BETROTHED TO THE BILLIONAIRE

Valerie’s POV

The sound of screeching tires snaps me out of my reverie and I stop chewing on the doughnut in my hand.

I slept this evening after eating an early dinner and I woke up around 10 pm feeling hungry again and also to see that Ryan is not back home.

He usually comes back late but not back after 10 pm is extremely late. He was deeply concerned about me last night so it won’t be bad to be concerned about him today too.

I called him before coming downstairs but he didn’t pick up.

I sit up from the sofa in the living room after dropping the doughnut back on the plate on the center table. I approach the front door to see if it is him.

Before I get there, the front door opens and he walks casually in with his briefcase and his blazers hanging on his shoulder.

He doesn’t notice my presence until I cough slightly. He stares up at me and smiles.

“Why are you smiling?” I throw him a cold glare with my arms folded across my bosom.

He shakes his head and walks past me. “Nothing.”

“Why are you back home late today? Is everything ok?” I turn back to follow him.

“Yep”, he mutters nonchalantly. “Work.”

“Ok”, I say too, wondering what’s up with him. The smile didn’t reach his eyes and I wonder what is wrong with him.

Did he have a bad day at work? I was waiting for him because I was worried and also because I needed to talk to him about the discussion I had with his mother.

I don’t know how he will feel, though but I want to let him know that it’s high time we begin to fake the pregnancy.

He takes the staircase up, his briefcase swinging in his left hand and I follow behind him calmly, staring at his back.

He isn’t even asking about my shoulder. Has he forgotten so soon about last night?

We get to the room and he enters while I trudge in silently. He does not say anything like I am thinking he will. He just begins to peel off his clothes as I close the door behind me quietly.

The forecaster is wrong again. It rained earlier so I have to sleep here again.

“Are you ok?” I ask him and he twirls back to nod then continues to take his clothes off.

Why is he snubbing me? I snort and walk to the bed to lie down.

Does he even deserve my concern?

“Val”, I hear him call me. He is changed into his pajamas, I realize. I thought he was going to take a shower. “I have a question for you.”

“A question?” I raise a brow, sitting upright immediately. Now that he is starting up a conversation, I can tell him about his Mother’s visit so he won’t say otherwise when next they meet.

“I also have something to say too but you go first”, I quickly chip in and I raise a brow in curiosity.

“You have something to say to me?” He looks surprised that I have something to say to him and I wonder why.Published by Nôv'elD/rama.Org.

“Yes”, I reply, stressing on the last letter.

“Ok?” He is waiting for me to say whatever it is but I want him to ask his question first.

“You go first”, I say and he shakes his head.

“No. You.”

“Go first”, I insist firmly but the look on his face says otherwise. His curiosity is eating at him and he is desperate to know what I have to say.

His head must be twirling in a pool of different thoughts, to figure out what it is I want to tell him.

“Well”, I begin with a light smile on my face. “Your mom came around and…”

“Mom?” He calls out as if to be sure he heard me right. Disappointment also crosses his expression. “Mom was here?”

“Yes. She came to check on my health.”

“Then, what happened?” He seems genuinely interested now unlike how he was a few seconds ago.

“Well, I told her I was pregnant”, I reveal, still smiling and waiting for him to be overjoyed at the news. But he is sitting still, a deep frown descending on his face.

Isn’t this what he wanted?

We were supposed to make plans but we didn’t and I decided to use the opportunity of his mother’s assumptions to our advantage.

Isn’t this a nice idea?

“You told my mother that you are pregnant?” He demands with creases of confusion on his forehead.

“Yes”, I say with eagerness, my eyes brimming with delight. It actually feels good the way it sounds and I wonder what it will feel like to be really pregnant.

Ryan looks baffled as he narrows his eyes to my stomach and rasps out a quavery breath. “Are you really pregnant?”

The question almost makes me burst into a fit of laughter but I hold back and nod with a serious expression.

What the hell is he thinking? Do pregnant people get pregnant just like that? Or am I fated to become the Virgin Mary II? I muse darkly.

Shock runs through him as his eyes widen. “You are pregnant? For who?”

“You, of course”, I point at him, the amusement intensifying and I want to keep up with the act.

“Me?” He rises, touching his chest and shaking his head in denial. “We didn’t have sex, did we?”

I look thoughtful for a while and then shake my head. “No, we didn’t.”

“Then, how did you become pregnant?”

“I don’t know”, I reply sharply with a nonchalant shrug.

Unable to contain my laughter any longer, I let it out, watching him stand with arms akimbo, looking confused as hell.

Ryan is daft!

“What the hell were you thinking? I only said that because she thought I was pregnant. Remember we wanted to fake it?”

“Why didn’t you wait for me to come home first so we can talk about it before you tell her?” He blurts out with a furious look on his face.

My face falls and my laughter dies down.

I can’t believe this.

“She asked me but I didn’t say yes for a reason. The least you could do was to wait for me so we could plan this accurately before announcing it to her. Why didn’t…”

“Ryan”, I stop him with a stretch of my hand. “Are you trying to blame me for telling her that I am pregnant when we actually wanted to fake this?”

“We wanted to fake it but we haven’t talked about it. Why did you do that on your own, then?” His voice isn’t as raised as earlier but my anger is going up to its peak at that.

Who the hell does he think he is? Why do I have to take the blame for every single thing I do to help his f*cking life?

“I don’t want to lie to her anymore”, he plops back on the bed and holds his head between his two hands. His voice is breaking. “I don’t want us to lie to her anymore.”

I stare at his back blankly, my hand balled into a fist.

I am so stupid.

I shouldn’t have done that. I always do things to please and help him but he doesn’t even appreciate any. All he does is blame me for doing this and that.

The poor woman was excited about the news. How could I have said no? I couldn’t because I didn’t want the smile on her face to disappear. I wanted those smiles to be there till the very end.

It doesn’t matter if the pregnancy is real or fake. What matters is the joy that it brings to her.

Ryan faces me and tries to hold my hands but I pull away angrily. As if hearing my thoughts, he mutters between gritted teeth. “I’m not trying to blame you, Val. All I am saying is that I would have loved it if we deliberate more on this before announcing it to her. What do we do if she is still here after nine months?”

That is not a question for me to answer. I do not answer.

He sighs deeply and looks away.

He is such a fool who doesn’t like to take risks. How does this silly question he is throwing at me sound like a problem? It isn’t a problem and even if it becomes a problem in the future, then we will look for solutions.

Why worry about a problem that hasn’t even started?

Without saying a word to him, I lay back on the bed, using my right leg to shove him off the bed so I can sleep alone.

He doesn’t deserve to sleep on the same bed as me tonight. I don’t even care if he continues to have nightmares every night.

He can go to hell for all I care!