Page 85 of The Fake Dating Plan

“She’s a liar and a cheat. I knew it then and I should have known it now, but I don’t know. I thought things had changed.”

“Can I give you a word of advice?”

“Speak.”

“Maybe she’s not as bad as you think. Did you at least give her a chance to explain? Hell, I know if I hadn’t been as hard-headed as I was with Hailey, we would not have wasted time hating each other.”

“She’s nothing like Hailey.” Emilia differed greatly from Hailey. She was more calculating and much more conniving, but on top of it all, she was heartless. Everything she did was to further her ends.

“If you say so. Whatever you do next, I hope you allow yourself to see things from her perspective.”

From the perspective of a cheat? I don’t think so.

“What are you going to do? I hope you don’t jeopardize her business. They’ve been doing very well; it looks like a good investment.”

As he was speaking, Mira or Moira came in with my coffee, which, let’s face it was long overdue. I took the cup as soon as she sat it down next to me. “Don’t worry,” I said to Caiden, “Your money’s safe,” and took a sip of the beverage. A bitter taste I least expected filled my mouth. I spit it back out. “What the fuck is this shit!” She stopped dead in her tracks and shrunk a few inches as she turned to face me, eyes wide. “I—your coffee, sir.”

“It is not. This is instant! I don’t drink instant coffee ever!”

In a small voice, she replied, “But that’s what you’ve been drinking all this time.”

“What?”

“Remember when I told you your next shipment of Peruvian coffee won’t come in until a month later and you said that was fine, you’ll drink whatever is there. Well, that’s what’s there.”

As much as I hated to admit it, the minute she said it, the conversation came to mind, and I had said I’ll drink whatever was there. The only problem is, I had been too preoccupied with Emilia to think about what kind of drink went into my mouth.

Caiden, who appeared riveted and amused by this exchange, popped into the conversation. “Maybe you could give him my coffee. It’s not Peruvian, but it’s not instant.”

“Yes. Sir.” She made a short nod of her head that was like a bow and rushed out of the room as fast as possible. She rushed back in, took the cup, made a few more apologies, and went back out again.

“Sure. You're fine. You’re acting like a sane and normal person who’s not going through a heartbreak right now.” I glared at him as a warning to not continue. He did not heed it. In fact, he relished in my anger and continued to taunt me. “And please have mercy on poor Adeline’s soul.”

That was not Adeline, but my other assistant. But since I had forgotten her name, correcting him would be moot.

“How’s your baby,” I said, “shouldn’t you be caring more about him than me.”

He flashed a bright smile. “He’s fantastic. Growing up real fast, too. Wanna see.” He took out his phone and began scrolling through it.

“Ugh. Please. If I had known becoming a father would have turned you into an over-sharing dad, I would have found a way to hide Hailey in some nunnery.”

“Trust me, I would have found her.” He leaned over and pressed play on a video. “Look. He learned how to say, papa.”

I watched the video with barely concealed patience. It was cute I had to admit. Hailey and the chubby little kid were in the frame. She was holding him and pointing at the camera. “Say, papa. That’s papa.”

“Pa. Pa.”

I hear Caiden laughing and the video ends.

“Amazing isn’t it.” His grin was even wider now than before. I don’t think in all my life, ever since we first met each other in high school, I had seen him this happy. There was a genuine joy he felt that was not only infectious even in my gloomy mood, but it also made me feel envious. I wanted what he had. Or did I? I probably just wanted to feel as happy as he was feeling that’s all.

“Wow. A kid just did what all kids his age do.”

My sarcasm didn’t faze him. “Actually,” he raised a finger, “He’s speaking earlier than kids his age. We have a genius on our hands.”

A child with the personality of Caiden and Hailey, plus a high IQ. Lord have mercy on the future generations.

“You know what, I’m going to post this.”

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