My options

"Last night was the first time the media saw us out together." Dom explained.

"And you know the media, give them an inch and they will take a mile." he sighed.

"They ate up our appearances last night and somehow figured out that you own your own company and subsequently this store." 

"I don't know how they found out about the launch so quickly, but they did and they rushed over here." said Dom.

"The why in the world did you say that it's your fault?!" asked Natasha annoyed, of course, now it made sense. She had rushed out this morning having no time to read the tabloids which would definitely be filled with news and pictures from last night's event.

"Well because I knew you would want to blame me for something, so I blamed myself, and technically it is sort of my fault because we were together, playing the loving couple with their wonderful daughter and only one of those statements are true." said Dom.

Besides, he did feel like it was his fault, if they had gone out as a family together more frequently they wouldn't have inspired this media frenzy into their personal lives. Before no one cared if they were seen together, but now after they had played the roles of a young loving couple.

More interest was piqued on the young wife of the CEO of A-corp. Dom had a feeling that this would be the start of a few more months of the media's coverage into their personal lives, but he knew better than to tell Natasha that right now.

"Don't sound so smug." she replied checking her phone for news and indeed there were several pictures of them from last night.

"I truly do look good." she muttered to herself, she didn't know if the editors made the photos look more stunning or if she just looked that good yesterday.

"Oh, finally you guys are here, so sorry for all the commotion outside." came Chloe's voice from the back of the store as she opened the back door for the employees.

"Wait, what exactly are you doing here? You didn't explain that." said Natasha as she put her phone back in her handbag.

"Oh yeah right... that. Grandfather sent me over here to support you and show that we assist you in any of your endeavours, or something... what he said was along those lines." said Dom.

"You know that you really didn't have to come here, this isn't some sort of publicity stunt to advertise the company. This is my thing, you shouldn't have come here." she said clearly upset.

"I know, I know that Natasha, you think that I wanted to be here to upset you? No, but you know that I can't disobey grandfather. This event is going to get news coverage and grandfather has nothing better to do than to watch tv all day, and if he doesn't see me on tv, he's going to be extremely upset with me." complained Dom, he didn't even want to be here, trust him, he would rather go back home and take the day off to rest and sleep.

He had dropped off Joy at school feeling seriously tired and then he received a call from grandfather telling him to go over to Natasha's store opening and he could not say no. Mostly because he was too tired to say no, or more like to tired to hear Ernest shouting voice early in the morning.

"I weighed my options and I would rather have you upset with me than grandfather." said Dom as Natasha sighed and shook her head. She did not want him here. It was not that he made her uncomfortable, no, it was more of a matter of her not accounting for his presence here right now.

"You know what... it's fine, it's alright." she said.

"Thank you." said Dom as he smiled, he and Natasha had only just agreed to be cordial last night, he didn't want to ruin that so soon, or at all.

"Just make sure you stay out of my way." she replied.

"I doubt that will be possible. I'm here, and the reporters have seen me here already, they will definitely want a statement." he replied.

"This is a project started by Chloe and I, it is not about you, I do not need you coming here to take away the spotlight from the store." she said narrowing her eyes at him.

"I won't do that at all Natasha, trust me. That would never be my intention, I know just how hard you and Chloe worked on this project, and I am really surprised about how far it has come." said Dom as he smiled.

"This place looks wonderful, you both did a great job, and I'm not here to ruin your big day. I promise to stay out of your way as much as possible, you don't have to worry." 

Natasha had nothing more to say to him after all the words he had just spoken. She wanted to argue one more point, but she decided to just leave things the way they were.

"Fine, your words, not mine." she replied.

"Have you guys sorted everything out?" asked Chloe as she walked towards them.

"Yes we have." said Dom as he smiled and Natasha scoffed.

"Great, so what are you doing here Dom? This is such a surprise." said Chloe as she laughed.

"Well my grandfather decided that if the entire family couldn't be here, I should." said Dom. He knew that Ernest had sent him to be his eyes and ears because Natasha had vocally expressed her wishes that the family business be kept separate from her business, which was understandable.

However, Ernest was not going to give up involvement so easily, so he sent his secret weapon, or at least that's what Dom considered himself in this situation.

"Oh, well I'm glad to see you here, I think it's actually going to be fun seeing you here." said Chloe as in the background the cleaners were giving the floors one more final shine before the store's doors were opened to the public.

"Chloe, how is everything going?" asked Natasha, she didn't like Chloe and Dom chatting like they were friends. Chloe was her friend and she didn't need her starting to defend him.

"Oh yes... well all the employees have arrived, they are setting up the big ribbon outside and in about ten minutes or so, we should be ready to go." said Chloe as she looked at Natasha.

"Great, isn't there anything else that needs to be double checked?" asked Natasha.

"No, I did all that earlier, I am certain that everything is perfectly fine." replied Chloe.

"That's good..." said Natasha.

"So Dom, would you like a tour of the store?" asked Chloe happily as Natasha shook her head but Chloe did not seem to see her.

"Oh yes, I would love to." replied Dom.

"We can afford a really quick one, come on." said Chloe as Dom followed behind her.

Natasha sighed and facepalmed herself. She really could not deal with this right now. For some odd reason she didn't want Chloe and Dom getting close. Right now Chloe was her only female friend that she knew she could count on, and maybe it was because she still saw Dom as a threat but she really did not like this feeling at all.

Ten minutes later.

Natasha walked to the frozen food aisle of the store where Dom and Chloe were laughing as if they had known each other their entire lives and she could not hide her annoyance at all.

"Wow, you guys are having so much fun." she said smiling sarcastically.

"Well sorry to end your fun but it's time we go out there and officially open this store." she said.

"Oh, I'm so sorry Natasha, I lost track of time." said Chloe apologetically.

"Of course you did." Natasha replied rather stalely.

"What's wrong Natasha? Did I do something wrong?" asked Chloe worried, she had never heard Natasha speak to her so coldly like that.

"Nothing, you did nothing wrong, we should get going." replied Natasha, she turned around and walked away.

"Did I do something wrong?" asked Chloe confused as she looked to Dom for an explanation.

"No, you didn't do anything wrong Chloe, I just think that maybe the stress of everything is getting to Natasha. I'm sure she didn't mean to be so cold." said Dom, he had noticed how him being friendly with Chloe was irritating Natasha, and yet she did not say anything to him, which was why he pretended like he did not notice.

"Maybe that's it... but she rarely gets stressed like that... I must have done something wrong, she's not happy with me and I know it." 

"I think you shouldn't worry yourself about that right now Chloe, just focus on making sure this launch goes through smoothly." said Dom as he smiled.

"I am sure that Natasha will get back to being herself as soon as I leave." he added and Chloe laughed.

"Yeah, you're right, let's go." said Chloe as she smiled.

"After you." replied Dom as he followed behind her.