Chapter 9

Amanda's POV

Everything is ephemeral. What comes now has to go tomorrow. If you're poor today, you'll definitely be rich tomorrow. If you're facing failures now, success will knock you down soon. The truth is our life is subject to various variations.

I was in Starbucks with my java chip all alone at 11 am in the morning. Yes, it was a day off from college which meant I could totally focus on my office work for now.

I drank a sip of my favorite frappucino. I was all alone because I wanted some space for myself. I felt good, to be honest, for a while. I was out of all the drama and felt peace looking at the green and fresh environment outside the glass window.

"Are you okay sir?" a man with nerds and dense beards was continuously coughing right next to me. It looked like he was waiting for some people. He dressed quite casually. His facial features resembled someone very likely. I couldn't recollect whom. His side face gave me a gist of Mr. Reynolds but his presence here was quite impossible.

"Yes, Thanks ", he replied but seemed quite shocked while confronting me, like he didn't expect me here.

On unseating himself, he came right next to me. He smelled like someone I knew. Like Mr. Reynolds. But, his chin was quite hairy and it was beyond the bounds of possibility to grow such dense beards in one day. There could be more scents of the same kind, the company may manufacture. I diverted my mind which wandered totally about my devil boss.

"What are you doing here Miss Waters? " he whispered silently in my ears maintaining his rude accent.

I was completely shocked after hearing his voice. The weird man I doubted a while ago was no one but Mr. Reynolds, all dressed casually along with beanie and nerd glasses. He was definitely on a mission to deceit someone. He could really do anything for the welfare of his business.

"That's you?" I inhaled deeply. This wasn't a dream, it was real. He was real.

"Yes me! Dare you to ruin everything ", he warned with wide eyes. He yet looked great with nerd glasses and dense beards.

"Okay. I won't give a reason to complain. You made my exit from my favorite place easier than ever", I thumped my feet while possessing the standing position.

"Yes, go for now", he murmured. Suddenly, we were joined by a group of people all dressed in formals. Without a ritualistic invitation, they settled themselves on the vacant seats surrounding us.

"Who is this young girl, Mr. Steve ", one of the men from their group asked while looking at me. He watched me several times with cornered eyes before opening up the question. Mr. Steve? Yeah, maybe it was Mr. Reynolds's fake name which he projected for the meeting.

I kept silent for a while and refused to answer the question. I was aware of the fact that my mouth was garbage. It could either spoil his meeting to some extent or spoil his meeting to a greater extent. There's nothing in between.

"She is? Umm, she's my one and only wife", Mr. Reynolds aka Mr. Steve grasped me closer to him through my waist with his right hand and kissed me on my cheek tightly.

I could not resist the butterflies I felt in my belly. I blushed, a little. His hands were warm and his kiss was sweet enough to suffice for the sugar-free coffee. My thinking capacity came to a standstill as whatever his plan was, I, now was a part of it.

"Just a Husband - wife casual meet", he continued and I nodded with a smile.

"If it's a meeting, for now, I guess I should leave ", I tried running away from the situation.

"No, it's okay Madam. You can stay here because we're here for a while. Don't worry we're just borrowing your husband for some moments", all of the men gestured me with so much of respect.

"It's okay, baby! You can sit with us", Mr. Reynolds pushed my chair in an outward direction so that I could settle myself in. The flattering words out of his mouth felt weird, his smile was extremely fake, 50 shades of fake.

I nodded whilst agreeing to him. I answered slowly "Yes, sure"

I kept numb. Mr. Reynolds along with the men discussed things, things which were very professional. The talk continued for an hour.

"So, I guess we consider this meeting a deal ", one of them spoke up and everyone agreed.

Mr. Reynolds hurriedly questioned, "So where are the contract papers?"

"Not before you attend tonight's party with your loving wife", the dominant one of those men proposed a small invitation card in his direction.

