Chapter One

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How had it come to this? Karkat was a good person, at least he thought. Sure enough so as to be able to have a say in this. But then again, no. They were dealing with money here. This was completely out of his hands now.

Kanaya's heels clicked steadily of the marble floor as the pair made their way to the front desk. A brunette with round glasses, green eyes, and slightly bucked teeth sat behind it, tapping on her keyboard. She didn't notice the new arrivals until Kanaya politely cleared her throat.

The woman, who's desk name tag read 'Ms. Harley, Assistant', looked up at them and flushed. "Oh, I'm sorry! You must be Miss Maryam and Mr. Vantas." She began flipping through a few papers attached to a clipboard. Sighing in relief, she set the clipboard down and pointed her pen to the door behind her. "Yes, you're in here. Right on time, too. Mr. Strider will be running a tad late, unfortunately. Business meeting and all. You can go on through. His office is on the top floor. It's the last door at the end of the hall. She pressed the buzzer to unlock the door, offering them a smile.

"Thank you," Kanaya replied curtly, practically dragging Karkat behind her.

As she tugged him into the elevator, he felt his heart drop. This was a nightmare. "Do I really have to go through with this?" He asked aloud.

Kanaya pulled a small mirror from her purse and checked her lipstick. "Yes, dear. You do. Don't worry. It's just business. Only an image for the public. You two don't even have to care for each other, so long as you pretend to in the open."

Why had he agreed to this? It's not like he came here without knowledge of the plan. Karkat had known for weeks that Kanaya was searching for someone for him. Yet, he was here. He owed the woman a lifetime, if not two. She had taken him in when he ran away from home and gave him anything he could have asked for. One would say she spoiled him rotten. The teen saw this as his way of at least trying to pay her back, seeing as how this was a way for Kanaya's fashion industry to expand greatly. Karkat knew this was her greatest passion, though he thought that he'd be able to pick a candidate. At least she took the fact that he preferred guys into consideration.

The pale boy with messy, onyx hair that had just been dyed last night wasn't dressed nearly as formally as everyone in the building was. All the same, he wasn't dressed poorly either. The clothes he wore were of great quality and were all tailored by Kanaya, but he didn't fit in with the 'business office' environment. A pair of black jeans, a plain white dress shirt, one side coming untucked with the top button undone, light gray converses and a black tie loosely around his neck didn't exactly fit the bill, but it was as good as Kanaya could hope for.

His slate eyes dulled the closer they got to the office. "Who is this guy? You said you'd tell me more in the car, Kanaya," The 19-year-old complained as he looked around the building. He couldn't lie. It was pretty impressive. There were black marble floors, leather couches and chairs, white walls filled with paintings, and at least one wall made of only glass, which gave a breathtaking view of the seemingly tiny people below.

"Dave Strider," she hummed, wiping away the mascara on her lower eyelid with a quick swipe of her finger. "He's the heir to TechHead Industries. His elder brother, Dirk Strider, is the owner, CEO, and president. From what I've gathered, his software and technology have exceeded well beyond even Apple itself. Dave alone is worth over $5 billion."

Karkat sighed, putting his hands in his pockets and tapping his foot as the lights on the buttons lit up one by one with each floor they went. He listened to Kanaya quietly trying to take in as much information about his potential fiance. God, that word sounded weird in his head. He had graduated not long ago and here he was now. This was not the romance he imagined, but this wasn't a movie or a book. Love in a world like this was not real, especially in the world of business. He'd stick to his imaginary reality of perfect love where feelings matter more than anything.

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