Chapter 2

 Her mission

New Jersey city

Sheathed in one of Develene expensive dress, Marie walked out of the New Jersey airport.

She still can't believe that she's here taking on a role to act like Develene. Just yesterday, she had been in the restaurant attending to customers and now here she is 

 in another city and far away from home.

Some how the whole thing began to feel scary and she was deciding on whether to leave or to stay when a man dressed in black walk up to her.

"You must be Miss Develene?" The man asked and she nodded.

"I am Willow, head of security team to Mr Brooks, your fiance. Have been ordered to come accompany you home" Willow said showing her a card which proved his statement.

She followed him and got into the Mercedes he had driven to the airport. While in the car she took off her glass, starring at the city of New Jersey.

All her life, she has only lived in one place, she never got the time to travel or the money to do it but now here she is doing just that. She thought smiling to herself and unknown to her Willow was watching her through the mirror.

What is she thinking? She's not here to have some leisure time. She's here to help her friend and she better revise the things Develene told her about her parents.

Jerry Taylor is a man who made his money by buying shares in little quantity until he made it big and Hannah was once the daughter of an ex senator. The two had married at a young age and had given birth to Develene.

Not being able to give birth again, they devoted their attention to Develene and ended up spoiling her rottenly. 

Develene personality at home is one of a spoilt brat who only live day to day partying and getting money from her parents instead of working.

If she must make this work, she has to act like Develene which will be a little hard. She thought as she sighed out softly.

"Mr Brooks told me to apologise on his behalf for not coming to pick you up himself, he's being held with work and will surely make it for today's date" Willow told her and this got her sitting up right.

"Today. Am meeting him today?" She asked this quickly and Willow nodded in reply.

She had thought that she would be given this day to familiarise herself with things and will be meeting him tomorrow but it turns out that she would be meeting him today, she thought as the car stopped in front of Develene parents home.

Develene parents stood at the entrance waiting for her car to arrive. She could recognise them due to the pictures Develene had showed her.

"My baby" Hannah cooed as she came hugging Marie.

"Hello Mom and dad" she greeted knowing that it took a lot of practice to be able to say that.

"You look a bit fleshy now. Must have been spending a lot" Develene father said.

Though they had the same face, Develene is quite on the slim side while she's a little busty.

"Of course I have" she replied saying what she's often heard Develene say.

"Will you be back to pick her this evening?" Jerry asked willow who had passed her things to the maid.

"I won't be the one but Mr Brooks will be doing that himself" Willow said and excusing himself he went back to the car.

"Let's go in" Hannah said as they pulled her into the mansion.

For a while Marie was distracted by the beauty of the house and it wasn't until she was being steered to the sitting room that she finally stopped to ask them what's going on.

"What's with this sudden Fiance?" She asked wanting to know Develene parents reason.

"Its a love at first sight thing" Hannah was the one who began talking.

"What love at first sight?" Marie asked.

"Romeo visited our home to talk business with your father when he saw a picture of you. He fell straight away and before we knew it, he came asking for your hand and we gave it to him" Hannah replied.

"But you should have told me about it first, I would have like to make a decision too" Marie said knowing this will be the same thing Develene would have said if she was here.

"We are sorry we didn't tell you about it but you should know that our decision was made for your benefit. Romeo is a man of power and wealth and am sure that he will take very good care of you. So you should trust us on this and just accept him, he's coming to take you out tonight, get to know him and you will certainly like him" Jerry said looking a bit nervous.

A while later she was shown to Develene room. She had called Develene and told her of what's happening.

"I doubt it. My parents have never tried to meddled in my love life, there had once been a case where someone approached them asking for my hand in marriage and my father had asked me what I thought and when I refused, they went along with my decision. There must be something about this Romeo and their sudden agreement to my sudden marriage. Find that out " Develene had told her.

And now dressed in a clinging gown which Develene had chosen for her, she comb through her hair.

Her mission tonight is to do things men hate and one of them Is this dress.

"Men hate women who shows a lot of skin and someone like Romeo Brooks would certainly hate it,so make sure you show a lot of skin tonight. Wear that dress i bought you. It certainly will put him off" Develene had told her earlier on the phone and she stood starring at the blue clinging dress.

It clung to her like a second skin and also the deep v at the front made Marie uncomfortable.

She heard voices downstairs and was about leaving the room when she changed her mind, deciding to wear a coat over her dress.

She opened the door to see Hannah Taylor there.

"He's here my child. Make sure you get along with him tonight" she said taking hold of Marie hand as they both went down the stairs.

"Why must I get along with him? I might not like him" Marie said her attention on Develene mom that she didn't notice the man who stood down the stairs starring at her.

Just then her heel caught on the rug and she found herself losing her balance even Hannah who stood by her side couldn't hold onto her.

Marie closed her eyes as she fell and while she was expecting to fall on the floor, she found herself being captured into some one arms.

She opened her eyes to stare into a pair of deep grey eyes whose face looked exactly like that of an angel but she knew that he's far from being an angel.

"Are you okay?" Romeo asked as he held her in his arms.

"I am" she replied feeling a bit mesmerised by his gaze which was solely trained on her.

Get a grip girl! You shouldn't be mesmerised by him, you should be doing things that will get him to dislike you. A voice said to her.

