Pretend Affair With The CEO Novel – “What we had was never serious.” My boyfriend says the words so casually as he sits in a chair across from me. “I won’t have you pretend it was. I’m getting married to someone else, and that’s final.” I can’t move. I can’t breathe. I stare, waiting for an indication that he’s joking, that this is a prank. None comes. Noel keeps stirring his coffee, eyes on his cup as if I’m invinsible. “What we had was never serious?” I repeat under my breath. The words ring in my head over and over.
The tiny cafe bubbles around us, yet the only thing I hear is the pounding in my ears. “What is that supposed to mean?” I croak. It’s the first time I’m speaking since he dropped a bombshell about his engagement minutes ago. “You don’t need me to spell it out, Hazel.” “I.. I do,” I stutter. “I need to understand why you’re throwing what we have away without a care in the world.” He leans back in his chair, his face contorted with something that looks like mild disgust. I sink my teeth into my lower lip as his next words hit me. “You knew we were just having fun. Don’t make this harder than it’s supposed to be.” “Fun? We’ve been in a relationship for three years, and you think we were having fun?” He scoffs, brows arched in amusement. “I’m finding it hard to understand why you think a man of my caliber should stoop so low to be your endgame when I can have any woman I desire.
You work in PR, you understand image.” Translation: Being with you will put a stain on my name. Aah! It’s clear to me now. There it is, everything that has caused me to worry since I started dating someone way out of my league. I knew being with a man so high up the ladder like him was trouble, yet I went ahead with it. Everyone who knew about our relationship always found it hard to understand why Noel was dating a plain nine to five worker with no money and connections. I always thought it didn’t matter. He loved me and that was the only important thing. Who could have thought that he had also been looking down on me too, planning a wedding with a woman of his ‘caliber’? “Look.” He leans forward, pushing his untouched drink to the side. “You saw this coming, Hazel. You can’t measure up to Violeta. She’s the perfect woman for me.
She was born into my world, understands my challenges.” He pauses, running his hand over the sleeves of his designer shirt that cost the same as a quarter of my annual salary. “And most importantly, she’s from a family that matters.” My fingers curl into my palms. I meet his eyes, feeling tears rapidly rush to mine. “I sacrificed a lot for you, Noel,” I say quietly. “I did things I can never forgive myself for, just because you asked me to. You can’t do this to me now.” Noel rolls his eyes with an air of boredom. “Is this about the abortion?” My chest tightens. I stopped life from coming into this world because he wasn’t ready for a family. He has no right to downplay what I went through like this. The guilt still eats at me everyday, but he’s not affected in any way.
“It’s not just the abortion.” “Pray, tell, Hazel. What else did you do for me?” My hands ball into fists. My teeth grit together. A bitter rumble starts in my guts. How is he so effortlessly cruel? “You stopped me from leaving when I got that position in Switzerland. You said you didn’t want to be in a long distance relationship. I chose you over my career.” I shake my head in pain. “You can’t abandon me now.” “That was your decision.” His words cut through me. He flashes me an irritated glare, tapping the table absently, as if he can’t wait to leave. “Come on, Hazel. Don’t make it sound like I forced you to do those things.” I bite down on my lower lip, blinking hard in an attempt to hide the tears forming behind my lids.
It’s hard to believe that the man I’ve grown to love and trust over the years is the same person saying these words to me. Suddenly, it hits me. The truth I have ignored all this while. “Did you ask me to kill our child because I’m not a woman of your ‘caliber’?” I make air quotes around the last word. “Our child?” Noel snickers. “You never even let that thing reach a month in your womb?” Thing? My jaw hangs open. Noel continues with a nonchalant shrug. “And yes, you’re right. How on earth was I supposed to take you to my parents and tell them you were going to give them their first grandchild? Have you looked at yourself, Hazel?” He gave me a rude onceover. “It will be an insult to make you the mother of my kids.
You should have known that things would come to an end when I asked to abort that pregnancy.” Blood roars in my ears. I place my shaky hands on my laps, feeling my stomach twist violently. I can’t even think of anything else to say to him. He has done all the damage he needs to do to make me hate him forever. “You’re strong,” he mutters, taking a sip of his drink. “You’ll get over this.” Noel rises to his feet. A few dollar bills land on the table, followed by his condescending tone. “Take this for the coffee.
I’m getting married in two weeks. I’ll appreciate it if you can forget all about me, because I’ll do the same.” With that, he’s making his way to the door, the heels of his shoes clicking against the tiles. For a second too long, I sit there, gazing at the empty chair he left behind as his statement replays in my head. Fun. That was all he saw me as. Nothing but a mistake he could fix by marrying someone richer. I should run after him and curse him out. Throw hot coffee in his face. But I stay glued to my seat instead. When Noel texted earlier to request a date, I’d been elated, dashing out of my office at the start of my lunch break to meet him. It was the first time we were seeing each other after a week of being ‘swamped with work’ according to him.
If I had known I’d be slammed with a breakup, I’d have saved myself the excitement. Now, sitting here torn apart by his words, I can’t help but wonder why I didn’t see this coming. An alarm blares through my phone, jolting me back to the present. Taking a deep breath, I wipe the tears from my eyes and grab my bag, making my way out of the cafe. I can already see myself getting wasted tonight, but my main purpose for now is to get through the rest of my work day. Starline Entertainment is only a stone throw from the cafe. By the time I reach the office, I’ve fixed a plastic smile in place, ready to go through the day like I didn’t just get dumped by my boyfriend. “Hazel.” My boss’s sharp voice rings through the air as soon as I walk into the large office I share with the rest of my colleagues.
Zoey’s shooting me an impatient glare through the transparent walls separating her office from ours. “Where’s the pitch deck I requested earlier?” “I’m on it,” I rush to my table, pushing all thoughts of Noel to the back of my mind as I turn on my computer. “Five minutes,” she mouths sternly. “And you have to look a little less miserable at work. There’s a job for you.” I sink into the chair in my cubicle just as a chair scrapes against the floor to join mine. In it is Kimberly, the office gossip and the closest thing I have to a work friend. Judging by the excited gleam in her eyes, I can tell she has new tea she’s eager to spill. “Did you hear?” she asks, leaning over the partition. “No, Kim. And if you’re not bearing news about a raise, I’m not interested.” “We have a new CEO,” she says anyway. “Don’t tell me you didn’t hear about him. The whole agency is going crazy because of him.” I have more pressing issues to worry about, like getting this deck to Zoey before she flares up in anger, and crying myself to sleep while going through photos of Noel and I.