THE SECRET HEIRESS

CHAPTER 2: His Fake Girlfriend

Alaric declared the answer to Megan’s question, “Tomorrow at my 30th birthday celebration, I would want you to act as my girlfriend.”

She was shocked blurting out loudly, “What?!” She then covered her mouth, uncovered it, and asked him whispering, “Why me, sir?”

He continued talking in a low voice too, “I am out of alternatives. My parents had been setting me up on dates with so many heiresses since I joined RGC upon my return from my studies abroad. And they want to announce my wedding engagement on my 30th birthday tomorrow evening with this certain heiress.”

She asked softly, “Can you not choose among those heiresses? I am sure they are all suitable.”

He partially agreed, “They are all from rich business families, but it does not mean they are suitable. I do not like anyone of them. If I am not a Ricarte, I doubt if they would even consider marrying me. I am short-tempered and unromantic.”

She asked, “But why me, sir? I know nothing about romantic relationship. I may not be able to play the part as your girlfriend.”

“With those two weeks that you had worked for me as an intern, I already knew that you can keep with me. You just need to be yourself. Treat my family the way you treat yours. We just need to act for six months and then we will stage a breakup,” he tried to explain so as to convince her, “That way I could have a breather from all those setup dates.”

She asked, “Will you take no for an answer, sir?”

He firmly stated, “That is the only favor I need. But I will not force you if you really do not like. I am really just out of options so I tried asking you this favor. You may just consider this as a task of a special assistant.”

She debated, “But this fake relationship could affect my work at the company.”

He agreed, “True. It might also be possible for you to leave RGC after our breakup but I will take care of everything.”

She responded, “I really wanted to return your kindness, sir. But I am quite clueless being someone else’s girlfriend.”

He still tried to convince her, “For as long as you agree then there would not be any problem. You would just have to take my lead. I will be a perfect gentleman towards you. Later, Donald, my secretary, will provide you with a new smartphone to replace your already broken one and a tablet for private use regarding our relationship. Contact details of me, my family, and all my personal staff will be stored by Donald on the smartphone. Then the tablet contains my comprehensive detailed personal information. It also contains our fabricated love story. There would also be another file wherein you have to fill in details about yourself. We just need to memorize them. All our personal communications must be done through the smartphone and the tablet.”

She then decided, “Okay, I will agree. But I want a written contract.”

He responded, “Sure. We can discuss all the contents of the contract tomorrow. For now, let’s just focus on your grandmother.”

One hour after they returned to the waiting area, Dr. Gabriel Altamonte informed them that the operation was successful.

Alaric had arranged for a suite hospital room for her grandmother. Megan was so surprised when they got in to the expensive hospital room.

She said shockingly, “This is a suite! A ward would do, sir.”

Alaric said, “I already told Gabriel and the management that you’re my girlfriend. Anyone related to me deserves a suite. I am asking six months disturbance of your life anyway. So please do not worry about the hospital fees. I will take responsibility whether the foundation approve or disapprove your application for medical assistance.”

“But…” she uttered.

“No buts,” he cut her off and then asked, “Do you have to work on an overtime tomorrow?”

She answered, “I already told Ma’am Lou that I will not be able to come for an overtime work because of Lola.”

“Good!” Then he instructed her cordially, “Anyway, you may start calling me Alaric or simply Ric.”

Donald arrived with the brand new smartphone and tablet inside a paper bag. Donald handed the paper bag to Megan as per Alaric’s instruction.

She then recalled so she informed him, “By the way, I do not have any social media account and I do not plan to have one. But I do not mind using some messaging apps.”

“That is fine! I also do not have social media accounts. Donald already pre-installed on the phone and on the tablet the messaging app that I use,” Alaric responded and then said, “Donald will fetch your mother from your apartment tomorrow morning to drive her back here. Then afterwards, he will drive for you to meet me.”

“Okay,” she uttered.

He considerately expressed their departure, “We will go now. Sleep well.”

“Okay. Good night, sir,” she coyly answered.

When Alaric and his secretary reached the privacy of his blue sedan, they talked.

He asked Donald as soon as he settled at the backseat, “Have you already contacted Heart and Jacqui?”

Donald answered, “Yes, boss. I already contacted them. They would send their respective employees with a wide selection of all their creations for Miss Garcia to choose from just as you requested.”

He also inquired, “What about the penthouse?”

Donald replied, “I already instructed Didith, your housekeeper, to prepare the other three bedrooms, boss.”

He reminded his secretary, “Also tell Didith to buy some food supplies.”

His secretary answered, “Duly noted, boss,” and then informed him, “Your Mom called me up, boss. She couldn’t contact you. She asked me why you did not attend your dinner date. I did not know what excuse to tell her so I just told her that you are at the hospital with your girlfriend…”

He cut off the narration of his secretary, “Did she ask for her name?”

