Walking like an Apple on everyone's eye, Vincaster had always made the ladies' eyes turn to a heart one. Even with a straight domineering cold aura, the girls still wanted to catch a glimpse of their devilishly drop-dead-gorgeous boss.
He was on his way from a board of trustees meeting back to his office, but he had to stop for a moment to answer the phone. Then, seeing his secretary's name assured him that it was an urgent situation, something related to the Liverteo's Foundation.
"What's wrong? Have you dine-in with the girl I asked you to date in place of me?" Vincaster asked.
"Yes, I successfully made her lose interest in you."
"Good job. By the way, where are you right now? Also, why do you sound troubled when we already solved the blind dates crisis?" He asked while grabbing the door to unlock his office.
"I'm here in your office, and we have a situation here,” Daniel replied.
"Situ-" he dropped the call and lost the momentum to finish his statement. He furrowed his eyebrows as soon as his gaze met the chairman's eye.
"What are you doing here again, Chairman?" Vincaster asked without hiding his annoyed face towards the guy with hair that speaks his old age.
"Can't you greet this dying grandpa of yours with a warm smile?"
"You expect me to smile at a guy who is forcing me to get married? Seriously, grandpa, you already set me up to 15 dates as soon as I ascended as LV's CEO," says Vincaster as he sat on the opposite chair where chairman Vincreste was seated.
"And you ditched all of them. Caster, I wanted to see you settle with a woman and create your own family before I vanish in this world. Can't you do me a little favor? I can't rest in peace knowing that you are still that unpassionate guy. You need a woman to warm your heart and also your bed." The chairman giggled after seeing the disgusted expression of his grandchild.
"I told you, I am waiting for a certain girl to marry me. You don't need to bother yourself finding me a woman," Vincaster replied. He obviously utters words out from his nose.
"You have used that excuse for the last few months. When can I meet this special girl who made my precious boy wait? You are referring to that girl you used to date during your high school days, weren't you?"
Vincaster ran his palm on his face, and he even signed before replying, "That girl and I had broken up a long time ago, and I warned you not to mention her again. Also, don't even mention her in front of my girl. Fine, I will ask her to meet you at least, but I can't guarantee you that she'll say yes immediately." Lies after lies, he kept on blabbering excuses. He knew the thought that grabbing whoever girl he could present to his grandpa was his last resort.
"Alright, I'm giving you at least a month. If you still insist on making excuses, I would think that you aren't going out with a woman but simply using an imaginary girl to avoid blind dates."
"Think whatever you want, I will bring her to meet you."
"Hearing you confidently say that makes me feel better."
"That's good to hear. You have to live longer and wait for your great-grandchild, you hear me?"
Vincaster might sound mad and irritated with his grandpa, but it doesn't mean he doesn't love him. In fact, he was concerned with his health. Vincaster is worried sick that his grandpa might die too early if he kept on brushing off his dying wish.
"Dan, escort Chairman to his home."
Vincaster sat on his swivel chair after his grandpa and his secretary left. He massaged his forehead to release the accumulated stress from work and personal life struggle. Talking about marriage stresses him out, but he can't refuse his grandpa's wish, especially now that the only family he had has numbered months to live.
His eyes were just about to close when all of a sudden, his phone rang. He slides his finger on the phone screen to answer the call.
"Are you up for a drink tonight?"
It took him a minute to agree. Honestly, he is not fond of drinking in the bar because it was a waste of time. But this time, he considered it as a remedy to distract himself.
Meanwhile, Serina was staring blankly, holding a glass of Bacardi 151. Then her friend scolded her for taking so much time staring at the glass instead of sipping it.
"We didn't come here to stare at the bottle of liquor. Why don't you sip it already?" says Psyche, a college friend of Serina and co-faculty at Liverteo Highschool academy.
"I can't afford this drink. Let's go home." She stood up and was about to leave, but her best friend was fast enough to catch her wrist.
"I did not drag you here to pay for your drinks, it’s on me, so you don’t have to worry about the price. We are here to unwind. Let your frustration go with the music and alcohol. Tonight, we are not professional but only human." Psyche grabbed her wrist and dragged her back to the sofa.
"Come on. I know how much you wanted to cry because your one-sided love finally ended today." Psyche added.
Hearing those statements had added salt to her already wounded heart. Her best friend did not lie tho. Indeed, the one-sided love she had for Xavier finally ended today.
Xavier was Serina's childhood friend. He was her crush ever since they were young. She thought there would be a chance for Xavier to see her more than his friend, but it turned out the woman he was interested in was Serina's older sister.
"So, when are they going to get married?" Psyche asked, but Serina threw a glare in return.
"That bitch dared to get pregnant without even contributing to pay our parents' debt and grandmother's hospital fee," she replied after emptying her glass of Bacardi.
Psyche bit her lower lips as she realized her question must have hurt her best friend. Suddenly Serina burst into tears while sipping directly in the bottle instead of pouring the Bacardi into the shot glass.
Serina stood up and went to the door, she grabbed the doorknob to open the door. Then, Psyche immediately stopped her from leaving again. Her intention was to let Serina meet a new guy. She thought that her friend should try dating for real to discard her long one-sided love. They were outside of the room Psyche had paid for, when a 6ft tall guy caught her attention.
