Lena seemed to hesitate but she rushed out. She was back within a few minutes. Mrs Jones helped Emily to sit up and personally fed her the medicine.
Emily’s eyes drooped after a few seconds to indicate that the medicine worked. Her eyes flickered open and close like she was trying too hard not to fall into that deep slumber.
“Emily… What did you eat while you were out yesterday?” Mrs Jones asked. Emily didn’t answer at first but then she listed the foods she ate one after one slowly.
“You ate shrimps and octopus??,” Her mother had a look of disbelief. Lena shuddered in disgust at the last word. Yuck! How can someone eat octopus?
“I know you don’t get to eat sea foods but I already mentioned that you should steer clear from those things. Your father was also allergic to them!,” Mrs Jones had already spoken before she realized what she said.
“No wonder… You didn’t want to talk about your date yesterday… Sis, did something between you and Steve?” Lena asked, completely unaware of what had transpired between Emily and her mother.
Emily’s eyes flickered open at that… It actually went well then she had expected.
***
The previous day –
Emily felt nervous going into the restaurant and telling Steve the truth. But then the beauty of the restaurant dispelled her worries. She sucked in a deep breath as she took in the wonderful sight of the restaurant that overlooked a gorgeous sea.
“This way ma’am,” A waitress snapped her back to reality and she plastered a smile on her face. Then she followed the lady to another empty floor that only had one person.
She took a step towards him and smiled widely. It’s not only Steve that’s sitting there. There’s another timid-looking but beautiful lady beside him.
She looked like she would merge into him any second from now judging by how scared she looked.
“Hello,” Emily greeted without formalities, not knowing what else to say. But she noticed a guilty look on Steve that intrigued her.
“Welcome,” He greeted her curtly and entangled his fingers with that of the lady sitting beside him. Emily’s eyebrows rose at this. Okay… What’s going on here?
She sat down and watched as Steve ordered wine for them. The lady seemed to avoid looking at her.
Steve noticed her staring and he smiled again. That guilty smile again. Curiosity was gnawing in her heart. She couldn’t hold it anymore so she asked, “Uhmm… Who is she?”
Steve sighed and spilt it, “My… Girlfriend. Actually… My fiancee.” Emily almost choked. Okay… What’s going on?
“What!!?,” She couldn’t stop herself from shrieking and that somehow made the lady shrink. Steve wrapped his hands around her and faced Emily.
“I’m sorry I got you roped in this,” He apologized. Emily looked amused. “In what?” She asked.
The waiter came by to drop the wine so Steve kept quiet. As soon as the waiter left, he began to explain, “Uhmm… Emily as you can see how my fiancee is behaving. She has a kind of strange illness that causes her to act like a child. She’s timid and afraid of every little but I love her this way. The paparazzi have been unto us lately and I couldn’t let them find out about her identity or worse, dig out her private info.”
Emily nodded, “So you needed someone which is me to pose as your girlfriend.” Steve nodded. Emily looked around and asked him, “Does that mean the paparazzi followed us on our first date? Are they here today too?”
Steve looked amused, “It seems like you haven’t been following the web… How come you didn’t see a blurred picture of you with this young master? And no, they are not here today. I got people to divert their location.”
Emily heaved a sigh of relief. If the paparazzi take another picture and Ryan finds out… No… She doesn’t want to think of how he will torture her.
“Then why did you decide to come clean with your crimes today?” Emily queried. Steve gave a look that showed how surprised he is to see that she is acting calmer than he thought she would be.
“Well, someone showed her an unblurred picture of you and I have that candlelight dinner. It’s caused her some medical issues so I figured out I’d bring her here and let her understand. I’m sorry,” Steve explained, ending his sentence with an apology.
Emily smiled, “That makes us even… I was actually still cracking my brain to think of a way to tell you about how furious my jealous boyfriend has been… It was my naughty little sister that signed me up for the dating website.”
Steve laughed. He turned to his fiancee with a smile and told her softly, “See Vicki… I promised I wasn’t lying.” Emily also gave Vicki a smile to reassure her.
****
Present Day-
“Shut up! You are still in the mood to ask about how her date went even though she is like this,” Mrs Jones yelled at Lena who pouted.
Emily wasn’t even listening cause she was already off to la-la land… I mean she’s asleep. “Mom… You never take care of me like that when I’m sick but now Emily has got just a small allergy and you are acting all caring. Makes me doubt our relationship,” Lena whined.
She didn’t expect the pillow that came flying her way. She didn’t even get a chance to evade it and it hit her right in the face. “You talk too much nonsense,” Her mother remarked.
Lena frowned and picked up her phone to leave the room. She didn’t realize she’d picked the wrong phone instead of hers… So whose phone did she pick?
***
Scott was browsing through the web with an annoyed face. Clearly, he didn’t like the idea that they had to leave Singapore so soon. He didn’t even get the chance with all those hot chicks as he’d envisioned.
His fingers froze and his eyes widened when he accidentally stumbled on a headline.
“Brother… Brother… See this,” He waved the phone at Ryan.
.
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….