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That same day, after Vince left for evening practice, I continued packing until I was done with half of my room. Now, I only had my clothes, a few personal things, and my vanity and bathroom left to pack up, then I could move onto the furniture, decide where to sell it or if I wanted to leave it in the apartment.

I just came out of the shower, ready to take some rest before making dinner for myself. That was the plan but then Vince called and decided to ruin it. "Yes?" I asked, lying on my bed, the towel unraveling from my hair.

"I need your help," he said.

I paused. "With what? I'm not your assistant until tomorrow, you know."

"That's a little too late considering I'm already here."

I sat up in confusion as my doorbell rang. "You're kidding me," I mumbled before hanging up on him and walking to the door, pulling it open. He was standing there, wearing a pair of jeans with a white v-neck. "What is it?" I asked, stepping aside.

He walked in and I turned to face him, closing the door behind me. "My parents have called me for dinner tonight and you're coming with me."

I shook my head immediately. "No. I've already told you before, I can't just—"

"You're my girlfriend now."

I shut up, staring at him.

"My parents need to know before we tell the public."

"Wait a minute, we're lying to your parents too?"

"Did you expect us to tell them the truth?"

"Uh... yeah?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I know how my parents are. They wouldn't let me do something like this, they'd criticize me, actually. And tonight's dinner, I can't get out of."

"Why not?" I repeated.

"Because they're being stubborn. Demi, you have to come with me."

I sighed, looking down at myself. "Look at me. I'm not in a 'dinner with parents' condition."

"So... change?" He shrugged.

I groaned, shaking my head. "No. Find someone else to go with you."

He stared at me in disbelief. "Find someone else to introduce as my girlfriend to my parents and then introduce you as my girlfriend to the world? That makes sense, doesn't it?"

I let out a huff. "Vince, you can't throw things like this at me last minute and then expect me to just—"

"That's exactly what you did as my assistant."

"Yeah well, I'm six months out of practice."

"Six months, not six years. I'm going home to get dressed, I'll be back in half an hour. Be ready by then."

"Say please."

"Be ready," he said sternly before turning around and leaving, showing himself out.

I rolled my eyes and went into my room, looking for a rich-looking dress.

His mom is easier to deal with in comparison to his dad. His dad has it all. He's a rich CEO with a mansion that only he resides in with some staff, he brings women as he pleases, and I'm sure his money isn't all legal. But he's powerful and famous, and that's all it takes to be someone you should be careful of. On the other hand, unlike Ms. Blythe, Mr. Graham has no issues with me, never has. He actually told me a few times that I'm his favorite out of all the people he's met through Vince, and I'm his favorite out of his assistants. But I still can't bring myself to feel comfortable around the man.

I found a decent emerald green slip satin dress that stopped just below my knees. It seemed decent for tonight if I did my hair right and wore matching heels. I lay the dress out on the bed and took out gold heels to match it. I went and brushed my hair, letting it air dry while I put on some makeup, enough for his mother to not comment and say, "Oh Demi, sweetie, you look tired." Because she would say that. She does it every once in a while.

His father only gives compliments that are mostly fake.

I put on a fair amount of makeup, leaving my lipgloss out on top of the vanity so I could put it on at the end. I opened the drawer and took out my straightener, plugging it in. I waited for it to heat up and did my hair in loose curls with it before pinning away two pieces. I glanced at the time.

He should be here any minute.

I quickly changed into the dress and put the heels on, grabbing a small purse just for my phone and keys. I put on some perfume just as the doorbell rang three times. "Coming!" I turned the lights off and quickly rushed out, flicking the lights off as I opened the door.

He took a step back, making room for me while putting his phone back into his pocket. "Why didn't you answer the..." He looked at me, holding my gaze.

I waited for him to finish his sentence but then I realized he wasn't. I lifted my brows. "What?"

He blinked, his eyes going down, lower and lower before coming back up slowly, meeting mine. "You chose a decent dress. Thank god."

I rolled my eyes. That's all I get, how nice.

"Let's go," he said.

I led the way and he walked behind me. The elevator closed and we started going down, the light flickering once. I glance up at it. We've been getting a lot more power cuts than usual, I really hope we don't get stuck here right now. Because he will kill me and his parents will kill us both. Luckily, we made it to the lobby just fine and then quickly slipped into his car.

