The Billionaire’s Fake Marriage

“Well that would also happen. But right now we need to be seen in public,” Janet explained. “Get it? Public appearances…”

“Quite literal. I like it.” Brian smiled.

Janet looked away from Brian and then slowly turned back to him.

“Tell me Brian, who are you?”

Brian did not understand what Janet meant to ask and so he just looked at her.

“I did not know you were a lawyer. What else is there that I do not know about you?”

A beautiful smile danced on Brian’s lips and he looked straight into Janet’s eyes. “Right now Janet, I am anything you want me to be. There is only one thing I can tell you about myself — that I am here to help you.”

There was something in that assurance that made Janet feel secure. But suddenly she realized that Brian had cleverly skipped her question.

“You didn’t answer my question,” she reminded him.

“Janet, tell me what do you know about me?” Brian asked a counter question.

“Not much!” she replied.

“Didn’t that answer your question? Think about it.” Brian smiled. “There is only a little that you know about me. The rest of it you will get to know while we are together. We will learn a lot about each other during our arrangement.”

Janet finally had her answer. Though it was not what she had in mind, but she was not able to complain either. And so together, they both looked at the setting sun.

Brian accompanied Janet to several events. Her company had still not rolled out her success story and so the registrations were moderate. But Janet was taking Brian everywhere with her — to parties, special events, talks, seminars and TV and radio shows. She made sure Brian was noticed by everyone in her circle and industry. And after two weeks of parading Brian around, she finally gave the go ahead to her marketing team.

The next day many tabloids and web magazines published the story about new boyfriend of Janet Crane. Headlines like — “CookUp founder seen with her British friend” were plastered all over the internet and after the small players, it was time for the big fishes to pick up this story. Huffington Post was the first one to contact Janet regarding Brian.

“Yes, we are dating.” Janet told the correspondent over the phone. “Where else do you think? We met through our website. Yup, it sounds like a chic-flick.”

That day Janet answered several calls from many publications. Everybody wanted to confirm if Brian was indeed her boyfriend and if they met through High Seas. To stir the pot, Janet declined to comment to 10% of them, while she said there was nothing going on between them to 20% of the ones who called. This created a very confused environment the next day in the media. Where many publications confirmed that Brian Watson was dating Janet Crane, some of them outright denied the assumption. But all of them cited Janet as their source.

This not only created a lot of buzz in the media related to Janet and High Seas, but it also spiked the registration numbers on the service. The plan was finally working.

Amidst all this confusion, Janet and Brian were invited on a morning show where the host asked Janet quite clearly. “Tell me Janet, is Brian your boyfriend?”

To which, Janet held Brian’s hand, looked into his eyes and replied with a smile, “Yes.”

Pictures of Brian and Janet adorned the front pages of all the tabloids and afternoon edition newspapers. High Seas didn’t have to run the success story of its founder on its own website, everybody else was doing it.

Hours later, the media reported Janet and Brian’s romantic story unanimously, the High Seas server crashed due to the high incoming traffic. Members were asked to remain patient for sometime till the servers were fixed. And once they were back on, the new registrations kept coming. At one point, High Seas was registering over 7 members per second.

“Our numbers are going crazy!” Kitty jumped with happiness showing the reports to Janet. Her plan had worked.

Janet could see that her idea was working. The app and website were bustling with activity. Right now Janet wanted to open her office window and scream, “Look now you haters, my company is doing great. Where are you now?” But instead, Janet kept looking at the real time data of member registration. That evening she did not need to drink her coffee.

*****

One morning, Brian woke up and found that the main hall was turned into a photo studio.

“What is going on?” he asked Janet.

“We are going to be on Variety’s cover it seems,” Janet said placing her hand over Brian’s shoulders. Despite her success with all of her businesses in the past, Janet was not approached by Variety for the cover. But this time, they were interested in her. She did not want to question what changed now, and just wanted to bask in the glory of her popularity. After all, it was going to boost her company’s value even more.

“Get ready, we have two more events to attend after this.” Janet said kissing Brian on the cheek. Brian smiled and went to his room to get ready.

Spending time with Brian was changing Janet. She was now always looking for Brian by her side and his absence would make her anxious. It was as if she was actually in a relationship with him. Though she had warned herself to maintain her distance from Brian, it was easier said than done. Everyday she felt closer to Brian and his charm and warmth was melting Janet’s heart.

She decided to discuss this with her trusted friends.

“What the hell is happening to me?” she cried in front of Kitty and Rebecca.

“If you ask me, you are falling for that guy.” Kitty put the obvious thing in the light.

“No sh*t Sherlock!” Rebecca said. “You can’t blame yourself Jan. After all he is a charming devil.”

Both Janet and Kitty stared at Rebecca who tried to laugh it off.

“Hey what can I do if he is so handsome. Besides in the beginning you told us that there will be nothing serious between you two. So why are you judging me now?”

Rebecca was right, Janet had no right to judge her. She herself was falling for this man who was pretending to be her lover for money.

“What am I supposed to do now? Should I break up with him? The numbers are pretty good right now.” Janet wondered.

“Forget about the numbers you idiot!” Kitty replied. “Just think if you will be fine when Brian won’t be around you anymore.”

Janet didn’t have to think. She was already missing Brian while she was out with her friends.

“It’s bad. I am missing him already.” Janet confessed.

“She is a goner.” Rebecca told Kitty.

“But why are we considering it a bad thing?” Kitty asked. “If both of you really like each other, then what is wrong with falling in love, for real this time?”

Janet and Rebecca liked what Kitty said but still they were a little skeptical. “I don’t know, it doesn’t feel right to me. Besides I don’t know how he feels for me,” Janet said.

“Now that is a problem,” Rebecca deduced.

Kitty held Janet’s shoulders and looked into her eyes. “Listen to me,” she said with determination. “There is nothing wrong with you. What you are feeling is absolutely normal. Brian is a wonderful guy and you are attracted to him. Now all you need to do is find out if he feels the same way about you. Understand?”

Janet quietly nodded looking into Kitty’s eyes.

“Good! Now go back and find out if he feels the same way about you.”

“And how do I do that?”

“Simple!” Kitty told her. “Get him drunk.”

*****

Janet reached home and found Brian waiting for her. He quickly grabbed her hand and took her into the main hall. “Come, I want to show you something.”