After The Lie ✔️

Chap#8

Elaine's POV;

I went straight to the office after talking with dad. I needed to distract myself or else I was pretty sure I'd die due to stress. Today Claire and Tyler weren't at the office. That's why I decided to stop by their apartment after office.

"Oh god Claire! Help me!" I said as she opened the door of her apartment and I immediately hugged her.

"What happened? Is everything okay?" Claire asked worriedly

"No, it's not. I lied to dad about having someone I liked. I told him I'm engaged! They were asking me who it was. So in that moment, I had no choice but to randomly choose one of them. You know, how you both told me to just choose someone from the proposals. I did exactly that. Oh god! I'm gonna get married to a stranger!" I explained. I was so confused right now. What do I do now? I told Dad I liked that guy and wanted to marry him. I don't even know who he is except his name. Why the heck did he even sent me a proposal? Does he know me?

"Relax, calm down. We'll figure something out, like we always do." Claire said as she tried to calm me down. I appreciated her effort but you know whenever someone tells you to calm down when you're not calming down, it never works.

"What happened?" Tyler asked as he came out of his room

I told Tyler and Claire everything in detailed while stuffing my mouth with popcorns. Yeah, food always cheers me up no matter what it is.

"You chose Atlas Gray?! Oh my god!" Claire said excitedly

"Why are you being so excited? I'm getting slaughtered here!" I said as I was annoyed

"But he's that high quality guy!" Claire replied

"Stop saying that, please. Besides, I don't know who he is or what he does or where he's from. I don't even know if he likes me or not. I don't even know why the hell he sent me a proposal!" I said

"Don't worry. I'm sure he must be a nice sweet gentleman. Always hope for the best!" Claire said trying to motivate me

"Yeah, maybe he likes you a lot and that's why he sent a proposal. Who knows maybe you'll end up falling in love with him too?" Tyler said

I laughed. This was becoming funny.
"I'm not expecting anything out of all this. It's not even real. It's all just a lie, a deception to get out of the other situation." I said, "You know him, right?" I asked Tyler.

"Yep. We've been best friends since high school. Where do you think I am when I'm not hanging around with you guys? I'm hanging around with him. In case you forgot I have mentioned him before." Tyler replied

"Oh so he's that friend you keep talking about." I said as I finally understood. Tyler went to a different high school than us, so he made this friend over there. And that's also why I bumped into him at Tyler and Claire's wedding too. At first I thought he was some relative of Tyler. But wait...one thing was still not making any sense. He's Tyler's friend which means Claire must've known about him before.
"Did you know about him?" I asked Claire as she grinned in return, "Stop grinning and tell me." I said

"Okay, Yes. I have met him many times before, so I know him." Claire replied, "How'd you think I knew him last night?" She said. Oh right! I forgot. I met him last night too.

"And you didn't think of telling me that?" I asked

"Actually, I was just trying to set you guys up. That's why I kept saying you should choose the high quality guy. I think you two would make such a cute couple!" Claire said excitedly

I ignored what Claire just said. She has a habit of matchmaking.
"So do you guys know why he sent me the proposal? Like how does he even know me and etc?" I asked

"As you already know, he has bumped into you a few times. And well at first you know how a person gets intrigued and then interested and then interest changes into..." Tyler said as I cut him off and said, "Just cut to the chase."

"He likes you." Tyler said. Okay. I was not expecting this at all. This was kind of sudden. That guy likes me? Is this for real? I felt like I was blushing. Stupid me. But something didn't seem right. I just couldn't seem to put my finger on it. He's always so rude and bumps into me. And he even broke my phone! But why would he like me?

Atlas Gray

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