The Announcement
Hillary POV
I groaned in frustration as Loukas turned me back for the umpteenth time because I was not dressed in his preferred attire. You know, a gown fit for the wife of a billionaire. We first stopped at a cosmetics store, where I was completely transformed into another person. My hair was stretched to my shoulder and my face was baked with various cosmetics products; at the end of it all, I looked like a completely different person. Rotimi took us to a clothing store after we left the makeup store, and Loukas, being the annoying person that he was, made me change a couple of times.
I’m not sure how a man can be so annoying. He was unbearable, and I worried about how our marriage would fare if he continued to act as if he owned me. As if I were his property and someone he could command.
I expected him to finally accept me when I entered the dressing room again and changed into a black long-sleeve dress, but he gave me a shocking response.
“We’re not going there for a funeral, Hilary,” he grumbled. “You need to wear something that complements your make-up,” he said and began listing the requirements for a good billionaire wife. ” You must be sophisticated, have good dressing sense, and always be… ”NôvelDrama.Org copyrighted © content.
“That’s enough,” I said angrily as I stormed into the dressing room. “Egotistical jerk,” I yelled at him as I turned to face the dressing room door.
“Do you think you’ll like this brown dress, ma’am?” The store clerk inquired, but my gaze was drawn elsewhere. It was a white bodycon dress with a one-of-a-kind design on the sleeve. It has a black flowery pattern on the sleeve that has piqued my interest. I smiled at the attendant as I picked it up and told her what I wanted. It was as if the dress was tailor-made for me once I put it on. It’s as if it was left there specifically for me to wear. It fit my figure perfectly, and when I looked in the mirror to check myself out, I looked like the wife of a billionaire, and the store clerk commented on the dress.
“You look amazing, ma’am,” she said, and I returned her smile.
“Thank you, ” I said.
I walked out of the dressing room determined not to change my dress, even if Loukas demanded it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve changed my clothes, and I’m determined not to listen to him this time. “How do I look?” I inquired.
When I walked out, he was on his phone, and when he heard my voice, he looked up and let his gaze wander over my body. He cleared his throat and looked at Rotimi, who didn’t bother looking at him and instead clapped his hands and gave me a thumbs up. “You look fantastic,” he said.
I smiled at him and cleared my throat, waiting for Loukas to speak. I needed to know what he thought about the dress even though I wasn’t planning on changing it. “You look,” he paused, staring into my eyes. “You look,” he paused again, and I fiddled with my perfectly manicured nails, waiting for his response.
“Are you going to say anything, Lou?” Rotimi snapped his fingers across Loukas’ face. “Please say something.”
After a few minutes of waiting for him to say something nice to me, Loukas said, “The dress is okay.” What on earth was I expecting him to say? “You appear to be the ideal billionaire wife,” he added.
I chuckled and rubbed my newly stretched hair gently. “It’s a good thing you didn’t ask me to change because I wasn’t going to,” I explained.
After Loukas accepted the dress, the store clerk found black heels to match the dress and a brown Louis Vuitton bag that appears to be far more expensive than my salary. We then left the store, but as soon as I stepped outside, I almost fell to the ground because I was wearing a four-inch heel. If Rotimi hadn’t held my hand, I’d be kissing the ground while Loukas made fun of me. “Thank you,” I said to Rotimi, who had saved me from my embarrassment, as I dashed into the car. When Rotimi helped Loukas into the car, I moved closer to the door to enforce the no-touching rule.
“Maybe you should fall out because you’re trying so hard to get away from me,” Loukas suggested tutting. “You should know that the day we get married, we won’t be able to keep our hands off ourselves, and even though it’s a sham, we’ll still be affectionate in public,” he reminded me and cleared his throat as Rotimi entered the car.
“Now we’re ready to go,” Rotimi said as she started the car and drove out of the clothing store, toward the hospital, where Loukas’ real business was. “To persuade Mr. Atin, you both need to act like a real couple, or he’ll see right through you,” Rotimi explained.
