Fake Fiancée - Season 1 - Episode 57

Episode 4 years ago

Fake Fiancée - Season 1 - Episode 57

My uncle had allowed me to stay at Curacao for another three days, so I could say goodbye and to experience what was left of the beautiful country, but I didn’t feel like exploring, which was weird. I was usually an independent person and now I was moping around. Well, not really. I wasn’t literally dragging myself around everywhere, bursting into tears and complaining about my situation. I just kept quiet.

Last night while Henry had been contently asleep, I had been lying still in his arms while my thoughts were all over the place. How could I tell him that I was leaving? And more importantly, for him ?

I was too cowardly to tell him, but I knew I had to sometime. I couldn’t just leave without an explanation. That would be horrible and Henry would just come after me.

So I had to do it now, since I have the chance.
We were eating breakfast at a restaurant by the beach because Henry had decided that we should enjoy some Curacao cuisine – different skewed meats with peanut sauce, soups made from okra and seafood and pastries filled with dripping hot cheese, fish and herbs. It was delicious, but I couldn’t focus on the food when the dreaded conversation about me leaving was still in the back of my mind.

“Do you like the food?”
I turned to Henry and gave him a small nod. He was watching me intently and I had the feeling he knew that I was zoning out while he was speaking, but he didn’t want to pry. I was kind of impressed by this.

“What about you?” I asked back, just to make some conversation and to get my mind of leaving Henry. “Does that … thing you’re eating taste nice?”
Henry rolled his eyes when I offended his food by calling it a ‘thing ’. “It’s called Plantain , you pancake. Fried bananas.”
I started to laugh when I realised the pieces of golden food Henry was chewing on were indeed fried bananas. How could I have not noticed that?
“Do you want some?” Henry asked uncertainly as I laughed like a maniac.
I stopped myself from giggling further and gave him a wide smile. “Sure! Now that I know that it’s not something unusual, I’ll try it.”
Henry smirked. “The whole point of eating here is to try new food.”
“But fried bananas is new food for me,” I argued.

“You only agreed to it because you’ve tasted bananas before,” Henry pointed out.
I gritted my teeth and eyed the fried banana irritably. “Are you going to let me taste it or not?”

Henry’s deep chuckle filled my ears and he stabbed a fork into one of them and leaned forward. I raised an eyebrow as I watched it hover in front of my mouth. “Open wide,” he commanded playfully.

My lips spread into a small smile. I found this so weird. “Since when do you feed people?”
I could see his tan cheeks warming up and laughed through my nose. “Just eat,” he snapped when he saw that I was amused. I rolled my eyes at him and took a large bite out of the plantain. Very yummy.

Henry ended up paying for the food (after a heated argument which consisted of me repeatedly shoving him with my elbow so that I could pay for once) and we headed to the motorbike he had rented. He’d gotten rid of the car and decided he liked the motorbike better. I still couldn’t believe my boyfriend knew how to drive a motorbike. How much more of a bad boy could he be?

“Where are we going exactly?” I asked with a slight pout as I sat myself on the padded seat. Henry had told me he had found something very interesting to do in Curacao and I had agreed to come. I wondered what it was. Swimming with sea creatures? Now that would be something unique.


Henry revved the engine. “Now why would I tell you that? It would ruin the element of surprise.”
I groaned and slumped my face into the back of his striped shirt. He smelled d--n good. I wondered what cologne he used. I would have to find out sometime before I left. “Why do you like surprises?” I muttered darkly, not expecting him to hear.

“Because you have the best facials when you find out,” Henry answered with a laugh before speeding away.


* * *

“We’re going bungee jumping?”
“Yep!”

“Are you crazy?”
“Now why would you think that?”
Henry had brought me to a Queen Juliana Bridge in Willemstad, the capital of Curacao, where you could go bungee jumping off the bridge. There were a few others here and they all seemed excited. Meanwhile, I was unsure. Yes, I had gone super-large roller coasters in my life and everything, but … jumping off a bridge with a single string stopping you from falling to your death in the ocean?

“I don’t know about this, Henry.” I felt kind of queasy.
He frowned when he realised that I was indeed unsure. “Hey, it’s going to be ok! I thought you like feeling the rush of adrenaline?”
I let out a sigh. “I do!”

“Well this is the same thing …” Henry paused and tilted my face to meet his with his index finger. “Do you trust me?”

Why the hell did he need to ask the question when he already knew the answer? I gave him a nod and he continued. “Then trust me pancake, you won’t fall.”

I know I felt childish asking this but I couldn’t help it. “Promise?”

“I promise,” Henry said seriously. He even put out his pinkie to show me he was serious. I smirked so I could stop myself from smiling and twined my own pinkie with his.

