Chapter 83 - Weekend

Lucy's eyes kept moving to the wall clock in her office as the time approached the closing hour. She was going to face Tom again. The thought of that made her almost panic, but she quickly raised her chin, and straightened her spine, reminding herself that she already had a good plan to take care of things.

There was nothing to be anxious or nervous about. The worst he could do was flirt with her and talk dirty, and she was just going to act unaffected by it. That was how bullies behaved. Once they see that you are affected by their words, they keep on bullying you. But when you act like you don't care, they move on to someone else. She would try not to let his words get to her anymore, and then once they finally get down to sex, he would get over her and move his attention to someone else.

With that thought in mind, once it was time to leave, she stood up confidently and headed for the parking lot. Tom was standing beside the car talking to a lady, as she approached them.

Lucy almost rolled her eyes when she heard the lady say, "How about Monday night?"

"I'm sorry, but I have plans too on Monday night and every other night as well. Thanks for asking, anyway," Tom said with a polite smile, and looked over her shoulder when he saw Lucy, "I have to go now, my boss is here," Tom said with a polite bow, relieved that Lucy had come to save him from the persistent lady who wanted to go out with him.

"Oh! Okay," the lady said with an embarrassed smile and waved at Tom as she walked away without looking at Lucy.

"You seem to have many admirers," Lucy observed as she got into the car and buckled her seatbelt.

"Does that bother you?" Tom asked as he did the same, before turning on the car's ignition.

"Not in the slightest bit," she assured him with a polite smile.

"Good."

Tom noticed that she was acting all bold once again, and he couldn't help but admire her resilience. He could bet she had come up with a plan to get rid of him. Or maybe she thought having sex with him was going to take care of everything and get him off her case. He looked forward to seeing what she had up her sleeves.

"So what is your plan for the weekend?" Tom asked, hoping he could get her to go out with him and spend some time together.

"I will be going out with a friend tomorrow," Lucy said, making him turn to spare her a glance.

"A friend? What friend? I thought you didn't know anyone here apart from me?" Tom asked, sounding very surprised and somewhat disappointed.

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"I didn't, but I do now. I should have other friends apart from you, shouldn't I?" Lucy asked, giving him a friendly smile before he returned his attention to the road.

He wasn't sure he liked the sound of that, "Who is this friend? Male or female?" Tom asked, trying not to sound too concerned.

Lucy was almost tempted to say "male' just so she could see his reaction, but she wasn't interested in any drama so she simply said, "A beautiful young lady."

Tom let himself relax. He had no problem with her having friends and hanging out with other ladies of course. He only wished they were hanging out together so he could get to know her better, "That's nice. What about Sunday?" He asked, hoping she had no plans of meeting anyone else on Sunday.

"I think I will just be indoor reading and resting," she said, wondering why he was asking. Or was he trying to find out when she would be available so they could do the deed? She wondered, and then cleared her throat, "If you're not too busy tomorrow evening you could come over," Lucy suggested without looking at him, and the corners of Tom's lips twitched.

Was that a sexual invitation? "Why not tonight?" Tom asked curiously.

"You said you had something to do, didn't you?" She reminded him.

"Oh! Yeah," Tom said with a nod, even though he had nothing to do. He couldn't just say he canceled his plans now since he didn't want anything that would make her suspicious of him.

"Why don't you come over to my apartment instead, tomorrow? We could have dinner together," Tom suggested.

Was he trying to make it a romantic evening? Lucy mused, wondering why he was inviting her over to his house for dinner. She didn't want any romantic gesture. All she wanted was to get it done with and move on.

"What do you say?" Tom asked when she said nothing and seemed like she was lost in her thoughts.

Maybe it was best they do it at his place after all. The last thing she wanted was for her apartment to be desecrated. She didn't want to have to be reminded about the sex every time she walked into her home. She didn't want to create such memories with anyone in her apartment. So she gave him a nod, "Okay. I will be at yours by 7 PM," she said with a nod.

"Okay then. It's a date," Tom said with a grin, looking forward to Saturday evening already. Seeing how well he was doing on his own, he had failed to give Bryan a call that day, and seeing as Bryan had also not called yet, he could tell Bryan was also busy either with work or with Sonia. Maybe it was best he handled this himself, and only call Bryan when necessary.

He quickly reminded himself that he still needed Bryan's help to find out all he could concerning Lucy from Sonia. So he made a mental note to give Bryan a call once he got home, so he would find out if Bryan had been able to get any information from Sonia. He needed some background information to work with over the weekend.

Lucy on the other was also thinking of giving Sonia a call once she gets home to find out what she had been able to learn about the CEO. She needed to make active plans over the weekend, and put those plans concerning the CEO in motion by Monday.

Meanwhile, seated across from Bryan as a cafe, Sonia played with her straw as she drank from her milkshake while she waited for him to say what she knew he wanted to say. Men! So predictable! Sonia thought with a mental shake of her head.

"What do you want from me?" Bryan who was yet to touch the iced tea in front of him asked Sonia curiously.

