Chapter 9

 Chapter 9

HAZEL 

“Perfect!” Vira cheered. 

That little demon! 

Does she know how hard this is? Why is she doing this to me? 

Calm down, Hazel, it's for her school retreat… she is doing this because she wants a good retreat. You are doing this for your niece. So wipe away every nasty thought and concentrate. 

“Are you satisfied?” Nikolai grumbled at his daughter. 

She placed the pen on her cheeks and nodded, “For now, we can work with that. Gradually, you two will get close and it won’t be an issue. So now here is the list of things we need to accomplish in the next week before the retreat.” she blurted. 

“One, sitting comfortably with each other. Two, looking at each other with love. Three, holding hands. Four, eating together. Five, Knowing almost everything about each other, six, Your wedding, seven, pet names, and eight, Kissing each other very…..

“Kissing!” I barked, then slammed my hands over my mouth as soon as I realized how loud I was. I leaned closer to her, eyes widened, “Kissing? Why kissing? I can’t kiss your Dad, he is …He is my brother-in-law, scarp that.” 

She pouted, “But…

“Your aunt is right, Vira….Take that out of the list….now.” Nikolai added. 

I could feel the heat rushing up my cheeks, the way they burnt and stung me. I leaned back into my chair, eyes flickering, palm sweaty, unable to wrap my head around what my niece had just blurted out. 

She wanted me to practice kissing her Dad. 

“Okay.” She muffled the tone of her voice, so low, so defeated. She is having way too much fun…she is enjoying hooking her father and me up..what the hell? 

“But you have to do the rest…those are not up for debate.” She sneered, glaring at us both, the pen in her hands, pointing at us to make sure we were on the same board. 

I nodded and so did Nikolai.

I sat in the boardroom, surrounded by my managers, accountants, and directors. Mouths were moving, one of the managers stood at the top presenting something on the white board and I was in the same room, leaning on my chin, eyes on the manager talking about something but my mind was somewhere else. My mind went back to the way Nikolai wrapped his arms around me because his daughter believed we needed to practice being a married couple. 

How on earth am I supposed to fake being his wife? 

“Ms Hazel?” The name echoed through the room, yanking me out of my thoughts. My eyes scanned the room, every one of them had their eyes glued to me, flickering, waiting for me to say something.

My eyes flickered. I didn’t hear shit. 

I slammed my eyes shut, fingers running through my hair, smooth, “I’m sorry, guys, my mind is a bit …” 

“Do you need me to run it again, ma’am?” The manager asked, sweet and calm. I forced a smile and nodded. 

And once again she ran through everything and it was a brilliant idea that would expand the use of our hotels, I can’t believe I almost put my company in jeopardy thinking about my sister’s husband. 

I spent the rest of the day in my office, going through files and documents, and had meetings through Zoom with my other managers. A gentle knock came through my door, and the door creaked open even before I agreed for her to come in. 

“Hey, boss.” She grumbled, glaring at me, head tilted to the side, “You forgot to eat ….again.” 

Fuck. I slammed the pen in my hands on the table, I leaned back, taking off my glasses, my fingers rubbing my eyes, letting out a low deep exhale. 

I had buried myself in work because I couldn’t stop thinking about Nikolai and the pretend husband and wife thing that I had forgotten I hadn’t eaten anything today. 

“Can you order something from the kitchen for me, please?” I asked. Nora was also my assistant when I was in Paris, she is the best human, the universe has sent to me. 

“Do you know what time it is?” She asked, hands on her waist, head tilted to the side. 

“Huh?” 

“It’s seven pm…You’ve worked for nine hours straight without getting up from that chair, do you have any idea how many documents and how much of the workload you’ve finished today?” She muffled, “Seriously, what is going on with you today? You were also absentminded at the meeting which has never happened before, is everything okay at home, Boss?” I could hear the worry that slipped through every word that rolled off her tongue. The way her eyes flickered with concern. 

I sighed, “It’s ….

Buzz. The vibration from my phone cut me off, saving me from lying to my very loyal assistant, who at this stage, I should call a friend because she is. 

Of all people to text me, it had to be the man I had been trying to stop thinking about all day. 

Great. 

I opened the message. 

Nikolai: Do you have plans tonight?

My eyes scanned the message, thinking of a reply, I should be trying to avoid him, drawing a line, and only getting involved with him when it involves Navira but how can I possibly ignore him? 

ME: Still at work, rounding up now. 

His response came in immediately, like he had been waiting for my response. 

Nikolai: Come to my restaurant, let’s have dinner together and discuss how to make this …marriage work. Without Vira running around and bossing us. 

A laugh erupted from me as I remembered how she stood in front of us this morning, holding her pen and paper and instructing us. 

ME: See you soon. 

I looked up and found Nora’s eyes on me, squinting, yet piercing into my soul. My throat bobbed, beads of sweat plastered on my forehead, and it felt as though I had been caught doing something I shouldn’t. 

“Why–why are you looking at me like that?” My voice was shaky, as I reached for my bag. 

“Hmm.” She sighed, “You’re acting weird, smiling at your phone and all.” 

I looked away, “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I lied. 

“I know that’s not Sir Daston…where are you going?” She asked. 

“I have plans…Go home, Nora, stop playing detective, thanks again for today.” I tapped her shoulder and ran out of my office before she hurled me with another question at me. 

I made my way down to the car park. As i walked down to my car, i noticied someone standing next to it, back leaning on it. 

As I walked closer, my eyes settled on the man until I recognized him. 

Daston.