"What do you say, bellissima?"
"Stop calling me that, Arius."
"Over my dead body, wife."
✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ:˚ ♡ ⋆｡˚･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*
Lucian West was in desperate need of a job to pay for her mother's loan. When she finally gets the job, her boss offers h...
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《♡°♡°♡°☆°♡°♡°♡》
LUCIAN
The drive to the office was quiet, too quiet for my liking. The radio hummed softly in the background, but it did nothing to fill the silence between Arius and me.
The engagement was meant to be temporary. Six months. That's all. A deal. A transaction. Arius would help me out financially, and I would pretend to be the perfect fiancée, fixing his reputation. The fact that I could see through the façade didn't make it any easier.
Still, I kept reminding myself that this was what I had signed up for.
Arius hadn't said a word. His hands were steady on the wheel, eyes focused on the road. His jaw was set, as usual, giving nothing away.
He looked like the same man I'd met weeks ago-cold, distant, a little intense-but now there was an underlying tension. Maybe it was the engagement, or maybe it was just the pressure of living up to some carefully crafted image.
When he finally spoke, his voice broke through the quiet like a blade.
"You're going to the charity gala tomorrow night, right?"
I blinked, momentarily caught off guard. "The gala?"
He didn't even glance at me. "Yes. It's tomorrow evening."
I felt the knot in my stomach tighten. A public event. The kind where every inch of us would be scrutinized, where every step we took would be dissected for some hidden meaning. It was exactly the kind of thing I wasn't prepared for.
"What kind of charity is it for?" I asked, trying to sound casual, but the tension was already creeping up my spine.
"A few, actually. The usual, high-society type of event," Arius replied. His eyes briefly flicked to the rearview mirror, scanning for any traffic. "I need you to be there. To look... engaged."
"Engaged," I repeated, my voice too soft, too aware of the weight of his words. "Right."
It didn't escape me that he was implying more than just being physically present. I had to act engaged, act like this was real, like this arrangement was more than a transaction. It was all about the image.
Arius turned the car into the parking garage beneath the office building. I wasn't sure if I was relieved to have the silence broken or if I wished we could stay in that bubble of quiet, pretending like nothing had changed.
When we arrived at the office, he was already out of the car before I even had the chance to grab my bag. Arius didn't wait for me to catch up, but then again, he never did. The space between us felt wider than it ever had before.
The office lobby was bustling with people-a mix of assistants, high-level managers, and a few clients trickling in. The usual hum of busy voices echoed through the grand space, and I tried to focus on my breathing, reminding myself that I was here for a purpose.