"I already stated everything I wanted last night. Why are you asking me that again?" Sonia asked with a slightly raised brow as her mischievous green eyes met his intelligent blue eyes.

"It doesn't make sense," Bryan pointed out.

"It doesn't have to make sense to you for it to be what I want, does it? Your proposal to a random stranger doesn't make sense either, does it?" Sonia asked Bryan who sighed in frustration.

"This whole thing is actually simple. You proposed to me, and I said yes. Now you want me out of your life, and I'm saying all you have to do is treat me as you would if I was really your fiancee for six months and after that, I will break up with you and leave voluntarily. How difficult can that be?" Sonia asked, making Bryan frown.

When she put it that way, it actually sounded very reasonable and simple. He had proposed to her, and now she wanted to experience what it felt like to be his fiancee before returning his ring, easy-peasy. Unless that he knew it wasn't as simple as she was making it sound. It couldn't be that easy. Sonia had other plans for him and he knew it.

"And what will you be doing within that time?" He asked, making Sonia giggle.

"Why are you so worried about me? I already told you I won't bother you if that is what you are worried about. Just do what you need to do, and I will get out of your hair," she assured him, reaching over the table to pat his hand which was resting beside his glass, but instead of relaxing him, that gesture only seemed to unsettle him the more.

What was the problem? What was it about her that made him so restless and edgy? Bryan wondered as he watched Sonia who was looking at him with a sweet smile as she sipped from her milkshake. She looked like she was having the time of her life. He didn't trust her one bit. Everything about her told him she was mischievous. From her eyes which were always gleaming like a thief's flashlight to her smile and laughter, and down to her personality. Everything.

"What if I don't want to do that? What if I decide to break the deal?" Bryan asked, and Sonia raised her head to meet his gaze.

"You won't," she said with a confident smirk.

"..." Bryan opened his mouth to say something, but before he could respond both their phones started ringing. Once Sonia saw that the call was from Lucy, she excused herself and walked to the ladies' room, leaving Bryan to take his call there.

"Hey!" Bryan greeted Tom once he accepted the call, grateful that their table was at the end of the cafe, and he had all the privacy he needed to talk.

"Can you talk? Or are you busy at the moment?" Tom asked as he sat on the trunk of the car. Lucy had gone to her apartment the moment he parked the car and handed her the car keys. So he had decided to give Bryan a call before heading inside.

Seeing how Sonia had disappeared to take the call, he could guess the call was from Lucy, and as such she might not be coming out immediately, "Sure. I can talk. What's up?" Bryan asked curiously.

"I just wanted to know if you have been able to find out anything about Lucy from your fiancee."

Bryan raised a finger to tap his forehead thoughtful, "Hm... I think I got something. But what do I get in exchange for the information?" Bryan asked, making Tom raise a brow.

"What do you want?" Tom asked curiously since he knew it couldn't be money.

"Well, for starters you can return the favor by helping me find out what you can about Sonia from Lucy since she doesn't know that we are connected," Bryan said, making Tom pause.

"I should help you find out more about your fiancee? The lady you proposed to? What more do you want to know about her that you can't ask her directly?" Tom asked in confusion.

Maybe it was time to tell him the truth about his relationship with Sonia "Okay, the truth is that..." He stopped when he remembered his agreement with Sonia. He wasn't supposed to tell anyone else. He had told Matt, and she had told Lucy. He shouldn't tell anyone else about it as Sonia had assured him that Lucy wasn't going to tell anyone the truth about their engagement. That meant their secret was safe.

"Yes?" Tom asked when he paused.

"The truth is that my fiancee isn't very chatty, and she doesn't really like to talk much about herself. So I will like to find out what I can about her from her best friend," Bryan said with a sigh. Although he already knew what a terrible and crazy person she was, he still wanted to know the extent of her craziness and be sure she really had no mental issues.

"Then you should ask her to introduce you to Lucy. That way you can ask Lucy all you need to know," Tom suggested making Bryan roll his eyes.

"Don't tell me you don't know how best friends lie to cover up for each other? Lucy won't tell me the truth since I'm engaged to her best friend. You, on the other hand, can just get the truth from her. So?" Bryan asked, and Tom sighed.

"Okay. I will see what I can do. But you have to first tell me what you got from Sonia," He asked, and Bryan narrowed his eyes thoughtfully as he tried to remember what Sonia had said earlier.

"I think this is very important in understanding her. Although Sonia didn't give me the exact details, from what she said, her half-brother kind of had feelings for Lucy and committed suicide because of her..."

"What the **?" Tom asked in surprise. He hadn't been expecting something like that.

"Yeah. I don't think Sonia likes to talk about the subject much, since it involves her family, but I will find out what I can and let you know. That aside though, Sonia says Lucy is pretty cool and calm. And Sonia also kept trying to get information about you," Bryan informed him, but before Tom could respond, he spotted Sonia returning to the table so he quickly said, "Got to go. Let's talk later," and he hung up immediately.

Chapter end