Married At First Glance: I Am Not Ugly

Marissa’s eyes were locked on him, and he felt his heart skip a beat. He had never seen her look so beautiful.

“I need to talk to you,” she said, her voice sounding urgent. “Can we go somewhere private?”

“Of course,” he said, taking her by the hand and leading her outside. He had forgotten that he was with Jessie as she watched them leave her there standing angry and disappointed.

The night air was cool and crisp, and they found a quiet corner where they could talk.

“What’s going on?” he asked, looking at her with concern. “You seem upset.”

“I am,” she said, her voice wavering. “Did Jaime ask you to hand over the contract to him or he would reveal our fake marriage to everyone present?”

Alexander was silent.

“Why would you do such a thing? You have worked so hard to get it and now you want to hand it over to Jaime who doesn’t care about it but just wants to win?”

“What do you want me to do Marissa? If I don’t do that, he would destroy the image and reputation of my company and I don’t want that and most importantly, he would embarrass you in front of everyone and I don’t want that.” Alex explained.

Marissa shook her head and spoke.

“I want you to know that you shouldn’t give up on what you have worked so hard for because that annoying jerk threatened to expose our fake marriage.

And so what if he does, you just say the truth and forget about it and if those investors say they don’t want you to handle the job again, it’s their loss.”

Alexander smiled as Marissa spoke.

He was so grateful to have her by his side, supporting him and giving him strength. He knew that he couldn’t give up on his dreams, no matter what the cost. He took a deep breath and looked into her eyes.

“You’re right,” he said. “I can’t let him blackmail me into giving up what I’ve worked so hard for. And I certainly can’t let him hurt you.”

“I appreciate that,” Marissa said, giving him a small smile. “But there’s something else we need to talk about.”

“What is it?” he asked, feeling a sense of dread rising up in him. “What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been thinking,” Marissa said, taking a deep breath. “And I’ve realized that our marriage, our whole relationship, it’s not real. It’s just something we decided to do so that we could get the contract so I think that after the launch today we should end it. What do you think? I think it would be the best thing.”

Alexander’s heart sank as he listened to her words. He had known, deep down, that what she was saying was true.

“I know,” he said, his voice thick with emotion. “I think you’re right.

We will discuss about this after the launch today.” he said and smiled and left to attend the event while Marissa stood there and looked outside admiring the view.

She knew this might be the last time she would attend such an elegant event dressed like a princess, so she took a deep breath and smiled at herself.

“Well done, Marissa. You’ve done a great job and I think it’s time to wake up back to reality.” she told herself.

Just then she heard a voice from behind and looked and saw Jessie walking towards her.

“So you came when I was clear that I didn’t want to see you near Alexander.”

“I came to say my goodbyes and besides he invited me and I couldn’t say no to his invitation since it was one of the most important days of his life.

He has worked so hard for this launch to be successful.” she explained.

Jessie rolled her eyes.

“Well now that you have seen him, I don’t think you should still be here. So please just leave.”

Marissa could feel the tension in the air, and she knew that this could easily turn into a big scene. She didn’t want to cause a scene at Alexander’s party, especially not on such an important day for him. So she decided to take the high road.

“You’re right, I shouldn’t be here,” she said, keeping her voice calm and even. “I’m sorry for intruding on your event. I’ll go now.”

Jessie looked surprised by Marissa’s response. She had clearly been expecting a fight, and she didn’t know what to do now that Marissa was backing down. But Marissa wasn’t backing down – she was simply choosing to walk away with her head held high.

As Marissa turned to leave, she felt a hand on her arm. She turned back to see Alexander standing there, looking at her with a look of concern on his face.

“I get to decide when to leave, Marissa and not anyone else.” he said and grabbed her hand and led her to the event hall.

Jessie was surprised at Alexander’s actions as she didn’t expect he would do such a thing in her presence.

She could see that he was choosing Marissa over her, and it hurt. But she knew that she had no right to be hurt – she had never really been there for him, but she was kind of angry at him for doing that in her presence.

He had never treated her like that but now that Marissa was in the picture, she was no longer important to him.

As Marissa and Alexander walked away, Jessie felt a wave of sadness wash over her.

As she watched them walk away, she made a decision. She would make sure that she split them up and walked to where Jaime was and spoke.

“Are you still going to announce that their marriage is fake?” she asked Jaime who was sipping his glass of wine.

“Why are you asking? I thought you wanted to protect your beloved boyfriend.” he teased.

“Just answer the damn question!” she yelled at him.

“Well… it depends… if he hands over the contract, I might not have to.” he explained.

“No! I want you to reveal their fake marriage. I don’t care about the contract. I just want them to split up!”