𝐒𝐏𝐔𝐑𝐈𝐎𝐔𝐒 - ★彡[ᴀʟʜᴀɪᴛʜᴀᴍ]彡★

𝟑𝟗 - 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐄𝐃

The day of my departure from the hospital was a cloudy one. The weather was neither cold nor warm, leaving me with a dreary outlook on the future's events. It was incredibly easy to get influenced by the weather and I had proved susceptible to its effects. Left with nothing but a feeling of apathy, I got ready to leave the hospital.

I took out my phone as it buzzed in my pocket, my eyes flitting across the message from Alhaitham.

I'm in the waiting room. I don't have any meetings scheduled for the next couple hours, so there's no need to rush. I smiled for a moment before promptly stuffing my phone back in my pocket, picking up the small bag that contained my meager collection of items and leaving the room.

A nurse was waiting outside and she guided me to the waiting room, creating some idle chit-chat along the way in an attempt to ease my likely visible anxiety. When we rounded the corner and the waiting room came into sight, I froze in my tracks.

A large group of paparazzi surrounded Alhaitham, berating him with questions and shoving microphones in his face. Are they seriously doing this in a hospital waiting room? Disdain at the hypocrisy of their actions filled me with anger.

The nurse placed a hand over her mouth and hurriedly guided me out of sight. "I'm terribly sorry, please wait here a moment. It would be best to stay out of sight so you don't get dragged into whatever gossip they're trying to ascertain."

"A-ah, right," I nodded at her and she rounded the corner to seemingly contact someone in the situation. The other hospital staff were trying to get the cluster of reporters away but their efforts seemed futile, hence why she was likely trying to contact authorities and other security guards nearby. 

Why are they here? Upon realizing what the reason likely was, I froze. It must be because he's visited this hospital so often. Knowing how the paparazzi were, they would likely speculate that there was a tie-in to his visits and the incident with Shikanoin Heizou. If they interrogate him about that, how is he supposed to respond?

I couldn't hear what was going on inside of the room, only the muffled sound of the reporters' and staff's muffled yelling. I leaned against the wall and let out a deep sigh. For some reason, memories of my childhood resurfaced upon hearing the sound of arguing and scuffling. Over the past few days I found that upon giving my mind any time to wander, my thoughts would always retrace back to my family. The horrendous nightmares that I was having attested to that—seeing my father in such a state was so traumatizing that I had no idea how to get him out of my head.

I haven't even thought about what I'm going to do with Alhaitham now that this is resolved. If there were reporters here, there may be an article published in which case the person playing his wife would likely have to make some sort of appearance to the media. But that would solidify that person as his wife. Afterwards, there's no turning back.

I stared up at the ceiling. He may see me as a good option for a temporary partner, but there's no guarantee that his fixation wouldn't waver as time goes on. The most probable outcome is that he'll send me back to my former position and find someone who's more suitable for a long-term contract.

The light on the ceiling flickered gloomily.

. . .

"...So, why were they crowding around you with such vigor?" I asked Alhaitham quietly as we entered his car. It had taken fifteen minutes for the situation to be safe enough for me to depart the location because they had to make sure there weren't any people lurking in the bushes to take a photo of my face.

Alhaitham tugged on his tie to loosen it, letting an irritated scoff escape his lips as he leaned back into the car seat. "They've been tracking my behavior over the past few days and camped out at the hospital to wait for my entry. The company has had a bit of an uprise recently as the romanticization of marriage in the media has spurred a lot of couples to contact us."

"Oh, really?" I turned my head to the side to stare at his side profile. "Well, I'm glad the company is flourishing. Did you manage to get out of it unscathed?"

"Well, about that..." he pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "It seems like they're highly suspicious that you're my wife because of the timing of the incident and even called you out by name in their questioning. I'd like to hope that they wouldn't publish your information in the news, but I wouldn't put it past them."

"I see," I grimaced, "the situation might get really messy then."

Alhaitham turned his gaze pointedly so he was staring at me, his cold irises narrowing as sunlight poured in through the car door window. "Don't worry. I agreed that I would reveal my lie if your personal information was ever to be brought up and I intend to keep my word."

"Even at the cost of your company?"

"While it's true that the company image is somewhat reliant on my status, I believe that the reveal won't be a big enough blow to send us completely out of business. Although I would definitely prefer if the farce continued to remain, I wouldn't maintain it at the expense of someone important to me."

'Someone important?' I was a bit skeptical but decided to let the remark slide. "You know, I don't really mind it."

"Hm?" Alhaitham furrowed his eyebrows at me, clearly not catching the implication behind my words.

"Continuing this farce, I mean. There's not really anyone that I'm interested in right now that would prevent me from keeping this up."

I wouldn't be lying if I said that I didn't massively benefit from this relationship in the first place. A deal in which all I had to do was handle the public and act lovey-dovey with my attractive boss without having to pay rent was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity (far better than working a painful minimum wage job as I had in the past). Besides that, I had grown to view Alhaitham as someone reliable. If we were to be seen together at all without being under the guise of husband and wife, there's absolutely no way the media wouldn't go berserk.

"You wouldn't mind? Really?" Alhaitham's eyes widened.

I smiled softly. "Forgive me if this is inappropriate, but I see you as a good friend. I'd be happy to help, especially after everything that happened. As I've said in the past, I also benefit greatly from this agreement."

He let out a breath and leaned his forehead on his hands. "I see." "Did I say something wrong?"

 "...Not at all. I thought that you weren't fond of me in the slightest, so hearing you say that was a little jarring." "Why would you think that?" I patted him gently on the shoulder. "There's no way I could grow to loathe you." Even after what he did, he was still the first person to truly offer me unconditional kindness. I froze as he lifted his gaze to meet mine, his attractive features combined with the sunlight illuminating them creating a picturesque image that could've been a CG in an otome game. But seriously...why does this man have to be so attractive? 

two more chapters until the end... ive been procrastinating so hard on how to end this fic i dont want to end it but i dont want it to turn into rent-a-girlfriend where the leads have romantic development and then it all gets trashed and the MC becomes a cuck and the story gets expanded x2 more than it should. 

anyways thank you all for the support! remember to vote (/hj)