Together but Separate

Chapter 17: His Realizations

Nicko Ferragni

I could not forget what Kate said to me the other day. It made me realize what kind of person she was. I was not disappointed at all that she was against the idea of having a child out of love. It proved that I really did marry a decent woman.

Although, I felt bad that she thought I married her for me to have an heir. To be honest, I had not really thought of having a child. It was not in my plans yet. My main reason of agreeing to marry her was for the sake of giving my dad an assurance that I would give him an heir someday. I was thinking that if I got married, he would not be worried about our company's future.

At first, I was not planning on telling my parents the real deal about my marriage with Kate. I wanted them to think that we married for love, so dad would think that I was serious about fulfilling my promise. But after carefully thinking about it, I changed my mind. I did not want to fool them. I loved them so much to lie to them. I did not want to live a life with heavy secrets.

When I told them that I will be getting married and the truth behind the marriage, they were so against it. I even thought about not pushing through the plan. Because what's the use of doing it if it would not accomplish my purpose? It would not give my dad the assurance that he needed anyways.

When Kate asked me if I still wanted to push through with our plan, the day when I first met her on the beach flash-backed in my memory. I remembered that day so vividly. I glanced to my right and saw her standing, facing the ocean. It was not a glance anymore because I stayed looking at her. The first thing I noticed was how beautiful she looked even though she looked worried that time. She probably felt that someone was looking at her that was why she glanced at me, and she said 'hi' with a smile on her face. That was the beginning of our conversation.

I asked her why she looked so worried then she told me the story. I was surprised to know that we almost had the same problem. I felt a connection between us, so I opened up to her about my own dilemma but except the heir part of the story. It was unusual for me to tell my story to a stranger, but I did it to her. What came out of my mouth next surprised me. It was me who asked her if she wanted both of us to help each other. She looked so shock when she heard what I said but eventually, she agreed to it. That's when we started planning about our marriage.

I remembered the moment when I saw how her face lit up in hope and joy when we decided to help each other. I did not want to reap off that hope and joy from her. I did not want to shatter her hopes and ambitions, so I said 'yes' to her question, and we pushed through with our plans.

But I knew for a fact that our marriage was just for the sake of our own businesses, so I tried my best to keep it that way. I continued to live my life like how it was before marriage. Kate did the same thing also. We were married in a document but strangers to each other.

Everything changed when we started talking more than we used to. I remembered that first confrontation I had with Kate. She was so upset about the paparazzis and when she found out about my identity.

I purposely did not tell her things about me because I wanted her to find it out herself. When she found out the truth from the paparazzis, she got upset. I was expecting that she would be glad to know that she married a rich man, like what some women wished for, but her reaction was the opposite of what I was expecting. For some reason, that made me adore her. She proved to me that she was not after my wealth and my popularity.

Her complaints about the paparazzis invading her privacy continued. It had gotten to a point wherein I needed to protect her from them. I hired bodyguards because I was worried about her safety.

As days went by, I started feeling more emotions towards her. It started from being worried to being protective. Then more emotions came when she chose the gala than having a dinner with my parents. I was so disappointed that time that I got mad at her and said words I should have not said.