"If this was a mistake, we did it twice," he thought. "The cake is ready," said Jim, who came out of the kitchen.
"Come Mr. Easton, have some cake" she said smiling. He got up and went inside the Kitchen.
There was pregnant silence in the kitchen. They were eating but no one was really saying anything.
"So Mr. Easton, what brought you here?" asked Jim, smiling.
"She is my Fiancee, so I came here to pick her up for a family reunion" he said and a bite of cake got stuck inside Jim's throat. He looked at Matilda in rush. She was breathless.
"Fake Fiancee, he means fake fiancée" she said while looking at Easton.
"What do you mean by that?" said Jim while crossing his arms angrily.
"I am helping my boss," she said.
"Help like this?" he said, annoyed.
"That's my way," she said. Easton was looking at his plate without any expressions.
"Fine you win," he said while raising his hands.
"Should we go?" asked Easton without any expressions.
"I am coming too," said Jim. They both looked at him at the same time.
"No you can't," said Matilda.
"Why not? I really want to come," he said stubbornly.
"Because…"
"Let him come," said Easton, cutting her off.
"Fine" she said while exchanging looks with Mr. Easton.
******
It was a family feast, so everyone was there.
"Where is Sebastian?" she asked.
"You know his schedule, he went back to Italy" said Christina.
Jim walked beside Matilda, Easton had rolled his.
"Idiot," he muttered.
"Hello, you must be Matilda's brother, she always talks about," said Lorenzo. He and Matilda exchanged looks.
"No, No I am her friend," he said.
"Well a friend of Matilda most welcome at our home," said Christina. He smiled.
"So we are thinking of officially engaging you both," said Lorenzo.
"Yeah that would be better," said Christina. She looked at Me. Easton in a rush, who was calmed. He did not speak a word.
"I think Sunday would be the best," said christina..
"No, No," said Matilda. Everyone looked at her; Easton was as calm as before.
"I mean, I have something Urgent to do during Sunday," she said.
"Okay fine, then Tuesday, we will invite everyone and all of our business circle to make it official" said Lorenzo.
"Double cake in the family," said Lorenzo.
Matilda looked at Easton, who looked at her at the same moment.
"Easton you should go with Matilda and buy some stuff for your engagement" said Christina. Jim was looking at Matilda like he was looking at ghosts.
******
"Mr. Easton, you said we will break up and end this drama and now it is getting serious," she said while they were heading towards the car.
"Relax, I will manage this," he said without any expression.
"Mel, what is going on? You said all these things are fake, you are getting engaged now" Jim ran towards them and said annoyed.
"We are figuring this out," she said shortly.
"You can't get engaged to anyone like that," he said, annoyed.
"What is it with you? You are only her friend, if Ivan is okay with it then why are you overreacting?" asked Easton angrily.
"Because I care about her, I am not using her for my own benefits," he said while looking inside Easton's eyes angrily.
"How dare you" said Easton and walked towards him.
"Stop it" she said loudly.
"Jim, I am doing it on my will," she said to Jim.
"You always do things on your own, Mel; you kissed a random guy for the dare, you were drunk that day, but today you are in full senses," he said while looking inside her eyes.
"What?" she asked in a whisper. He turned to leave when she grabbed his shoulder.
"What do you mean by that?" she asked angrily.
"Forget it I said," he said.
"You have to tell me," she screamed. Easton has never seen her in this much anger.
"Remember two years ago when we were celebrating our graduation? You were too drunk, Flora and Clara gave you dare where you had kissed someone randomly, you have always asked why I have not talked to them, this was the reason" he said freeing his shoulder from her fist he turned and left.
She was looking at him with her mouth open.
"I kissed a random guy? Hey and you are telling me now Jerk, I will not leave you" she screamed.
Easton walked ahead and grabbed her hand taking her inside the car.
"Let me take you home," he said softly.
"You are reacting like that when you come to know you shared a kiss with some random guy, what if you will know who that random guy is?" he thought and a smirk appeared over his face.
******
She got out of the car; he parked it under her building. "Mr. Easton, I am sorry you have to see my tantrum," she said.
"It's okay," he said shortly after getting inside the car.
She went towards her building. She opened the door of her apartment. It was quiet, but she knew he was inside. He was lying over the sofa. He was reading some random book; she looked at him and then went ahead ignoring him.
He got up and looked at the place where she went, after a while she came out of her room.
"I am sorry," he said without looking at her, but she did not reply. He got up and walked towards her.
"I am sorry Mel, I didn't mean to do it, I would never have told you if I did not lose control over my tongue today" he said.
"You hid this from me Jim that I kissed a random guy in the club, you could have stopped me" she said.
