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  “I always saw myself marrying someone like him,” I admitted. Then I clarified, “Looks wise. He said I was attractive, and I have to admit, he is too.” I thought about his stubble and how it would be to kiss a jaw as sharp as that. I quickly cleared my head of those thoughts, remembering who those lips were attached to. “But his personality is, well, it’s not compatible with mine. I wanted someone more cheerful and soft. He’s too rude and brooding.”

  “Can you pretend to be in love with someone so opposite to you?” Virgo asked.

  “I could fake it, if I just looked at him and ignored what he said.”

  “Wow, that’s maybe the meanest thing I’ve ever heard you say.” Michael fake gasped.

  “I’ve had a long day.” I defended myself, frowning at him.

  “What do you think your aunt Renee will think?”

  My mind went to the letter I threw on my bed earlier. “I don’t want to worry about that.” I changed the subject. “What should I do?”

  “I don’t think I can answer that for you Lyds.” Michael shook his head. “If you decide to go for it, I will do everything I can to help you. I’d tell everyone about how happy the two of you are. But Virgo and I will break into his fancy mansion and rescue you if he so much as seems like he’s going to do something bad to you.”

  “Thanks.” I mumbled.

  “But if you don’t want to do this, I respect that. We made peace with the fact we weren’t getting that money yesterday. Like I said then, there will be more opportunities. Hopefully ones that don’t involve a fake marriage scheme.”

  “But if you do get married, Michael and I get to be your co-maids of honor.” Virgo said seriously.

  “It’ll be a fake wedding,” I said, smiling a little. I was beginning to find a little humor in the ridiculousness of what we were discussing.

  “Still, I want to be there for your big day. I’ll see it as practice for when we are your real co-maids of honor.”

  “Why am I a maid too?” Michael spoke up.

  “Anyway, sweetie,” Virgo said, cupping one of my cheeks. “Whatever you decide, we’ll be there for you. Sleep on it tonight. You’ll feel better about it tomorrow. I know it.”

  Virgo and Michael went back to his room for some alone time, and I went to mine to think. I stepped out onto the fire escape outside my window and listened to the car honks and felt the warm July wind push through my hair. I knew that what Michael and Virgo said was true. They were my best friends in the world, and they wouldn’t be mad if I said no. I pulled out the ring Mr. Hirano gave me and inspected it closely. It was an older ring; some of the shine on the silver band had been worn down and the main pearl was chipped a little. God, was this a family ring? And he just gave it to me? I looked around guiltily, like someone would see and know what I was doing. I slipped the ring onto my left-hand ring finger and admired it in the glow of the city lights as the sun set behind me. I knew Michael and Virgo would understand, but that didn’t stop the sick feeling I had inside. I wanted to do it, to get that money. I wouldn’t even have been in this situation if I had been more professional in that first meeting. I owed it to Michael, our company, and to myself to make that mistake right.

  “Mrs. Lydia Hirano.” I tested out the sound. Girls in grade school used to write out their names with their crushes’ last names, I felt childish doing it now at twenty-four years old. Even so, “Mrs. Lydia Hirano-Maxwell. Maxwell-Hirano?” That had a ring to it.

  Maybe I could see this as a blessing. After all, Mr. Hirano had said he’d take me to socials. What better ways to network than having an into all high society events? That way I could get even more interest in our brand. Mr. Hirano was right. I shouldn’t see it as some dark game, it was all just business. There weren’t going to be any feelings, at most we’d have to kiss a few times in public. In college, I’d kissed strangers at bars for worse reasons.

  With my mind made up, I went back inside and firmly shut the window. I was able to fall asleep easily with everything cleared up and my decision made. I didn’t realize until the next morning, when I was getting ready to call Mr. Hirano, that I had left the ring on all night.

  Chapter 4: Lydia

  My whole life I knew I wanted to go into fashion design. It was what I knew best, it was where I felt my most confident. So that morning I knew I had to dress to kill to have the energy to go through with this crazy plan. Cheetah print was one of the biggest trends that Spring/Summer season. For that reason, I had a long cheetah print sundress that one of my designers made at their last job. They said it “showed off my ass”. I had to agree that it made me feel beautiful and confident. I did my eyeliner with wingtips, retrying it twice to make sure it was perfect. I put his ring safely into my purse but held onto it as I dialed his number.

  “Hello?” He said. Oh right, I didn’t give him my number.

  “It’s Lydia. Lydia Maxwell.”

  “Have you made your decision?” Of course, he’d get straight to it.

  I hesitated, but I already made my choice. “Yes.”

  “Then meet me at my office and we’ll get everything settled.” He was assuming my answer. I didn’t like that he was so sure that he was right, even though he was.

  “No,” I said interrupting him. He didn’t reply, but I could feel his confusion from my apartment. But he didn’t continue, letting me explain. “If I keep coming to your office and we’re never seen anywhere else, we won’t seem like a couple. We don’t want this to be a secret affair. We need to convince gossip magazines and get photos of us together on twitter. It’ll make it more believable. We need to meet somewhere more appropriate.”

  “That’s smart,” he admitted.

  “Thank you,” I said, feeling a confident smile spread over my face. If I was going to do this, I was going to be the best fake wife anyone could ever want.

  “I’ll pick you up, around noon. I’ll make reservations at a restaurant. We can discuss terms as well as begin our charade.”

  “That sounds perfect.” I gave him my address. “See you at noon Mr. Hirano.”

  “Taylor.”

  “What?”

  “My wife should call me by my first name, don’t you think? Lydia?”

  “See you at noon.” I swallowed unconsciously. “Taylor.”

  “Noon, Lydia.” And he hung up.

  It was strange to hear my name in his voice. The way he said it was still stiff, but it felt nicer than when he insisted on calling me Ms. Maxwell.

  I redid my lipstick, a dark coral green, and sat at our little kitchen table. I spent my morning looking through the rough designs and fabric swatches my designers had submitted to me. I kept looking over the same details over and over again as my mind wandered off. This was going to be the most stressful lunch I’d ever been to. No, I tried to reason with myself, You’ve gone to lunch with top influencers in the fashion world. This is nothing compared to that. That made sense to me and made me feel a little better. But as I kept thinking I wondered if that was true, why was my heart still beating so fast?

  Noon rolled around much faster than I thought, especially since each hour that passed that morning felt agonizingly slow. I heard a knock on my apartment door. I didn’t have to worry yet I reasoned. Surely his driver would pick me up and then I could prepare myself on the ride over to whatever fancy place he wanted to take me to. When I opened the door, however, there stood Mr. Hirano, or Taylor. He was wearing a black button up, no tie, and no jacket. My eyes went straight to the way his arms moved against the seams of his shirt. I blamed my instincts as a men’s fashion designer. I wanted to undo the buttons at his cuffs and roll the sleeves up, let his muscles breathe. I caught myself staring and quickly moved back to his face. His expression was schooled and closed off; not much different than usual then.

  “Well?” He said glancing back at the hallway.

  I got the hint and followed him out of the apartment complex and to the car he had parked out front. It was a matte black Tesla with no driver in
sight. He got into the driver's seat and even though it felt strange to me, I got in the passenger's side. Every influencer and company owner I’d rubbed shoulders with to get my business off the ground always had a driver, at least for appearances sake.

  He started the car and we drove in complete silence. I lost count of how many times I fixed the skirts of my dress even though they were fine.

  “So.” I started not sure where I was going with it. I just had to break the silence, or I would lose it. “Where are you taking me?”

  “The Goose.” He said without taking his eyes off the road.

  I’d heard of The Goose. It was an incredibly swanky place in town that opened last year. Of course, he’d take me somewhere like that. At least to keep up appearances, I hoped he’d be paying.

  “Do you like the food?” I asked just to keep the conversation going.

  “It’s food.”