He drove us to his dad's place, driving slower and slower as we got closer. I glanced at the time. They have these dinners precisely at eight-thirty. It's already eight-fifteen, he should hurry but when he didn't I realized he was slowing down intentionally. "Vince."

"If we get there later, we won't be there for as long," he explained.

"No," I said slowly. "If we get there later, your parents will make us stay longer. And you know that."

He sighed before hitting the gas harder. He honked at the steel gates and we were let into the estate by security. He drove around the water fountain in the middle and parked the car off to the side.

"Remember you're not meeting my family tonight as my assistant," he said as he turned the car off. "You're meeting my family as my girlfriend. Act like it."

"I will," I reassured him, "as long as you act like a boyfriend." The words sounded weird on my tongue as I said them.

He sighed, "Let's go." He stepped out and I got myself out, rounding the car and meeting him on the other side. He stopped, jutting his elbow out.

I eyed it for a moment but linked my arm with his nonetheless. We walked inside and were let in by a new housekeeper.

I don't know this one, but last time, it was a woman named Natalia. From what I heard Ms. Blythe telling Vince, she was a single mom, early thirties. This one seems a lot younger. She led us to the dining room where Mr. Graham and Ms. Blythe were sitting in a tense silence. Mr. Graham sat at the head of the table and she sat to his right. She noticed us right away and stood up, confusion taking over her face when she saw me. "You're here... both of you," she mumbled.

Vince didn't stop to hug her like he usually does, he walked around the table, taking me with him, and stopped at our seats. He pulled a chair for me as I looked at him. "Sit," he said quietly and sternly. He's already in a bad mood just being here.

I sat down and he sat beside me, only addressing his mother like he always does. "Mom," he mumbled, nodding her way.

I don't know what the tension is between him and his dad, he never told me, he never talks about his dad.

"At least you're here this time," Mr. Graham scoffed softly before turning to me. "Hello, Demi."

"Hello," I offered him a small smile.

"Demi, how come you're here tonight?" Ms. Blythe asked, lifting her glass to her lips.

"Um... I—"

"She's my girlfriend."

I froze, my eyes going wide while Ms. Blythe spit out her drink. I glanced at Vince who was sitting there, as cool as a cucumber. I checked his father's reaction but he didn't seem that surprised, or if he was, he didn't show it. He just raised his eyebrows with a small shrug and sipped his drink.

Ms. Blythe patted her mouth with a napkin and turned her attention to Vince. "I'm sorry, what?"

He stared at her blankly. "Is that surprising? Really? I didn't think it would be, considering the entire world knows we slept together."

I cringed, fisting my hands under the table so hard that my nails dug into my skin, making it hurt.

"As far as the world knew, you slept with your assistant," Mr. Graham said.

Vince glanced at him, his jaw hard.

"Why haven't you told people you're together? It would have saved her job and frankly, your little career."

Little? That's an understatement.

"I didn't want to," I found myself saying. "I didn't want to make it public, I wasn't ready for that."

Mr. Graham watched me carefully.

I felt like he was looking for a crack in my lie, so I kept going, making sure that I sounded believable. "It doesn't matter that I lost the job, I still have Vince. That's all I care about. And he put me first to make sure that the public didn't find out we were together, just because that's what I wanted." I could feel Vince watching me but I was too nervous to look at him.

His father nodded quickly. "Seems fair. So... will you tell the public now?"

"We're not sure," Vince answered. "We'll see."

"You should, no?" Ms. Blythe said, "It would be better for you, Vince."

"But maybe not for her," he replied, shaking his head softly. "I want to wait for her. When she's ready, we'll tell the public."

I turned to look at him, which was a bad idea considering he was already staring at me. We stared at each other for a long minute and all I could think was:

What the fucking hell are we doing?

"How long have you two been seeing each other?" Ms. Blythe asked.

We both turned to her and told her the time we decided to tell everybody. "We started seeing each other three months before the New York news. Nine months now."

The time frame made more sense that way. We had a thing going, got caught in New York, and spent the last six months dating in secret. And now, it's time for a reveal. It made perfect sense. So much so, that his mother believed it. That's how we knew the world would too.

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