Melvin, who had only been sleeping for a couple of minutes was awakened by the vibration of his iPhone which was under his pillow and his ringtone which had stopped the music he was listening to.
He frowned, disillusioned for a moment before he sat up and by the time he took out his phone from under the pillow the call had disconnected already.
He wasn't surprised to see that the call was from Nath, and he didn't need anyone to tell him the reason Nath was calling him.
He wasn't even sure what to say to Nath and the others, since he knew that Stefan and Ruby would reach out to him the moment they saw the news too.
He glanced at the door when a knock sounded on it, followed by the voice of one of the kitchen helps, "I brought dinner, sir."
Melvin sighed as he rose to go open the door since he was still hungry. As much as he had lost his appetite earlier and didn't want to share the table with Kimberly, he still wanted to eat since they had prepared his favorite meals and he also needed as much energy as he could muster to answer all the questions he would be needing to answer soon from both his friends and brothers.
"The lady of the house asked me…."
"Lady of what house?" Melvin cut in with a scowl knowing that she was referring to Kimberly.
"Lady Kimberly asked me to bring your dinner to you," she said and Melvin eyed the tray of food.
He didn't care that she had asked them to bring it up to him. As far as he was concerned, it was his right. This was his mother's house and everything in it belonged to his mother, including the food and the staff.
"Thanks," Melvin said as he received the tray and shut the door.
As he ate, he tried to come to terms with the fact that he was going to get married to Kimberly since she was right about him not being able to refute the rumors.
The death of his mother had shaken up the company's shares a bit, and any unpleasant rumor from his end would only make things worse, and he would also have to face the shareholders who do not exactly have complete trust in him yet.
Also, there was no way he could get married to someone else without refuting the rumors either. So, he was indeed stuck with Kimberly whether he liked it or not.
But there was no way he was going to let his friends and brothers know that he was doing this because Kimberly had backed him into a corner. That would be too embarrassing.
After he was done with his meal, he rung up the kitchen so they would come get the dishes and after that was done, he decided to give his friends a call.
Instead of calling them one after the other to tell them about the new development, he chose to do a group call instead.
Nath was the first to join the call, "Hey, man! What's going on? Is everything okay? I saw the news of your supposed engagement. Is it true?" Nath asked curiously.
"Everything is fine. Let's wait for the others to join us and we can talk," Melvin said and Nath nodded.
"Alright. But are you okay?" He asked with concern.
"Sure, I am," Melvin said and just then Stefan joined them.
"What's going on, Mel? I just saw the news of your engagement on some blog. Why are you getting married to Kimberly of all people? I thought you were mad at her?" Stefan asked and Melvin nodded.
"Yeah, let's wait for Ruby…." Before he could finish, Ruby joined the guys.
"Hey, guys! What's going on? I was just having this long and annoying conversation with my parents. Can you believe they are setting me up on a blind date with some guy tomorrow?" She asked incredulously.
"A blind date?" All three guys asked and she nodded.
"Yeah! It's so annoying. I told them I'm not interested and they are threatening to restrict all my accounts and stuff. Can you believe that? I mean, I earned every penny working for them, so why such unreasonable threat? This is why I can't advise anyone to work for their family business. What is it with our parents, anyway? Mel, I propose we both get married," she said and all three guys looked at her with disgust.
"Ew, bro! That's some gay shit," Nath said, and they all laughed.
"Don't you realize you're one of the guys to us?" Stefan asked Ruby and she shrugged.
"I know that. But if Melvin and I were to get married, he would fulfil the conditions in the Will, and I can get my parents off my back. What's more? We can both be free to live as we please and you both will always be welcome in our home. What do you say, Mel?" Ruby asked, batting her lashes at him.
"You came too late. Haven't you heard or seen the news? Melvin is already engaged to be married to Kimberly. You remember her, right?" Stefan asked, and Ruby raised a brow.
"Mel? Is that right? Was that the reason she was at the club…."
"She was at the club?"
"When was she at the club?" Nath and Stefan asked simultaneously while Melvin who had been silent the whole time sighed.
"Yes, she was at the club on Wednesday that was why I didn't join you guys. We talked things over and I'm getting married to her. It's the best arrangement for the both of us. At the end of the year, we will get a divorce," Melvin stated flatly.
"A contract marriage? Whose idea was it? Hers or yours?" Ruby asked with a raised brow.
"Mine, of course. My mom obviously arranged for this to happen. There is no way I can get married to someone else when everyone still believes we are in a relationship. And I can't break up with her now when the company is in such a fragile state," Melvin explained.
"Damn it!" Nath muttered.
"You're right," Ruby said with a shake of head.
"That's fucked up." Stefan said, all at the same time and Melvin sighed.
"Yeah. So, I'm going to have to move to the mansion and get married to her. It's all good since it's more of a win for me," Melvin said and they all nodded.
"It's fine. If you need me to move in with you to make the place more comfortable for you, just say the word," Nath offered.
"I can do that too. We can make it a party in there," Stefan said and Melvin smiled.
"Thanks for the offer, but you don't have to move in. You can come around often, though. And we can have our meetings over here and even throw a couple of parties too," Melvin said, liking the idea and they all cheered happily.
"Cool! Let's talk some more about it on Wednesday, and maybe we can discuss the details of your wedding, since you're getting married!" Ruby said with a grin.
"It's going to be as quiet as possible. I don't think there is any reason to throw a lavish wedding when it's not real," Melvin said and they all nodded.
"What about your brothers? Have you told them?" Nath asked and Melvin shook his head.
"I will do so tomorrow. I'm not sure how to reach TJ yet since he's traveling on sea this time. I will talk to Brad in the morning," Melvin said with a sigh.
"Cheer up, Mel. It's not the end of the world. Who knows? You might end up falling for her before this is over," Ruby teased.
"Yeah, the same way I hope you fall for your blind date," Melvin said and the other guys laughed while Ruby scowled.
"Really funny," she muttered before glancing at her wristwatch.
"Got to go, guys. I'm in need of some shots of Vitamin D," Ruby said and they all chuckled.
"Have fun, since this might be the last D you get before getting married to your blind date," Stefan said and Ruby rolled her eyes.
"Whatever. Be good, Mel. Talk to you later, Nath. Go to hell, Stef," Ruby said before hanging up.
"I'm hanging up too. See you on Wednesday," Melvin said before hanging up.
That had gone quite well, he thought with a sigh as he resumed playing his music with his earbud and lay down to go back to sleep.