Our Lies

Chapter 10

"It has been handled so you don't need to worry about it, Sir." Amaria came into Gia's office for her daily report.

"Handled what?" Gia asked.

"Your romantic rendezvous news."

"Rendez... what? Doesn't matter." He knew where his secretary got the idea from. "What did you do?"

"Not me. It's Mr. Leo's secretary who took care of things, Sir."

"Grandpa saw the paper too?!" Gia's face turned white. After seeing the tabloid Georgia showed him yesterday, he had dreaded the idea that the news would reach Leo's ears soon enough if he did not do something. Who knew of all people, HIS secretary would be the first one to know...

Amaria shrugged her shoulders. "No idea. Probably not. Mr. Leo isn't the type to care about this kind of cheap gossip. Might just be his secretary doing things without him knowing. His secretary is a very efficient person, you know."

"Right... Thank you, Amaria. You can go back now." Gia reached for the stacks of document on his desk and flipped open the first one.

"Do you want me to take care of things at home?" Amaria asked before leaving.

Gia looked up. "What do you mean?"

"It's mom."

"Georgia?" Amaria was Georgia's daughter. Technically, they all lived together in Gia's house.

"Mom has been showing everyone your pictures. She even framed it and placed it on her bedside."

"Wha..."

"Can't blame her. This is the first time your name is romantically linked to a lady, or two. And one of them is Miss Perfect Agnes Lassham, no less. Mom is proud, Sir."

"Please do something about that, Amaria." Gia buried his tired face in his hands.

Gia was staring at probably the last issue of the troublesome tabloid that Amaria had managed to borrow from her mother. It was fortunate that the picture was not very clear – it was dark in the garden, and Agata's face was half hidden. It's alright. He just needed to be careful from now on. As long as they were not linked to each other in any way, his grandfather would not look into her. Ignore it and no one would mention the news again. Yes, he was sure about it.

But of course, things never went the way people had hoped for. At 8 o'clock the next morning, every employee in Lumina Capital were on pins and needles. Apparently, someone saw Leo Dignita stepped into the building two minutes ago and now Amaria felt like the temperature inside their CEO office behind her had dropped significantly.

"Explain yourself, Serogia," Leo glared at his grandson, who was sitting across him.

"Explain what?" Gia was anxious but he kept his calm appearance.

Leo threw the paper to the table furiously. "Who is this woman?!"

"It's just one of Mrs. Lassham's guests. I know what you are thinking but it's nothing like that. It's not as if you don't know how gossip paper works." Gia tried to explain.

Leo ignored him. "Your gesture here says something else. It seems to me that you were trying very hard to protect her."

"I was just protecting myself from unwanted media attention."

Leo squinted his eyes. "Are you sure about that?"

"I am, Grandpa." Gia answered firmly.

The old gentleman adjusted his seat and cleared his throat. "Fine. If you say so. Don't want you to be caught by some shameless social climbers..."

"SHE ISN'T...!" Gia stopped himself and noticed the sudden change in Leo's expression. He knew trouble was coming.

"So you know this woman... well." Leo groaned.

"I..."

"WHY ARE LYING TO ME?!" Leo was now shouting at him. The old man leaned forward and smashed his walking stick onto the table. The loud noise made Gia jumped a little. His grandfather was furious. Leo's finger was now pointing at the woman in the picture.

"Tell me, WHO IS SHE? Is she someone you are seeing now? Which family is she from?"

Gia shook his head. "I... We are not... She is just a friend." He did not know what he should say at this moment.

"Answer me, Serogia! Is she someone you know I will never approve? That's why you are hiding this from me? The Duether? The Folsky? You don't know what these people are capable of!"

"She isn't someone you should be worried about, Grandpa!"

"How would you know?! You know nothing about this world! You...!" His grandfather looked like he was about to get a heart attack.

"Grandpa!!" Gia panicked.

Suddenly, the double doors opened and a man just gracefully waltzed in, uninvited.

"Ah, I got you into trouble, didn't I, Gia?" Jean said cheerily as he strode toward the two men.

Amaria followed him from behind. "I'm sorry, Mr. Dignita! Mr. Clown here..."

Jean winked at the secretary. "Don't worry, Miss Secretary."

"Jean...?" Gia was surprised to see his friend there.

Leo turned to the guest. "What are you doing here?"

"Please calm down, Mr. Dignita." Jean flashed his multi-million smile but it went unnoticed by the intended recipient. He looked down at the newspaper on the table and shook his head.

"I know this is going to happen so I came here. This lady here is my girlfriend..."

Gia's eyes widened. "What..."

Jean lifted up his palm to stop Gia from talking. "Poor Gia, getting mixed up in this." He eyed Gia with pity. "You see, Mr. Dignita, me and my girlfriend here sort of got into a petty argument during dinner and Gia here was kind enough to help me calm her down. You can ask Mrs. Lassham, and I think a few guests can vouch that me and my girlfriend were together most of the time."

Gia looked like he was about to object but Jean quickly gave him a brotherly hug and apologized to him while whispering, "You better shut your mouth and let me do the talking."

Gia gulped all the words down and silently apologized to Agata.

"Is that true, Serogia?" Leo asked.

Gia closed his eyes and nodded slowly. He was not sure if his grandfather would buy Jean's made-up story.

Leo got up from his seat abruptly and snatched his walking stick from the table.

Perplexed, Gia looked up. "Grandpa...?"

"I'm leaving." With that, Leo strode to the door and left the room. A full ten seconds later, the three remaining people felt like they were finally able to breathe.