"What? Me? ", everyone's attention rested on me because of my instinctive reaction to the term 'wife'. I had to make up for this so I continued "I mean what I will do in a professional party. I hardly know anyone there", I plastered my face with a smile.

"Don't worry madam, it's not one of those professional parties. You'll really enjoy with other ladies out there. It's an anniversary party of our boss ", he signaled towards their boss who smiled slightly.

"Yes sure, we're going to attend", Mr. Reynolds aka the fake Steve guy held me firm with his hands through my arms. After some minutes, they left sparking up another trouble to my troublesome life.

"Now we're in trouble", I murmured after seeing all the men completely out of sight, Mr. Reynolds slowly loosened his grip over me.

"You are the one who created it, so now you've to act like a wife. I'll pick you up by 8 pm, I don't like latecomers ", he totally transferred the blame on my shoulders but how about asking me my permission first?

"You were the one who came towards me", I cleared myself.

"You were the one who questioned me", he instinctively replied.

"Why are you lying?" I wanted to understand the situation in order to be a part of one.

"Their company will never assign a contract to Aaron Reynolds. They need someone who has a favorable image and is more of a family man. They feel that only a family man can understand a situation better in a cool and calm manner", he smirked. I knew he was silently laughing at their thoughts.

"This is a fraud then", I tried judging.

"Not when I'll have the original papers in my name", he completed his master plan.

I cleared my trafficked thoughts, "They sure will read the papers ",

"Not when you're going to distract them", he raised his eyebrows evilly as he looked at me. I had no idea what his plan was but I was scared already.

"What? Me? , I'm not really a good actor."

"Will some increments to your salary make you one?" he was totally trading me with money.

I thought for a while and answered "I'll give acting a shot then", why would I let go of a chance of having a handsome amount.

"Get ready and be prepared. Don't come to the office today! ", were his last words while leaving Starbucks.

I stood there for a while and left for home. I was happy that there was an off for office today along with college. I chose to walk till home as I had a lot of free time. After reaching home, after a while, I decided to take a quick nap so as to give rest to my mind as well as body.

On hearing continuous knocking over the door, I woke up instinctively. There was a man with a parcel in his hand. He looked familiar, after closer observation I realized that he was the clerk of my office. I grabbed the parcel from his hand and thanked him for getting it to me. The inner devil within me wanted to hit him very hard for waking me up when I was half asleep.

I carefully closed the door and took that parcel towards my room. I kept it on my bed. Initially, I was scared to open it because previously the parcel from "Reynolds Associations" contained a waitress's dress. This time it could be a dress of a unicorn, who knew?

I, whilst opening the parcel encountered a small note at the very end of it. It read "wear this tonight, couldn't trust your old fashion sense -Aaron Reynolds ", I crumbled the paper and threw it towards the closest bin in my bedroom. I didn't know either to thank him for the dress or grudge against him for considering my fashion sense inaccurate.

On realization of the time, I took a quick shower and draped the dress on my body properly. It looked quite fascinating and expensive. It was an off shouldered black dress which was perfect for showing off of collar bones. Beneath the dress was a pair of black wedges.

I quickly wore it. It was 3 inches above the knee. I didn't prefer wearing short dresses, but I had to wear it anyway. I gave a smokey look to my eyes and made a messy side-parted hairstyle leaving them open. I decided to go with a hot pink lip shade. I wore the medium heeled wedges and marched towards the door.

I waited for the knock at the door and when I could hear one, I quickly ran towards the door and opened it. It was Mr. Reynolds dressed up completely in a grey tuxedo. He had his hairs a bit messy. His dense artificial beard added sparks to his look. He had the pair of nerds in his hand which he was going to wear directly at the party, I guess.

"I'm ready sir ", he was already staring at me from head to toe. It made me uncomfortable so I matched my eyeballs with him and examined myself to see if anything on me was weird. Fortunately, everything looked fine.

"Yes, I could see that. Presentable much ", he smirked and continued "Try not calling me sir or Mr. Reynolds for tonight, Steve okay?"