Donald answered, “She asked so many questions including her name but I just told her that you will answer all her questions yourself once you get home, boss.”

“Okay,” he uttered then asked, “How about Megan’s mother, did she ask any question about me?”

Donald responded, “She did ask why the COO of the company escorted her daughter to the hospital. I just told her to ask her daughter for the answer.”

“You did well,” Alaric praised his secretary.

Donald then asked his boss, “Do you think Miss Megan is a good choice to play the part of your fake girlfriend, boss?”

Alaric responded with certainty, “She is a perfect choice! She is smart, diligent, dependable and well-mannered as her immediate supervisor has described her. She had also worked for me as an intern when I just returned from my studies years ago. She had performed exceptionally well in any task I gave her back then.  She is very smart. And despite her conservative disposition, she is quite pretty. A little polishing is just need for her innate beauty to be noticeable.”

Donald then added, “She also seemed to be very close with her grandmother and her mother. Yeah, a lady, who is filial to her elders, seems to be a perfect choice.”

Alaric then reminded his secretary, “This fake relationship will just have to stay with the three of us, Donald. No one must know about this.”

Donald swore, “I swear, boss. You do not have to worry. My lips are sealed. I got your back and Miss Megan’s. No one will know about this but the three of us.”

Alaric then told Donald, “If things get complicated, her current apartment lease must be terminated as soon as possible. She and her family can be best protected by my personal security group if they are at my penthouse. Actually, I already instructed Rey to send security personnel at her apartment and at the hospital so as to maintain their privacy. ”

Donald agreed, “I will take care of her lease termination if needed, boss,” then voiced out, “But do you think Miss Megan would agree living in the same roof as you are for six months?”

Alaric stated, “She might not, but the press would definitely be curious about her once they found out that I finally have a girlfriend. So she will not have any other choice but to live with me at the penthouse. My other condominium units are all occupied.”

Donald also gave a scenario, “And when your relationship became known then it might also be a tough situation for her at the headquarters.”

Alaric knew such possibility, “If she has to resign from her job as things get tough, then I would suggest it to her. I already told her that I will handle all the repercussions of our setup.”

Donald also reminded his boss, “What about her existing loans, boss? It could be a big issue if someone from the headquarters leaked about it?”

Alaric was aware of such. The press might dig on every little detail of her life whether good or bad. “Settle everything tomorrow. I tell her everything about it when we meet at the penthouse tomorrow morning.” 

Donald responded, "I will, boss, " and then curiously asked, "Anyway, how did you manage to convince her to play the part as your girlfriend, sir?"

Alaric divulged, "I am not proud to say this buy I might have taken advantage of her willingness to pay back her gratitude towards me. I told her I need to as a favor, that I am not forcing her to do it if she really does not like. But luckily she agreed."  

Meanwhile, Megan immediately messaged her mother using the new smartphone with her old number from a prepaid SIM card regarding the updates on her grandmother. She also messaged her to bring a change of clothes for her the following day.  Her mother did not reply. She was probably sleeping already.

She was not able to fall asleep yet so she checked the files on the brand new tablet. She opened them one by one with the password provided on an adhesive note. She read the contents of the three files.

The first one contained their fabricated love story. Their secret relationship for a year was quite acceptable. Avoidance of workplace gossip as well as privacy were quite good reasons for them to keep their fake relationship a secret. That story had actually been just edited by Alaric to conform to her background before sending it to Donald along with his updated comprehensive personal information.

The second one contained the very detailed personal information regarding Alaric Ricarte. It included all his family and relatives. The list of his closest friends were also indicated.  His educational background, organization/club membership, awards, favorites, interests and many other personal details were also listed. Such file even included all the sizes for his clothes and footwear.

So when she opened the third file which was a questionnaire of her comprehensive detailed personal information, she was not surprised anymore because the required details were somehow similar that of the second file. She provided all the needed information and sent the file back through the pre-installed messaging app to the account of Alaric’s secretary as per instructions written on another adhesive note.

She knew Alaric Ricarte to be rude but oftentimes he was just serious because he was independent, decisive, and goal-oriented when it comes to work. She had observed such during her internship in his office. He was not the COO back then yet. He was also analytical and detail-oriented so he would tend to be rude if the people around him did not perform their best and just make excuses to cover up their shortcomings. She never experienced his rude behavior because she tried to perform her very best for the two weeks that she worked directly under him.

