Chapter 9

Jade's POV

It's the next day, and I'm back to work. I have to meet some clients and do paperworks, this is the most boring part of my job. We just arrived at my building, it's actually an old warehouse which we renovated to be our main office, it's called JAT Dance Studios. It's located in a private compound so paparazzi can't wander around, especially that my clients always come here to rehearse. It has three dance studios, a recording studio, a conference room, lounge area, a gym, and of course, my office. I spent most of my days here, if not doing rehearsals or meeting, you can find me at the gym or just in my office doing whatever.

As I walked through the lobby, I was greeted by the receptionist and some utility personnel, I greeted back. The walk to my office was not too long and I immediately flopped down my desk chair as soon as I entered my office. Leigh-Anne has her own desk outside my office, but she stay inside most of the time. What? I can't be alone. We run through our schedule for today, I have three client meetings, one dance class, and a lot of papers to sign. This is going to be a long day.

~~~

I just finished my dance class with aspiring young dancers. I always conduct these classes to teach people how to dance and anyone's welcome to enroll. I like teaching dance, it's my way of giving back especially to the students because I know how they feel. The excitement to learn routines and techniques, to have that dream to be a great dancer someday, I know because I was once a student. Anyway, I went back to my office to freshen up since I have another meeting.

"Your next meeting is on five minutes, and they've already arrived. They are at the conference room now." Leigh said checking her iPad.

"Okay, just.. let me catch my breath." I said still panting. I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and drink.

"Is this the last for today?" I asked.

"Yes, and we can go home after." she replied. Finally, home!

After a few minutes, we decided to go and meet the new clients. Well, there's just one person, a bearded man. He stood up and greeted us.

"Good afternoon Ms. Thirlwall." he said with a smile.

"Good afternoon too. And please, call me Jade." I greeted and smiled back at him.

"I am Paul, manager to Perrie Edwards." he said and offered his hand. Perrie..?

"Oh... Hi." I shook his hand, confused.

"And this is Leigh-Anne, my assistant." I said and they shake hands.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" I asked, intrigued of why he's here. I gestured for us to sit down.

"Well, I am here to talk about the... you know.. the news." he said, suddenly nervous.

"Oh yeah, that.. What about it?" I chuckled.

"I was told that the news is not true. Correct?" he inquired.

"Yes, that is correct." I answered. Oh, how I wish it was true. 

"And I guess, you were as surprised as us when the news came out." he added.

"Yes, we were definitely surprise." I said and looked at Leigh-Anne, she smiled.

"I'm gonna cut to the chase here." he sighed. I nodded for him to continue.

"Our management thought that this is a good publicity, especially for Perrie. And we would like to continue whatever this is... if you agree." he said. Wait... What??

"Are you trying to say that you propose Jade and Perrie to date?" Leigh butted in.

"Yes, for Perrie's exposure. You see, Jade here is really famous, she has a lot of fans and a lot of connections to the industry, people love her, she's quite influential. And after Perrie's struggle with her controversial break-up, this publicity is what we need to get her back on track." he answered.

"As in date, like for real?" Leigh asked again.

"Yeah... Well, if not, they can at least pretend that they are dating. Only to the public." he clarified. Ohhhh... 

"Of course, only if you agree Jade. We're not gonna force you to do this if you don't want to. I completely understand." he said.

"What do Perrie think about this? Does she know?" I asked.

"Yes, of course, she knows. And if I'm being honest, she's quite not fond of the idea." he laughed.

"That's what I thought." I said trying to hide my frown, but failed. She don't like it.

"But it's the management's decision, so there's really nothing she can do.. And that's why I'm here." he chuckled nervously.

I looked at Leigh as if asking 'What are we gonna do?' and she just shrugged as if saying 'It's your call.' Then I looked back at Paul.

"Do we have to answer right now? Because I would like to think about this first." I said truthfully.

"Oh, please, think it through. I know this is really difficult. Take your time." he said. I just nodded.

"Here's my number. Call me when you've made up your mind." he said as he handed me his call card. I took it. Then we stand up.

"Thank you for your time Jade. We'll really appreciate it if you agree with this, we need you help, so please consider." he pleaded.

"You're welcome Paul, and it's our pleasure. I'll think about it. I'll call you." I said as Leigh accompanied him out.

I sighed and face palmed myself. Really? Pretend to date Perrie? Oh, why is this happening? My head starts to hurt so I decided to go back to my office. Leigh-Anne entered a few minutes later.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I don't know." I said.

"Why not we go home now? I'll cook dinner and then you... you need to think about their proposal." she suggested. I just nodded.

Oh, I have some contemplating to do. Jeez!

