Page 26 of Siren's Game

Honestly, I think she is going to love Kayla. The other way around, I’m not very sure. I don’t know her well enough to judge that yet.

"You should bring her to your father’s celebration dinner after the match," Mom continues and I pick at the skin of my thumb.

Maybe this whole thing was a dumb idea after all.

"We'll see, Mom. It's still so new. Maybe it won’t even last until the match is over."

"Listen, if I have to deal with the shitshow in front of my store, the least you can do is make sure she comes to that godawful boring dinner. I insist. And if you break up before then, I still insist. Now, I need to go, I think the security team is here; there's a commotion outside. Love you, darling. See you soon."

"See you soon, Mom," I mutter, but the call disconnects before my first word and I slowly lower my arm.

This became a lot more serious a whole damn quicker than I thought.

Then again, I should have seen it coming. I don't live under a rock. I know about the media frenzy around the Sirens. We haven’t been at events together but word travels fast in the industry. And hell, today I experienced it firsthand.

But my parents?

I can’t believe the paparazzi turned up on my mom’s doorstep. That's such a stretch and they got there so quickly.

Did they really think we'd leave the restaurant to go straight to my mother’s flower shop?

I don’t get it. Why would they pester her with questions about Kayla the minute we are seen together for the first time? There’s just no way that makes any sense.

Either way, the whole situation is as chaotic as it could have gotten. Thanks to me, of course. I know that. I can't believe that my parents now actually want to meet her. What a clusterfuck.

I lift my phone again and quickly pull up my chat with Kayla.

Asher: Sorry. I really didn't mean for it to escalate like this.

I sigh and head to my kitchen, opening a cold bottle of water and drinking it in one go. All this chaos is making me thirsty. I grab a second one as I make my way to the living room, when my phone buzzes with her message.

"Actress": Have you seen what they're actually writing??

Asher: Matter of fact, no idea.

She sends me a few screenshots of online articles.

"Meet America's Dream Couple".

"King and Queen of Entertainment Industry now dating!"

All of them have a picture of me holding her hand as I pull her after me as we arrived at Fantasia.

Then there are screenshots of posts from her fans who have reposted a video of me towering behind her as the guy put his hand on her.

"I can't believe it those two are so fuckingcutetogether."

"Finally she found someone who will treat her right!"

"Oh my God are you serious?? These two have to be end game. LOOK AT THEM IT’S FINALLY A BOYFRIEND WHO’S TALLER THAN HER!"

I gulp. That’s nice and everything, but what exactly are these screenshots supposed to tell me?

Asher: So what's the verdict?

Not more than a second passes until the three little dots appear to indicate she’s typing.

"Actress": What do you mean verdict? Didn't you, like, make the decision? This is not a situation I can just 'whoops' my way out of now, Asshat!

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