Megan then started to question her decision. Was it not a mistake to agree to be his fake girlfriend? They would be fooling a lot of people especially their families. But for all the assistance he had provided for her that night, the only thing she could think of to repay his kindness was to bestow him the favor he was requesting. He might be cold towards most people around him but he seemed to have a good relationship with his family and his closest employees like Donald. And never did she experience his rude behavior that everyone seemed to be scared of even when she directly worked for him years ago as an intern. And that night, he was really cordial towards her. If in some way, he was taking advantage of the help he provided for her, then she thought she should just let him be. Anyway, he seemed to be a man of his words. There was no doubt on her mind that he would indeed be a perfect gentleman towards her.

She admired him so much form the very first day that he saw him during her internship. She would just face the aftermath of their fake relationship when it ended. For the time being, she should just let everything takes its course, enjoy the six months with him, and play her part excellently.    

On the other hand, Madeline Siazon felt so disappointed. She could not believe that Alaric Ricarte stood her up on their supposed dinner date. Her father already called up Alaric’s father asking for an explanation.

Her father then told her afterwards, “Alaric had to attend to a medical emergency so he was not able to come on your date. Anyway, you can still meet him tomorrow evening for his birthday party, sweetie.”

Madeline irritatingly stated, “Yeah, but there will be a lot of bachelorettes there too.” 

Her mother, Tessa, said, “Well, you got an edge among them. You were playmates with Alaric, Andrew and Ashley.”

Her father said, “I only agreed on this setup date because you like Alaric, sweetie. But let me remind you that he has changed so much already. He was not that respectful playmate of yours anymore when you were all young. He is known for his strict and rude personality. Every employee at RGC is scared of him. He was also rude to those previous heiresses who were setup for a date with him. In as much as the marriage to him could help out our company financially, I would rather have you married someone else.”

Madeline insisted, “I really like him, Dad. I just need the right opportunity to win him over.”

Her father reminded her, “Just do not keep your hopes up, sweetie.  Most of the heiresses he met in the past were even much richer than us, but they had all felt tuned-off with his rude behavior. I even heard that he would ask those heiresses the question – If I am not a Ricarte and just an ordinary man, would you still consider marrying me? Those previous heiresses seem to fail to give an answer that would make him consider a romantic relationship.”

Her mother told her, “You better give him a good answer, sweetie.”

Her father commented, “He is a tough nut to crack, sweetie. When it comes to work, he gets things done excellently. So I think he also wanted an excellent lifetime partner.”

Her mother then unthinkingly inquired, “Is Alaric not gay?”

Manuel answered, “He is not gay. Unintentionally, I had seen him once flirting with a Caucasian lady when I was on a business trip in Hong Kong years ago. I think they even spent a night together.”

Her mother assumed, “Perhaps he does one-night stands while he has not found the one to marry yet. I have not even heard him having a proper girlfriend from my encounters with his mother.”

Madeline commented, “I don't mind about such things. For as long as he becomes faithful to me when we are already married, I'll be fine.”

Manuel then stated, “Ricarte men are faithful husbands. Their heydays of fooling around usually stop once they got married. It could be the reason why Alaric is so choosy. His grandparents as well as his parents both have good marriages.”

Her mother then encouraged her, “So we should make you stand out for his birthday party tomorrow night. You should be the prettiest lady on tomorrow’s event for him to take notice of you.”

Madeline acknowledged it, “I already made preparations for it, Mom.”

Her mother remarked excitedly, “Good!”  

Her father still reminded her, “If things work out then I will be very happy for you. But if things do not go your way, please explore other possibilities. Entertain your suitors. I kind of like Floyd Samartino the most. He is the only heir of his grandfather, Felix Samartino. His grandfather is a shareholder at RGC. They also had their own successful import and export business. Floyd was also your classmate from pre-school to high school. He is well-mannered. I am sure he will treat you nicely.”

Madeline countered, “Yeah, I am well aware that Floyd is a good man. The problem is I like someone else, Dad.”

Her father acknowledged it, “I know but I am just letting you know that there are much better options if things do not work out well with Alaric.”

Her mother then stated, “Do not be too pessimistic, darling. Let’s be hopeful that things will work out regarding Alaric. Let us just deal on other options in the future if needed. We should support our daughter on whom she likes. Alaric may not be a bad choice. He is very filial to his elders. He also has his personal fortune other than being the second-in-line heir to RGC.” 

Her father accepted such, “True. I heard that he has shares in several other companies of his friends. He is also engaged in so many portfolio investments. He also has several premium real properties for lease. But I really do not like his arrogance. Even if he does not like those heiresses he had setup dates with, he might have at least not treated them rudely.”

Madeline kind of defended Alaric, “There is a big difference from sheer rudeness and blatant honesty, Dad. I think Alaric is just being blatantly honest. Those ladies were not able to handle such.”

Her father then asked, “Will you be able to handle his rejection?”

Madeline confidently replied, “He will not reject me, Dad.”