~~~

Back at my apartment now, and Leigh's promised dinner was... delicious! I almost forgot my name! We sat down the couch in the living room after we ate our dinner and decided to watch some random show. But it didn't last long, my concentration on the TV show got lost and my mind drifted to the proposal Paul had offered me. Leigh-Anne must have noticed so she muted the TV.

"Hey, you alright?" she asked looking at me.

"The proposal.. It's bugging me." I said to her.

"Okay, let's talk about that. Obviously, you only have to options here, either you accept it and date Perrie, or you don't and we clear things out." she said matter of factly.

"But if I choose option one, do you think I can do it?" I asked, more like a question to myself than to her.

"Honestly? I think you can. You've done it before." she answered me.

Yes, I've done this before. Years ago, me and my good friend Sam, also a famous celebrity, pretended that we're dating to hide our real sexuality. It didn't last long though, it was really difficult for him. We eventually decided to stop and told the public that we just didn't work. Then after a few months, he came out to the public. I followed later on, yet we still didn't reveal that we just pretended to date.

"That's true, but we both decided to do that. This is another story. Paul said that Perrie didn't like the idea of us dating." I said.

"Do you?" she asked in a smug face.

"I... uh.. I- I don't know." I stuttered. Dammit!

"I knew it!" she shrieked. I looked at her confused.

"You like her! You were so interested in her ever since her performance. And your reaction to the news was like you're enjoying ever second of it." she teased.

"What? No!" I defended myself.

"Whatever you say Thirlwall!" she smirked at me.

"Can we go back to the problem at hand, please?" I scowled at her.

"Okay. Calm your tits. Jeez!" she said raising both hands in surrender.

"I need some advice Leigh... What do you think?" I asked her.

"Well, if you're asking me as your assistant, I'm gonna say that you should pick what would benefit you both, especially on your careers. I will support you no matter what your decision is. As if I have a choice? I'm you're freaking assistant!" she laughed at herself.

"And if you're asking me as your best friend, I'd say that you should choose what you think is best for you. I mean, dating someone couldn't be that hard if you like the person." she smirked at me, I rolled my eyes.

"But it could go the other way around, if you know what I mean. I will support you either way, I just don't want you to get hurt. You're smart and a very strong woman, I know you'll choose wisely. But if you choose option one, you have to be careful." she continued. I nodded at her.

Leigh-Anne's right. Pretending to date Perrie is easy. It will benefit her, both of us actually. I can give her the exposure she needed, while she can give excitement to my boring life. And I'm up for the challenge! But to carry on pretending... that's the problem. Oh gosh! Why is this so hard? I know I can do it, don't doubt myself on that, but I'm afraid of where this could go. I'm scared actually, I can't go through that pain again. Okay, you're way ahead of yourself Jade! Get a grip! I need to decide now, taking too much time is just prolonging the agony.

"Thank Lee Lee! I'm really glad that I have you." I told her.

"Just so you know, you'll never get rid of me." she chuckled and then hugged me. I hugged her back.

Then I picked up my phone from the coffee table and dialed Paul's number. This is it! No turning back now!

"Hello?" he answered after a few rings.

"Hey Paul, this is Jade. I've made my decision."

--

There you go! I think it's obvious what Jade's decision is. Haha! 🙊🙊🙊 Please leave a comment, and vote if you liked this chapter. Thank for all the support loves! 💋💋💋

- R xx