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ELSIE

"Elsie?" Aspen spoke from the other side of the phone. I have been planning to call her but there was no strength in me to lie to her as well.

She was the only person I had besides Ian. My only friend.

"Hi Aspen."

"I almost thought you died. Where are you? Did you quit? What's going on? Did you get sick or something?" Aspen bombarded me with questions. I stood up from the sofa and walked towards the kitchen, leaning my hip on the cabinet.

Ian was at school and I was home packing some of my stuff. I was getting married in exactly four days. I never would have thought my life would take a drastic turn in such a short amount of time.

A married woman. I was going to be a married woman. Even though it will be fake, I was still going to live with Fenix and wear his wedding band on my finger.

What in the actual heck? I still couldn't process, that I will be leaving this place.

"I'm fine. Nothing bad has happened. Sorry for not calling you earlier. Are you at work?"

"I have ten more minutes of lunch break." Oh yeah. Lunch was at this time.

"Well, I have some little news for you?" I cringed and bit my lip in nervousness. How am I gonna drop this bomb on her?

"Did you get pregnant?"

"Noo! What? No. Something else." I almost laughed at her question but the answer wasn't going to be any better.

I heard her munch on food and she was probably sitting in the back rooms with a sandwich in her hands.

"I'm getting married." The words left my lips casually but I was screaming inside.

"Yeah and Henry Cavill confessed his love for me. Girl don't joke." She snorted and I knew she won't believe me. I haven't dated anyone and now I'm suddenly getting married.

"I'm being serious. My wedding's in four days and I want you to be there with me." I continued

Aspen was still eating and then all of a sudden silence prevailed on the other side of the line. Not a single sound was heard.

I started to pace the living room and ran my fingers through my hair. It was down and wavy. I didn't have time to do anything with it today.

"Elsie, are you for real? What kind of marriage?" This time she sounded more serious.

"I'm getting married to Fenix. Fenix Carolingian."

"What?!" She exclaimed and then lowered her voice, she was at work after all. "What are you talking about? Carolingian?"

"Yes." There were hushed voices and then a door closing, she must have went somewhere where she was alone.

"The man who was visiting you every day? That one? The Carolingian?"

"That one, yes."

"When? How?..." She started asking all kinds of questions.

"We kind of hit it off you know when he was visiting and stuff." The lie was pretty stupid but I didn't have any choice. I facepalmed myself at my words but I had to lie.

Aspen was my friend and it felt wrong but what else was I supposed to do.

"You haven't been on a date in such a long time and now you are getting married to a man that you know for two weeks." She was onto me and she can probably see through my lies.

"Umm yes."

"I have read way too many books and watched way too many movies to know something is up. Now tell me. Did he threatened you?" Of course she knew that I was lying. I admit I was not really good at it.

That was pretty ironic because I was literally going to fake a marriage.

Fenix said that this was only between us and that no one should know.

But Aspen was my friend and she won't tell anyone. Not when I ask her not to. Even if I don't tell her she already knows that something is not adding up.

"I... okay." I sighed and decided to tell her. "We made a deal."

"What kind of deal?"

"I'll have to be his fake wife for half a year." Now that I said it, it definitely felt like a long time. Half a year. Six months sounded better.

"Oh my God! You're literally living my book dream." She laughed and I joined her even though the anxiety was eating me up from inside.

My palms started to sweat and I wiped them off my shorts.

"And now you are really getting married, huh? What about Ian?"

"He visited us and he met Ian. I actually met his parents. Can you believe it?"

"Oh wow. Does he have a brother maybe? Or something who would fake a marriage with me?" She joked.

"No sadly he doesn't."

"You lucky bitch. I'm so happy for you though." I smiled but there was nothing to be happy about in this situation.

"Let me just tell you something. From all the books I've read, all I can say is that this man will fall head over heels for you." I snorted and shook my head at that.

"Yeah this is real life Aspen. Why would he fall in love with me? In fact I can't wait for this to be over so I can actually find a man. With a normal job who will actually like me. He asked me to be his fake wife because I was an easy target. I need help and he use that." There wasn't anything romantic about all of this.

Fenix didn't seem like a bad person for now but he did ask me for my help just because he knew I won't be able to say no.

"You'll see. Mark my words."

I looked down at the floor and let out a sigh. "I'll send you the address and everything. I really need you to be at the wedding. I don't wanna be alone."

"I will, don't worry." She reassured me.

"And please don't tell anyone about this."

"Nothing will come out of my mouth. You can be sure of that." I nodded my head despite her not seeing me.

"I'll have to go now. My lunch is done. But we'll see each other again."

"Byee." I said and we hung up. As much as I was feeling nervous, I felt weight being lifted off my shoulders after my conversation with Aspen. At least she knew and I was not bottling up everything on my own.

I placed the phone on the cabinet and started cleaning around.

Few of the things I was going to take with me, were already stacked in boxes.

I'll have to pack Ian's toys as well. All of them. I doubt he will want to throw away some of them even though his whole room was full.

I made myself some food while I waited for the clock to turn 2pm.

I cleaned the apartment and went to grab something to wear. It was warmer today and I'll be able to wear a summer dress.

My wardrobe that I had in the living room, was filled with summer wear. I had winter wear of course but most of my clothes were for hot weather, that's why I was excited for the summer that was coming up.

Just as I slid the red dress over me, I heard my phone ring.

I zipped the side quickly and ran to grab the phone that was on the kitchen cabinet.

