*louises point of view*
'Are you purposely trying to piss me off or is it just your lovable nature?' I asked as I rolled my eyes in exasperation. 'We have to be more careful with our interactions in public now or they will try and find more things to manipulate to fit thier narrative.'
'Or we can just continue with our daily lives and they will eventually get bored,' Alex explained, 'Theyre going to be seeing you around me frequently from now on and with even the most basic of research will figure that your my assistant and coupled with the fact that you look drastically different from the photos we should be fine.'
I nodded my head in agreement? His plan seemed to be both logical and practical as it didn't really impact my life by much.
'But what about outside of work?' I asked, ' I'm not going to be wearing makeup everyday and especially if I'm just lounging about. That just means that I cant really go anywhere even remotely suspicious with you outside of my work hours.'
I saw Alex narrowing his eyes at me as he crossed his arms turning tense. He clearly didn't like where I was going with the conversation but I pretended not to notice.
'So I say that we should just completely revert back to a strictly business relationship and maintain a respectable distance between us,' I said before lowering my voice, ' I know that I currently live with you but if you let me know how much I will be making on average every month, I can start properly looking for a place so that I can be out of your hair within the month. No one will ever know that we were housemates.'
My sentence had barely left my mouth before I heard him start chuckling.
'I know your eager to escape pumpkin, but it's not that easy to move out in New York. You'd be making around $4,200 every-month not including any overtime or bonuses. If you can find a place where you can afford rent and deposit, I'll personally help you move out,' he said as he shrugged as if the figure he flung out did not almost stop my poor heart.
Almost immediately, I fished out my phone and searched for an apartment in The required area before my heart almost stopped. I'd forgotten how expensive it was. I doubted that I could even survive in New York even with that pay if I didn't get a room mate. Deciding to bite the bullet and ask the hopeless question, I looked up only to see the mocking face of the devil.
'The rent is too expensive in this area and even if I could afford to eventually move out, I'd have barely $500 after paying the rent to pay the other bills and stuff. I'd be scraping by so I was hoping to get a flatmate?' I asked anxiously, even though I was a grown adult and capable of making my own decisions regarding my living arrangements, somehow Alex seemed to get the final say. Therefore I wasn't surprised when I saw his mouth tighten to a scowl before shaking his head.
'Don't worry about that, currently you are on probation period so when you complete this, your pay will naturally rise as well,' he said after a while, 'but that will take three months. And I don't think your anymore fond of that flatmate notion than I am. Just enjoy having a rent free accommodation for 3 months where you can save so that when you move it's much more easier.'
I could only nod my head in agreement because he was right, after my last experience with flatmates I swore it will be my last. Just as I was about to ask him just how much I'd be making after I complete my probation period, my phone started to violently vibrate. Startled I check it only to find my mother was phoning me. My face instantly paled as I remembered I still hadn't told her that i had moved countries.
'What's wrong?' Upon seeing my face Alex was instantly on Alert. Peeking over he saw the contact that was phoning me before relaxing back down and smirking at me, 'good luck with that.'
Taking a deep breath, I timidly answered the phone,
' hi mum. What I-'
Before I could even get half way through the sentence I heard my mothers angry voice.
'Oh So now ye finally remember that I'm yer mother? That flatmate ae yers is a better wain than ye! I had to come all the way down to bloody London only to tae find oot that my good fur nothing daughter couldne find it in her wee heart to let her own mam know that she was leaving the bloody country!' She yelled at me through the phone. My face paled even further as I realised just how angry she had to be for her Scottish accent to be that thick.
'Mum I'm sorry! It totally escaped my mind becauSe everything happened so fast. The job offer came so fast and Alex didn't give me much time to sort everything out, I was planning on phoning you tonight after I got properly settled in.' I quickly blabbered as I tried to placate her.
'Alex? Who's Alex? Is he that cold hearted little bastard who wouldn't even let you see your wee mam before you had to leave,? If I ever land my eyes on the wee bastard then only god can save him. You better call my everyday now that your so far away!'
No sooner had she said this that she hung up and aid hung with silence. Glancing at Alex I found that he too had a funny look on his face. Clearly, he had heard everything my mum had said, however if he understood was a completely different matter.
'I wonder how long this food will take to get here,' I said in a desperate attempt to change the conversation. Glancing around I finally found the waiter on his way with our tray of food and let out a sigh of relief. Food was always a safe option.