3. Heartbreak Hurts

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"What are you doing here?" Willow covered her mouth shut as her words came out in a shriek.

Knox was in a business suit, leaning against his midnight-blue Porsche. He let out a sigh of relief when he finally saw her and walked over to her, taking his hands off his pockets and resting them on her shoulders.

"You okay?" He asked, his eyes searching hers.

Willow pursed her lips. She wanted to tell him off for increasing the burden on her, but she knew she had no right. She needed the money. At the end of the day, she was indeed a gold digger.

"I am fine." She shrugged.

"We will have to hide the fact that we are in a relationship if you want to live a normal life."

Willow nodded as if that made any sense.

They would have to hide the fact that they were in a fake relationship if she wanted to live a normal life.

What exactly was wrong with this man?

"What do you have in mind?" She asked instead, stepping away from him as she looked over at the security camera. 

"We will have to move out of the penthouse." He said. 

Willow looked at him confused. "Why do you have to move?" 

Knox gave her a flat look as if the answer was pretty obvious. "I thought I already told you that you were not going anywhere without me." 

"But-" Willow stopped and gestured for him to continue, knowing that talking to him was equivalent to hitting her head against a wall. 

"I have purchased two apartments on the same floor of a complex. I will move into one and you into the other. That way, people won't find out even if someone was to drop by." Knox was in his own world as he explained his master plan. A plan that made no sense because the situation did not make any sense. 

"I need to get a more ordinary car," Willow said, taking out her car keys from her pocket and handing it over to him. 

Knox let out an annoyed sigh. "Why do you let their words get to you? Just say it was a gift and Knox Wright is not some petty asshole to take back his gift just because we broke up." 

Willow rolled her eyes because she actually believed Knox to be an asshole. He was ready to take back all the money he had spent on the medical treatment of her mother when she said she did not want to pretend to be with him anymore. 

"I need normalcy, Knox." She said. "I don't want my name in the tabloids anymore." 

Knox let out another sigh as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Fine. If that's what you want." 

"You should go now." She said. 

Knox did not look like he liked what she had said.

"Why are you trying to get rid of me?" He asked. "There's no one else here. What are you scared of?" 

"I am not scared of anyone." Willow barked out. "I just don't think it's right for us to be close now that you are engaged to someone else." 

"That someone has a name." His tone was almost teasing as if he enjoyed her discomfort. 

"Mia." She gritted out. "Mia Thompson." 

"She's quite the beauty, isn't she?" He drawled on. "She was a ballerina. It shows in her grace." 

Willow's hands curled into fists at her sides as she looked up at him and gave him a tight smile which did nothing to hide what she was actually feeling. 

"I need to get back to work." She said, her voice clipped. 

"Okay." Knox grinned, dipping down to place a kiss on her nose. "See you at home." 

And then he was gone, leaving her to stand there like an idiot and wonder what the hell was going on because even when they were actually in a pretend relationship, he had not so openly shown affection. 

Or was she reading too much into it again?

Or did he get a kick out of cheating on his fiance?

Willow shuddered at the word 'fiance'. That's what Mia Thompson was while Willow could never climb up from the title of 'gold digger' or 'pretend girlfriend'. 

She hated the bitterness she felt and hated herself more for thinking negatively about a woman who had done nothing to harm her. 

But she had stolen the love of her life, hadn't she?

But then again, was Knox ever hers to begin with?

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"I found a new apartment." 

It was not exactly a lie but it was not the complete truth either. Knox had already moved all the stuff and parked his butt on her couch. 

He refused to leave. He might as well just move in. 

"Atta girl!" Susan was delighted to hear the news. "Now that publicly, you have cut all ties with him, no one can call you a gold digger anymore."

"I am sure all the news blew over by now." Willow took out her phone to see if she was still trending as the gold digger. 

As she typed in the keywords, Susan gave her a flat look. 

"There is no need to look up all those shit. You need to stop worrying about what people who don't know you think about you." 

"But still-" As the page loaded, Willow's eyes welled up with tears. And for entirely different reasons. 

No, she was not trending as the gold digger. And thank god, no one was comparing her ordinary self to the perfection named Mia Thompson. 

No, people did not have the time to talk about her. 

Because all of them were gushing over the latest paparazzi pictures of Knox Wright and Mia Thompson at a charity event. 

Looking so much in love. 

Looking elated as they spoke with their parents. 

Dancing like they had no care in the world. 

And the last picture. The last picture ripped out a sob from Willow that startled Susan. 

She quickly snatched the phone from her friend to check, hoping it was nothing serious. 

"Motherfucker." She muttered when she saw that the picture was of the engaged couple kissing. She knew there was nothing wrong with it as the two of them were engaged. 

But her heart ached for her friend. 

"Will, don't cry. He's not worth it." She said. 

Somehow that just broke the damn behind Willow's eyes. 

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