When I saw the name, my heartbeat increased.

It was Fenix.

I had no choice but to pick up. So I did. "Yes?"

"Are you home?" He asked immediately.

"Yeah, I was getting ready to pick up Ian from school."

"I'll be there in five minutes. We'll get him together and go to my house." We already talked about me bringing some of the things to his house but I thought he was going to pick me up tonight.

He said he had work to do.

It will also be my first time going to his home. Which made me tense.

"Alright, I'll wait." I said and we hung up without saying anything else. The awkwardness was getting worse. Why was I embarrassing myself? I could have said goodbye.

With shaky hands, I tied my hair half up and regretted not straightening it. The waves were all over the place and my cheeks were red from running around the apartment while cleaning and packing.

I adjusted my glasses and grabbed the box, placing it next to the door.

My dress reached down to my knees and the thin straps were occasionally falling down my shoulders.

Why couldn't they make ones that you can adjust?

When I was done with everything, I quickly painted my lashes with mascara and went to take my shoes for today.

They were orange feels with few fake diamonds on top. I loved wearing heels even if it was only for going grocery shopping. Every time I had opportunity to wear them, I did.

Just as I put them on, the door bell rang.

I ran to the door and opened it. I was out of breath but when my gaze landed on Fenix, my lungs felt like they were going to give up.

There stood Fenix with all over 6'3 glory. His torso was covered in a black t-shirt, exposing the tattoos on his arms. The chain on his neck was hidden behind the material and his dark pants were glued to his muscular legs.

His hair was like always tossed back and his freckles seemed to be more visible due the sunny weather.

The small scar that ran over his nose made him intimidating yet more handsome.

"You ready?" He asked after his eyes did a check of my outfit as well. His gaze stayed on my lips though.

"Mhmm, I am." I crouched down to pick up the box but Fenix stopped me and did it himself.

He effortlessly lifted it and waited for me to lock the door. When I did, we started to walk down the stairs.

We got to his car and he put the box on the backseat. We then got in and he drove off after I told him where the school was.

I leaned back on the seat and felt the cool leather material touch my skin.

Fenix rested his hands on the steering wheel as he was focused on the road.

From the corner of my eyes I peeked at him. His plump lips were in a straight line and he still had that handsome light beard over his jaw.

I played with the skirt of the dress when I remember the conversation I had with Aspen.

I had to come clean to Fenix and tell him that now someone else also knows about our deal. I didn't want to get into trouble by not telling him.

"Umm, I called my friend, my coworker earlier. I told her that I'm getting married." He nodded and I bit my lip in uncertainty.

"She suspected that something was going on and I... I had to tell her the truth. She didn't believe me other wise." I almost flinched at the words. He's probably going to quit now and I'll end up on the streets.

"What coworker?"

"Her name's Aspen. You have probably seen her in the restaurant. Blond hair and blue eyes."

"You trust her?" He asked and looked at me for the shortest second before averting his eyes to the road.

"Yes, I doubt she'll tell anyone." He hummed and continued to drive down the road like I didn't said anything that could break our deal.

"You're not mad?"

"No. If you trust her then it's fine." That was a relief. It also meant that he was a calm person that didn't really act without thinking things through.

"Okay."

We got closer to the school and Fenix parked the car in front of it. There were many parents picking up their children.

I got out of the car and so did Fenix. I wasn't expecting him to come with me.

I tightened the bag close to me and we walked inside the school. His classroom was on the first floor thankfully and we pushed through the sea of people in the hallways.

When we reached the hallway where his classroom was, I heard someone's voice.

"Elsie!" I turned my head to the sound of the man calling me. It was Travis.

"Oh hey, Travis." He was taking the bag from his son's hands and smiled at me. Then his eyes went to Fenix who was close behind me.

"How are you? I haven't seen you in a while." He said. Travis was in his thirties and lived alone with his son and their dog. Him and his wife were divorced and she lived away from here.

His hair was shorter than usual and he had a new tattoo on his hand.

"Good. How are you and Arian?"

"We're doing good. And this is...?" His gaze went to Fenix yet again and this time I felt a hand sneak around my waist and I was pressed into Fenix's chest.

My back met his hard torso and my cheeks flushed. My stomach clenched and I took a deep breath.

"Fenix, I'm her fiancé." Fenix extended his free arm and Travis did the same.

"Oh, I'm Travis." He chuckled nervously and then he looked down at my hand, the one I had my ring on.

"I didn't know you were engaged."

"Yeah, we're newly engaged." I said and smiled. Felix's hand pulled me even closer and Travis backed away. He said goodbye to us and left the hallway.

"Who was that?" His voice reached my ears and I turned my head to him, looking up at his face.

"My neighbour." His eyebrows furrowed for a second but he nodded his head slightly.

I felt the hand that was around my waist go up my arm. He lifted the fallen strap over my shoulder and then proceeded to land his hand where it was seconds ago. On my waist.

We waited for the door of Ian's classroom to open and when it finally did, he ran to me because it was usually where I wait for him.

When he was Fenix, his eyes sparkled and he jumped in my arms.

"Eli!" He hugged me and then reached for Fenix.

He took him in his arms and held him with one hand while his other hand stayed on me.

We made our way outside and my heart skipped a beat when I saw Ian lean his head on Fenix's shoulder and smile in happiness.

How will we part ways when Ian became so attached to him this quick?

Thoughts??

Don't forget to comment and vote☺️

ASPEN

KIERAN

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