know it. It's the other way around."
"Wow,says the guy who got into my phone to unblock himself after I blocked him."he states smugly,mostly because I did. I did do that,when Cyrus blocked me for not picking him up when I said I would. Not my fault by the way,
"Says the man you got into my laptop just to see if I was seeing someone else-"I scoff and I can see the rage bloom in his eyes because he did do that. Terribly as well,
"So you two can't recount the exact moment you fell in love?"she says with a smile,she probably finds us bickering funny. But it's not,she better leave all of it out.
"We can it was-"
"When we actually managed to have a conversation that didn't consist of Cyrus calling me an old man because of the three and a half years I have over him."I finish and Cyrus snorts,
"Three and a half? No one is counting,Aaron."
"Everyone is counting."I correct and he laughs,literally laughs at this,
"Something an old man would say."he whispers and I nearly shove him to the side,I decide to ignore him,
"The exact moment might be when we went to a dinner party and I thought to myself- when you put aside his sharp tongue and insults he'll throw at anyone and everything he's very... handsome."I look at him as I say this and instantly regret it,I'm met with his eyes glaring at me,a vengeful glint in his eyes,
"What was the first thing you two noticed about each other?"great,more unscripted questions,
"Uhhh- his birthmarks. They stand out and he has a good handful of them all over."Cyrus says hastily and I realise it's my turn,
"Ah- his freckles. I love his freckles."oops,that sounded a little too sincere. We're having a conversation about this later aren't we?
"Aaron,what's a quality you love about Cyrus? We're dying to know more about his personality,especially through his husband."
"He's hard working,tough and prideful. Doesn't let things get in his way,it's admirable." A pause,"I hope one day we can work together...?"I look at his reaction as I say this,"Soon?"he shakes his head,"Later?"he shakes his head again but this time taking my hand and saying,
"When I'm through with college,we'll plan from there."he states,I'm not satisfied with the answer but she is so we move on.
"Now to a tougher question- why was there a scholarship scandal?"the room goes quiet as I stare at Cyrus' saddened expression,my heart aches a little having to see him go from happy to sad. Fine! It hurts a lot seeing him like that.
I struggle with my words for a second before I finally find them,"Well,due to a certain legal battle between his maternal and paternal family,he didn't have any free access to Mr Brown's funds until he was in college. By this time he had already go through with his first year and had no desire to leave the campushe was used to."the script comes out a little hazy and tattered,but it comes,it feels a little unclear to say it. Like its obviously a lie,but they don't know that they never will. I squeeze his hand hard,as I try not to look like I'm in discomfort. She notices and leaves the question be,
"From a blurry picture taken by Cyrus' peers shows that just this week he received one hundred and one roses- Aaron,how do you feel about that?"finally something I rehearsed,
"Nothing but competition,although I've already won technically."I say with the gone over ease and confidence. It's a perfect execution,Cyrus begs to differ with his scowl.
"Whatever- if he tries anything else,I'm gonna catch him."he says with vigor that strikes a cord in my gut. Do you think he'd kill me if he finds out?
"Since you and Cyrus went to marriage so quickly are children also in the works?"
"No."we say in perfect unison,
"Not yet of course,we're still young-"I follow up and Cyrus continues,
"Be more concerned with what we have in store for the company."he says,cooly and I smile tightly,
"Are we done here?"I say straightening my coat she nods and I get up ready to get out of the building and Cyrus follows me. We receive a bunch of courtesy nods on our way out to the limousine. It's like a veil is lifted off the two of us as soon as we get to the car. Otherwise known as us stopping the act... we kind of already let ourselves slip during the interview but no problem they'll edit out the unnecessary stuff in the articles. 
"There's only supposed to be one right?"Cyrus asks his head rested back into his chair eyes shut,exhaustion. I sigh at him and say,
"Yeah,why? Can't get through another one?"he shakes his head and I watch him drift off into a half awake half asleep state,not that I'll ever trust him sleeping infront of me again. "When you and Zahir we're talking did you talk,what did you talk about?"I ask hesitantly,he grunts opening up a single eye like I'm not worth two of them.
"Nothing... he gave me his number,said he might come down soon if he changes his mind about the South."he mutters,
"He'll have to,we have a conference soon."
"That's nice,"
"Are you two friends or something?"
"Yeah,why?"he asks me,
"Two short men you know."he kicks me with way more energy than I expected him to have,
"Zahir isn't short though... and that's not saying I'm short."
"What are you then,medium? I can see the top of your head sometimes you know."I supply and he grunts turning away from me. I laugh at his show of disapproval.