Chapter 10

Perrie's POV

It's been a week since our meeting with the upper management. Jesy told me that Paul have already talked to Jade but Paul haven't told her any details yet. And yes, it's been a week but the news haven't died down and it's still the talk of the town, still trending on social media. People started to call us "Jerrie" which is a combination of Jade and I's name. It's actually from the fans who call themselves as Jerrie shippers. Anyway, I haven't heard from my family though. Usually, at times like this, they were the first to console me, ask me if everything's okay or something, but now there's nothing. I wonder why..

Jesy and I arrived at a coffee shop where Paul said he'll meet us. We went through the back door since there are paparazzi strolling in the front of the cafe. What are they doing here? As soon as we entered, we were directed to a private room. And when we got there, I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw a certain someone sitting on a curved couch scrolling at her phone. She's so engrossed at it, she didn't even noticed our arrival. Beside her is an Afro-haired lady who is talking to Paul.

"Hey guys!" Jesy said, getting everyone's attention.

And then she looked up, her eyes landed at me. I immediately averted my gaze to the floor, embarrassed that she caught me staring. Oh my gosh! But why is she here?

"You're late!" Paul said as he stood up.

"Only by ten minutes." Jesy countered.

"Still late. Anyway, let me introduce everyone." he said in a serious tone.

"Girls, this is Jade Thirlwall and her assistant Leigh-Anne Pinnock." he said and they stood up. Paul now turned to them.

"Ladies, this is Perrie Edwards and her handler Jesy Nelson." he introduced us.

"Oh my God! I'm such a huge fan!" the Afro-haired girl squealed as she made her way in front of me.

"Hi, thank you! Nice to meet you." I said.

"Stop fangirling Leigh." Jade chuckled.

"What? I really loved her songs." she responded. Cute.

She turned to me again and offered her hand, I took it with mine and shook them. She did the same with Jesy. Jade walked up to Jesy and shook her hands as well. Then she turned to me.

"It's nice to see you again Perrie." she said in that sweet voice of hers and smiled at me.

"H-hi.. Nice t-to see you too." I said. Why the stuttering? And boy, her smile.

"Okay everyone, take a seat please." Paul said abruptly.

Jade and Leigh-Anne returned to their previous places in the couch, while me and Jesy sits opposite them. I took a glance up at Jade and she's staring at me, still with a smile in her face. Oh, I'll be damned!

"So I gather you all here to talk about some things." Paul said. We all nodded and he continue.

"First of all, let me inform you Jesy and Perrie, that Jade had accepted our proposition. She agreed to date Perrie just like what the management wanted." he stated. Oh my God! She agreed?! Really? Oh man, I can't even... I'm trying to keep calm but surely I'm failing.

"We need to talk about the terms of your dating. Also, Jade and I have discussed about her being Perrie's choreographer for the third album." he said. Wait! What? My choreographer? Jeez!

"Perrie's choreographer?" Jesy asked, as if reading my mental questions.

"Yes. We thought it'll be a good anchor for your assumed relationship. And come on, Jade here is the best in the world! We need someone like her for the next album." he explained.

"Makes sense." Jesy said in approval.

"So about these terms, what do you expect from us?" Jade asked seriously.

"Whatever dating couples do." Paul said as he shrugged.

"The people should see you in public together. That's why you two should go out, have dates, show it even on your social media accounts. Make it believable. We don't want them to get suspicious, especially the press." he explained further.

"Do we have to do interviews?" Jade inquired.

"No, not yet." he replied.

"So you mean they're not gonna confirm the news yet?" Leigh-Anne asked.

"No. We have to keep them guessing.. at least for a while. Or they'll lose interest immediately, and we don't want that. We need to have them on our tail for a longer time." he answered.

"How about our families? Are we allowed to tell them the truth?" I finally spoke up, remembering my thoughts earlier.

"I suggest that we keep the truth from them for now. We don't want to risk this getting out, we don't even started yet." Paul said. I just nodded.

Paul continued to instruct us the plan and we throw questions from time to time. I'm actually having a hard time wrapping my brain to this whole thing but then again, I still have to do it. I just don't know how. I mean, I can't even last ten seconds of staring straight to her eyes. Her presence alone makes me wanna hide to a shell like a turtle. It's not that she's intimidating, she's really just... gorgeous! Ugh! Why is this so hard for me and looks so easy for her?

"Perrie?" Paul snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Huh?" I said.

"You still with us?" he asked.

"Uh, y-yeah yeah." I replied.

"Okay, so if you don't have any more questions for now, we can go." he said.

We all stood up and went out of the room. We headed to the front door but stopped when we saw all the paparazzi waiting for us outside. Oh boy, this do not look good! I heard Jesy suggesting to use the back door, but I guess it's too late now, they already saw us. I felt Jade stepped to my side.

"Are you ready?" she whispered to my ear, close enough that I can feel her breath.

"What?" is all I could say.

"Let's start it right now." she said.

And before I could reply, she held my hand and led us to the front doors. I almost stumble as I keep up to her pace. Jesy, Leigh-Anne and Paul follow right behind us. As soon as we stepped out of the cafe, flashing lights and roar of questions greeted us.

"Jade and Perrie! Are you dating?" a man with a recorder in his hand asked.

"Jade, when did you two started dating?" another one asked.

"Perrie, have you finally moved on from Zayn?" Oh really? Jeez!

It continued on and on, I just blocked them out and focus on getting to the car. The securities are trying their best to back them off. Jade's hand tighten its grip on mine as we make our way through the crowd, not too tight to hurt, just enough to not lose it. As we reached the waiting car, Jade let me get in first. We both flopped down on the back seat and tried to catch out breaths. Jesus! That was a struggle! When I finally gotten my breaths to normal, I looked around and realized that this is not our car, probably Jade's.

"Where to miss?" the driver asked.

"JAT Dance" Jade replied.

"Uhm... where are we going? And where are the others?" I asked as I looked at her nervously. She didn't try to kidnapped me, did she?

"We're going to my office. And they're on the other car, behind us." she answered.

The car drove off, I sighed and sunk to the well-upholstered seat as we finally get rid of the paparazzi. I almost forgot the feeling of having this kind of attention from people. It's really exhausting and annoying, yet it felt good somehow.

I got so preoccupied watching the busy streets as we pass by. I dared a glance at Jade and she was doing the same, looking out the window, deep in thoughts. I looked down only to realize that she's still holding my hand with hers. Oh my...

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It's happening everyone! Keep calm! 😂😂 Please leave a comment, and vote if you liked this chapter. Thank you guys so much! 💋💋💋

- R xx