“Are you seriously going to make me listen to her crazy idea?” he asked as he stared at me with apparent disbelief.

I couldn’t blame him at all for his reaction. After all, I couldn’t quite believe that I was asking my boyfriend to listen to a plan that involved him playing the role of another woman’s boyfriend. Even if it wasn’t supposed to be real, I knew that it was a very risky move. However, it wouldn’t hurt to hear her entire plan before we made our decision.

“All I’m saying is that maybe we should listen to her plan first. It’s not like we have to agree to anything even after hearing all of it,” I pointed out in a small voice.

I smiled a little at him with the hope that he would calm down and be a little more openminded even though Elizabeth’s plan sounded extremely crazy. Ace let out a growl that showed just how frustrated he was before sitting back down in his seat again.

“Thank you..for this..” I murmured softly.

“At least Karina still has her wits about her. Listen, you can’t deny that it’s going to be very convincing if I dump Kyle and get back with you, right?” Elizabeth said and I could feel her excitement.

“No, I don’t see it that way..” Ace replied flatly.

“What about you, Karina? What do you think?” she asked as she turned her attention my well.

Well, if I had to make a comment about this then..

“I guess, it might help a little to convince him..?” I replied hesitantly.

“Definitely. Even if it won’t convince him right off the bat, he will be distracted enough by it. Just think about it carefully. It’s like my father’s dream or something that I would end up marrying Ace and then magically our companies and well as our families would be joined completely. Happy ending for everyone, you know..” she explained very convincingly.

“I guess..” I muttered.

Although I did not like it, I had to admit that I could see why her father and many other people would see the two of them as a match made in heaven. Their family backgrounds were very familiar, their family business is in the same market, they share a history, and their marriage would be beneficial to their business as well as many other people involved. Everything seemed perfect except for one tiny little problem that the two did not love each other.

“This sounds too childish and too simple. If you’re only doing this to get back at your dad, then you can count me out. You can dump that husband of yours and start dating another guy,” Ace said with clear disapproval.

“Well, I guess fooling my father that we’re back together will really get his hopes up and then we can totally crush it when we tell him that he’s been fooled all along. I think I am so in love with that idea. I mean, just imagine the look on his face when he finds out that he agreed to the merger just to find out that he was fooled by our fake relationship,” Elizabeth said before beaming a confident smile at us.

I was tempted to see how she would find that idea attractive. Elizabeth was still human despite how professional she was supposed to be. It surprised me a little at how much she was willing to act on her emotions, though. She might not have realized it, but it seemed like she was mixing personal matters with professional matters just as much as her father did.

“The deal is off if that is why you’re doing this. I’m not putting on some act to help you get back at your father. It will just make your family situation worst and it will bring about even more problems in the future,” Ace warned sternly.

I had to agree with Ace on that one; however, I didn’t miss the fact that there was still no solution on how to get Chairman Chase to agree to the merger. Then again, could the merger go forward if we all started lying to him?

“Come on, all you have to do is pretend to be my boyfriend or fiancé. It’s not the end of the world. I’m not asking you to sleep with me. All you have to do is hold my hand as we walk side by side, let me cling to your arm here and there when we are in public together, and maybe we go out to some events together as a couple. That’s it..” Elizabeth said with a shrug of her shoulders like it was nothing. historical

Her descriptive words stunned me into silence. Without wanting to, my mind had already pictured various scenes of the two of them together acting like a couple. Ace holding her hand in his as they walked along together while they chatted and smiled at each other. Elizabeth leaning her head on his shoulder as she clung to his arm in front of everyone while they were at an event together. The scenes that played themselves in my head made my chest clench uncomfortably even though I knew that it hadn’t really happened. It seemed that the thought of them together, even if both of them would just be acting disturbed me more than I was willing to admit.

“Listen, Elizabeth, this is just taking it too far..” Ace quickly refused.

“Really? Then, do you have another solution to our problems? If we can just put up this act and make my father believe it, then at least, we can kickstart the merger. He’ll be the advocate for us to convince the other big shareholders to vote for the merger. Once the merger is underway and everything is going great as it should, even if he finds out later, it would be extremely hard for him to turn the decision around. Plus, he can’t just tell the other shareholders that the merger is now a bad idea because we’re not really dating, right?” Elizabeth pleaded her case passionately.

--To be continued..