The instructor introduced himself to us and taught us how to harness ourselves, although I had the feeling that Henry didn’t like him very much. He then walked off to introduce himself to some other tourists but suddenly, I realised I had a dilemma. “I’m stuck,” I announced sheepishly.

As Henry was about to reach forward, the instructor was faster. I heard Henry growl from beside me and I fought back the urge to giggle. Was he … jealous?


He was still shooting daggers at the instructor and it reminded me of the time when he used to do that to Keith. Did it show that he cared for me? That he wanted no one else to be with me?
These thoughts made me want to reconsider my decision to leave but I firmly stuck to my decision. Henry would get over me soon, I was sure of it, but a teeny bit of my mind screamed that he would not because we had something special between us and that he could never forget that.
When the instructor finished helping me, he walked off to help some other people and answer their questions about the safety of the bungee jumping cord. “Finally,” I heard Henry mutter.

After watching a few people go first, I decided that I was ready to jump off a bridge with only a string holding me up. Henry laughed at that and asked if I wanted to go before him and or after. I ended up choosing the second option.

Henry stretched his arms and rolled his head as if he was stretching for a jog. I laughed. “You’re not running a marathon you know.”

I watched as he shrugged. “I know.”
“You’re nervous aren’t you?” I teased, knowing that I was being hypocritical. Even though I was just kidding, I could actually see that he
was kind of nervous. He was shifting his weight from one foot to the other and avoiding my eyes.
He scoffed, pretending that bungee jumping was a daily activity for him. “I am not.”

“Alright then, peanut.”
An amused smile grew on my lips as I watched Henry step onto the platform and do a double take as he looked down below. “You like the view?!” I called out.

I saw him gulp. “Definitely!” And then, after taking a deep breath, he jumped.
I’m not sure why but I nearly screamed my lungs out. Only the sound of a small shriek came out of my throat. I know it was just bungee jumping and that it was safe, but I felt like he was jumping off the bridge because of suicide.
This was another moment when I realised how much Henry meant to me. I let out a sigh. Realising how much I needed him did not make anything easier.

I heard Henry yell of excitement and I felt a whisper of a smile on my lips. I guess he was enjoying it.

My nerves increased when he finally came up from his jump, grinning like a fool. “You’ll love it, pancake!” He told me once he was out of his harness. I uncertainly eyed the water below and suddenly felt his arms wrap around me. That made me look up into his eyes. “I promise. It’s amazing!”

Trusting him, I stumbled my way over to the platform where the instructor from before was smiling at me comfortingly. The thing was, it wasn’t very comforting. “You’ll do fine,” he said with a hint of a Dutch accent.
I nodded and turned my head around to see where Henry was. He was a few feet away smiling at me encouragingly. Bless him. I then turned myself the other way and blinked as I took in the sparse river underneath me. Oh my god. I couldn’t believe I was going to jump off this bridge in a second. Why Henry wanted to do this escapes me.

Sure, you get a good kick out of it but … I could
die for goodness sakes! I didn’t take death lightly.

I realised that these frightening thoughts of dying was not making this easier, so I closed my eyes and shook them away.

“You can do it!” I heard Henry tell me, as if I was going to kick the final goal for a soccer game or something.
I inhaled and exhaled slowly, and told myself that I would be fine, and that if I died, I could always haunt Henry as a ghost. Ok.

I rocked on the balls of my feet, shut my eyes tightly and finally, launched myself off the platform. My heart leapt as I fell down form the bridge. I couldn’t even scream or make a noise because nothing would come out of my throat. Air rushed past my face and I gasped when I nearly hit the clear sea underneath me.

My gasp then turned into a relieved sigh when I didn’t land in the water. For a second, I had been quite terrified of drowning there, but the cord was still holding me. I’d never thought I’d say this, but thank goodness for the cord!

Once I got back up to the bridge, Henry came over to me. My legs felt like Jell-O and he caught me in his arms. I was safe now. “Did you like it?”

Despite how terrified of dying I was, I nodded and laughed softly. I had liked it somehow. “Yeah I did.”

He grinned and nudged me slightly. “I told you so.”

After getting out of my harness and thanking the instructor (Henry hadn’t been very happy to do that), Henry drove us back to the hotel. Throughout the ride, my nerves set back in. I would have to tell him about my plan to leave. D--n.

Once we arrived at out hotel suite, Henry collapsed on the sofa and brought me along with him. I smacked his arm and laughed aloud. “You idiot!”

I heard him chuckle. “I’m your idiot.”
“Well that was corny,” I remarked.
His arms tightened around me and I felt him place a light kiss on my head. “I’m always corny around you,” he murmured. “I love you.”

I stiffened because Henry telling me he loved me just made me want to stay here with him forever. I managed to squeak out, “I love you too.” Then, he sat up slightly and I backed off him a bit so we were both sitting properly on the sofa. My face fell when I saw him studying my face. What was he thinking?

