"That won't be necessary."
Not just my cousin, even if Annabelle herself tried she could help much more than anyone. The current CEO is still head over heels for her that I believe. But I could not help myself to like that guy. He seemed arrogant and full of himself. No matter how great KIV is, I do not wish to make a deal with people incapable of using their brain cells and tactics in business.
"But…," Anna seemed a bit disheartened.
"Do you think I am not capable of handling it on my own?" I chuckled. This was probably the first smile I cracked after one week straight. The last time was also when she cracked a lame joke when I visited the old house. She always seemed to be the one being gifted to make me break my guard.
"Who said that? I just wanted to be at ease and work a little less hard. You always seem so tired and hard to reach out. Probably you forgot how you used to have a relaxed time all by yourself," Anna sighed audibly after finishing.
Annabelle has the habit of feeling guilty for other's sake quite often which was a known fact to me. But I did not know this habit became an addiction to her. Thought my dear brother could fix her, but alas, I was wrong.
"You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine," I did not find any reason for her to worry, so I tried my best to assure her. Well, this is me trying my best as I am not good at reassuring anyone. I had a pretty weird past to keep to myself, I had done some shameful shits that still make me cringe the moment I remember them. So basically, for that reason, I am no better at handling human emotions. Too bothersome for me.
"Woah, are you seeing someone?"
Shit, I forgot to put that pendant back inside my cupboard because of this ultimate blabbermouth. Anna did not waste time grabbing the pendant from the table as soon as her eyes fell upon it. Well, that was a given.
"It's not what you think it is."
"Yeah, sure. Now, you will say that's yours, right?" her tone was enough to confirm her disbelief. "Wow, this has some unique design. I never saw something like this before."
The surprise and curiosity plastered upon her face. Even I found the design quite eye-catchy and weird.
"Your girlfriend sure has some catchy taste, I tell you. Bring her next weekend."
And then, she vanished from the office just as instantly as she delivered the comment. The pendant was left alone again, and so was my calmness. Surely, she will gossip about it. Hell, she will make us marry in her fantasy.
Us?
I felt a little funny as I just mentioned someone with me for the first time in my life even though I do not know who she is and what connection we have with each other.
When was the last time I was this confident about my love life? Probably, never. And I remember promising myself not to let myself indulge in some shit like romance.
It was pointlessly time-consuming and futile. There is no reason for me to find romance right now, even if it knocks at my door. Some people are born lucky to find love and I do not necessarily reject the concept of it. It's just that thing is not really what I desire in my life, not at all.
But I knew even if my thousand denials, I wish to see that one mysterious woman. And my gut said I will meet her soon.
A background check is not enough to know a person. I needed to get to the gist of it, that I did.
… … …
"So, cough… I heard you are in a relationship?"
And here I thought I could eat lunch peacefully. I knew since the moment that I will be busted without doing anything wrong the moment Anna found out about that pendant. Technically, she is my sister-in-law, but more than that she is the hell of mine long before she married my brother.
Theodore and I never had the best relationship, but after he got married to my childhood friend, we were much more stable than we used to be. To my horror, he got some weird humor in himself by the influence of his wife which looked fairly ridiculous on his serious face.
"You can do better if you stop listening to her stupid wife," I snapped.
He glared at me, dangerously.
Such a devoted husband. My scowl grew deeper seeing these love birds being smitten by each other. People envied their relationship while I felt like an outcast. Every time I see them, I feel like I might have indigestion. Maybe it is true when people say it is weird to witness your siblings' romance.
"Sure, I'm the stupid one, not her."
Finally, Theodore seemed pretty pleased.
"You did not answer," I thought it will be impossible for me to escape the question as my father took the pace my brother left out and started with full vigor again.
"If I was with someone, wouldn't have I told you?" I said matter of factly.
"I believe you wouldn't." He is not wrong.
I did my best to not look at my father's eyes as I nimble on my food. This tastes like sand now.
Well, what can I say? I know almost everything about that woman but I do not know how to approach her.
Delivering the pendant? Somehow, I did not want our next encounter to be so plain and normal. I just needed a better way to sneak into her life, the urge to know her more made me a bit restless. But I can not actually explain all this.
I knew my dating someone is a piece of news to them but actually, it will be a piece of news to me as well. I never planned to date in the future or dated someone in my life previously. Even news portals had different assumptions about me for my boring love life.
Never being pulled inside a scandal or seen with a woman or even men led them to believe that I am an asexual. Dirty secrets were off the table for me, but I never really cared if I needed to check my libido. I knew for a reason that I was not an asexual, but anyone does not need to know why.
"Dating is fine, but not coming home for several days is not good. Don't freeload on that young lady, bring her home when you are ready," my father stated.
Mom and Anna both restrained themselves from laughing as they could not help it. ROYALS CEO freeloading on someone was something to be laughing about, but what can I do? I do not have the energy to deny it. Anna knew I was sleeping in my office but decided to keep her mouth shut. I will take care of her cunning head later, before that I needed to pace down my father to get any wrong idea. For now, I will just pretend it is how they think it is.
I let out a sigh the moment I saw forty-nine missed calls from George and Jaemin. Wow, Anna did her job pretty skillfully.
This time it was a low curse that I let out. They might be pulling a pitiful shit like acting the deprived one, not getting the gossip tea earlier, and complaining about how Anna could get to know all the dirty secrets of mine earlier than them just because she became an official member of the Lee family.
Even I myself did not know she will be my sister-in-law as it was hard to fathom how she tamed that rude brother of mine or how did she get to make him fall in love with her. Well, he was nearly a robot until Annabelle retrieved the software of Theodore Lee and as a result, he seems like a human now.
No one could ever dare to doubt his love for my childhood friend. She was precious to me, and a hard-earned treasure to him. I had another reason to appreciate the concept of love but I could not properly acknowledge it yet.
God has been a bit partial when it came to rewarding my efforts and feelings. And I genuinely hate the idea of selfless effort. I was not a Romeo and I do not wish to find a Juliet too. My realistic mind is the only thing that made sense in my life and my viewpoint.
"Fake it until you make it is overrated. I will say break it until you make it," Theodore's cool deep voice interrupted my trail of thoughts. I did not realize when he left the others and stood beside me.
Is that dude giving me love advice? Damn you, Lee.
"I might end up in jail for harassment," I replied, as coolly as he sounded before.
"Well, that's nothing to you. We're rich."
Bold and factitive. I thought we had this only one thing common in us, but for a record, I knew there was something else other than the boldness here. That is purely shamelessness.
I could not help but be amazed by his remark, but also could not help considering the idea.
Not fake, not chase, but I need to break it till I made it.
I chuckled lightly, thinking about the idea which came to me this instant and made me excited out of the blue.