Chapter 19

“Switch the damn thing off!"

I groaned into the pillow and threw it over my ears. Just then, I heard a chuckle from beside me.

My ears quirked up when I heard my own voice playing on a speaker. I twisted my body and turned around, squinting my eyes open.

The sun rays flowed inside through the open windows, and the warmth filled my face. I rubbed my eyes and slowly got up on my elbows.

Ethan was sitting with his back resting against the headboard, with a laptop on his thighs. He was sipping on the coffee whilst watching some interviews on the screen.

My eyes widened when I saw my own face appear on the screen. It was the interview that I gave yesterday.

“Tell me about your honeymoon, Skylar. It looked like you had good fun.”

“That’s because it’s so true.” I chuckled. “I’ve always loved going to London. It’s one of my favorite places. I totally love my husband for taking me there.”

“Oh, did he plan it for you?”

“Yes. He surprised me. I didn’t know about it at all. I could really love him for just that.”

“Well, you’re seeming to have a lot of fun with your co-stars here.”

I shut the screen instantly and pulled the laptop away. Ethan looked at me with mirth glistening in his eyes.

“If I had known you’d fall back in love with me if I took you to London, then I would have done it long ago, sweetheart.”

I glared at him. “I didn’t mean whatever I said last night.”

“Interesting.”

I gave him a flat look. “I only told so because the media was there, and we have to act like a normal couple.”

“Are you sure that’s the only reason? You mentioned that you’re in love with me a couple of times.” He smirked.

“I never told I’m in love with you,” I said. "I said I love you. I love pigs too."

“Fine. If that makes you feel better.” the ends of his lips twitched up to give me a teasing smirk.

I placed the laptop down and headed to the washroom. After freshening up, I came out and received a call from Jess.

“Yes, Jess. What’s the guess about my mess?” I sang into the phone.

I heard her sigh. “Well, since I know you a lot better than the media, I can figure out that you were drunk last night when you gave that interview.”

“Ah, you know me so well. Wait, why aren’t you mad at me?”

“I’m a little mad at you right now.” She said. “But it’s okay since you gained thousands of Instagram followers and your name is known to more than a million people now that it’s displayed on every Hollywood website.”

“Did I screw up that bad?” I groaned.

“You’re more popular now. Congrats, Mrs. Parker.”

“Shut up, Jess,” I said. “You know I hate the fact that I’m known to people because of my surname and husband.”

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, trust me,” Jess said. “And, are you aware of the fact that you’ve got to go for filming today?”

“Yea,” I said. “I’ll meet you there?”

“Definitely.” She said. “Don’t be late and grumpy.”

After she hung up, I leaned against the wall and sighed.

“What’s with the tired face?” Ethan’s asked I glanced to my right to find him fixing his tie. I couldn’t help but wonder how this guy still didn’t know how to fix a tie. Idiot.

“I’m world famous now because everyone thinks I love you.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” He asked, untying his tie to get it down properly. I gave him an irritated look.

“I don’t want to be famous because I’m your wife,” I said. “I want to be known for a better reason. Preferably due to my own effort and work.”

He gave me a concerned look as his fingers still stumbled with the tie at his neck. “Is it because of what I said that night? About you becoming famous only because of me...”

Inwardly groaning, I made my way toward him and pushed his hands away from his collar to fix his horrible knot.

“Skylar? Is that the reason why you’re upset?”

"You know it’s true.”

“It’s not true. I was a dick to say that to-”

“You don’t owe me an apology or an explanation, Ethan. It’s fine.” I said. “What you said was right anyways. People are just getting to know me because I’m your wife.”

“Don’t say that.” He said, looking down at me. “I know how passionate you are about your work. It’s just the matter of one great film that shows your effort and you’re up in everyone’s mind.”

“Let’s not talk about it right now,” I said. “Do you mind giving me a ride to the shoot?”

He frowned at me. “I would, but why the sudden interest in traveling with me?”

“I already hung out with Zac yesterday and if we’re not seen together today, people are going to get articles written saying that we’re distant after coming from the honeymoon. I don’t want to risk them getting to know about Jake or Luke.”

“Right.” He said. “I’ll be downstairs. Come down when you’re done.”

“Give me a few minutes,” I said.

Ten minutes later, we walked hand to head outside. As expected, the paparazzi were there to literally investigate Ethan about me.

I quietly crawled into the car and waited as Ethan spoke into the mic, whilst he was surrounded by a bunch of people. Ignoring the questions would eventually give rise to speculations so it was best to end it as soon as possible.

When he was done, Ethan climbed into the backseat to sit beside me. A frown was creased on his forehead.

“What’s the matter?” I asked him.

“It’s nothing.” He said, dismissing my questions.

“It’s not nothing.” I said. “Come on, you know I won’t let it go until you tell me. What did they say?”

He sighed. “The media doesn’t think we’re like the normal couple. Their questions show how much they think this marriage is fake.”

“I thought their opinion doesn’t matter to you.”

“It doesn’t.” He said. “But the point of getting married for me is to assure my investors that I’m not irresponsible and young. They never thought of me that way, but I wanted to make a good impression before they get to look down on me. But now I feel like the whole purpose of getting married is not fulfilling.”

I nodded at him, although a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. I never expected anything more from this marriage either or wanted him to show more enthusiasm about the relationship, but yet there was an unsettling feeling inside my chest. I decided to ignore it.

“What do you think we could do? We already threw a reception party- I mean, technically you did- and we went on a honeymoon. We’ve been showing off love on the streets-”

“That won’t help anymore.” He said. “I think we should just. I don’t know. Google what normal couples do.”

“Sounds good,” I said. “Or we should ask your parents what they generally do to spend time with each other. Or how they used to be when they were of our age.”

“Please, I don’t even want to get to how my parents were back in their twenties. They were more like lovesick teenagers than mature young parents.” He cringed. “But I think now they’re doing better. They go out for dinners whenever they can. They frequently go on vacations, only the two of them, and go for groceries shopping-”

“Ethan, you know we already tried all that. Think of something we didn’t do.”

“Well, they also don’t fight a lot.”

“You know that is impossible in our case. Next?”

A small smile formed on his face. “They also sleep on the same bed.”

“Like we’ve been doing for the last few days.”

“Also, they love each other-” Ethan cut himself off when he realized what he just spoke.

I remained impassive too, as he didn’t speak anything further. I wasn’t in a situation to say if I completely hated him. If someone asked me if I hated him a month ago, then I would say yes without a second of hesitation. But somehow, although it’s been less than a month, I felt like I couldn’t still hold those emotions against him.

“We’re here, Miss.” The driver announced, making me turn my head to look out of the window.

I sighed when I noticed some paparazzi near the road. The driver opened the car door, and I leaned in towards Ethan.

“Look here.” I said.

He did.

I quickly planted my lips on his face, and Ethan responded quickly by understanding what I was doing and put his hands at the small of my back. We pulled back after a few seconds.

“Paparazzi?”

“Paparazzi.”

His lips twitched. “Sure.”

I rolled my eyes and got out xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx