Chapter 5 The Marriage Contract

Chloe had just gotten back from Marco's office and she sat on her chair, she was lost in he owns thoughts "what was Marco's reason for not agreeing to the divorce?" she wondered. Or maybe he was already into her, but he couldn't be, they just met. She was interrupted by a soft knock on her door. She looked up and she frowned, it was Marco.

He invited himself in holding a file. "You didn't want to in, so I helped myself" he smiled taking a seat on the couch. Chloe completely ignored him

"I'll need you here" he turned around to look at her "where were we?"

She reluctantly stood up and went to sit opposite him "I said we'll divorce after a year!" she reminded him and he smirked

"if that's what you want, we'll go with that" he said and Chloe looked at him suspiciously, she didn't know much about him but she definitely knew that he was up to no good.

"Here" he handed her a document from the file. She took it and scrolled through it

"Marriage Contract" was written boldly at the top of the document. She smirked as she raised her head to look at him.

"we'll read through it and add whatever you want and feel free to tell me what you don't want" he smiled as he focused his gaze back on the documents.

"We would divorce after a year" he read out. That was Chloe's rule and it came first on the list, she was totally okay with it, so she nodded.

"We would sleep in separate rooms" he looked up at her to know if she countered or concurred with it. Of course there's no point of sleeping in the same room, she smiled.

"We would both be allowed to live our separate lives which includes taking care of our personal needs separately" he raised a brow. Was this necessary? she was already exhausted, it was definitely a payback, she concluded "I'm fine with that" she forced a smile.

"We have to act as a couple in the presence of people" she nodded

"we are not allowed to fall in love with each other" she looked at him. What? what was he saying? she wondered "you think I'd fall for you! tch! you wish" she sighed

"who knows? anything can happen" he winked and she turned away immediately. He was trying to make her fall for him but she was willing to fight it.

"have anything to add?" he asked "finally that was the end of the list" she heaved a sigh of relief

"yeah, we are both allowed to flirt" she said and Marco frowned at her

"why would you flirt when you have a husband?" he was pissed

"and why won't I flirt when I'm not allowed to fall in love with you? Do you think I don't plan on having a real marriage with someone I'll fall in love with?" she glared at him

"you're not allowed to flirt! and that's on period. You have to sign it" he handed her a pen after signing. She stared at him for a while before signing it, it didn't seem like he was going to change his mind about it. She just needed to endure for a year and after that, she would have her life back.

"Done" she handed him the pen "I guess I'm keeping this copy"

"yeah, I'll keep mine" the smiled

"when are we having the wedding ceremony?"

"you don't need to be in a hurry dear" he smiled "we'll have to go on dates together maybe for a week before we get married" he said. Chloe didn't see the need for that, she felt they were all unnecessary.

"is that really necessary?"

"yeah, I'm well known in this city and getting married to you without proof of dates would arise suspicions and that's the past thing I need" he said and he was right. Reporters wouldn't want to miss out on writing an article of a fake marriage of a famous figure, so she had to comply.

"when do we start our date?"

"during the weekend, but for now, we have to work" he smiled

"We'll be having a board meeting at 2pm, you need to be there" he said and she nodded after taking a quick glance at her wrist watch, she still had over 30mins before the meeting "we'll meet at the meeting" Marco stood up to leave but stopped and turned back

"have you had lunch?"

"no" she was glad he asked because, she was starving and she needed to eat something at this moment. "Let's go to the restaurant across the road" he smiled. She wondered why he wanted to go that far when there was a cafe at the ground floor.

"Allyssa" Marco called and Allyssa who had been working on his schedule looked up at both Marco and Chloe. "We'll be having dinner across the road" he informed her and a smile crept into her cheeks, she was thrilled that there was a couple at work. At least, she might get to see a romantic part of her boss and not always his mean look. "okay, your board meeting is at 2pm" she reminded h before he left.

"Are you always like this?" Chloe asked when they got into the elevator

"Like how?" he raised a brow "you always keep a straight face and you don't smile"

"I don't? does it really matter? either way, I'm still handsome" he said proudly

"But I guess you're more handsome when you smile" Chloe nodded

"Are you trying to flirt with me by flattering me?" Marco laughed

"You wish" she said trying to keep up with his pace when they had gotten out of the elevator. A lot of people stared as they walked through, did they know they were engaged? she wondered but she didn't think so, maybe it was the habit of employees to stare. She looked at Marco and still he kept a straight face which made her chuckle.

"What's funny?" he stopped abruptly and looked at her "nothing" she covered her mouth with her palm to suppress her laughter, she found his straight face amusing.

"Hmmm" he shook his head as he walked up to his car

"The restaurant across" he said to Taylor who opened the door for them to go in.