Pretend

Ryan silently watched Rose approach the man inside the black limousine. He could still feel the warmth of her body on his fingers and smell her sweet scent lingering on his shirt.

Damn! I did it again, and this time, seems like I'm not getting out of it easily.

Just based on the car her father was in, Ryan could guess Rose was one of the rich young misses living in one of the nearby luxurious villas. Even if her dad would not put him in jail for his actions, creating problems for him would be a rather easy feat.

Ryan lamented as he breathed out deeply. "If only she resisted earlier, I would have been able to stop myself before anything happened."

The only saving grace of his weird reaction to girls was that he could stop himself if the girl was to say 'no' or 'stop'. Each time his urges spiked up, he might not be able to control his actions and his rational thoughts might be clouded with desires, but he was conscious of them nonetheless. The moment he felt any resistance from a woman, he would snap back to reality. All of his wild urges magically disappear as if he was never under its influence in the first place.

The scene from a moment ago was a prime example of this phenomenon. As soon as Rose had shown a sign of fear in her eyes, his movements halted. He was able to return back to normal.

Because of this, Ryan still never thought of himself as a bad person. If there was nothing that could hold him back, Ryan would have preferred to stay locked up just in case he ever hurt or violate a girl against her will.

Vroom!

The sound of a car engine snapped him out of his thoughts. The car window rolled up with Rose standing still outside of the vehicle. She stayed in that position until the car drove away and disappeared from the street they were in, leaving Ryan and her, just the two of them, alone. She slowly turned around and just as he expected, she was glaring at him.

Rose walked up to him, her steps almost a stomp, and poked him on the chest upon reaching him.

"Do you have any idea what you just did?!" she asked sternly and began recounting, stabbing her nail into his broad chest for each offense he did. "You groped my butt, touched my stomach and felt up my breasts. You weren't even satisfied at that but also started kissing my neck. You did all that in front of my dad! Do you know how embarrassing it was?!"

She watched his face closely as she spoke, wanting to see remorse at his deeds. Thankfully, she was not disappointed. He showed nothing but a guilty and helpless expression. After all, he was not in a position to justify his actions. Her cheeks were still flushed so he could only imagine the embarrassment she felt. She seemed to be the pure and sweet type of girl.

"Do you have anything for your defense?" Rose asked, much softer this time, looking down with her long brown hair covering her face. "I know you warned me before I hugged you but I still think you went too far. A normal return hug would have been nice…"

Cute!

Ryan resisted the urge to pat her head by stepping away from her and admitted how he felt, "There is no question that I'm guilty. Even though you said I don't need to hold back, I indeed went too far for which I apologize. I will take any punishment you have as long as you can forgive me."

This could not be solved differently other than asking Rose for forgiveness.

Rose finally looked up at him, looking embarrassed but pleased, and he probably said the exact words she wanted to hear. She was about to open her mouth to reply when Ryan suddenly realized something.

"Wait, why did you even hug me in the first place…?" he asked, confused, as he recalled the sequence of events. Nothing would have happened if she did not hug him in the first place, which was what triggered his abnormality.

The longer he stared at her, the more she panicked, and she shifted her eyes away. Her expression looked as if she got caught on stealing candy from the forbidden drawer after she was told not to.

It was his turn to ask questions, but Rose cut it short as she grabbed his wrist and called out, "Come with me!" She pulled him without saying anything and he was not even given a chance to resist, speechless.

He finally understood why she did it after recalling her words just before her father's arrival.

"Rose… Don't tell me you—"

Ryan tried to confirm his guess but she interrupted him midway, crying out without turning back, "Because I didn't have a choice!"

She continued to pull him by the wrist as she continued, "I have avoided all the blind dates my mom had set up in the past by pretending I have a boyfriend this whole time. If she were to ever learn that I never had a boyfriend in the first place, she will attack me with full force. However, I have never brought that boyfriend to show my parents, so she is suspicious. Today, she prepared five profiles for me to look at. When I threw them into the trash, she said that she already contacted one of them. She told him to come to our home today."

When I threw them into the trash, she said that she already contacted one of them. She told him to come to our home today."

Describing the situation, she finally turned around to face him, her face calm. Her grip on Ryan's wrist did not loosen a bit, as if she was scared he could escape.

"So this was the reason you ran away from home, I assume?" Ryan questioned and seeing her firm nod, he asked curiously, "Can't you just say no? Your mom can't force you to marry against your will. They need your signature, after all."

"I can't… My mom is sneaky…" Rose replied quietly. "Each time I reject her, she starts crying which makes me feel bad."

"Ah, emotional blackmail. My mom is also experienced in dirty tactics like those." Ryan knew this unfair method really well.

"Anyway, we don't have much time. Will you help me?" Rose asked straightforwardly. "Just pretend you are my boyfriend for a week and then you will be free. I will forgive you for everything you did…"

She mentioned his deeds once more, hoping he would agree, but Ryan had no choice but to reject her.

"I'm sorry but I can't. Didn't I tell you? My mom is also pushing me to find a girlfriend and has prepared candidates for me. I have a certain reason why I need to have one by the end of this week. If I don't, my mom will probably disown me," Ryan explained, letting out a deep sigh but to his surprise, it made Rose's blue eyes shine.

"Isn't that perfect!?" Rose exclaimed, grabbing onto his hand with excitement. "I can pretend to be your girlfriend and you can pretend to be my boyfriend. We will both settle our matters and then we will quietly walk away. We are really lucky that fate brought us together!"

Ryan was stunned. His problem was not as simple as Rose made it out to be. Once he makes her his girlfriend, there would be no walking away.

However, Rose was ecstatic. She did not give him the time to agree or reject and began running, pulling him together with her. "Let's go to my house! Dad invited you for lunch and I said you will come."

"Rose, wait! I haven't agreed to anything yet!" Ryan shouted, trying to stop her from making a mistake she would regret later on. His situation was more serious than she thought. What he needed was someone to marry, and she was running away from marriage!

Unfortunately, the blue-eyed girl did not listen. She showed him a bright smile while passing through one of the parks as a shortcut and suddenly informed him, "We don't have a choice, anyway. Once my dad learns the truth, he will probably kill you.

He won't allow a stranger to touch me like that so only by being my boyfriend you are safe."

"Wait… What?!"