Do I Know You?
Safely ensconced in the car Walter had basically forced upon her and Michael to take, Lily spared a glance towards the excited boy who was bouncing slightly in his seat as he stared out the window. After ensuring that Michael was properly buckled up and was suitably entertained by both his tablet and the passing scenery, the brunette turned to stare out her side of the window and allowed her mind to wander.
They had just left the office where she and Walter,— Conrad— she silently reminded herself, had just signed the contract detailing her current predicament of being engaged to the raven haired man. With one of the terms being how they will address each other only by either their names or a form of pet name, she would need to get used to at least addressing him by his name. Especially, if she wanted any hopes of successfully sell their relationship to not only the public but their family. Another thing she now had to worry about since she had been informed that sooner or later she would be required to meet with his family.
Which did scare her, especially since she was unsure of how they would act towards her. From what Conrad had told her, his family had been completely caught off-guard at his sudden public declaration of her as his fiancée. He had also exasperatedly informed her that since the day of his proposal they had been badgering him to introduce her to them. Apparently, they were all excited to meet the woman who finally made their playboy willing to settle down.
However, it did mean that there is probably already some sort of expectation they have of her and Lily's not ashamed to admit that she's terrified to find out what their reaction would be like upon meeting her. This lead to another excuse aside from watching Michael while Conrad was working as to why she's currently heading towards the mall with the boy in tow. Since Lily's pretty sure that none of her existing formal outfits would be appropriate enough to wear when meeting with her fiancé's family, that meant going shopping.
She was broken out of her thoughts when the car came to a halt and Marcus announced. "We've arrived young madam,"
Lily blinked, "Ah, yes, thank you Marcus," she thanked before she turned towards the beaming boy next to her. "Ready to go sweetheart?"
"Yes!" Michael grinned up at her, one tiny hand outstretched. Lily smiled back at him, engulfing his hand in hers as she stepped out the car with Michael behind her. Once they were safely out of the range of the door, it was swiftly shut close by Marcus who let out a polite bow as he informed her that he would park the car before meeting up with them inside the mall. Something which Lily protested initially, insisting that she didn't want to be a bother and that the man could simply have some free time. But the offer was immediately refuted by the firm words of "Mr. Walter insisted on this", and the brunette was left with little option but to agree on a meeting time and point before Michael and her were even allowed to step inside the building.
The man had only drove away once he was certain they were inside the building and within sight of the mall security. Apparently, increased security was also part of the package of being Conrad Walter's fiancée, which is definitely going to be something she would have to adjust too.
'But', Lily thought silently as she looked down to the boy next to her who was glancing around in wonderment. 'I suppose, his worries are somewhat valid.'
Noticing that Michael was staring back at her with a confused tilt, Lily merely smiled back reassuringly.
"So, since it's just us right now," she started, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "Should we have pizza for lunch?"
Michael's bright grin was answer enough.
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"And so from previous data we projected that the by next quarter we would be able to increase our revenue by up to 8%—"
Conrad flipped through the papers he held, keeping an eye on the presenting employee even as his mind drifted towards thoughts of his fiancée and son. Which therefore led him to think back on what transpired earlier, of how the brunette had reacted to his actions. Although she had denied his advances, she had also ended up reciprocating to his kiss which meant that she was also at the very least slightly attracted to him despite her rejection of him.
Which was one of the factors that led him to push for certain clauses in their relationship contract. After all, if they are to be married for 2 years there will be a level of public affection that would be expected of them. It would definitely helped that his chosen fiancée was easy on the eyes and able to play along whenever they needed. That was one of the reasons as to why he decided to do a little test on Lily, so to speak, although his other reasons are purely personal in nature. A test she had passed with near flying colours, if he went by Evan's report of the gossip already circulating around the office.
Flipping through another page of the documents to show how he was still listening to the presenter, who was currently moving towards the projected earning for one of their new products. Conrad further allowed his mind to wander on how his fiancée had reacted to his little display of affection —and claim, his mind supplied smugly—, with the loveliest of reactions. The memory of it caused the raven haired man to let out a dangerous smirk, causing his board members to shiver, largely afraid of whatever made their boss let out that smile. The presenter himself stumbled in his words at the sight, before a raised eyebrow from the Walter CEO caused the man to hurriedly continue with his presentation. Focusing back on the meeting at hand, the raven haired man made a mental note to wrap things up fast and catch up with his son and fiancée as soon as possible.
After all, what better way to alert his family and the public of his new permanent relationship and introduce their future daughter-in-law than by having public family outings.
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"What do you think Michael?"
Lily asked as she exited the changing rooms to showcase the outfit she's currently trying out to the eager boy.
"Pwetty!" The raven haired toddler replied, legs swinging from where he was comfortably seated on a plush sofa. "Mommy pwetty!"
The brunette giggled at the enthusiastic reply, "thank you sweetheart, but you've said that for every outfit I showed you."
"But mommy always pwetty!"
His fervent reply caused the nearby saleswomen to let out a coo, squealing at how adorable the toddler was. Lily smiled fondly at the raven haired boy, reaching to ruffle his hair playfully despite his indignant shrieks and laughter. "Thank you Michael, but I only need one of the outfits not all ten. We'll need to pick eventually,"
Michael blinked back at her in confusion at the words, "why?"
"Why what sweetheart?"
"Why just one mommy?" The raven haired toddler asked back, eyes large with curiosity. "Daddy buys all,"
Lily could practically feel her eyes twitch at Michael's words, of course the rich asshole would be the type to splurge and now she's the one who has to explain to his son that not everyone has the same amount of money his father does. It's a miracle that Michael hadn't turned out into a spoiled child, especially since from what she heard from Conrad the entire family seemed to dote on him in every way they could.
