Chapter 3 SUGA'S DNA WILL MAKE FOR A GOOD CLONE

SUGA'S DNA WILL MAKE FOR A GOOD CLONE

ATHENA’S POV

“People say the worst she can say is no, but I think the worst thing that someone can do in reaction to a proposal is throw up on you. Am I right, cuz?”

Jonas had just come back from the airport’s bathroom where he had to change and probably shower too after the emptying of my guts all over him earlier. He grinned at Miranda and said, “I don’t know. I’m used to Atty puking all over me so it doesn’t feel all that horrible. Saying no probably would have been the worst thing she said in response to my proposal.”

While I did feel bad for ruining his decent shoes and his favorite jacket, it didn’t mean I was going to agree to this madness.

“Jonas, we can’t stay married for four months. An annulment will no longer be possible. We’d have to get a divorce.” He sat down across from me on the other side of the coffee table in the airport’s lounge.

“Why not?” He made it sound like I had just told him he couldn’t have the last KitKat.

“Because it’s insane to even think of us being married in the first place. We were not supposed to sign that license as Athena Rosswell and Jonas Parker, we were to be playing suspiciously named characters resembling real-life people in a mid romcom.”

Jonas and Miranda gasped, affronted.

“Mid? There is nothing mid about Marry Me in Vegas, Baby.” I gave her a flat look.

“Even the name is tacky.”

“You’re just jealous cause a fictional character’s getting more action than you.” She was right and I hated that she was right.

“Now Miranda, don’t go pissing off Atty. If I lose my spot as the lead because you pissed off Atty and she decided to back out of our marriage, I’ll kick you out. You’ll have to go back to the family.” His little cousin sneered but kept quiet after that. Just like me, the greatest threat one could make to Miranda was sending her back home.

“Jonas,” I started, “No one else in this world wants you to become an actor as much as I do, you know that, right? But we can’t just stay married because of it.”

“What exactly are either of us using our single statuses for right now?” His question caught me off guard.

“W—”

“Atty, your breakup with Patrick was horrible, and I’m not just talking about the emotional aspect. The physical one on its own would last through a couple generations to come and that’s even if it wasn’t posted online for everyone in the world to see. You have been sad for days now and with your CEO now getting booted for embezzlement, you’ve been on edge about who your new CEO would be. We can both agree that this marriage will be a welcome distraction.”

“How?” Miranda asked. Somehow, she had managed to get herself a bag of chips and was crunching away merrily. Thankfully, it was one the company I worked for made. “You guys already live together and you do basically everything together like an old married couple anyways. How will a marriage license benefit you both? It’s not like you’re gonna start having sex because of it. It’ll be the same boring living arrangement you’ve had for years now.”

“I hardly ever say things like this, but Miranda’s right.”

“Except for the part where I get to stay the lead in a movie directed by my favorite director, Anderson Quintrell.”

“Don’t you find that suspicious anyways? Why would he set that condition for getting the role to begin with?” Then a thought hit me and I narrowed my eyes at the two cousins beside me. “Did you guys plan this fake-but-not-fake marriage thing because of this?”

Jonas’s eyes popped out of his sockets. “I am even shocked that you’d think that of me, Atty. I didn’t even know being married to you was a criterion for getting a lead role in a movie. I would have done that ages ago.”

“Why is being married to me so important anyways?”

“You really don’t know?” Miranda was now dusting off yellow dust from her hands onto both her shirt and my sleeve. The urge to slam her to the ground MMA style kept getting harder to control with each passing minute.

“Your father is Richard Rosswell, billionaire tycoon AKA Money Machine. He always invests in movies and other productions and as a result, a lot of other people follow suit. I’m pretty sure the director and producer were hoping that by casting Jonas, Athena Rosswell’s husband and Richard Rosswell’s son-in-law, they’d get a big fat paycheck out of it. Anderson Quintrell may be your favorite director, but he’s not exactly a big shot that can secure an investment without getting the actors involved and everyone knows for small fish like him, the actors are the ones who secure the investments.”

I laughed then. It was funny how someone could be so wrong about something and end up making a grave mistake because of it. If that was Anderson’s plan alongside the producer, then I was afraid Jonas was going to lose his spot either way. My father didn’t care about me and he certainly wouldn’t care about some mid romcom that my best friend was starring in.