  “Yeah.” I said and turned to look out my window. That was useless. How on earth did this man handle business meetings if he didn’t speak? He was going to be a CEO after all.

  The Goose was a place that took up the bottom floor of an old apartment complex. The red brick aesthetic clashing somewhat with all the gold fixtures inside. We were seated immediately in a space towards the back of the restaurant. From where we sat, we could be seen, but no one was close enough to eavesdrop. Anyone looking at us could mistake us as a couple on a date. Perfect.

  When the waiter stopped by to take our order, Taylor said, “The usual.” And the waiter seemed to know what he meant.

  “I’ll take the fettuccine alfredo,” I ordered, not wanting anything too heavy or too complicated. No matter how many years I spent in the fashion world, I couldn’t get used to some of the kinds of food rich people ate.

  Once the waiter had left, Taylor gave me a firm look. “Your answer, then?”

  I huffed. “You obviously know what it is.”

  “I want to hear you say it. I want to know you’re serious.”

  I rolled my eyes and pulled his ring out of my purse and set it on the table behind my wine glass so it wouldn’t be seen. “I accept. As long as you provide the two million, I’ll stay married to you for a year. No longer than that.”

  “No other terms?” He asked.

  I shook my head and took the ring back. “It doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that. If you’re hoping I’ll sleep with you, that’s a deal breaker.”

  He frowned. “No worries.” I wasn’t sure how to take that. I thought he said I was attractive yesterday. I decided not to let it bother me. I didn’t want to have sex with him anyway, so it didn’t matter what he thought of me.

  He pulled out his phone and began scrolling, then looked up. “How’s next Saturday for the wedding? I’m free that morning.”

  “That soon?”

  “I wasn’t planning on dragging it out. If it seems sudden, all the more to convince my grandfather this is a whirlwind romance.”

  I checked my own calendar on my phone and found that I was free. “Yeah, I can do it next Saturday.”

  “That will give you enough time to call your parents. I would prefer if they didn’t know but I can make an exception if you think they’d be difficult to convince.”

  “That’s not a problem,” I said glancing up from my phone, “they’re uh, dead.”

  “Oh.” His expression softened a little. “I’m sorry.”

  “No, you don’t have to apologize. It was a long time ago. I’d have to tell you anyway. What kind of husband doesn’t know his wife’s parents are dead? Ha-ha.” I tried to joke to make it less awkward but succeeded at the opposite. “Anyway. My aunt raised me, so I’ll invite her. We don’t talk very often so she’d probably believe it.”

  “That works.”

  “What about your parents? Do they know?”

  He looked away, examining the golden goose statue in the middle of the restaurant like it was the most interesting thing in the room. “They won’t be coming.”

  I got the feeling he didn’t want to talk about it anymore than that, so I decided to let it slide. Good to know we both had issues, maybe we were more alike than I thought.

  “I have to let you know that I told my business partner and his girlfriend about this arrangement.”

  He looked back to me and wrinkled his brows.

  “They are both trustworthy and would never have believed me if I said I suddenly fell in love with you. Besides, Michael owns Sew Fit too, what was I going to tell him about the two million and then the marriage? He would have figured it out.”

  “That’s acceptable then.”

  Our food arrived. It was predictably delicious. Taylor’s “the usual” turned out to be crab cakes. I was worried it was going to be some kind of dark elixir or uniform white cubes. Sometimes the things Virgo brought over for us to try dumbfounded me.

  “The hardest part will be meeting with my grandfather after the wedding.” He said suddenly.

  I quickly swallowed my mouthful of noodles. “Why do you say that?”

  “He knows me. Better than anyone else. We can fool everyone, but he’s the only one that matters.”

  “What’s your plan then?”

  “I’ll have to coach you on lying.”

  “No. I can lie.” I retort, knowing I sounded indignant. “I just don’t like to.”

  “You can?” He didn’t believe me.

  “I’m a great actor.” I noticed some important looking lady watching us from another table from the corner of my eye. Quickly, I grabbed my fork and took a piece of Taylor’s crab cake and ate it.

