How To Be Someone You Hate

The first thing I did, once I stopped screaming was sit down on the floor.

It was the only alternative I had now, because there was every possibility that I could faint and get a concussion.

I sat on the cold marble of the master bedroom floor in Ivan Cross's body and stared at the wall and breathed, in through his nose and then out through his mouth.

It was something my old therapist had taught me just before I stopped going for therapy, all because my future husband's schedule which was now mine could not accommodate it.

I pressed Ivan's large hands against the floor and spoke to myself, even if the voice was nowhere close to mine.

“You are a capable and intelligent woman, Ava. If you can handle those hostile press, your mom and charity gala's, how hard can this be? Stay calm girl.”

I picked up his phone, which was lying on the floor near the bed. The important thing was to call him right away. I tapped on his phone and the screen lit up.

“Who uses a logo as a screensaver in this year?” I asked sarcastically, as I rolled his eyes for the hundredth time. “How do I even unlock the damn thing.”

I fumbled with the phone until it finally unlocked with his fingerprint. “Who knew that would work?”

He picked up on the first ring. “Don't scream again.”

That was the first thing he said to me, but with my voice.

“Excuse you.” I could feel my jaw, Ivan's jaw technically tightened. “I screamed once.”

“You screamed twice, the second time was a bit quieter than the first.” My sweet voice took a short pause from talking. “But it was still a scream.”

"I was processing this.” There was no way I wouldn't defend myself. “Are you really me?”

“Switch to video call.” He told me in my precious voice again.

“Okay.” I hurriedly tapped on the video icon, switching it to a video call. “Why is my hair scattered? What did you do to me?”

“I did not do anything, stop yelling!” My perfect face looked upset.

My goodness! I had no idea I looked so hot when angry.

“I'm not yelling, you really need to fix my hair. There's no way I would want anyone seeing me that way.”

“Is that what you're seriously concerned about right now?” I watched him bite my lower lip sexily in frustration. “We have a wedding to get through in less than six hours, how do we fix this?”

“We could certainly talk better after you fix my hair, you know.” I tilted his head to the side and rolled my eyes.

I stared at my face, looking back at me angrily for a second before he asked. “What do I do?”

“Great! Get to the dressing table, there are a couple of brushes there.” I stood up and tried moving around like him. “Pick a wide tooth comb and detangle gently, before using a brush on it.”

“Repeat that in English, will you?”

“Comb your hair Rapunzel, then brush it.” I screamed into the phone.

“I told you to keep it down, you're disturbing the staff here.” He was making my eyes boil with rage.

“Why am I just finding out, that you have staff living in your penthouse?” I asked, running my hand through his short hair. “Damnit! I forgot I was you.”

“You never asked, princess.” That was giving off a sassy vibe.

“Ivan?”

He took a deep breath in and shrugged my shoulders. “Two assistants, a housekeeper and your morning coordinator.”

“What?”

“I meant my morning coordinator.” He repeated, placing emphasis on MY.

“Yet you called me a spoilt brat, I wonder why you'll need a morning coordinator. What are you? Five?” I mocked him, as I continued trying to understand his long legs.

"Her name is Martha and she has been with my family for six years. If I see you being cold to her, I will find a way to make your life worse than it already is." He threatened me, as he picked up the comb and started detangling my hair.

"I think you got things confused now, you're the cold one, not me. I'm just contained.” I explained, waving my left hand in front of my face.

Moving gently, I placed the phone on a phone stand and sat down observing the ring on my middle finger. It had definitely changed color, but was the same ring Ivan had given me after the engagement party.

Ivan's word in my voice, cut through my thoughts. "To Martha, it's the same thing. Remember to smile at her and ask about Meera. That's her daughter, she just started Kindergarten.

I looked up at the phone, surprised at what I heard. "You remember the name of your coordinator's child?"

"Of course I do."

That was so sweet, but I knew I could never say that out loud to him.

"Fine, I'll keep that in mind.” I said.

"Thank you." He made me eyes look sharp as he focused on my face. “We need to establish some rules.”

“Right! Because what this situation really needs is a rulebook, how amusing.” I could not stop staring at the ring again, it was definitely a lighter shade of green when Ivan had given it to me.

“One, no improvisation. When in doubt, say nothing. In my world, silence reads as confidence.” He had finished brushing my hair now and I looked lovely.

“In my world, silence reads as being rude. Have that at the back of your mind.”

“Good! That's settled, I know what to expect now.” He moved his fingers from my cheeks to my chin, making me feel weird.

“You might want to keep your hands out of my face. I don't want to end up with breakouts.” I warned him.

“Hmmm.”

“Rule two.” I said, because I was going to have a say in this rulebook whether he wanted it or not. "Do not reorganize anything in my life, not my schedule, not my contacts, not my skincare routine, which I noticed you have already disturbed because the serums are in the wrong order."

There was a long pause on his end before his voice came on. "I moved them."

"I noticed, call me before applying anything on my face.”

"Rule three." Ivan continued seamlessly. "We video call before every major interaction to brief each other. Thirty seconds minimum, I need to know who I'm speaking to and what they expect from you."

Just then a knock came on the door.

“Hold on.” I told Ivan and stood up, to get it.

“Ava!!!”

“What?” I looked back at the screen with a questioning look.

“Don't walk like that, keep your shoulders straight, please.” I heard him sigh again. “Long strides too.”

“Got it!” I gave him the peace sign after muting the call and walked to the door.

“Good morning Sir.” The man on the other side said with a polite smile.

“Morning.” I tried to keep a straight face like Ivan would.

He handed me a file. “You asked for this yesterday.”

“Thank you.” I collected it and slammed the door hard.

My heart was beating so hard as I leaned hard against the door, until I heard the man's footsteps receding.

I almost ran to the phone and unmuted the call, after dropping the file on the stand. “I agree to the third rule, wholeheartedly. Because I have only been in your body for nine minutes and a man I have never seen before, knocked on the door and said good morning like I was supposed to know who he was."

"What did he look like?"

"Tall, grey at the temples. He looked at me like I owed him something."

"That's Gerald, he runs my morning briefings."

"He handed me a file."

"Did you open it?"

"I was busy having an identity crisis, Ivan."

"The folder has your schedule for the day, open it." He instructed me.

I reached for the file and flipped it open with fingers I was not entirely comfortable with. His hands were distracting in their size.

I scanned the first page. "Your day starts at six forty-five.

"Yes."

"It is currently six forty."

"Yes."

"Ivan you scheduled a merger briefing on your wedding day?" I had no idea why this was getting me upset.

"It was Gerald's idea."

"But you approved it."

After a minute, he finally said something. "It's a fifteen minute call."

"I am not doing a merger briefing." I said, very clearly. "I do not know what a merger briefing involves, and I will not be performing one in your body at six forty-five in the morning while I am also trying to figure out how your shower works."

"The shower has one dial."

"That was very helpful." I had not even gotten into his shower yet, it couldn't be that bad.

"The other three are for temperature memory settings." He added.

"There are four dials? Why does one shower need temperature memory settings?"

"Because I have them at specific intervals depending on the time of day."

I closed my eyes. "You are the most exhausting person I have ever met and I have met your mother."

"Do not bring my mother into this." The fury in his eyes were very visible.

"She called me last night."

For the first time, I heard a little tremble in his voice as he asked me a question. “What did she say?”