“I’m not sure about her, but I’m good at dealing with situations like this,” Loukas responded, turning to face me. “so Hillary, you should probably practice a few lines so you don’t forget things for us,” he said, clicking his tongue. ” I’ve got a few lines for you.”
Just a few lines? I laughed because I found that amusing. Does he believe I’m incapable of dealing with situations like this? For God’s sake, I’m a therapist, and I’ve met a lot of people with different personalities, and I could play some of them. Pretending in front of others was one of my specialties, and I was confident that I could act better than Loukas. “Do you think I can’t be the perfect wife you wanted me to be?” I indicated with my fingers, but he remained silent and only stared at me. I clapped my hands and laughed. “You must believe I can’t do it,” I muttered. “If you have so little faith in me, maybe you should find someone else,” I suggested.
” Guys! ” Rotimi yelled. ” There’s no need to be like this with each other, okay,” he sighed briefly before continuing. “You both need to agree if you want Mr. Atin to believe you’re a couple,” he advised.
“You should be worried about Hillary because I am good at what I do,” Loukas arrogantly boasted.
Refusing to back down, I decided to demonstrate to him that I was also pretty good at what I do. “You should be worried about yourself, Mr. Whitemore,” I advised.
“Why?” he inquired.
“Because you are quick to judge others and have anger issues,” I said, referring to his irritating attitude.
“Excuse me,” he said, frowning. “I don’t have an anger problem, and of course, I judge people who are slow and stupid like you!”
“If I’m stupid, Mr. Whitemore, you’re pretty stupid,” I replied, and he looked at me with a shocked expression on his face. “Do you realize how annoying you are? And you always get on my nerves because you want perfection, but there is no perfection anywhere, Mr. Whitemore!”
Rotimi shouted and hit the brake, causing us to move forward and hit our heads on the front seat as Loukas tried to respond. “What the hell is going on?” Loukas yelled, unable to move his head backward because he was stuck.
“I assist you,” I said, assisting him to move backward and rest his back on the back seat. “That was not cool, Rotimi,” I pointed out.
“Have you lost your mind?” Loukas yelled at him. “You nearly killed us, Rotimi!”
“But you didn’t die,” Rotimi grinned as he turned to face us. ” You both won’t stop arguing and if I don’t stop you, I’m sure you’ll keep arguing until we get to the hospital, at which point you’ll likely blow your covers!”
” You should have warned us before you slammed on the brakes!” Loukas screamed at him.
“It’s not my fault, ” Rotimi said, shrugging his shoulders. “Your noise was so loud that I didn’t resize that it was already green,” he explained, pointing up to the traffic light. Rotimi laughed as Loukas clenched his left hand and muttered an incoherent word. “You both seem like an ideal couple,” he said, pointing to both of us and laughing.
“You, Rotimi… ” Loukas spoke up, but Rotimi returned to the road and started the car.
“It appears to be on green light now, ” Rotimi cleared his throat and resumed driving, ignoring Loukas’s responses.
There was complete silence in the car after that, and none of us said anything. As we passed by tall buildings and beautiful pedestrians, I turned to look out the window. It was beautiful to watch, and at one point, I took out my phone and took pictures of some beautiful pictures. I noticed Loukas’s burning gaze was on me, and when I turned to face him, he quickly averted his gaze.
I chuckled at his demeanor and continued to stare out the window. We finally arrived at the hospital after a thirty-minute ride. Rotimi dashed out of the car as it parked in front of the hospital to assist Loukas in getting out of the car and into his wheelchair. “You should both handle things now,” he said to both of us before turning to leave, but he remembered something and asked us to wait. He opened the car door and looked for something on the seat beside the driver, then shoved it into my hand.
“What exactly is this?” I inquired of him.
“Loukas gets a nose mask. He must conceal his identity until he meets with Mr. Atin.”
I nodded and handed the mask to Loukas, who quickly put it on to cover his nose. I had no idea why Loukas was trying to conceal his identity, but I assumed it was for the best, and he only said three words to me as I wheeled him into the hospital. “Follow my lead.”