  “Why’d you do that?”

  I saw the lady smile knowingly and begin talking earnestly to her tablemates. I subtly gestured to the woman’s table. “Just acting the part, hon.” I don’t know why, but I felt the urge to wink and did.

  He glanced at the woman’s table and then looked anywhere else but me. I wasn’t sure, but had I flustered him?

  “My grandfather will ask a lot of questions.” He was right back to business, so I was probably wrong.

  “So, we’ll have to get to know each other.” I said folding my hands. “I’m an open book.” Unlike you, I thought but didn’t say.

  “Where are you from?”

  “Rockford, Illinois. Moved to Chicago two years ago after finishing fashion school in New York. Where are you from?” He was silent for a bit, like he didn’t expect me to ask the question back. “I have to get to know you too.”

  He sighed. “I’m from Chicago.”

  “You’ve lived here your whole life?”

  He shook his head yes. “Where did we meet?”

  I could tell he was testing me. He no longer had a bored look in his eyes, something in the dark brown was challenging me. “I called you three months ago to set up a meeting.” Which wasn’t a lie. “We met up a few times before that and quickly fell in love. The meeting the other day was a formality to keep our relationship hidden, but since your grandfather pushed, we decided to finally let our relationship out.”

  He nodded his head. I guessed that meant I passed. I decided I wanted to challenge him too. “Where was our first date?”

  He looked like he was thinking deeply. It was nice to see him without such a stern expression on his face. I could almost think he was sweet. “Three months ago, was April.” He thought a bit more. “I took you to a rooftop bar. It was still rather windy, so we went to the Chicago Botanical Garden instead.”

  “How romantic. I’m jealous of me.”

  I thought I saw the corner of his mouth uptick just a little. “Why did you fall in love with me?”

  Everything seemed to stop. I didn’t know how to answer, I never expected him to ask something like that. “I—” I paused and looked into his eyes as he waited for an answer. “At first, I thought you were rude, but once you took me to see the flowers, I realized you were gentler than I thought. And I began to fall in love.” I cleared my throat, feeling deeply embarrassed. But why? None of it w
as true. “Why did you fall in love with me?” I asked before I could regret it.

  “You are an attractive woman, smart as hell, who I felt good being around. How could I not?” He said without having to think too long about it.

  “I think we can fool him,” I said quickly, trying to forget what he’d said already. He was an amazing liar. But that’s all it was. Lies.

  We finished up our meal exchanging a few more details with each other like where we went to school, favorite foods, banal stuff that couples should know about each other. I had a pretty good memory, but it was a lot to know. I hoped I could keep it all straight. I hoped Taylor was the kind of person who wouldn’t take the two million away if we failed, but I couldn’t know for sure.

  He paid the bill, like I’d hoped, and we started to exit. Again, I noticed several eyes on us, and a few people who had raised their phones in a way they thought was discreet.

  I pulled him close to me. His eyes looked panicked. “Do you really trust me?” I asked softly.

  He still looked uncomfortable but nodded.

  I decided to go for it. I leaned up and forward. He seemed to understand and leaned down in turn. Soon I was kissing Mr. Taylor Hirano. I heard a few phone cameras go off as my lips pressed against his. It wasn’t the best kiss I’d ever had. I could tell his lips were reluctant. But I was right about the way his stubble gently scratched my face, it was divine. I reached up and gently cupped his cheek then we broke apart the kiss. I lowered my hand and really looked at him. There was something unreadable about his expression. But he didn’t say anything as we exited The Goose and got back in his car.

  This time, the silence felt weird. I had done what I thought was best to make the illusion work. Had I made the wrong choice? I could have just held his hand out or gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. Either would have been believable. Maybe you just wanted to kiss him? My mind thought, traitorously. It was wrong anyhow; I was the real Lydia Maxwell. I had never been to the Chicago Botanical Garden and I had never fallen in love.