"Because we shouldn't buy things we don't need honey," the brunette replied gently, squatting so that she was eye to eye with the boy. "Mommy only needs one outfit so that's all mommy will buy, let's try to not follow in your daddy's example of buying everything he sees."
The boy looked back at her with confusion in his eyes but nonetheless he nodded his head agreeably. "Okay mommy, just one,"
Lily smiled back at him, ruffling his hair fondly. "Yes sweetheart, just one. Now, do you want to help mommy pick a colour?"
Immediately the toddler shifted his attention towards the few outfits hanging on the rack nearby, rushing over to grab at the material, lips turned into a small pout at she stared intently at the choices. Lily let out a small chuckle at the serious expression on the toddler's cute face, glancing briefly at the price tag attached to her current outfit and withheld a wince. She was fully aware before she entered the shop that this was one of the many shops that was slightly out of her price range. However, with how she was currently known as being engaged to the Walter Enterprises' CEO she had to maintain a certain reputation and that meant having to spend more on keeping up appearances. Before Lily could feel even feel more regretful at her decision to agree to Conrad's 'proposal' a cheery call of "mommy!" caused her to shift her attention to the toddler behind her.
"Coming sweetheart," Lily called out as she stepped towards the raven haired boy. "Did you pick the colour you liked the most?"
"Mhm," Michael hummed earnestly, pointing towards a particular dress in a deep shade of midnight blue. "This one mommy,"
Lily ran an appraising hand over the outfit, feeling at the material even as responded to the boy's decision. "You like the blue dress Michael?"
The toddler eagerly nodded at her, bouncing in place. "Yes! My fav'rite colour!"
"I love it sweetheart, this way we can even match hm?" the brunette responded with a smile. Leaning over to pluck the hanger housing the mentioned dress in one hand while the other grasped at a tiny hand. "Thank you for picking it out for me, mommy will just go change and be right out again. You sit tight and then we can head out to pay okay?"
"mhm!"
Within minutes the mother and son pair were standing by the counter as they waited for the attendant to return with the brand new version of the outfit she had settled on. The two were in the midst of discussing on whether or not they should actually get matching outfits, Michael was in vehemently in the opinion that they should while Lily was in the opinion that they would need further talks on the topic.
(She was completely bluffing, she knew that the moment the raven haired boy pouted she would immediately cave)
"Well, well, if it isn't Conrad's fiancée," a snide voice spoke up from behind them.
Lily glanced back even as she subtly pulled Michael towards her and away from the woman approaching them. With red lips pulled into a fake smile and blonde curls framing her face, the brunette had the feeling that this woman was one of many that heard about her "engagement" and was none to happy about it.
"Sorry, do I know you?"
The woman seemed to flounder at her cold tone, smile faltering before it was plastered back on her face. "Oh, did he not tell you about me?"
Lily smiled coldly. "No he didn't actually, should he have?"
"Oh!" Blondie fake gasped before her face twisted into one of fake sympathy. "I just thought that he might have told you, especially given our....history. But I guess that since you're just newly engaged he wouldn't want to bring up those memories again."
The brunette suppressed her immediate reaction to roll her eyes and instead settled for a tight-lipped smile. So, this was probably one of Conrad's many ex's approaching her to show her displeasure with her being engaged to the man. Lily would be lying if she said that she never expected something like this to happen, especially given how well-known her fiancé is and his reputation for being a player. However, she would appreciate a much better timing, preferably sometime where Michael was safely away from this.
"I...see," Lily countered easily, shifting her attention to the attendant who had finally came back and was processing her payment. The brunette was content to simply ignore the woman behind her since she doesn't even know her, but apparently that was the wrong thing to do as the woman continued on to raise her voice rather indignantly.
"Aren't you the least bit curious of who I am?" She demanded.
This time, the brunette really did roll her eyes. She passed her card to the attendant and reached to carry Michael in her arms before acknowledging the woman.
"No," Lily answered truthfully. Honestly, she could care less who this woman was and what her relationship to her fiancé, after all the whole relationship was a giant lie and she doesn't have even the smallest bit of love for the man.
"I'm really not Ms, after all the person you know is my fiancé and not me. If you have anything to tell him you could do so yourself."
The blonde gaped back at her, stunned.
Figuring that the conversation was finally over, Lily turned to retrieve her card and receipt from the attendant. Once that was safely tucked away inside her purse, she bent down to pick up Michael before taking the bag presented to her, nodded to the attendant and moved to walk out of the shop. However, it seemed that the woman was simply not done and the brunette was once more halted in her steps as fingers clamped on her shoulder, red-painted nails digging into her skin.
Lily winced lightly, something that the boy in her arms seemed to notice, she tried to reassure him that she was okay but that was rather hard to do when both her hands were occupied. The boy had gone silent the minute the blonde woman had begun approaching them and she just wanted to get him away from their current situation.
Exasperated, Lily turned to face the fuming woman, harshly dislodging her grip on her as she did. "What more do you want Ms?"
"Do you really think you can keep your place forever?" The blonde hissed, lips pulled back in a snarl. "One day he'll get bored of you as well, and where will you be then? You're only enjoying this all because now you have the title of being his fiancé. But once he's done with you, you'll be nothing but a nobody once more."
Lily had barely registered whatever the woman was speaking, far more concerned about the boy who began trembling in her arms. Glaring at the woman—who seemed delighted to have finally incited a reaction out of her— Lily prepared herself to simply storm out without even responding when the blonde let out a gasp.
The reason was obvious when moments later she felt an arm wrapping around her waist as she was pulled to a broad chest. There was only one person she knew who would do that.
Then of course, came the silky drawl that practically screamed danger.
"Did I just hear you call my wife a nobody?"