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"So, it turns out that my best friend got engaged, and she didn’t feel the need to inform me,” Mira says, smacking on her gum as she barges into my apartment, carrying designer shopping bags.
She drops them on a chair and turns around to stare at me accusingly. “Why didn’t you tell me that you got engaged to Gabriel Everhart, the man you swore you didn’t have feelings for and who is also your boss?”
It thoroughly slipped my mind to inform her, and it’s been less than two weeks since Gabriel and I attended that event, where we informed everyone who cared to know. Since then, I’ve been focused on so many things at the same time, from dealing with the paparazzi who seem to show up at the most inconvenient places since they cannot camp in front of the building.
With two weeks left until the unveiling gala, everyone’s nerves are on edge. I have completed the final touches on my portion of the project and ran repeated tests to make sure everything is as it should be.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize sweetly. “I was going to tell you about the fake engagement, but many things have come up since then. It didn’t help that you’ve been away for the past week, focused on your art thing.”
Mira’s brows knit as she looks at me quizzically. “Fake engagement?”
“Yeah,” I respond, sitting down. But she looks even more perplexed. “You know that the engagement is fake, right? That we are doing this so nobody finds out about the project.”
She puts a finger to her lips and sucks in a deep breath. The finger then points in my direction. “You’re telling me that it’s fake? Why didn’t I get that part of the news? I mean, Caleb is the one who told me, and he didn’t say it was a ruse.”
I shrug. “I don’t know.”
“Oof,” she puffs out air and shrugs her shoulder. “Maybe I wasn’t listening. Yeah, that is what happened. When he told me, I was trying to make him take off his clothes, so—”
“Too much information!” I yell, stopping my ears with my fingers. “I don’t want to know about that.”
She giggles. “Okay, okay. I won’t say any more.”
I remove my fingers. “Good. Just because we are best friends doesn’t mean you have to tell me everything.”
Mira blows a bubble and pops it. “I want to know everything when it comes to your personal life, though. Like, is there anything under this façade? Do you like Gabriel? Is he in love with you? Because I get that you needed a distraction, but you are not the type of person to get engaged as a joke. To anyone, let alone a famous CEO and playboy.”
I contemplate telling Mira the truth, that I am, in fact, falling for Gabriel. But I know what will come after it, and I do not have the answer. I don’t know the extent of Gabriel’s feelings, so I have decided to do nothing with mine.
She gets up from her seat, marches to mine, and perches on the armrest, bringing her face too close to mine.
“You are in love with him, aren’t you?”
“No,” I deny a little too fast, turning my head away so I give nothing away.
Mira’s fingers cup my jaw as she makes me look at her curious, big eyes. “Your eyes say something else, Chica, and you know they cannot lie. You are in love with Gabriel Everhart, so you agreed to this. Does he know?”
I snatch my face away and get up, putting some distance between us. “You have me confused for you, who is madly in love. If you know me well enough, and you do, then you’d also know that I get obsessive over my work. If something should endanger it, I would go to great lengths to protect it.”
“That is what I’m doing, nothing more.”
“Then why can’t you look me in the eye?” She asks.
I don’t answer, and I don’t fall into the trap of looking, either. I might fool everyone, even successfully lie to myself, but Mira sees right through me. That’s why she’s been my friend for so long.
“Oh well,” Mira makes a non-committal sound. “I can’t force you to admit the truth. You might have heard from your boss that Caleb and I are also engaged, but we are considering getting married soon.”
My head whips around as I gasp in surprise. “Married?”
Mira grins as her head bobs. “Yes, married. I think next month or two months from now. I told you he was the one for me from the first night we met, so…it feels right. Like it was meant to be even before we knew each other.”
I walk over and take her hands. “I am very happy for you, Mira. You deserve it.”
She pouts and sniffs. “You keep saying that, and I’m going to burst into fat, ugly tears. You deserve happiness, too. It only takes a single leap of faith.”
A leap of faith to confess my feelings. What if he doesn’t feel the same? I fall, then what? Am I strong enough to pick myself up again?
I shake my head. “I’m not like you, Mira.”