“Too bad, if that’s why Anderson chose you I guess it’s a flop regardless. You know what my family situation is like, don’t you? We’ll get our marriage annulled tomorrow, end of story. Now,” I got up and stretched. “Let’s go get our bags checked in. It’s almost time for our flight.”

They both remained seated as if in defiance to my suggestion.

“Look, I’m sorry that things ended up this way Jonas, but it couldn’t be helped.”

“We don’t know that Anderson casted me because of that.”

“True, but what difference does that make? We have to get an annulment. What if…what if I find someone that I really liked and wanted to date within the four months that your movie will be shot, then what? What if you fall in love with your co-star, Lana Condor?”

“Lana Condor is not my co-star and she’s already married. And I don’t plan on falling in love with anyone while I’m filming. How about we stay married just until I sign the papers? That way, they can’t kick me off even if they wanted to.”

“I bet you she’s thinking of Duke right now.” Without my permission, my face became hot red making Miranda’s statement seem true when it wasn’t.

“No, I’m not. Why would I be thinking of him right now?”

She leaned in on the chair, eyes narrowed at me. I staggered a bit under her scrutinous gaze and landed on my seat with a little thud.

“Your face is all red. I noticed that at the mention of Duke you go all puce colored. You think the news of being married to Jonas would reach him in his castle up on the European hills and that he’d feel bad and probably his hatred of you would grow because you spent the better part of high school and your relationship together denying that you were dating my cousin. Being married to him now wouldn’t exactly make you seem saintly in that regard especially after all that heavy denial. Your engagement to Duke was cancelled because of Jonas after all.”

Jonas sat up in his chair, his ears perked like dog’s, staring at me with wide, surprised eyes and lips itching to say something while my face burned hotter.

“That’s not true!” I screeched before Jonas could say anything. “We didn’t break up because of Jonas. Eavesdropping is the worst way to get information, Miranda. You should stop doing that. I’m not thinking of Duke and I don’t want to hear another word of that smug British tyke.”

“Atty, I will take you on every red-carpet event that I’m invited to and I will travel with you to wherever filming would take me once I make it. I will introduce you to as many celebrities as I can and I will always let you have the last KikKat.”

“Your wife wouldn’t be too happy with you taking me on all those trips for the rest of your life,” I said. I was beginning to lose my resolve. He was giving me that look that was hard to resist, the one that made him look like an adorable little puppy that only just wanted love and attention. His messy hair didn’t make his look any better. I was weak like that.

“Atty, if I come in contact with BTS, I’ll make sure to get a snag of Suga’s DNA and clone him for you. I’ll go to the best labs and invest all my money into them so they can give you the perfect Suga. Just please, please stay married to me for a little while.”

This was driving me insane. The promise of a Suga clone, while farfetched and ridiculous, seemed to be weakening my resolve further. I was still hungover and my head still hurt a lot from all that alcohol. I couldn’t remember most of what happened last night but that was the least of my worries now. I didn’t think it was right to remain married to Jonas for this sort of thing, but he was my best friend and I’d do anything for him. Plus, he was right about not using my single status to do anything at the moment. Even though I talked about falling for someone new down the line, I doubt it’ll be anytime soon. Recovering from Patrick would take a great deal of time and I did not subscribe to the idea of getting under someone new to get over someone else.

Just as I was about to give him a response, my phone dinged. I pulled it out of my pocket and looked at the message. It was a good thing I was already seated cause I would have fallen ungraciously if I was still standing.

I couldn’t believe my eyes.

“What? What is it?” I heard Jonas ask. Everything else around me became a blur and the sounds became muffled as I focused solely on that one message.

“What is it Atty?” Jonas asked and then snatched my phone from my hand.

“Holy—” he said. He didn’t seem to look sick at the message like I did, but he didn’t exactly look pleased either. “Is this real, Atty?” I nodded feebly.

“Can someone please explain to me what the hell is going on?”

“It’s…it’s my father.” The color drained from Miranda’s face. She was just as shocked as her cousin and I about this.

“He knows I’m married to Jonas and he’s made me an offer. He’d get us a house in any place we want and also sponsor our wedding ceremony if I agreed to come home this weekend for a family dinner. But that’s not the catch,” I added when I saw Miranda’s face light up at the possibility of getting a better place to live.

“I have to take over the position of COO effective immediately, and six months from now, I’ll be taking over as CEO of Rosswell International Developments.”