21

Landing in South Africa was one thing that I just couldn’t wait for, to see Nikki and apologize for this entire mess that Charles created. As soon as we are out of the plane, I could see a lot of people inside the building, they were probably tipped off about my arrival and my suspicions were with Charles. He always has to tweet about everything.

We get to our hired transportation and Mike isn’t there, just some other guy and I don’t like him. We leave the airport in one piece, and we get to our house with no incident, we get our things inside the house and the driver is on his way.

“Okay, Xander, you need to give Nikki a call to tell her you are home safe, and I will alert the media and organize a press conference, for later today,” Charles says, looking down at his iPad.

“Press conference? Why? Why can’t it be for tomorrow?”

Charles looks up at me and I can tell he’s tempted to punch me in the face, “Dear God, Xander, this is a matter of urgency, your engagement, Aiden, the US political situation. These issues need to be addressed and put to rest.”

I feel my palms get sweaty, I’ve never liked the South African media, they were always too harsh and blunt, and they ask the tough questions and leave no stone unturned, “Okay, alright.”

Charles walks up to me and places his hand on my shoulder, “You’ll be alright, I’ll be there to help, and I’ll brief you before the conference.”

It’s not much but if Charles is there and handling it, I know I’m in safe hands, “Thank you.”

“Anything for my BFF,” he smiles and gives me a wink.

My body shudders, “You always know how to ruin the perfect moment.”

He laughs, “It’s in my job description, buddy.”

Damien comes back from putting the bags in our rooms, I thank him and head to my room for a shower.

I walk to the closet and open it, there are suits inside, with a wide variety of ties, shirts, and shoes, I pull open a drawer and there are watches inside. This must be Charles doing. I picked a black suit, a white shirt, black tie, and black Oxford shoes, and then picked a matte black Rolex watch and laid everything on the bed. I walk to the bathroom and start preparing for my day.

The only thing on my mind was how I was going to play this role of fiancée and husband, Nikki, and I have amazing chemistry, but I’m sure she wants a correction, she needs someone better than me. Someone more emotionally connected and doesn’t come with the amount of baggage that I do. I’m a hot mess. I also knew that I couldn’t let her down, she requires me right now, and I have to be there for her, I started this mess, and I should be a man and clean it up.

“Xander?” Charles knocks on my door.

“What do you want, Charles?” I ask, putting on my watch.

“Are you ready, we need to get going, man,” he says.

I put on my blazer and check my toiletry bag for my contacts, and I don’t find them, I groan, as I walk to my briefcase and pull out my glasses. I put them on and walked to the door and opened it and came face to face with Charles.

He steps to the side and gives me a smirk, “Well, well, well, it took one woman to convince you that you look hot in glasses.”

“No, I forgot to pack my new contact lenses,” I mumble as I walk past him.

He follows behind and chuckles, “Yeah, right.”

“Damien, your boyfriend is being a bully,” I say as I walk into the kitchen.

“Charles,” Damien warns, “Leave our baby alone, please.”

I groan, “You guys are the worst.”

“We love you too, honeybun,” Charles says as he pinches my cheeks, I smack his hands off my face, and he just laughs.

“We don’t have time for breakfast, we’ll pick something up when we get to Nikki’s office. Let’s rumble,” Damien says, and I frown.

I was really looking forward to Damien’s breakfast, but I picked up an apple, and we made a beeline for the door. Outside the house, Mike is waiting for us, dressed to the nines and ready to work.

“Mike, so good to see you,” Charles greets cheerfully, hugging him.

“Good to see you to Charles, I hope you haven’t been giving my nephew Xander too much trouble,”

I roll my eyes; how many people are in on this ridiculous joke?

Charles laughs, “Nothing he can’t handle.”

Mike laughs as he opens the car door.

I walk up to Mike and give him a handshake, and we bump shoulders.

“Congratulations on your engagement,” he says.

I smile, “Thank you.”

“I was actually shocked when I heard the news, you hid your relationship so well,”

“Trust me, you don’t know half of it,” I get into the car to avoid any more gruelling questions.

Damien and Mike share a hug and they both get into the car.

“Where to boys?”

“Abrahams Incorporated, my good man,” Charles replies.

