Chapter 4: The Ex

"Girlfriend?" Kathleen was shocked.

Before Aaron could continue his words, the doorbell of the suite dinged.

"Room service," a male voice from outside said loudly.

Aaron walked to the door and opened it. The hotel manager himself was the one that brought in the breakfast meal. He served the meal on a square dining table at the right corner of the living area. After that, he excused himself from the suite.

"Come here," Aaron beckoned Kathleen to sit at the dining table.

She obediently obeyed him and sat in front of him. A mouth-watering English breakfast meal was served on the table. Looking at the food, her stomach started to growl. The sound that her stomach made was too loud that Aaron heard it as well. Their gazes met and awkwardness suddenly filled the air.

'Should I talk first or should I tell her to eat first?' He wondered.

"Oh, please let me eat first. I don't even get to eat much last night because of the incident,' she was hoping internally.

"Go on. Eat," he finally said after having a ten-seconds staring contest with her.

Kathleen instantly formed a smile on her face and began to stuff her mouth with the food carefully.

"Slow down. Are you a dog? Why are you eating so fast?" Aaron got annoyed seeing her indelicate movement.

"Sorry. I'm so hungry. I don't know why I'm like this either. It feels like I haven't eaten for a month," she replied while smiling broadly like a kid getting some candy.

'So hungry?' His mind recalled back what happened last night. Kathleen was so energetic on the bed last night that he couldn't even keep up with her momentum. She even caused him to go out of breath a few times. Then during the party, he noticed that she didn't eat much either. Her energy was all lashed out to him because of the drug effect. 'She must be extremely starving right now,' he assumed. Thus, he just let her be.

Seeing her eating the food so happily melted his heart. She stuffed some bread so much inside her mouth that her cheeks turned into little buns. She looked so cute that way. She was pretty enough to begin with, but now seeing her like this made him feel like he was eating with a kid. She was so childish.

"About what I said earlier..."

"About pretending to be your girlfriend? But I can't possibly do that, Mr Castell. I'm working with you. What will the people inside the company would say," she rejected his request firmly.

She didn't want to have any love relationship inside the company. Let alone when it was with her boss. Even if it was just a fake one, it would be troublesome for her.

"I haven't finished explaining..." he muttered in annoyance and give her a glare.

Seeing his sharp eyes, Kathleen looked down immediately. She grabbed a bread and ate it slowly, waiting for him to continue speaking.

"This coming Friday, I have a blind date with a woman at night," he halted for a moment before continuing, "Help me ruin it."

"Ruin it?" Kathleen was confused.

"Pretend to be my girlfriend, come to the venue of the blind date, and ruin it. Get mad at me in front of her so she knows that I'm not a single man," Aaron further explained it.

"Ooohh..." Kathleen finally understood. She hesitated a little but if that was the compensation that her boss wanted from her, then it would be easy.

"I just have to pretend for that one night, right?"

"Hmm," Aaron nodded.

"Okay," she agreed easily.

***

The next day, Kathleen drove to Aeroxx Corporation for work. She was about to enter the company building but got stopped by Rodney Shaw. He had been waiting for her at the entrance to confront her.

"Two days ago at the Aeroxx anniversary party, where did you go?" He asked her eerily while grabbing both her arms.

"What do you mean? Why do you want to know? Let me go," Kathleen was frightened by his jarring approach.

"Tell me, Kat. Did you leave with another man? Did you give yourself to someone else?" Rodney was exasperated.

He had drugged that woman with the intention to spend the night with her. Yet, she went missing in the middle of the party and he didn't even see her leaving with whom. Thinking that the drug might be taken effect by that night, he wondered if some other guy got her and tasted her body. The thought made him feel gross and he couldn't even sleep for the past two days because of it. He couldn't bring himself to think that she was sleeping with another man that night.

"Tell me! Who took you that night?!" He clenched her arms harder to force her to tell the truth. Kathleen yelped in pain and the security guard of the building heard her.

"Miss, are you okay? Did you know this man?" The security guard approached them hastily, sensing that Kathleen seemed to be in danger.

"Shut up! Don't get involved. She's my wife," Rodney rebuked the security guard. The guard backed away a little when he heard the word 'wife'.

"Wife?" Kathleen chuckled at him while trying to loosen herself from his grips.

"Yes, wife. If we didn't break up three months ago, you would have been my wife right now. How dared you broke off our engagement without my consent?"

A man was staring at the incident from inside of a black Rolls-Royce car. His driver opened the car door for him, and he got off elegantly.

"Love drama in the middle of the morning. How amusing..." Aaron muttered alone with his eyes fixed at Kathleen and Rodney.

"Why should I marry someone so filthy like you?! Not only did you cheat on me while we're engaged, you even slept with her. Of all the women you could cheat with, why do you have to choose my sister?! You're a complete sc*mbag! Not only did you don't have remorse, but you could even proudly say that you were not in the wrong in front of my parents? Why don't you tell them the truth on why I broke up with you? Tell them that you slept with my sister. Let's see if they would want a son-in-law like you if they know that," Kathleen lashed out at Rodney.

The man was slightly embarrassed since she exposed his filthy behaviour in public. There were a few onlookers watching the show. Yet, instead of leaving, Rodney still wanted to argue with her. He didn't want her to win the argument.

"I told you before. She seduced me. It's not my fault. She was the one that was so eager to give herself to me. I'm a man so I might not be able to resist that kind of temptation. But I don't love her. She was nothing compared to you. Kathleen... come back to me. Let's get married right away this time," Rodney coaxed her.

"It takes two to tango," Aaron went closer to them and deliberately made a loud remark, intending to insult Rodney.