“Mother, Uncle Clint, I’m married” Celine Yates declared proudly.They’re supposed to have their scheduled family lunch when Celine greeted them with an ‘exciting news’.Other mothers would be thrilled to hear such announcement.But not Minerva Yates-Solomon.She has heard this excuse for as long as she could remember.“Okay, where’s your husband?” she dabbed a napkin to her lips to entertain the new-comer.“He’s abroad, preparing for our future” Celine said confidently.“Is he still the same man that you’re claiming you married from seven years ago?”“Or you have divorced and married another one?” Minerva did not fail to raise her left eyebrow.“Yes, same man” she quipped.“You know what sweetheart, it doesn’t matter. You will still attend the engagement party with Mr. Johnson”
“Shall we start?” an old man in the middle asked. When she looked at ‘Daniel Grant’ he was not even looking at her. It took her a while to recover. How is this possible? Has he forgotten about her? He looked a lot different now, yes, but she could not be mistaken. She took her seat still trying to figure out what is happening when she heard another voice. “Good morning, Miss Yates” she heard an old man in his sixties reading her CV. “Yates? Are you related to the Yates Holdings?” the oldest man in the group asked. Celine eyed the room and fixed her focus on the man in the middle. ‘He must be the one to please’ Celine thought of the old man. “Not at the moment” she said with a confident smile. She immediately got the attention of the rest of the people inside the room. “Who is Celine Yates? And why should we hire you?” the old man in the middle started. It is always a dread
When she reached her flat, she received an unexpected call.“This is Oscar Sands. Congratulations for being the latest member of 5Cattleya” she recognized the voice as the old man from the interview.She wanted to scream, but she waited for the rest of the news.There’s always a catch.“I’m sending you the formal job offer, if you agree with the terms, you can e-sign the contract and send it back to me” Oscar Sands said in a formal tone.Celine checked her email excitedly but her excitement was immediately replaced with contempt.‘Is this a joke?’ she thought.She immediately called back the number.“You’re hiring me for a double role but the basic pay is the same?” she started her query in a not so friendly manner.“Yes, but-“ Oscar was not able to finish his explanation when Celine cut him off.“If you’re asking so much, I
“Because dinner is very important. Anyway, sleep after that. I’ll buy you coffee” she said with finality.When she looked at Daniel the man was still not convinced.“Fine” she rolled her eyes then went back to the sofa.Daniel sat in front of her and brought her coffee.“I need someone to introduce to my mother so she will get off my back” she started.“It’s not formal. We can say we just started dating, nothing official. Just a one-time deal” she assured the guy.Daniel studied her worried face and he wanted to laugh.“What’s in it for me?” Daniel asked.“I’ll do one month overtime without pay” she said excitedly.“You don’t get to file overtime. Your contract says 24/7 secretary” he reminded her.“I’ll buy you a new coffee-maker” who would reject that?“All my appliance
All eyes were widened at her revelation.For full five seconds no one dared to make a sound.“Well mother, I’ve told you he is real. I hope you can stop arranging dates and marriage proposals for me” Celine said.“Thank you for your time, we’re leaving” she was about to grab Daniel’s hand when Daniel took a seat in the table.“I know it’s a shock” Daniel said smiling.It was a shock even for him.What happened to ‘nothing formal’, ‘just started dating’ thing?But he always manages his composure well.“Apologies, Mr. Stevenson for getting dragged into our family matters” Minerva said cautiously.“Celine, is this your attempt to avoid the lawsuit?” Minerva asked in a reprimanding tone.“Minerva, Celine’s matters are my matters” Daniel immediately interjected.“We didn’t kno
When she saw how serious Daniel’s look was, she could not help but snort.“Pbbfftt”“That’s funny” she gently removed his hands from her face.“Let’s go. Send me home. I’m so hungry” she pouted her lips as she sat in the passenger seat.“Don’t you think you should be pleasing me right now?” Daniel suddenly asked.“And why would I do that? I already owe you one favour. That’s enough” she said with a raised eyebrow.Does he think he can outwit her?“I don’t know, maybe I accidentally tell your Uncle Clint that I did not sign any marriage certificate”“Just maybe, what do you think?” he challenged her.She looked at the man in disbelief.They already made the deal.Would he back out now?“But you already agreed” she never thought Daniel would betray her.&ldquo
She eyed him sideways trying to gauge his seriousness.“If it has come to this, I guess you’re right” she agreed to his proposition.“Do you have your own swimming pool?” she wondered if she could resume her swimming regimen.Daniel is not sure if she’s aware of the complexity of their situation.Does she understand what living under one roof means?“Nope, just a penthouse” he simply replied.“Wait. It’s not the same storage room you had while we’re in college, right?” she panicked.“That’s so small, we could barely fit in there” she objected.“You never complained before when you wanted to sleep-over” he reprimanded her.She just rolled her eyes.His financial status back in college is unknown to her.He doesn’t have a car and other flashy things while studying but he always had a lot of cash to pay
They went back to her unit to shower and get a change of clothes for the next day.While she’s doing her business, Daniel freely roamed around when a pink album caught his eye.“Our Wedding” he read the title in confusion.The more he browsed the pages, the more confused he becomes.Is he suffering from any amnesia?The photos are not as he remembers it to be.“Convincing, right?” Celine appeared in her pink cartoon pyjamas.“I edited most of the photos so if anyone wanted proof, I could easily show this one”“No one could tell since everything was made seven years ago” she winked at him proudly.She has really covered her bases.After keeping the album in her desk drawer, they prepared to leave when her door bell rang.“Hide” she whispered to Daniel who quickly went inside her room.“Baby girl!!!” Linda Lopez hugged her as