Why did this feel so real?
His words made her spine shiver. The impact of hearing them trail out of his mouth, watching his Adam's apple jumped in his throat, still made her cringe at her stupidity.
After the impromptu announcement that morning, she had dressed out for the evening. She wore a pair of faded Jeans trousers with a black top, and nude kitten heels. She was waiting outside the garage when he came out in a pair of jeans and black shirt. For a minute, they stared at each other's outfits and Mia was the first to burst into laughter.
"How did you guess my outfit so well?" He asked in amusement.
"Well...call it fate or whatever...I guess we're officially a couple, Mr. Reynaldo."
"You called me Mr. Reynaldo for the first time without mistaking it for 'SIR'. I guess you're getting used to it so soon." His head tilted and she grew shy.
"Not really." She lowered her gaze.
He walked down the garage, drove the car out and pulled beside her a few minutes later in the driveway. The door was locked from the inside and before she could get in, he already did.
"Hop in, girlfriend." His left hand was on the wheels while the right one gestured to her.
Girlfriend? Ridiculous! She bit a smile from her lip.
Soon the car's engine was steamed on the smooth asphalt. She sat in the front seat, slowly darting her gaze sideward to catch a sight of him in the sunset glowing on his skin.
"What are you staring at, girlfriend?" He said, startling the hell out of her. Her heart dropped to her stomach and in response, it churned.
"I wasn't staring at anything." She averted her gaze, looked out into the sun-kissed water beneath the bridge.
"And please can you stop calling me girlfriend? Remember, in the agreement, it is clearly stated that there would be no emotional display in private."
"If I don't start calling you that now, when will you get used to hearing me say it?"
She stiffly turned her neck only to catch his eyes watching her and she turned away immediately.
"And besides, there are no emotions attached."
He added, making her feel attacked. Those words stunt like a thousand bees piercing her chest and the feeling lingered throughout the drive to the shopping mall.
On their arrival, an entourage of staff all dressed in black were waiting at the entrance to welcome him. A tan-skinned lady in an elegant black dress, which seemed to be the head of staff, stepped forward.
"Welcome, Sir. Welcome, Madam. Come with me, please?" She bowed slightly and led them to another building on the other side of the driveway. It looked classier and more luxurious than the first one.
Another staff member, this time a male, was waiting at the entrance of the building which read "GG reserved stores", glowing on the topmost part of the skyscraper.
"Nice to meet you, Sir." He said, shaking hands with Reynaldo.
"This way, please?" He said, gesturing towards the building's doorway.
They walked inside as Mia observed the gold and creamy coloured deco of the place before they stepped in front of an elevator. It was a beautiful place, she thought. The male staff clicked on the elevator bottoms and invited them inside, smiling.
"The president has been waiting for you, Sir." He said, as Rey and Mia stepped into the elevator before the doors slowly closed.
"I see." Rey nodded.
"Yes, Sir." His smile was unchanging, making Mia feel he had plastered it in his face, like all the staff outside.
The doors of the elevator slowly drew open. The staff led them through the hallway to the room on the left side and used a pass card which opened to a smaller corridor, with another staff waiting inside.
The staff wore the usual plastered smile as she led them to the last room in silence, only broken by the sound of their footsteps before the drawing sound of a louder voice blurred them out. She opened the door, letting a voice ring out from it clearly from the room.
"Is that Rey Rey?" The voice croaks in the wash of alcohol filled in the air. The owner of the voice grew visible, a stout looking young man, just as handsome as Rey was seated on a cushion with a glass of wine in his hands.
"Bro! Good to see you man!" He said, shaking hands with Rey.
"Good to see you too!" Rey smiled.
"And who's the pretty lady we've got here?" The man which Mia had assumed to be the president asked, tilting his hand to see her standing beside Rey.
"She's the one I told you about."
"Oh! The princess you ordered the wardrobe for, isn't it?"
"Yeah, she is."
His confirmation widened her eyes. A freaking wardrobe! Why? When? How?
"Collins, roll in the wardrobe." The man ordered the staff away.
Her eyes almost popped out when the clothes arrived. They looked very expensive and she could guess that. Her eyes rolled back to Rey's eyes questioningly, but he raised an eyebrow and winked at her.
"These...they look so expensive!" She exclaimed.
"Because they are." Rey added.
"That's too much. I mean I have clothes."
"But if you must be MINE, then you must BE mine first." The president had moved to the corner of the room on a phone call. He seemed to pay no attention to what Rey had said.
"Of course!" She understood the stress pattern and knew she had to get used to Rey's impromptu false PDA. Yeah! No emotional feelings were attached and they were in public. Message passed!
"Madam, if you don't mind, can you try out these dresses right now?" One of the staff whispered to Mia.
"Sure! That's no issue." Mia stood up gesturing to Rey that she'd be right back, as they picked a few dresses and headed towards a dressing room.
"Do you need help trying out the dress?" The staff asked when she saw that Mia was having a hard time fixing the rolls of draped silk materials on the front part of the red dress.
"Red suits you so well."
"Thank you!"
"Have you ever considered modelling?"
"No. Not really."
"You have such a perfect physique." She continued, making Mia blush.
"It feels like the dress has finally found its owner." She smiled. "It is one of the most expensive limited edition designer dresses around the world right now. It was even on a pre-order. I bet you must feel lucky."
"uhm...sorry to interrupt, but do you mean no one in the world has this dress right now?"
"Yeah... it was pre-ordered. I guess you didn't know. He must have planned to surprise you."
Mia gasped in shock as she tried to blink away her surprise, but the female staff continued chattering.
"I assume you must be really special to him. He has never really bought this expensive thing for all the girls he ever brought to Glam and glow department stores.
A warmth feeling bubbled around Mia's chest and she mentally threw her feet in the air, giggling like a three year old.
Her mind was pulling her into the drowning pool of delusion. He was to do a PDA. But this...this wasn't part of the plan.