"Come in." I sat up straight and brightened up, thinking that it would be another employee.
Instead, Xander pushed open my door. He had a mask and a cap on. He was like a thief sneaking in, crouching on the floor. He closed the door behind him.
"I was almost caught, it was so scary!" Once he sat down on the chair, he lightly hammered his chest and exclaimed loudly.
"You’re dressed like this on a hot and sunny day. You'll only garner more attention." I looked at his outfit and frowned.
"What can I do? Fans used to chase after me because they love me. Now, I'm being chased around by paparazzi, reporters, and whoever else wants to take photos of me." Xander was sprawled in the chair with an expression that seemed to say he was better off dead.
He was being seriously slandered recently, causing all his work to come to a screeching halt. He had stopped showing his face in public settings as well. People were desperate to take his photos. The paparazzi were hoping to take scandalous photos, while his fans who were concerned about his well-being hired people to take his photos-regardless if it was in secret or not-t
o know how he was doing.
"You know what the situation is like right now, so you should just stay at home. Why are you out and about?” I replied to Xander exasperatedly.
"That's because I miss you... I miss eating with you so I wanna bring you out for a meal!”
He took a sip of the water I handed to him and continued, "I was busy previously, so busy I didn’t have time to eat with you. Now that I'm finally free, I gotta grab my chances. Come one, I’ll treat you to a feast tonight.”
"Not hungry, not interested." I rubbed the space in between my eyes.
He got up and started yanking me out the door. "Let's g o. Look at you, all you do is frown all day looking like you've got the weight of the world on your shoulders. You're pregnant! If this continues, you might have prenatal depression."
He may not have meant what he said, but I felt my heart constrict. Theo's care for me recently had made me forget all about it. The lump I felt in my throat grew. I really could not afford to let things continue.
"What're we eating?" I took up his offer, grabbed my bag, and was about to leave with him.
Xander's face was full of smiles after I had agreed to eat with him. He exclaimed gleefully, "You said you're gonna treat me to surf and turf. Let's have that today!”
Right after stepping out of the door, Xander resumed his sneaking around and trailed behind me. It was fortunate that my office was not too far from the elevator and everyone else was focused on their work. No one paid any attention to Xander and me.
Initially, I did not want to go to the underground car park, but I went with Xander anyway so we did not garner attention.
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: Scrambling to Be the Father of His Ex-Wife's Kid