"Can you let me down now" she said and he did that still having his arms around her waist.

"I only tripped, it doesn't mean that am clumsy, you can let go of me now" she said rudely.

Act one be rude to him, she thought as she moved away from him.

"I only kept my arms around you cause I find that I like it there" Romeo said smoothly and while Develene parents smiled at his cool reply, she frowned his way. Seems like her rude reply hadn't done a thing.

"Mom, Dad. We will be back soon" she said to her parents even as she walked out with Romeo trailing behind her.

They got to his car and instead of heading to the passenger door,she went straight to the driver door.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I prefer to drive. I like taking the wheels" she said giving him a sexy smile.

"But I like taking my own wheels" he told her and she moved to stand in front of him.

"Change is something that comes to people and a change has come into your life which is me. Just seat back and enjoy the drive" she said taking the key from his hand.

"Do you even know where am taking you?'" Romeo asked. 

"I don't but I am sure that you will direct me" She said as she got into the car while Romeo got into the passenger seat with a smile on his face.

Act two show him you how independent you are. Men always want their women to rely on them and often derive pleasure from it, Romeo Is someone who certainly likes a woman who depends on him but she would show him a different side of him tonight.

"Do you know that we didn't get to introduce ourself earlier?" He asked as she drived while following his instruction.

"Do we have to? I had my research done on you and thanks to the internet I got to know things about you and I heard from my parents that just seeing my picture you fell right away. I don't think we need any more introduction" she replied making a U-turn.

"Did your parents tell you that I fell for you just by seeing a picture of you?" Romeo asked and she nodded even as she stared at him.

He looked a bit angry and she would have asked him why he was angry when he told her to stop.

She parked the car right in front of a restaurant and got out of the car handing the keys to the valet.

Together they walked into the restaurant and on seeing him walk in, two waiter quickly came to him directing him to their table.

"Let me take your coat Miss" one of the waiter said and knowing the daring clothe she was wearing beneath she was reluctant to give it to him.

She was about refusing when she saw a man sitting a table away starring at her, having an idea in mind, she decided to take off the coat.

She saw the man starring at her body Lustfully and she smiled, her third act will certainly work, she thought as she sat at her chair only to see Romeo too starring at her body and to make it worse, his eyes were on her cleavage.

Trying to act like she wasn't bothered, she picked up the menu and pretended to be going through the food.

Why is he starring at her like that? Is he really interested in getting married to her, she thought as she finally picked a dish.

"Did you put on this dress for me?" he asked as they both wait for their order.

"I dress to please myself but if you think I did it for you, then I dont care" she said rudely.

"Really? You don't care if most of the male in this restaurant are starring at you?" He asked. 

And she looked around her to see not only one man starring at her. She wanted to ask for her coat back but she had done this to get him to dislike her and so she will just have to continue.

Putting her hand on the table, she smiled at him.

"So what? Its my body and they are free to stare at it. Don't tell me you are jealous?" She asked.

"Not at all. I know all this is for my benefit" he replied suddenly.

"Your benefit? What do you mean?" She asked.

"Am not going to tell" he replied as the waiter arrived with their dish.

"You enjoy eating steak?" He asked.

"Of course. This is my first time eating such an expensive food and....."

"How come this is your first time eating an expensive food?" He asked interrupting her and it was then that she realised her mistake.

She had spoken as Marie and not as Develene. Develene is rich and would have been able to afford an expensive dish and she had made a mistake by saying other wise.

"I mean this is the first time am eating a food which cost so much" she replied quickly hoping he believe her.

"I see" was the only thing he said before he began to eat.

They finished eating and were served desert when she realised that she's sat down for long and it's time for her to do something to keep on earning his dislike.

She could tell that the dress certainly didn't please him and that having people starring her way made him a bit angry.

If she keeps on pushing forward with her plan. He will surely be cancelling the marriage between them.

"I hate being told what to do, I always like things around me to be in order, I hate working and am not the domestic type and I spend lavishly" she said saying things she knew about the real Develene.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Just telling you things about me and if you still want to marry me after hearing all those things, then it's your call" She said as she ate a bite of her cake.

"Do you want to hear my answer now?" He asked and she nodded.

"Then let's leave this place" he replied as he suddenly stood up taking her by surprise.

The waiter returned her coat and they got into the car the valet had brought. It wasnt until they were at a distance away that she spoke up.

"Why did we leave and you haven't given me your answer yet" she said hoping that it will be an answer she would love.

Suddenly he parked at a road side and pulling off her seat belt, he pulled her into his arms.

"What are you doing?" The surprised Marie asked.

"This is my answer" he replied and before she could stop him, he kissed her on the lips.

Marie was quite taken aback and when she tried to pull away from him, he only wrapped his arms around her.

Marie had no choice but to let him have his way and somehow she found herself kissing him back. It wasn't until his hand went to her dress that she quickly pulled away from him.

"What are you doing?" She shrieked at him.

"Giving you my answer"

"What does kissing me have to do with your answer?" She asked.

"Its me telling you that with all your flaws, am still going to marry you" he said.

"Even with everything I did this evening?" She asked.

"Didn't you do all of this to tease me ?" He asked and Marie stared at him in silence.

Her mission to do things that men hate and get him to dislike her didn't work, instead it only made him more determined to marry her.

This is bad...