Faking In Love [bxb]

9. When the Sugar Thief Comes A Creeping...

So sorry that I've been MIA guys. It's just that studies and life always gets in the way. After my midterms I hope i'll update more frequently. Please enjoy this chapter though.

It was annoying to wake up at odd hours during the night because Amir was still adjusting to the time difference. London was five hours ahead of New Jersey which meant that when he was supposed to still be sleeping, his body assumed it was meant to work and created a tiring clash. After waking up twice and forcing himself to sleep until 6AM, Amir finally forced himself out of bed.

Sebastian still snored peacefully beside seemingly unaffected by the same predicament .They'd both come to a convenient arrangement the night before because the family had assumed that they both slept in the same room and made arrangements towards that. It wasn't a problem though seeing as they'd both fallen into bed platonically many times during their university days. Tiring all-nighters and hangovers were the causes. The bed was big enough for each man to have enough space to himself.

Feeling the early morning cold creep into his bones, Amir blindly searched for his phone on the bedside table he'd carelessly tossed it unto the night before. He had a few messages already.

Two were from his sister and mother, both enquiring about his whereabouts and if all had gone well with his future fake in-laws. There was a short message from his father in Farsi wishing him luck which was unusual and not at the same time.

His Baba wasn't an emotional man nor did he openly express his emotions in the free manner his mother did. He was a good man no doubt; just one who didn't do well when it came to speaking about things and opening up. After Alaleh had announced his engagement on the same night he visited home his Baba pulled him aside and had only told him a few words of congratulations that might have been mistaken for bland rather than heartfelt if Amir didn't know his own father well enough.

Nevertheless, it was still treasured.

خوب برو پسر من است. من دعا می کنم شما در*

دستیابی به همه شما می خواهید.

(Ok my son. I pray you

Achieve all you want)

The choice of wording made him smile involuntarily. Baba never used English whenever he wanted to convey a deep message.

He also prayed that he achieved what he wanted. When he actually discovered what it was in the first place anyway.

"Hmpf," Sebastian muttered into his pillow still lost to the world. Amir glanced at his friend once more before making his way to the en-suite bathroom. There were two more messages left. One from Jenny which was a picture of baby Muriel with her usual glassy eyed curiosity wearing a cute little shirt that said "My Godfather is better than yours". He replied with the appropriate number of heart emojis and exclamation marks. The next message was from TJ. His finger hovered hesitantly before summoning the guts to click on it at last.

I've appointed Tom as the new editor-in-chief, effective next month. Enjoy your holiday.

TJ was hurt and angry. That much was still obvious. Amir didn't blame him in any way. He was a normal red blooded man entitled to emotions and reactions like every other. But giving away the editorial job felt like a low blow. Yes Amir had said that he didn't want it previously because of their delicate situation and sure Tom with his too tight blazers and obsession with lemon sherbets was a good candidate, but it still seemed like a spiteful attack. Part of him wanted to state it. To call out TJ saying that it wasn't fair to make this so personal.