Chapter 5 Accidental Girlfriend

Xavier breezed out and James followed behind him. His last words to me have left me in utter confusion coupled with the picture he painted leaving everyone in the office in awe.

"Is he always this way?" I inquired as if that was our first encounter.

"We gave you a hint earlier, dear Livia." Adrain answered.

"I wished it was my name he called, I would have fainted with love." Riley was at it again.

Ignoring Riley's drama, Adrain grinned at Livia, "On behalf of the entire team, we couldn't help but notice how informal he was with you. He even called you by your first name. Tell us do you know him from anywhere? College enemies?"

I fake-chuckled, "know him?" I fanned myself with my left hand, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Adrian and Co! Back to work! You're making her uncomfortable, can't you see? Give her space to breathe." Susan turned to me, "are you okay?"

"Yes, I am."

"This project is happening soon and we gotta send in our first draft by the end of work today. So let's focus on that so our dear Livia won't have a hard time with our not-ever-impressed Top Boss."

"You're right! And that will affect all of us badly. So everyone back to work." Adrian declared.

"Thank you, team! I appreciate the love." That alone was a boast. I was ready to put on my game face and let our so-called top boss know who's boss.

With that being said, everyone returned back to their work mode.

Hours passed by in a blur, Xavier was at his office entirely soaked with work as usual. I guessed. Not like I was thinking about him. But that was what was expected of him by everyone.

I needed to submit the first draft of the project before leaving work so I went back to his office. I knocked and he asked me to enter.

On entering, the sound of his phone's incoming video call ringtone distracted him. He looked at the caller's name, sighed and picked up the call. He raised his hand, holding the phone away from his face so the person on the other end of the call could see his face properly.

"Hello, Mrs Lexington."

Mrs Lexington? Was he married? Not my business but who could ever think of loving or living under the same roof with such a difficult person.

"You don't have to sound so formal on the phone call with me." I could hear the woman's voice from his phone.

"Sorry, can we talk later, I'm currently busy with work."

"Everything with you is so formal. We don't even have time to spend together as a family."

"I'll hang up now."

Cruel as expected.

"Xavier wait! Your father wants us all to have dinner together, and he expects you to be there."

"I'm not coming."

"How about what we discussed earlier? There's someone we would love you to meet. All you do is work, it's time to settle down."

Thought as much, there's no sane person that would agreed to be with him.

"Who do you expect to run the company when I do that?"

"Xavier, you speak like you don't have employees."

"They can't handle what I do."

"We've had enough of your excuses. You're meeting with her."

"There will be no need for that."

"Why?"

Silence rented the atmosphere for a moment. "Actually mom, I'm seeing someone." He looked at me and smiled.

"Who? I don't believe you. You just want me off your back and there's no backing down on this matter."

"I'm serious. If you don't believe you can speak to her. She's here with me."

I looked around the office, there was no one except me and my boss.

Is he referring to me? What did I do this time? I thought to herself.

"I'd love to speak to her then."

"But why?"

"Is it a crime to speak to my son's future wife? And didn't you just ask me to."

"Alright, have it your way."

He handed the phone to me who was perplexed about what was going on.

"What is going on? What am I supposed to say?" I whispered in utter confusion.

"Don't just mess it up." He issued a strong warning in whispers also.

He handed the phone to me and I saw the gorgeous woman on the screen who was more excited to see me than I was to see her, but I had to fake a wonderful smile.

"Hello, my dear, is this Xavier's girlfriend? This is Emma, Xavier's mother. I am so excited to finally talk to you!"

"Hi, Mrs Lexington! Yes, it's me. I've heard so much about you and I'm really looking forward to meeting you!"

"So you're coming with him to the family dinner this weekend, right?"

"Family dinner?" I looked at Xavier and he just shrugged.

"I'm sure he didn't tell you cause he doesn't want to come. But I'm inviting you, please bring him along. Do this for me."

"I'll make sure of that. It's lovely speaking to you."

"Thank you, my dear. I'll be expecting. Goodbye then."

"Bye, Mrs Lexington."

I returned the phone back to Xavier.

"Bye, mom." He said and ended the call before returning his focus back to his laptop that was on the desk.

"Are we just going to pretend like nothing happened just now?"

"Did anything really happen except you handling a task for your boss? What's so wrong with that, Livia?"

"Everything is wrong with that. Respectfully, you were invading my personal space. Making me carry out a task that is way out of my job description."

"You talk so much about respect like you know what it entails. I'm the mythological symbol of respect and then there's you. How about you? Can you speak so much about yourself?"

I was never the one to back down, so I fired back. "You know nothing about me. You can't just make assumptions that are clearly untrue and expect me to bow to you at every point."

"Assumptions? You're the one who took that call and handled it like an opportunity you had been preparing for all your life. And anyways you seem to be forgetting who you're speaking to."

Something inside of me snapped. My hands ball up into fists.

'Shit! He's still my boss.' My subconscious was suddenly reminded. "Sorry Sir, my emotions got the better of me."

"You just need to do this for me." He quoted me, "it's basic human decency to help someone in need. Maybe you should learn that!"

I ignored his aim with that. "Why? You could have just dated any girl you wanted."

"Are you that dumb? Can't you see I have no time for that. Consider this as part of your job to me"

"Can't I refuse this job?"

"Look! She won't back down until she knows I'm in a relationship with a real woman. Didn't you talk about a raise earlier, it comes with an allowance."

"Look, all you have to do is to play the role of my girlfriend to get my family off my back."

"Why me?"

"I'm not interested in you. Don't misunderstand me. It's an accident of chance. You just happened to be in my office, Livia."

"But-"

"Give me your phone."

I gave it to him, his fingers danced on the screen for about a minute and he returned it back to her.

"I have saved my number in it. I'll call you– don't hold your breath though."

"I-"

"Drop the draft, I have work to do. You know where the door is."