Relationship For Convenience

Chapter 9

     Jaw ticking, Alex tried to overcome his irritation with his fiancee. She wasn't being reasonable at the moment, and he didn't have the patience or strength to deal with her right now. 

  "There's no point of postponing the marriage," she argued, "drawing it out wouldn't make it less daunting. We've known each other for a long time, so we don't need a long engagement." She had a point, but for the life of him, he couldn't take her seriously.

  He thought of the whole thing for what it was, a scam, but didn't want to disappoint the man he had taken as a father.

    Trying to talk sense into Claudia was like talking to a brick. Once she made up her mind, nothing could get through her, but he would not bulge. If she didn't agree to hold off their marriage for at least a year, he would not marry her. It was simple.

     He glared at her, "Claudia, this is the last time we are going to talk about this," he held up his hand to silence her when she tried to object, "listen to me, you've gotten your way with every other thing, but I will not be forced into this."

   She wanted to argue more but thought against it. "I want the wedding to be in LA since you get say on, I get say on where."

   He didn't give a damn about where long as it wasn't soon; he didn't understand why she wanted it in LA, he had assumed that the marriage would be in Italy but didn't care enough to ask why.

    "Whatever you want." At least he won that round, arguing with Claudia always threatened his mental health.

     Someone had leaked their engagement to the press, he strongly suspected it was her, maybe she thought if they made their engagement public, he would want to get the marriage over with.

    His head was throbbing slightly alerting him to the beginning of a migraine, all the thinking and arguing was taking a toll on him, not to mention the fact that he hadn't been sleeping properly, the reason for his newly developed insomnia wasn't lost to him, even when he slept he usually dreamt of a certain blue-eyed brunette doing unspeakable things to him.

   Thinking about her now shot a pang of regret to him and also arousal. His suit pant was getting uncomfortable. He needed to get his mind out of the gutter and Claudia out of his office ASAP.

   He coughed, "I guess we have settled the matter, so if that's the only reason you came by..." He finished.

    She got the hint and nodded, "I guess I'll see you at dinner tomorrow."

    Alex let out a sigh of relief when she left, grateful for the silence. His headache was getting worse, he should have a bottle of painkillers somewhere, not bothering to search for it, he rang his assistant to get him a bottle of painkillers.

   Sometimes he wondered if she still thought of him. Had she moved on? Taken another lover? He clenched his jaw in disgust at himself. Thoughts like that dampened his mood. He needed to get her out of his system fast, and he knew exactly how to do that.
    

..............

 
   Two hours after the big reveal, as Nicole had eloquently put it, Anna was yet to face reality. She had locked herself up in her room and cried her heart out. Her friends had been trying to coax her out of her room, but to no avail. The heart-wrenching sobs she let out broke Nicole's heart.

    Although she didn't know exactly what her friend was going through, she just wanted to be there for her friend and even if it meant them raising the child together, she would do anything for her friend.

   Bianca was almost in tears herself, having been in her shoes once, it seemed like almost a lifetime now. She at least had an inkling of what her new friend was feeling.

   "Anna please come out, crying this much isn't good for the baby and I'm sure you have eaten nothing today, please let's talk about this. In fact, I just baked off some cookies, your favorite." She just added that last part to see if bribery would work.

   They heard shuffling in the background, "you did?" Anna sniffed.

   "They would soon be out and you know how much you love them." Bianca and Nicole silently fist-bumped each other, progress at last.

   Anna opened the door, and the sight of her friend's red-rimmed eyes shot a pang to Nicole's heart. She looked sick, not pregnant. She heard pregnant women often had a glow, but her friend looked pale, not at all what an expectant mother should look like.

    They got to the kitchen and when Anna didn't see any sign of cookies; she shot her friend an accusing glare. "You tricked me."

    "Not quite," she smiled at her friend and brought out a batch of unbaked cookies from the fridge before popping them in the oven.

   "So, I'm guessing the father is out of the question?" Bianca asked, cutting through the silence.

   "He is," Anna replied sharply. She immediately felt guilty for snapping at Bianca.

    She softened her tone, "he's engaged."

   Sensing that it was a touchy subject Bianca dropped the topic and gave Anna a hug.

    "Well, father or no father, even though we haven't known each other for long, I'm still here for you." With that, she made a beeline for the door, feeling like she had overstepped her welcome.

     Throughout the conversation, Nicole had been puttering with the pots, trying to gather her thoughts. She set a bowl of chicken soup in front of her friend, before cutting up some fresh fruit for her.

    "So what are we going to do now? I mean, are you going to tell Alex or?" She left the question hanging.

   "I don't know, it's still like a dream to me the baby feels like a figment of my imagination you know, it almost feels unreal. After the doctor broke the news, I was shocked but then I was almost certain about keeping the baby but now I don't even know what to do." Her voice cracked at the end.

     "We don't need to tell anyone right now, but you should consider telling Alex because as the saying goes, it takes two to tango. And I don't think any man should be robbed of their chance to be fathers except by choice."

     "I don't think I ever want to tell him, maybe later but right now no, I don't want all the drama that has to do with him."

     "No one is saying you have to say anything right now babe, you just have to take it easy yeah, let's take it one step at a time." Nicole was good at pacifying Anna, her calm tone was working and it relieved Anna to have someone like Nicole in her life.

    Whatever she did in her last life to deserve Nicole she didn't know, but what she did know was that without Nicole by her side her life would have been sad. Everyone deserved the kind of friendship they had. What they had was more than friendship, they were sisters even though it wasn't by blood; they were sisters by choice.

   
    
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   AUTHOR'S NOTE:

        Thank you for reaching this point in the story and for the almost 700 reads💖. A big thank you to everyone who reads, votes, and also comment on this story.

     What do you guys think Alex is up to?😂 I'm excited because I love drama😂💖.

     As usual constructive criticism is highly appreciated and that's all for now💖.