On the way to Nikki’s office, there is breaking news on the radio.

‘We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news, Aiden van Rensburg is said to have implicated President Xander Forsythe in his plans to steal Abraham’s incorporated,’

Oh, the little shit!

‘Although the allegations have not been confirmed, Mr van Rensburg is adamant that President Forsythe is involved.’

Damien turns off the radio and the car is quiet, I don’t think anybody was expecting Aiden to pull something like this, but he did.

“Is it true?” Mike asks, and from the sound of his voice, he was hoping that it was all a lie.

I open my mouth to say something but Charles bests me to it.

“Yes, but we are going to fix it, that’s why we are here, and Nikki knows everything,” he explains.

“Is that why you proposed? To cover your own ass?”

“No, no, of course not,” I stutter.

“We are all working together to expose Aiden. Aiden went to Xander with the idea and Xander ran to Nikki to tell her and that’s I came up with the idea of the proposal but believe me, Mike, Xander would never do anything to hurt Nikki.”

Mike sighs, “Good because if you hurt my sister, I swear they’ll be hell to pay.”

“Sister?”

Mike curses under his breath, “Yeah, Nikki is my baby sister. I wasn’t supposed to say anything.”

The car goes quiet again, one piece of shocking news and I think my head is going to explode.

“How did we not see that?” Charles questions.

“Did you tell her everything we spoke about?” Damien asks.

Mike shakes his head, “I’m not a gossip girl.”

“Are you even a chauffeur?”

“Yes and no, I run a major security company for the elite called Hawks, chauffeuring is just part of the many things we do,” Mike explains.

“Wow,” is all I can say.

“I’m really sorry, guys,”

“Don’t apologize, if I was her, I wouldn’t trust a man like me either,” I mutter.

“We are here,” Charles says.

I look out the window and sigh, my anxiety is setting in, and I don’t think I’m ready for any of this.

We quickly got out of the car and made our way into the building, leaving Mike to park the car. We get to the elevator and make our way to the top floor, the excitement then kicks in, and I can’t wait to see her. I missed her, her lips, her beautiful face, her laugh and just her positive energy.

The elevator doors open, and we can’t get to her door fast enough, we get to the door and Damien knocks on it.

“Come in,” her sweet voice replies.

I literally push Damien to the side and get into her office, she’s sitting on her desk when we walk in, she lifts her head to look in my direction and her face instantly lights up.

“You’re here,” she says excitedly, she gets up from her chair and walks to me, she gives me a hug and then a chaste kiss on the lips.

“I was starting to wonder if you were still coming,” she says, not taking her eyes off me.

“Your fiancée here takes forever to get ready,” Charles says, and he walks to her desk, putting his things on the chair.

“I’ve missed you,” I whisper in her ear, she lets out a giggle.

“Me too,” I kiss her cheek and pull her closer to me.

Charles coos, “If your father could see you now. I hope you’re not mad at me, Nikki, for this whole engagement situation.”

Nikki shakes her head, “Water under the bridge, honey.”

“Good, because I bought an engagement ring. I knew lover boy here would forget,” he opens his back and pulls out a black velvet box, he walks towards us and opens it and there it was, a rose gold, diamond-encrusted ring from Pandora.

Nikki gasps, “Oh my gosh, it’s gorgeous.”

Charles wiggles his eyebrows, “I know, it cost, $150000,”

“What?” I exclaim, “I hope you didn’t use your money.”

He rolls his eyes, “Of course not doofus, I used your platinum gold card.”

Nikki giggles and I chuckle, “Of course you did.”

Charles takes the ring out of the box and hands it to me, “Now put the ring on her finger, her left finger.”

I take the ring and go down on one knee. Who would have thought, the most sexist man in the world, was getting married to his former arch-nemesis turned lover? The Lord sure does work in mysterious ways.

Charles squeals, “I need to take a video of this,”

“Oh my gosh,” I whisper to myself in defeat.

I take Nikki’s left hand, “Nikki, would you do me the honour of being my wife?”

With a huge grin on her face, she says yes, and I slip the ring onto her finger, I get up from the floor and give her a deep, passionate kiss. I cannot believe I’m doing this.