Page 36 of Doctor Grump

“Nah.” I was already shaking my head before she even finished talking. “I can’t let you do that. I’m not going to mooch off you.”

“It’s not mooching. We’re family. Besides, that’s why I termed it a loan because I know you’re not the type to take handouts.”

“Exactly.”

“And if you want, we can even do everything all official-like. You can put up the house Grandma gave you for inheritance as collateral or something. Or I can buy it from you if you want. It doesn’t look like it’s worth much anyway.”

I shook my head. “I’m not selling it, and Grandma didn’t give it to me for its financial value. It has sentimental value to both of us. Besides, I don’t know if money alone would solve my problems.”

Bella cocked her head at me in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, when I handed my salary over to my mom and told her about my idea for a payment plan, she didn’t even blink. It didn’t phase her, and she didn’t seem happy at all. She still hasn’t budged on the idea of me marrying the count. At this point, I think, more than the money, she wants the prestige.”

I hated thinking badly about my parents, but at this point, I had learned to be realistic. As much as I loved them, I knew they were extremely superficial people who cared very much about how they were portrayed. Being in-laws with a rich billionaire count would raise their reputation in this town, and it would be something my father could finally have against the half-siblings who treated him with contempt his entire life. And as much as I knew they probably loved me in their own way, they thought they knew what was best for me as well, that this would make me happy. My mother had made no secret of the fact that due to my weight, she thought I couldn’t get a decent enough man on my own and that it was her job to find me a husband.

This meant that the desire to marry me off to the count was as much personal as it was a financial decision.

“I have a plan,” I told Bella. “A way to get my parents off my back.” I hesitated before finally parting with the ridiculous plan that had been toiling in my mind for weeks now. “I think…I think I need to hire someone to pretend to be my fiancé for a few months or so until either my mother or the count finally gets tired of this charade and gives up on me. If not, my parents will never let this go, and as I said, my mom will ruin any subsequent relationship I try to have.”

Bella gave me an incredulous look and smirked.

“A fake fiancé?” Bella asked, humor in her voice. “Like in those books that Judith used to read sometimes?”

My grandmother, for all her hardness, had occasionally indulged in romance novels, and it was one of the more confusing aspects of her personality.

I nodded. “Exactly like in those books. But the problem is, I have no idea where to find this person—someone I can hire to play the part of my fiancé. The ads I saw online were all sketchy, and also, there’s my budget to think about. Either way, I’m running out of time. I can feel it—my mother breathing down my neck.”

“Why don’t you ask one of your friends for help?” Bella asked.

“Well, most of my male friends are either married, in relationships, or I’ve been friends with them too long for a relationship to be believable. My mother would sniff out the lie from a mile away.”

“What about your boss?”

Just the mere mention of Ian had me losing control of my drink, and my coffee went down the wrong way. The first cough exploded out of me, spraying some coffee on the floor as I tried to get myself back under control. I put down the mug and covered my mouth, coughing as I stammered, “What about him?”

Bella gave me an odd look. “Why not ask him to play the part of the pretend fiancé?”

“Oh, that. No, I can’t do that. Definitely not him.” It gave me goosebumps even just thinking about it.

Ian and I hadn’t spoken of that night ever since it happened. The morning after, I woke up to find that he had left for work early but had made breakfast for Kendy and me and even left a note for his daughter. I had no idea what the note said, but she smiled when she read it and ate breakfast more enthusiastically than she ever had before. Ian came home in time for dinner that night, and Kendy had run to him and hugged him. It was the sweetest thing I had ever seen. Then we sat down, ate, and made mundane conversation that was smooth and not at all awkward.

Except for the fact that Ian was clearly avoiding looking at me in any way. Any conversation thrown at me was regarding Kendy, and I was met with polite but soulless answers.

I tried not to let it hurt. I already suspected that Ian would distance himself the next day. I had been in enough one-night stands to know what happened after, and it was precisely why I no longer did one-night stands. The night before was a mistake, and now I had to bear the consequences like a big girl, so I swallowed the hurt and played along, pretending everything was fine.

And somehow, we continued like that for the rest of the month.

We were cordial, but there were no more deep night talks or hot looks passed between us. He no longer stood behind me while I cooked or even came close to me at all. It was like he was trying as much as possible to keep his distance from me while still maintaining a cool, friendly demeanor. It was awful. I wasn’t sure if I preferred it to when I thought he didn’t like me.

But it meant that there would be no asking him to play the part of my pretend fiancé.

“No, not him,” I repeated. “Although he wouldn’t be half bad as a fiancé.”

“Fiancé?” came a screechy voice behind me, followed by a high-pitched giggle. “Who would want to marry you?”

Oh no.

Bella and I shared an identical annoyed look before I turned around to find our twin cousins standing there. They were tall, slender, and glamorously beautiful in their usual designer fare. Their cupid bow lips were drawn into a smirk as twin number one said, “Oh, I know her fiancé. It’s that man that her mother keeps bringing around to dinner. The old one.”

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