Chapter 5

Thomas and I were greeted by Jonathan as soon as we entered his mansion. He was as handsome as I've seen on tv. And I could tell he was close to Thomas because Jonathan hugged me when Thomas Introduced to me as his "girlfriend" And I couldn't help but feel a little guilty, he was being so nice to me.

"So you are the special person that Tom here was talking about huh?" He asked me excitedly.

"Yeah yeah, let's just move inside. I need something to drink." Thomas cuts in and begins to walk inside leaving me with Jonathan."

"I must say I was quite surprised when you told me he was going to bring his girlfriend over." He exclaimed. "He never introduces me to any of his girlfriend, you must be quite special to him huh?"

"R-really? I never would've guessed it" I laugh nervously.

"So how long have you two been dating?" He asks

"Uh it's been about 3 months" I lie

Thank god, Thomas and I had decided on some answers of our relationship.

"Sorry for being so inquisitive, but you can't blame me for being so excited. Let's go into the living room."

The living room are was spacious with huge glass panels on one side which looked out into the pool. Thomas was already sitting comfortably on the plush sofa.

"You guys stay here, I have a call to make. I will be back in five." Jonathan tells us and leaves the room.

I turn to Thomas and stare daggers at him, "What the hell are we doing?" I say to him in a loud whisper.

"Wasn't it your plan? You wanted to convince him, I just provided you a way. Don't worry I know you will figure it out soon." He smirks at me.

I groan inside. He's having fun with this, he can have the first laugh, I'll have the last laugh when I finally convince Jonathan to give the green light to the interview. We sit there in silence as a house staff serves us some cool drinks. A few minutes later Jonathan arrives and I signal Thomas to leave the two of us alone so that I can easily sway him.

Thomas gets up from the sofa and casually leaves the room.

"So where did you two meet? I am sorry I am asking you this because Tom will never answer this question, he actually never answers anything I ask him."

"Uh at a friend's party." I answer

"Party huh? that's something new Tom doesn't usually stays clear of parties. But he also introduced me to his girlfriend which I thought will never happen, I guess there's a first time for everything." He laughs heartily.

I turn to Jonathan with an almost despondent expression.

"Anna are you okay? Did something happen between the two?" he worriedly asks

"Yes and no" I speak in a low voice

"What do you mean?"

"You know with Thomas being the editor of an almost dying magazine, he is always stressed and I guess he doesn't want to tell you this but I am so worried about him..." I trail off and look at the distant figure of Thomas who was now standing on the balcony with his back facing us.

"The magazine is struggling, why didn't he tell me this?" Jonathan almost looks too confused

"Yeah, it is that's why Thomas asked you for an interview I think. And after your interview feature was removed from the next month issue, hes even more stressed." I sigh sadly.

"But I don't blame you, if you don't want your interview to be published after all you are a private person and you changed your mind." I say to him

"What? No, its nothing like that." he exclaims

"Eh? It's not like that?" I am confused at this point.

"I mean I did tell him that I don't want the interview to be published but i wasn't serious about it." He sighs and rubs his forehead. "I should have known Tom would take me seriously knowing his personality he isn't too keen on practical jokes."

"Huh? But why did you lie to him?"

"Well..haha you know in my career I haven't given any interviews to any magazines so when Tom requested me to give an interview I thought to give it a try since he is a close friend of mine, I wouldn't be too nervous to give my very first interview of my career. And I got carried away and Requested him to do a two page spread of my precious per dog Collins." He says bashfully.

I couldn't believe what I had just heard, so all this time Thomas kept on believing the lie Jonathan told because he can't differentiate between a joke and truth and I came here all the way just to uncover this simple misunderstanding. I can't believe this guy, he is still stubborn as ever.

"Guess I will just clear the misunderstanding with Tom. I am glad you told me about this, because Tom would never cough this out in front of me." He smiles at me and I shoot him a smile in return.

I watch the two of them from the living room as Jonathan explains to him everything that he has told me and to my surprise instead of the scowl that I was expecting to see from Thomas. He laughs out loudly and for the first time ever I see a different side of him.

He kind of looks handsome when he is not scowling or when he is not wearing a brooding face. Thomas is not a necessarily handsome looking face but he was quite popular with the ladies back in office even with a scowl pasted on his face. I guess some people find charms in the classic broody type looking face.

After all the misunderstanding had been cleared, we took our leave of Jonathan who was slightly disappointed that we rejected his dinner invitation. I was a little disappointed as well because Jonathan said that he can prepare the dinner by a very famous chef in town, but we had to leave before Jonathan figured out that Thomas and I were lying about our relationship and my identity.

On our way back, we were mostly silent because I didn't what else to say. Inside I wanted to mock him so bad but I thought it's better to stay silent since he's also my boss.

"You can let it out" Thomas suddenly speaks up

"Huh?"

"You can criticise me, make fun of me or get angry at me, I almost messed up and made everyone's career at risk by my foolishness."

"Ah- actually I don't think you were being foolish. You were stressed about the magazine and you still are and you just took everything at face value. However it would be better if you believed in your employees as well and not just bear everything on your own." I really meant what I said

Thomas remains quiet for rest of the ride. He drops me at my place since the office will be closed by now. I get down from the car and look at him outside the passenger window.

"Thank you dropping me and see you tomorrow. Good night."

He gives a curt nod, his expression is unreadable and surprises me with a "Thank you" and a smile so brilliant that it made me blush.

Even after he left I couldn't forget his smile.