Married At First Glance: I Am Not Ugly

As the conversation flowed, Marissa couldn’t help but wonder how much more complicated their fake marriage was going to get, especially now that Jessie was in the picture.

Jessie’s phone began to ring.

“Sorry, I need to take this.” she said, as she walked out to pick the call.

“Damn Marissa! You’re a good story teller.” Alex said. “I never believed you could pull it off, but you did so nicely.”

“You have to tell her about your fake marriage.” Marissa said.

“I’ll tell her, but for now…. I need this until I secure the contract.” he said.

“What if she finds out within those three months? Don’t you think it would complicate things?” she asked.

“I know alright. But right now, I don’t have a choice. If I want the contract, I need to do this and besides, as I told you before, I asked her to marry me so I could secure the contract, she said she wasn’t ready to get married at least not yet. So once the contract is finalized, we get a divorce and then I can go ahead and marry her.

It’s not like we are going to be doing anything together asides going to social events and all.” he said.

“What if she attends one of your social events and you had no choice but to introduce me to her again and not as your childhood friend, but your wife?” Marissa asked.

Alexander reassured her, “I’ll do my best to avoid that situation. I won’t introduce you as my wife unless it’s absolutely necessary. We can’t risk her finding out the truth too soon.”

Despite his reassurance, Marissa couldn’t shake the feeling that their secret might be in jeopardy, and their fake marriage could become exposed before they intended.

As they continued their conversation, Jessie seemed engaged in a separate discussion on her phone, giving Alexander and Marissa some privacy to talk.

Marissa leaned closer to Alexander and whispered, “We need to be careful, Alex. This situation is delicate, and we can’t afford any slip-ups. Let’s stick to our plan and make sure Jessie doesn’t find out.”

Alexander nodded in agreement, his face tense with worry. “I know, Marissa. We have to be cautious at all times. I’ll do my best to keep our secret safe.”

Marissa was still a bit uneasy about the whole situation, but she knew they had no other choice if they wanted to achieve their respective goals.

They continued their discussion, keeping a watchful eye on Jessie, who remained absorbed in her phone.

“Why are you keeping such a big secret from the woman you claim to love, Alexander?” Marissa asked.

Alexander sighed, his expression conflicted. “Marissa, I never meant for things to get this complicated. I care about Jessie, it’s a huge contract, and I can’t risk losing that contract. It’s a difficult situation, and I don’t know how to explain it to her without hurting her.”

Marissa understood the dilemma but couldn’t help feeling empathy for Jessie. “I get it, Alex. But remember, we’re both in this situation because we have our own reasons. Let’s just try to navigate it as smoothly as possible. Hopefully, once the contract is secured, we can find a way to resolve everything.”

Alexander nodded, his mind filled with uncertainty about the future.

“I hope so too, Marissa. Let’s just take it one step at a time.”

With that, they returned to their normal conversation, their eyes occasionally darting towards Jessie, who remained oblivious to the secrets being discussed right under her nose.

“If I may ask, how did you and Jessie meet?” Marissa asked.

“I don’t think it concerns you.” Alex answered rudely.

“You’re such a piece of work you know that right?” she said.

“I know…. but let’s just forget about me and let’s focus on her right now. She’s coming.” Alex said, signaling that Jessie was returning back to their table.

“Sorry boo… the call took so long. The client was just so bent on me coming over to Singapore to discuss the terms of the contract. So I need to go right now.” she said.

“You are leaving now?” Alex asked.

“I’m afraid so, I have booked my flight to Singapore and so I need to be in it by 7pm.” she said.

“When are you coming back?” he asked her.

“Probably by next week Wednesday. I don’t know yet, I just hope it won’t be longer because of this client. He’s really a pain in the ass.”

Alexander looked a bit disappointed but tried to hide it with a smile.

“Alright, Jessie. I understand. You have to take care of work. We’ll catch up when you’re back.”

Jessie leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek.

“Thanks for understanding, Alex. You’re the best. I’ll call you when I’m in Singapore.”

After Jessie left, Marissa turned to Alexander and said,

“That was close. We need to be careful, Alex. The more we meet in public, the riskier it gets.”

Alexander nodded, realizing the truth in her words. Their fake marriage and the secrets they were keeping were like a ticking time bomb, and they had to be cautious at all times to prevent it from exploding.

“So now that she’s not gonna be around, we have to do the private wedding we were planning to do,” he said.

“Where are we gonna use and who is gonna join us?” she asked.

“We are not doing all that. We just need Anderson to be there and then we take some pictures to make it look like we were really married so that I can show this to them and then once I get the contract, we’ll get a divorce.” he said.

“That’s fine. I don’t intend to stay married to you anyways.” she said.

“As do I. You’re not my ideal type of woman. Jessie is.” he said.

“Yeah, a career woman who completely ignored the fact that you wanted her to be around, but she’s never around.” she teased.