Virgo and Michael went back to his room for some alone time, and I went to mine to think. I stepped out onto the fire escape outside my window and listened to the car honks and felt the warm July wind push through my hair. I knew that what Michael and Virgo said was true. They were my best friends in the world, and they wouldn’t be mad if I said no. I pulled out the ring Mr. Hirano gave me and inspected it closely. It was an older ring; some of the shine on the silver band had been worn down and the main pearl was chipped a little. God, was this a family ring? And he just gave it to me? I looked around guiltily, like someone would see and know what I was doing. I slipped the ring onto my left-hand ring finger and admired it in the glow of the city lights as the sun set behind me. I knew Michael and Virgo would understand, but that didn’t stop the sick feeling I had inside. I wanted to do it, to get that money. I wouldn’t even have been in this situation if I had been more professional in that first meeting. I owed it to Michael, our company, and to myself to make that mistake right.
“Mrs. Lydia Hirano.” I tested out the sound. Girls in grade school used to write out their names with their crushes’ last names, I felt childish doing it now at twenty-four years old. Even so, “Mrs. Lydia Hirano-Maxwell. Maxwell-Hirano?” That had a ring to it.
Maybe I could see this as a blessing. After all, Mr. Hirano had said he’d take me to socials. What better ways to network than having an into all high society events? That way I could get even more interest in our brand. Mr. Hirano was right. I shouldn’t see it as some dark game, it was all just business. There weren’t going to be any feelings, at most we’d have to kiss a few times in public. In college, I’d kissed strangers at bars for worse reasons.
With my mind made up, I went back inside and firmly shut the window. I was able to fall asleep easily with everything cleared up and my decision made. I didn’t realize until the next morning, when I was getting ready to call Mr. Hirano, that I had left the ring on all night.
Chapter 4: Lydia
My whole life I knew I wanted to go into fashion design. It was what I knew best, it was where I felt my most confident. So that morning I knew I had to dress to kill to have the energy to go through with this crazy plan. Cheetah print was one of the biggest trends that Spring/Summer season. For that reason, I had a long cheetah print sundress that one of my designers made at their last job. They said it “showed off my ass”. I had to agree that it made me feel beautiful and confident. I did my eyeliner with wingtips, retrying it twice to make sure it was perfect. I put his ring safely into my purse but held onto it as I dialed his number.
“Hello?” He said. Oh right, I didn’t give him my number.
“It’s Lydia. Lydia Maxwell.”
“Have you made your decision?” Of course, he’d get straight to it.
I hesitated, but I already made my choice. “Yes.”
“Then meet me at my office and we’ll get everything settled.” He was assuming my answer. I didn’t like that he was so sure that he was right, even though he was.
“No,” I said interrupting him. He didn’t reply, but I could feel his confusion from my apartment. But he didn’t continue, letting me explain. “If I keep coming to your office and we’re never seen anywhere else, we won’t seem like a couple. We don’t want this to be a secret affair. We need to convince gossip magazines and get photos of us together on twitter. It’ll make it more believable. We need to meet somewhere more appropriate.”
“That’s smart,” he admitted.
“Thank you,” I said, feeling a confident smile spread over my face. If I was going to do this, I was going to be the best fake wife anyone could ever want.
“I’ll pick you up, around noon. I’ll make reservations at a restaurant. We can discuss terms as well as begin our charade.”
“That sounds perfect.” I gave him my address. “See you at noon Mr. Hirano.”
“Taylor.”
“What?”
“My wife should call me by my first name, don’t you think? Lydia?”
“See you at noon.” I swallowed unconsciously. “Taylor.”
“Noon, Lydia.” And he hung up.
It was strange to hear my name in his voice. The way he said it was still stiff, but it felt nicer than when he insisted on calling me Ms. Maxwell.
I redid my lipstick, a dark coral green, and sat at our little kitchen table. I spent my morning looking through the rough designs and fabric swatches my designers had submitted to me. I kept looking over the same details over and over again as my mind wandered off. This was going to be the most stressful lunch I’d ever been to. No, I tried to reason with myself, You’ve gone to lunch with top influencers in the fashion world. This is nothing compared to that. That made sense to me and made me feel a little better. But as I kept thinking I wondered if that was true, why was my heart still beating so fast?
Noon rolled around much faster than I thought, especially since each hour that passed that morning felt agonizingly slow. I heard a knock on my apartment door. I didn’t have to worry yet I reasoned. Surely his driver would pick me up and then I could prepare myself on the ride over to whatever fancy place he wanted to take me to. When I opened the door, however, there stood Mr. Hirano, or Taylor. He was wearing a black button up,
