Chapter 56

They loved the food!

I made sure to analyze their reactions so that they wouldn't lie to me and I'm certain that they weren't lying. They said it was great, and that if I wanted I could go over the following day so that Dahlia can explain to me how things normally ran.

" You can feel free to change the menu as long as you're here. Make what you're comfortable with, okay? " She had told me and I had been ecstatic.

That was like an actual job, and then before I left they had told me the salary I'd be getting and my jaw had hit the floor. It was so much I suspected that Gabriel had something to do with it, because everything suspicious that happened around me was normally because of me. 

But they had seemed completely normal as they told me the ridiculously high amount.

Then they went ahead and added, " Of course that's just the starting amount, with time we'll analyze how you carry out yourself and then we'll reevaluate, "

God! What did these people do for a living. I had stared at Arden with wide eyes and he had just smiled casually. Like he didn't think they were exaggerating. So I decided to try and play it cool as well, besides, they thought I was Arden's wife. And Arden was wealthy. So they must have assumed that money wasn't really that big a deal to me either. 

" I'm so proud of you!" He had said while we were still in the company of Miguel and Dahlia. And he did sound excited, truly. He wasn't acting. He wrapped his arms around me and almost picked me up off the floor. Dahlia had sighed all lovingly,her hand in Miguel's as they threw glances at each other. 

" How long have you guys been married?" They had asked and I let Arden answer because I didn't know what response I was supposed to give. 

" Less than a month actually!" 

The couple had seemed shocked. 

"No way, you're newlyweds?" 

" Yap, "

Dahlia thought the whole thing was so cute, I suspected it was the pregnancy hormones. She asked us whether we had anywhere urgent to go and we looked at each other and then shook our heads,and so they invited us for lunch.

" You've made such a lovely meal, no need for it to go to waste. "

I really prayed that we'd just eat in there, but then they had led us back into the restaurant and Miguel had asked one of the waiters to serve us the meal I had just made. 

He was the first person I searched for when we got there. And I realized that he had already left, I felt this flash of disappointment. And despite having just been with him less than an hour before, I already missed him. 

The Diaz's, as I had resulted to calling them, were an extremely nice couple. Not yet married but they planned on doing so in the next month or so. 

" I went dress shopping last weekend and nothing good fit me! We went to three different stores and in the end all I got was a lowered self esteem, " Dahlia jokingly said . Miguel told her that she could wear sweatpants and a t-shirt and she'd still be the prettiest bride there ever was.

" Awwww, thanks love, I'd never do that but still...." was her response.

 I felt oddly uncomfortable. Their love was true, and they thought ours was as well,and as I sat there and listen to their tales on how he had proposed and how hectic it was to plan a wedding because their mothers kept trying to change things, and I realized that I would most likely never have that. 

Those were facts. 

I didn't have it in me to easily open up to anyone,and whenever anyone approached me I always suspected that they wanted something else. So I always maintained my distance. But I craved what those two had. It looked so fulfilling to have someone to talk to and who loved you completely the same way they loved each other. 

Arden was however killing it. He could have won a Grammy for his acting skills. You ought to have heard him as he lied about our destination honeymoon in three different countries.

Apparently he and I had spent three days in Paris, then we had moved on to Turkey before we finished off with Egypt. 

I was dumbfounded, but it made for good practice. At least now I'd know what to say Incase his parents asked me such questions.

" Baby do you remember kid that tried to steal your purse but then slipped and fell immediately after?" Arden asked me and I faked a smile, quickly thinking of a response.

" How could I possibly forget that, it was the highlight of my trip." 

Dahlia and Miguel laughed. Then they asked us how he had met. I left the lying to the expert. Arden grew quiet all if a sudden,and I turned to find him staring at me with these green eyes that held unspoken words. Then he leaned back against his seat and smiled, seeming deep in thought.

" It was a Monday morning, date sixteen. I had just landed here, and I was on my way to meet Gabriel but then I got stuck in traffic...." I sat up straight and narrowed my gaze a bit. He was telling the truth.

" Then suddenly I see this painfully gorgeous girl running past my car when out of nowhere a guy on a bicycle knocks her to the ground. I got out to make sure she was okay. I could tell she wasn't, I mean, there was literally blood trickling down her forehead, but she kept on insisting otherwise and walking on. So I followed closely behind her, and then she fainted. Right there, in my arms....." 

Man! Arden was good. The kind of emotions he was able to fix into his words were so raw I could actually feel them, and I thought back to that die and bowed my head to hide my smile. 

Dahlia and Miguel were buying every second of it, they had leaned in and we're listening as if their lives depended on it. 

" I remember glancing at her over and over as I drove to the hospital. Wondering how someone as pretty as her could exist. And when I held her I knew that I had to have her in my life. That I'd do whatever it took to make her mine. "

I decided to believe he had made up that last part, of course he had. He needed to make sure that Dahlia and Miguel bought the story. And they did. They said ours was the ideal fairytale romance. That it sounded like something you watched on romance movies. And then Dahlia commented on how in love Arden surely looked, that it was obvious in how he couldn't keep his eyes off me. So I decided to just make the entire deceitful story formal by reaching for his hand and saying that I loved him too. They were just words, they meant absolutely nothing to me, and I only cared for Arden as a friend. But when I said that he smiled and turned away,then he looked back at me with hidden heat. With a look that I had never seen on him before. He reached for his glass of wine and raised it up in a toast .

" To love, " he said, and the four of us all raised our glasses and repeated the words. And I thought of how abnormal it was to be that good at lying. I knew what he was saying wasn't the truth but at some instances I almost believed him. The guy could manage to convince me that I had visited the Eiffel tower despite me never stepping a foot in that country. That was how good he was. 

But it was all a lie. And I knew that after his parents came over and saw me for themselves then we wouldn't have to keep up the charade, no more playing pretend.

No more Gabriel. That hurt the most. 

Dahlia took her phone and then told us all to pause for a selfie. And afterwards she angled the camera towards us and took a picture. 

" Kiss her or something," Miguel said as he glanced at the screen. I grew uncomfortable and wondered why that was happening all over again. I had managed to evade it during the wedding, but everyone had known it was a lie back then. This time however, Dahlia and her fiance believed us to be crazy in love. I couldn't just give an excuse,and Arden also couldn't ask me whether I was okay with him kissing me because hey, that's not how relationships worked. 

Gabriel wasn't there,but I didn't want to kiss anyone that wasn't him. 

" Three, two, one... now, " Dahlia said and without a clue of what was happening, Arden just cupped my cheek and kissed me. 

Not a peck on the lips but an actual kiss. I had been caught so offguard I didn't have time to react. And I didn't kiss him back out of choice but rather out of instinct. He pulled away, his eyes on me when he did. Then he cleared his throat and reached for his glass again.

" Look at that, perfect. Give me your number and I'll send it to you, " Dahlia said as she turned the screen in our direction. I glance at it for about a second before looking away.