Chapter Two

Gabriel broke the kiss and pulled Antonia away to a private space, so they could get away from the paparazzi and talk. He was so satisfied that she showed up for the party and didn't disappoint him.

On the other hand, Antonia had only just realized what she had done. She had foolishly kissed Gabriel Wilson back when she ought to have given him a tight slap.

With a small smile curled on Gabriel's face, he stared at Antonia's beautiful features. Indeed, she was a beautiful lady, even though she looked a little different from the picture he had seen. Regardless, he had no doubt the internet would go into a frenzy with this news, and the humiliating articles would disappear.

But Antonia wasn't smiling. “Why the fuck did you show up out of nowhere and kiss me like that?” she asked, folding her arms neatly beneath her chest in akimbo.

For a split second, Gabriel was taken aback by her sudden question. He was perplexed as to why she would ask him such a thing when she knew damn well what her job entailed.

He swallowed hard and tried not to get furious with her. First, she came late, and now she was acting as though she had forgotten what she was here to do.

He took a step back from her and stared at her, confused. “I hired you, Tania. You are here to act as my pretend girlfriend. So, what's with the crappy attitude?” he hissed.

Antonia stomped her right foot repeatedly on the floor as she glared at him. What audacity! How dare he speak to her that way? As if that weren't enough, he addressed her name wrong.

Could today get any worse?

She bit down on her lower lip, fighting the urge to give him a verbal lashing. He was so damn lucky that her job didn't permit her to be rude at her will, and to top it off, Gabriel was an important figure, and disrespecting him could affect her career.

Oh! She groaned inwardly. Curse you, management, curse you!

“First things first, who the hell is Tania?” Antonia asked him with an arched brow. “You grabbed me out of nowhere and put those lips of yours on me, and now you even dare to address my name wrongly? How audacious of you, sir!” she scoffed.

Gabriel took in a deep breath and exhaled afterward. There must be something wrong somewhere, he thought to himself. If not, why would this lady ask him who Tania was when she was Tania?

He let out an exasperated sigh. “I was the one that hired you, Tania. My assistant said she had a meeting with you and paid you the money so you could attend this party and pretend to be my girlfriend,” he trailed off, pausing to clear his throat.

Antonia stood there, silently watching and listening to what he had to say.

“So when I saw you, I was glad you made it. I needed to get things over with quickly, so that's why I kissed you,” he explained.

Antonia blinked severally, trying to comprehend what she had just heard. After a few seconds of deliberating, she cleared her throat to speak. “Now, I get what's happening here. You mistook me for your date for the party, right?”

Gabriel was confused, but he managed a small nod. “Yes,”

“Well, you got the wrong person because I am not Tania. My name is Antonia. T-O-N-I-A for short,” she spelled out.

“I'm a model, not a girlfriend for hire, which means that I have never met with your assistant for any sort of agreement,” she clarified.

Bile rose in Gabriel's throat. He became more perplexed by her explanation. If she wasn't Tania, as she claimed, then why did she kiss him back? Why didn't she push him away or make a scene right then and there?

He clenched his fist. “Are you playing with me?”

Antonia furrowed her brows. “Do I look like someone who's in the mood for jokes?” she fired back at him, her pulse quickening in seething anger.

Just then, the reporters came to their small corner and began to take incessant pictures of them together. The blinding lights and shutter sounds of clicking cameras were too much for Antonia to bear.

Today was certainly a bad day for her, she thought to herself, cussing under her breath. If only she wasn't bound by her useless contract, she would have never attended this party. And now that she did, it had created more drama for her.

“Is she the girlfriend you have been talking about, Mr. Wilson?” one of the reporters asked.

“It’s a surprise you're dating a model, Mr. Wilson. When did you two meet each other? Is she a model sponsored by you?” another followed.

“How long have you two been together? Why did you decide to go public? Are you only doing this to deny the rumors surrounding your sexuality?” another one questioned him even more intensely.

“Is your relationship real? How long have you been together, and why did you only choose to go public when the news of your condition came out? Is there a reason your kiss was awkward?” a female reporter questioned, and Gabriel almost let out a frustrated groan.