"I ran after you to stop you but you have already found someone and kissed him," he said sheepishly.
"Who was he?" she asked.
"I don't know, I was unable to see his face, but he was tall and his hair was fawn," he said.
"What If I end up over one night stand, you would have hid that too?" she asked while crossing her arms around her chest. His expression changed.
"I would never let you do that," he said angrily.
"So this was the reason, you never have talked to Flora and Clara ever since" she said. He nods.
"Hmm let me think, should I forgive you" she said and walked towards the sofa. He turned to look at her and crossed his arms around his chest.
"Hey this is not fair," he said angrily.
"Well, you have to do another dare," she said.
"What?" he said shocked and she smiled.
"You are going to do every house chorus for the next few weeks," she said.
"No, No, No, No, No" he whined.
"Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes," she said mischievously.
"Now I am tired and I am going to sleep" she said and went towards her room.
******
She got up early in the morning and she was feeling happy today. She took her phone from the side table and checked her Whatsapp. Easton had texted her to be at the office on time because there is some meeting. She rolled her eyes and muttered.
"Mood Eater"
She got out of bed and went towards the kitchen when she saw Jim he was doing dishes, she giggled. He turned towards her, she was laughing. He had gone lost inside her beautiful eyes. She turned to make coffee for her.
He turned towards the dishes again, when a thought came inside his mind.
"Matilda?" he called her name.
"What?" she said.
"Why don't you date someone?" he asked in a deep voice. She laughs,
"I am dating our Mr Easton," she said air quoting. He was chopping bacon when his hand stopped.
"Mr. Easton, but it's all drama isn't it?" he asked while looking at her from the corner of his eyes. She was taking a sip of coffee.
"Yeah it is but, Mr. Easton has not told me when to cover it" she said.
"Then what do you think about dating?" he asked.
"You know I don't believe in relationships," she said expressionlessly.
"Oh come on, you can try," he said, insisting. She looked at him in disbelief, her sixth sense telling her what's coming next.
He took off his apron and set his hair with his hand. He bends in front of her.
"Matilda Williams Huston, will you be my girlfriend?" he asked while looking up in her eyes. There was pregnant silence in the kitchen. She was holding her coffee cup, her long red painted nails shining over the white cup. She took a deep breath.
"Listen Jim, I really respect your feelings, but the thing is, I can't accept, my past never let me accept any kind of relations, you know it, you are very good boy and the girl who will come inside your life would be luckiest one on the planet but I can't be that girl" she said strongly while looking inside his eyes.
A smile appeared at the corner of his lip.
"What if I will wait," he asked.
She took a deep breath and put the cup over the shelf. "My answer would be the same Jim, I can't accept it" she said softly.
"But you deserve happiness Mel, you deserve a family, why don't you forget your past?" he asked while getting up.
"Because it never left me, whenever I look inside the damn mirror all I see is them" she screamed. He took a deep breath.
"You need to forget that Mel," he said softly.
"Thanks Jim, you have spoiled another half of my day" she said and walked out of the kitchen,
"Hey, what do you mean by another half of your day?" he asked, shocked.
"First Mr Easton and now you" she said.
"Did that jerk is being tough on you?" he asked while crossing his arm around his chest.
"First don't call him a jerk and second yeah he is being tough on me" she said while falling over the sofa.
"And why should I not call him a jerk?" he asked while looking inside her eyes.
"Because he is my boss and I don't want to lose this job, you know how tough life is here in Canada when you become a beggar," she said.
"Yeah. a very intelligent beggar" he muttered and went inside the kitchen.
"Hey what did you say?" she screamed behind him.
"Nothing, I have made bacon for you please don't go hungry" he said,
"I think dare is beneficial" she screamed and then laughed. He gives her looks while peeking from the kitchen. She chuckled.
******
"Mr, Easton why didn't you tell me, we are coming here so I would have bought a new dress?" she asked him worriedly.
"Don't worry you look fine" he said while looking at her from the corner of his eyes, she rolled her eyes.
"Don't you dare to roll your eyes over me" he said in a deep voice.
She wanted to ask what he would do but she remained quiet.
The party was for the elite, all the influential families were there. She looked around there were supermodels and a few media personalities too.
A tall black haired woman walked towards them and stopped by.
"Easton honey, long time no see, are you free tonight?" she asked while touching his tie. Matilda looked at Easton in a rush who was expressionless.
"You are unfitting my tie," he said rudely and went ahead.
"Did you see that Mr. Easton has turned down Clair, I mean she is the supermodel of the year and he turned her down," said a woman standing behind Matilda.
"Well that's surprising, he never turned down any woman before" said another woman.
Matilda had rolled her eyes.