After the intense conference for CEOs of advertising, marketing, and media companies, Aaron emerged from the conference room. He exchanged pleasantries and engaged in brief conversations with several acquaintances and fellow industry leaders. He couldn't wait to get home as he'd had a hectic day.He was about to walk towards his car when a distinguished-looking man in his late fifties approached him. The man extended his hand with a warm smile and introduced himself, "Mr. Churchill, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. I'm William Harrington." Aaron knew who he was. He was the owner of the Novelty Network and its numerous spinoff affiliates including Novelty Magazine and the Tastemakers line of licensed cookware, grimaced.Aaron offered him a firm handshake, reciprocating the smile. "Likewise, Mr. Harrington. Your reputation precedes you".The two men engaged in conversation that revolved around their businesses then Harrington cleared his throat. He proceeded to dab his eye before
Early morning sunlight seeped through the curtains, casting a warm glow in the room. Aaron lay in bed which was tangled in a mess of sheets. His phone buzzed loudly on the nightstand. He groans and reaches out, fumbling to silence the annoying sound. Some days Aaron missed the heavy landline phones. The kind you could slam forcefully to hang up on someone. Pressing a button, no matter how angrily, just didn't have the level of fuck you he looked for in ending a call like the one disturbing his sleep. It was just six a.m in the morning and he intended to sleep well into mid-morning or early afternoon. Helen was beside him, her long hair sprawled across the pillows. She stirred slowly, her hand seeking refuge under Aaron's arm. She groggily called out to him. "Baby, turn off the phone." His finger hovered over the phone's screen. He hesitates for a moment, contemplating whether to answer the call or not. The caller had been calling non-stop for the past five minutes. He finally deci
Aaron's meeting with Novelty Network CEO, William Harrington, was in twenty minutes, and he was sorted in his office. He has thought long and hard about the offer and decided that since he didn't have much office work to do, he would probably join the reality TV show. Helen thought it would be fun to be on television so, why not? He heard a soft knock on his door and his Secretary came in."Sir, Mr Williams Harrington is here." She said,"Send him in."A moment later, Williams strolled into the office, looking very excited. He always looked excited. They shook hands and he sat down on the seat across from him. "I presume you've gone over the email we sent you?" He asked."Yea yea. I have. And I must say, this is totally out of my league. It isn't something I ever thought of doing at all. But, I've given it some thought, and well... I could give it a try.""Perfect! This reality TV series follows single successful men and how they date their partners. You can decide to use your real
Aaron drummed his knuckles against the tabletop as Helen sighed heavily. "Listen, I don't know what else to tell you." He burst out. "They're not the same."Helen pressed her lips together. She was fully made up for the cameras, the heavy, pancake makeup hiding the lovely glow her skin had developed these past few days. Seeing that glow was one of the best things about sharing a room with her. The other best things included seeing her bare toes peeking out from under the crisp white sheets as she slept diagonally across the huge bed, listening to her mumble herself awake before she realized he was listening, and watching her brush her hair away from her neck before she twisted it up into that bun she always wore.But thinking nice thoughts about sharing a room with her wasn't how this scene was supposed to play out. From behind the cameras, Catherine, their director, mimed snapping her fingers at him and then drawing her finger across her throat. He rolled his eyes and sighed.Right.
He moved closer to Helen and pressed his hands to hers. "Can you stop talking for a second?"She blinked. "What do you mean?""Look around." He threaded his fingers into hers and gave her a gentle tug, leading her deeper into the garden and further from the camera's prying eyes. "This is incredible isn't it?" Deep green leaves twined upwards in a canopy of green. Bright orange hibiscus bobbed like Japanese lanterns floating in a deep green sky. "It amazes me," he exhaled. "I've seen the world, but mostly my view is the same. If I'm working, it doesn't register to me whether I'm in Paris or Florida. But sometimes, when I get out of work and look around—" He caught himself as her eyes widened."That wasn't part of the script, right? Sorry about that."She looked longingly upward, sad that she couldn't express her love to this man on camera for the whole world to see. "I understand you." She smiled up at him softly. He took her other hand in his, and she looked up at him. Her eyes da
"Cassie!" Jeremy called. He puffed across the sand in pursuit of his partner, with a cameraman close on his heels. "That's not what I meant!""Then what did you mean?" Cassie shouted. She whirled around, tears streaming down her face as she jammed her finger into Jeremy's chest. "Go on! Tell me exactly what you meant when you said that the wristwatch, one I spent a lot on, is ugly."Her chest heaved, and she wiped a tear away before it dropped down her nose, trying hard to control herself. Jeremy looked helplessly. Feigned looking helpless rather. "I…uh…Why gift me today, when my birthday was last week? Did you forget?" he goaded her, with a side look at the camera.Aaron felt sick. Cassie and Jeremy were fellow housemates in the reality show and their drama annoyed the shit out of him. "No!" Cassie shouted. "Why are you even asking me this? You know we agreed to postpone your birthday celebration until we got here." She screwed up her lips. "This is just like you, Jerry. You neve
"Hey! Aaron!" The light wind carried her voice to him. He turned around to see her smiling at him and walked over to her, his white teeth flashing in the sun as he smiled at her in greeting.Helen touched her cheeks and just as she suspected, she was grinning like an idiot.Dammit. She had known this man for almost a year and his smile still made her fawn. "What's with Jeremy and Cassie?" She asked, looking around for cameras. "You know... Just the usual drama." He replied.He looked at her and his lips quirked upward, in a lopsided grin. The kind he gave when he wanted to tease her."I don't know how, but you somehow got even more beautiful than before."She rolled her eyes at him and smiled, enjoying his compliment. "Stop," she protested. "You're trying to distract me.""Distract you from what?" "From hearing the gossip. So shoot. What's with Jeremy and Cassie?""Cassie got upset about something." As Aaron met her eyes with patience, her"You didn't upset her, did you??" she sque
"Quick, act normal," Aaron whispered as he set her down. Helen hid a laugh behind her hand and then waved to the two cameramen who were following close behind Jeremy and Cassie —now holding hands and gazing adoringly at each other once more—"Let's get you cleaned up" he murmured in her ear, making her shiver excitedly. He put his hand on her shoulder and waved as well.Then scooped her right back up again and dashed into the house."What if Cath sees?" Helen asked. But her fretting was little more than a reflex at this point. Right now, she didn't care one bit about whether they got caught on camera being all lovey-dovey. She just needed to see exactly what Aaron had in mind when he said he wanted to get her “all cleaned off.” She shivered in anticipation again."Cold?" He asked as he hurried down the hall. Helen was impressed at how he didn't break his stride or act winded in any way, even when she had put on about 3kg in the last month. She was even more impressed when he held on