The color drained Antonia's cheeks as she thought of the little kiss she shared with Gabriel Wilson in the party hall; it was brief, warm, and strangely passionate.

Somehow, it managed to spark something from the depths of her gut. She felt quite alive after a long while. But the attention she was getting now was too much for her to bear. So she walked away without turning to respond to the incessant questions thrown at her by the reporters.

“Did you guys fight?” another reporter asked Gabriel.

Gabriel took a cursory glance at Antonia's retreating figure. Then he turned back to the reporters. “Please excuse me. I hope that with what you all have seen today, you'll stop spreading false stories about me, and you'll respect my privacy,” he said briefly before walking away.

Antonia heaved a sigh of relief when she managed to make it out of the building without being noticed. Just then, something grasps her wrist, or more like someone.

She slowly turned in the direction of the person and twitched her lips. Behold, her ex-boyfriend, Ryan, was hovering over her with a scowl on his face.

“What do you want, Ryan?” she spat angrily at him. She looked at his hands on her wrists with pure disgust on her face.

Ryan slowly released his grip and retracted his hand to his side. “Have you been cheating on me with Gabriel Wilson?” he asked.

That question took Antonia aback. The color drained from her cheeks as she stared at him with contempt. “Cheating?” she scoffed, scanning him from head to toe. “How dare you say I was cheating on you, Ryan?”

A rush of emotions emanated from the back of her throat, and it took every ounce of strength not to cave in. She shouldn't be crying in front of Ryan. He wasn't worth a single drop of her tears.

A few months ago, Ryan had been the only person she ever loved and thought of. There wasn't a single moment where she didn't share every detail going on in her life with him. She felt he was the man for her, and she was going to love him forever.

But what did he do?

Unbeknownst to her, Ryan had been cheating on her with a new model. Her name was Celia. Celia was a beautiful woman, blonde and slim, but she was very young. Seven years younger than Antonia, to be precise. She was also the new model she had lost her contract to earlier today.

Antonia found them having sex in the modeling agency, at the back of his trunk. Memories of that day flooded the forefront of her brain. She remembered calling him that morning to remind him of her birthday, but his numbers weren't going through.

Frustrated and tired, she sent him a couple of text messages. But Ryan didn't respond to any one of them. When he finally did at noon, he said he was busy. He said he had a lot going on in his life that needed urgent attention.

Antonia sighed. She tried to understand him. After all, they have been together for six years now, and she felt Ryan loved her very much. Maybe he was planning a surprise for her.

But a couple of moments later, she received a text from an unknown number, saying she should come to the agency to find out what had been going on behind her back.

Within minutes, she got there only to find her precious boyfriend, who claimed to be very busy, banging his dick into another chick. And the chick turned out to be Celia. It was then that Antonia discovered Celia was the one who sent her the text message out of spite. So, she could find out who her boyfriend was.

Antonia tried not to break down in tears as she shoved down those dreadful memories from the forefront of her brain.

Gabriel, who was trying to run after her, stopped when he noticed her standing with a strange man. He knew something felt oddly wrong between them, and barging over there to meet her could only make the situation worse. So he stood at the corner, staring intently at them.

Antonia's eyes shot up to Ryan's. She forced a sad smile. “Shouldn't you be ashamed to make mention of the word cheating?”

Ryan let out a chortle. “Why should I be? You broke up with me without any explanation or reason. What do you expect me to think?” he fired back. His deep voice reverberated through the dark atmosphere.

Antonia didn't flinch.

Yes, Ryan was right. She left that day after finding him fucking Celia without making a scene. Celia caught a glimpse of her and tossed a devilish smirk in her direction, but Ryan took no notice. He was too engrossed in the pleasure of the moment.

“We are done, Ryan!” Antonia yelled. “So I advise you to get over it!” she made to walk away, but Ryan grasped her wrist one more time.

Without thinking twice, Antonia slapped him right across his cheeks with her free hand and yanked her wrist away from his grip.

Stunned, Ryan stood there, clutching his aching cheeks, as he watched Antonia walk angrily into her car and drive away.