Chapter 9

Lana Castroff I brought the last box into Phoenix's penthouse and put it in my bedroom. I looked at all the boxes and stretched my arms out because it's been a tiring day moving in from my house to his penthouse. Phoenix's penthouse has two floors and he even has a private pool on the second floor which is amazing. I can't believe he's living alone in this penthouse and manages not to feel lonely most of the time. I agreed to get married to him because I want to pissed of my father. I bet one though percent on it that he will be mad at me. I'm tired of him having an affair with my own mother who already got married with her commoner boyfriend. My father must be somewhere in Europe with my mother and his secretary just informed me that he will be back by the time I'm going to Maldives. Suck for him because I will be back in Paris and he will know that I'm married to Phoenix. "Lana." I heard Phoenix knocking on my door. "Yeah?" I answered and walked towards the door opening it. "Your appointment, they're already downstairs." Shit! We both agreed to have a fitting for our dress and tuxedo to go to his cousin's wedding. We need to match and make a statement to announce our wedding without taking over his cousin's night. "I think I have to take a quick shower because I'm sweating right now. Do you mind giving me 10 minutes?" I asked and he smiled nodding. "I'll let them know." He said and I closed the door. I quickly jumped into the shower because I don't want to have a fitting with my sweaty body. I bet the don't mind but I'm not comfortable enough for that. After taking a shower, I put on a black tank top and a black short. I went down to the first floor to see around 6 people ready to help me and Phoenix together. "Caesar, this is my date to my cousin's wedding." Phoenix introduced me to the head of the styling team. "Oh my gosh, Ms. Castroff. I've been dreaming to style you." He said as he took my hand kissing it. "I'll be the one who will thank you." I said chuckling. "Should we start?" Phoenix said and I nodded. The team started to measure my body and brought me the dresses that will fit my body perfectly. I looked at it one by one when I felt Phoenix has his hands on my waist from the back. "I think this color will suit you." He whispered to my ear giving me goose bumps all over my body. He pulled out a beautiful emerald dress. "Don't you think it will too much?" I asked as I looked at the beautiful dress. "Trust me, my family will over dress and the bride will still.. over power them." He said as he kissed my cheek. That actually caught me of guard because I never thought he would kiss me. After that, Caesar's assistants helped me to get in this dress. Caesar styled it with some accessories and I tried 3-4 more dresses before deciding to go with the first one. Phoenix already tried his tuxedo and he looked incredibly handsome. After 4 hours for fitting and trying to find a suitable hair for me, we're done. I sat down on the sofa relaxing because fitting isn't my thing even though I love shopping. "How will we announce your wedding without them being shocked and suspicious?" I asked and Phoenix sat down as he gave me a glass of water. "Well I'm planning to announce it on the after party so let's not wear our wedding ring until then." He said and I nodded. I sipped on the water slowly. "You've been hanging out with Adrian a lot huh?" He asked and I chuckled. "He's really cool and fun to be with." "Really? That's a really weird statement." He said in a weird tone and I raised my eyebrows wondering if it's a sarcasm or just a pure insult to insult his friend. "Is he an Illicit too?" I asked bluntly. "I can't tell you who's the other members, Lana. It's not a study group type of vibe." He said as he looked down the window. "I'm a little nervous." I said as I looked out the window again. I drank all of my water and sighed. "Don't be.. they will love you." "So you think marriage will solve your family problems?" I asked and he nodded. Phoenix chuckled before turning his head to me. "Oh yes, they've been dying to see me get married but I've never been planning to really settle down sooner or later. When we have our divorce later on, they will disappointed at me but they will think we have problems so.. they won't force me into another marriage again until I'm in my 30s.. I assume." I nodded and put the empty glass on the table. "We will be good at playing it, I know that." I said confidently because I think it's easy to act like someone's lovers. It won't be hard to fool everyone. All you need to do is just have your hands around them most of the time and give them a kiss once in a while and maybe stare into their eyes sometimes. "I know but don't even think about getting comfortable with me, Lana. I don't do love and shit so.. I fucking hate clingy girls." He hissed showing that he really hates the idea of settling down. "Don't worry, I'm not that type of woman. I will never long someone who won't even look at me. This will be easy as long as we both give each other spaces when we're not doing this." I said in a serious tone. "We both can date anyone we like, you can date Adrian if you want to."