Psyche smiled when she found a perfect target, and her eyes had followed where the guy went to. Serina noticed the wicked smile from her friend, and she even heard Psyche mouth the word 'Bingo!'
"Where are you taking me? I don't trust that smile and twinkle of your eyes."
"Let's have fun tonight. I promise you will never forget this night. In your whole 26 years of existence, this will be the first time you will ever thank me for being a wild friend," Psyche replied after dragging her to the room next to theirs.
"Hi, boys!"
Serina almost dropped her eyes with Psyche's shameless demeanor. She gasped in utter shock. She instantly stiffened, unable to move, then later threw a gaze at her best friend with 'what-the-hell-are-you-doing?-look'.
Only Vincaster had not even lifted his head to peek at the brazen girl who is obviously trying to hook up to whomever fragile enough to accept their invitation.
"My friend here is heartbroken, and she wanted to have fun for once. So, will you entertain us?"
"Don't mind her. I think my friend is already drunk. Sorry for causing trouble. Hmmm... we're heading out," Serina explained.
Vincaster heard her angelic voice, making him steal a few glances at her, not once but he even stared at her. Daniel and Keith noticed Vin's odd behavior. He isn't the type of guy to steal a few glances. Moreover, staring at the woman was never his style.
Daniel was intrigued by Psyche's character and had found himself studying the latter's superficials.
"Ehem." Keith cleared his throat to intervene. "Since you are here already, why don't you join us and clank a few shots of Vodka?"
Psyche already occupied a spot on the sofa before Serina could protest. They would not dare to share a table with these men if they knew that the guy they approached was the locale's mayor and the CEO. The boys had purposely worn a cosmetic and wig to hide their identity, but their great looks could not be contained in disguise.
"I'm Psyche Hudson, and this Serina, my best friend." She extended her hand, and Daniel immediately grabbed the chance to hold her hand in disguise of shaking hands.
"Just call me Dani. This guy is my brother, but we are not blood-related; call him Vin. Lastly, this guy is our senior colleague Mr. Kei." Daniel introduced themselves without disclosing who they really were.
Seri and Vin were silent all along while the two had been silently listening to Psyche and Dani's conversation, sometimes Keith intervenes.
"So, do you drink here for fun?" Psyche asked. She was already tipsy, yet she never shut her mouth, unlike Seri and Vin, who were silent cuz' they couldn't keep up with Psyche, Dani, and Keith's enthusiasm.
"Nope, we are here to console my brother. His grandpa is forcing him to get married, and he finally resorted to planning to get a woman who would enter into a contractual marriage with him."
"Your friend is broken-hearted, right? How about we ask her to marry my brother to get revenge on the guy who ditched her?" Daniel suggested without considering rationality, was it because of the alcohol or the urge to solve the problem; none of them is logical enough to support his suggestion.
Psyche didn't explain Serina's failed love story, and the guys assumed that she was dumped by a guy. She was about to set the facts straight when Serina suddenly stood up and laughed.
"Alright, let's do that! Where's my groom?" says Serina, who was already drunk. Her fury, disappointment, and drunkenness had mixed up, clouding her mind.
Whether it was fate or not, Mayor Keith had happened to bring his paper for marriage registration and certification because he went straight to the bar after solemnizing a marriage an hour ago.
Almost impossible and crazy, yet they end up signing a marriage registration and marking it with their fingerprint.
They got married on the spot, officiated by Mayor Keith.
Serina woke up and found herself lying on the couch. She looked around and didn't mind the messy paper scattered on the floor of Vincaster and his friend's private KTV room. She carefully wake-up her best friend.
She did not wait any longer, and she simply grabbed Psyche outside. She hailed a taxi in the middle of the night.
"I will never get drunk again, Psyche. My head was splitting, and I completely looked like a mess. Have you ever thought that it was dangerous to get drunk with strangers?" Serina knows that she is not in the position to blame her friend. She only protested at that time, but she never walked out in the first place. She is partly insane for allowing herself to lose her composure and conservative mindset.
"My bad. I will never ask you to go to a place you were uncomfortable with. I just want you to have your life because you are being hard on yourself."
"Anyway, we did not get ourselves involved in a silly act while we were drunk, right?" Serina asked because she failed to grasp a picture of what happened before she woke up somewhat sober.
"I guess so?" Psyche replied.
They both got back to their own lives and completely forgot their brazen drunk moment. Serina did not mind recollecting what they did in the KTV bars' private room. Everything was back from their usual routines, not until she received a piece of brown enveloped two months after the bar incident. The envelope was sealed with a tape imprinted with the word confidential.
She slid her hand inside to check what was inside the envelope, and to her surprise, she almost lost consciousness when she saw her name on the paper attached with someone else's name. She panicked after reading the word...
"Mrs. Serina A. Liverteo?!"
She closed her eyes and thought that her eyes were playing a trick. Once again, she scanned the paper only to find another unbelievable word imprinted in the sheet... 'Certificate of Marriage.'
"When did I get married?!" She crumpled the paper then walked back and forth while biting her right thumb's nail.
