Chapter 9 Chapter 9
Emily's POV
I had a meeting that I needed to attend at the Training Centre for the PR thing. The training centre was clean and quiet. Clean environments made sense to me. The human body is complicated, but at least it followed patterns. People don't follow patterns, and Noah is definitely people.
I pushed the glass doors open and stepped inside the conference room that Dr. Ross told me to meet in. My laptop bag hung off my shoulder, and my mind was still halfway in Noah’s lounge, replaying the way his muscles shifted under my hands during his assessment. The imbalance in his shoulder was worse than I had expected. Months of overcompensation, if not years. He hides his pain the way some people hide secrets, which, unfortunately, makes my job harder.
“Emily,” Dr. Ross called. I looked her way. Dr. Ross sat at the head of the table. Two others were already there, Coach Bennett and a woman I recognized from the athletic department website. Her name was Lauren Vega, head of athlete communications.
Public relations.
My stomach tightened at the thought of it. Something about this meeting felt different. “Have a seat,” Dr. Ross said gently.
I sat down on the chair across from Coach Bennett and Lauren. She folded her hands on the table. “Thank you for coming, Emily. We know your first day settling in has been… eventful.”
“That is one way to describe it,” I said carefully, looking between all three of them.
Coach Bennett gave a tired smile. “Noah can be… challenging.”
“That is also one way to describe it.”
A faint chuckle moved around the room, but the atmosphere stayed heavy. Dr. Ross slid a folder on the table towards me. I just stares at it. I’ve learned something important about folders in professional settings. They mostly contained problems.
“Emily, we need to discuss the complete structure of your internship.”
I opened the folder slowly. Inside were documents, printed schedules, marketing proposals, and campus event outlines. At the very top was a heading that said,
Public Image Rehabilitation Initiative: Noah Harris My pulse stuttered. I flipped the page, and then the next.... and the next. Every page said the same thing in different ways.
Appearances.
Joint interviews.
Campus events.
Charity functions.
Social media posts.
Featuring… Noah Harris and me.
My chest tightened as I slowly looked up at them.
“This is a joke,” I said.
No one laughed. Lauren leaned forward slightly. “It’s not.”
I pushed the folder away. “No.”
Coach Bennett sighed. “We expected resistance.”
“This isn’t resistance, this is a refusal.” I said.
Lauren kept her tone calm, and professional. “Noah’s public image has been… unstable. Repeated incidents have created a narrative around him that could impact the university’s reputation.”
“And that’s my problem because…?”
“Because you represent stability.” She said gently.
“I represent physical therapy.”
“You represent discipline,” she clarified. “Integrity, focus and professionalism.”
“That doesn’t make me a PR prop.”
Coach Bennett interjected. “Noah respects you.”
I almost laughed. “He met me yesterday.”
“He complied with your rehab plan.”
“That’s because he wants to play again.”
“Exactly,” he said.
I crossed my arms under my breasts. “So the solution is what? Pretend we are in love?”
Lauren shook her head. “No. Pretend you’re in a relationship.”
“That’s just worse.”
Dr. Ross finally spoke again. “Emily… this arrangement would not interfere with your clinical responsibilities.”
“Except for the part where I have to lie to the entire campus.”
Lauren slid another page towards me. “Not lie,” she said. “Present a narrative.”
“That’s literally lying.”
Silence filled the room. Then Coach Bennett said quietly, “Emily… Noah is on the edge of suspension.”
“He is?” I said with sarcasm because that was what I would expect coming from Noah.
“Yes.”
I swallowed. “He didn’t really tell me that.”
“He wouldn’t,” the coach said.
Something in my chest tightened unexpectedly, but I pushed the feeling aside. “That still doesn’t explain why I’m involved.”
Lauren nodded slowly. “You’re involved because your presence changes the narrative.”
“What narrative?”
“The one where Noah is reckless, unstable, and incapable of forming healthy relationships.”
I stared at her. “And you think fake dating fixes that?”
“We think consistency fixes it.”
I shook my head. “This is insane.”
Dr. Ross reached into the folder and pulled out another document. “Before you decide,” she said softly, “You should see the full offer.” She moved the document over to me.
I read it. I had to read over it again. After I've read it for a third time due to my brain that refused to process it properly.
Graduate Scholarship- Full Coverage
My heart stuttered. “That’s…” I shook my head as I continued to stare at the words before I looked up at them.
Lauren nodded. “Westview would fund your entire graduate program.”
My throat went dry. Suddenly, I needed water.
Graduate school tuition... gone..
Debt... gone.
Years of financial pressure… gone.
I stared at the paper again like it might disappear. “That’s not all,” Lauren continued. She flipped to the next page.
Johns Hopkins MD–PhD Recommendation Priority
My chest tightened even further, I let out a heavy breath. Oh. My. Fucking. Gosh.
“That’s the program I-”
“We know,” Dr. Ross said with a faint smile.
“And,” Lauren added, “We would also like to offer you a role as a university health ambassador.”
“A what?”
“Social media ambassador. You would promote athlete wellness, injury recovery education, and sports rehabilitation awareness.”
My stomach flipped. “My Instagram?”
“Yes.”
“Your following is significant and authentic.”
I stared down at the documents again.
Scholarship.
Recommendation.
Ambassador role.
Everything I’ve been working towards.
All are sitting in front of me. All within reach. All tied to one condition... Noah. April would push me to grab this with both hands, even at the cost of fake-dating Noah.
My voice came out quieter than I had expected. “You’re asking me to build a fake relationship.”
“Yes.”
“With a man I barely know.”
“Yes.”
“And pretend it’s real.”
“Yes.”
Coach Bennett leaned forward. “You would also be helping him.” That hit somewhere deeper than the rest.
“He’s not the guy people think he is,” the coach continued quietly.
“Everyone says that,” I replied.
“But you have already seen something different.”
I think about Noah’s shoulder. The way he tried to hide the pain. The way he followed every instruction I gave him. The way he looked was genuinely surprised when I corrected his posture. I hated that the memory softened something inside me.
“This is manipulation,” I whispered.
Lauren nodded. “Yes.”
“At least you’re honest.”
“We are,” she said.
I sat back in my chair. My heart was racing at a rapid pace. My mind was screaming. My ambitions were whispering.
Graduate school paid for.
A Johns Hopkins recommendation.
A national platform for sports medicine advocacy.
Everything I want. Everything I need. All for one lie. Or maybe… one performance.
Dr. Ross watched me carefully. “You don’t have to answer immediately.”
But I already knew, because I had spent my entire life chasing one goal, and that was to become the best, helping athletes recover, changing the way sports medicine was practiced. Opportunities like this didn't appear twice. I closed the folder slowly.
My chest ached. “This doesn’t mean I like it,” I said.
“No one expects you to.”
“It doesn’t mean I trust him.”
“You don’t have to.”
“And if he crosses a line-”
“He won’t,” Coach Bennett said firmly.
I exhaled slowly. My voice barely rose above a whisper. "Fine.” Three pairs of eyes locked onto me. “I’ll do it,” I said. “But it stays controlled,” I added quickly. “Structured, no improvisation, no emotional manipulation.”
Lauren nodded. She always seemed to be nodding at everything I said. “Agreed.”
I stood up from the chair. I gathered everything. My legs felt strange, like I just signed a contract with gravity.
As I walked towards the door, Dr. Ross called softly behind me. “Emily?” I turned around to face her.
“Thank you,” she said. I nodded once and then stepped out into the hallway.
The air felt different now. Like I was suffocating. The internship just became something else entirely. And somewhere across campus… Noah has no idea
just how much our lives are about to intertwine.