“Lainie, just tell me what’s on your mind.” He sighed.

I rubbed my arm. “What makes you think that I’m thinking about something?”
“Well let’s see … you’ve kind of been nervous and zoning out a lot all day and you’ve got that guilty look on you.” I groaned and smacked my forehead. I really needed to update my acting skills around him. “Please tell me what’s wrong.”

I closed my eyes briefly, and then opened them to find him looking slightly worried, so I took one of his hands in mine and started to draw soothing circles on his palm. “Henry … I need to tell you something.”

“I figured.” Smartass.
I took a deep breath. “I … I’m leaving,” I whispered. I saw his eyes bulge and quickly continued before he could say anything. “I
need to leave Henry. I was supposed to be here to fix up your reputation but now I’ve ruined it. This whole thing is all my fault. If it wasn’t for me …”

Henry then gripped my hands. “No Lainie,” he said tightly. “I won’t let you leave.”
I felt a tinge of annoyance at what he said and snapped, “You can’t stop me Henry.”
“Lainie, I … need you. I love you,” he choked out. I bit my lip and looked away from the alluring colour of his eyes, because they were jut too good at persuading. “We’ll show the world that we love each other. Please don’t leave.”
I shook my head. “Steve said you’ll always be looked down on if I’m with you and it’s true Henry!”

“Steve,” Henry growled, realising that he was the person who had implanted the idea of leaving in my head. A vicious glint I didn’t like entered his eyes.

My eyes widened as he hopped off the bed. Was he going to … no ! I scrambled off the bed and ran over to him to stop him. I tugged hard on his arm and he turned to face me. He seriously looked like he was ready to murder my uncle, I’m not kidding.

“Henry, don’t! This is all my decision!”
He looked hurt by what I said and shook his arm out of my grip. “You’re ready to throw our love away just like that?”
When he put it like that, it did sound horrible, but I wasn’t going to let that comment get to me. I would brood over it later when I finally left. “No! How could you say that?!”
“Well how can you tell me that you’re breaking up with me?”

I wrung my hands. “This is what’s best for you Henry. Your reputation …”

“And who are you to decide what’s best for me?” he retorted.

I flinched. Henry saw the movement and his face slowly softened. I watched as he bit his lip and stared at the floor. I longed to be able to read his mind and know what he was thinking. Was he going to let me walk away? Or was he thinking of strategies for me to stay by his side? My logical side hoped he would let me go but my romantic side prayed for him to fight for me.
“Do you really want to go? For my reputation?”
No. “Yes.” I watched as he continued to stare at the floor and felt hope. Was he reconsidering?
“Then we’ll have a long-distance relationship.”

What?! That wasn’t the point! My eyes widened and I peered up at him. From his angry expression, he seemed to look quite hopeful now. “What do you mean?”
He scratched the back of his neck. “Um … well maybe we could date in secret?”
Was he serious? I felt like punching him. Was I that horrible that I had to be hidden away from the world? He saw the look on my face and he scrambled to explain. “We could date in secret and later, one day, we could finally be together.”

“Everyone will know who I am,” I pointed out. “You’ll still be hated.”
Henry shook his head and he grinned slightly. “I know what I’m doing.” I didn’t think so, but I didn’t voice this aloud. What kind of plan did he have in his twisted mind? “So what do you think? Please Lainie?”
One look in his eyes and I couldn’t help but blurt out, “of course.”

His face lit up at my answer and he swept me into a hug, but I wasn’t so sure if this was the right thing to do.

* * *

It was nearly nightfall and Henry was doing some last minute filming along with Veronica. I had grimaced at that and was still quite annoyed. But my negative thoughts flew out of the window when the ‘someone’ who knocked on the door of the hotel suite turned out to be Keith.
“Keith!” I pulled him in for a bear hug and he laughed. “What are you doing here?!”
I let him in and he shrugged slightly. “I hope you’re not upset about the … uh … pictures all over the tabloids.”

I rolled my eyes as we sat down on the sofa, knowing that he was referring to the picture of us hugging. “Do you think I am? It was just a friendly hug.”

His face showed relief and he leaned his head back. “Thank God. I thought you would have been pissed or something.”
“Then you must not know me very well,” I teased.

He grinned but then it looked like he remembered something because his face suddenly fell. “Right … I was doing a few scenes today and I saw Henry. He seemed … weird. What’s going on, Lainie? Did you guys have a fight again?”

Well he was straightforward. I was going to lie but then I remembered that he was my friend and I couldn’t just leave Curacao without telling him. “I’m going back home, Keith.”
He suddenly burst out laughing and I patiently waited for him to stop. When he realised I hadn’t cracked a smile, he stopped. “Oh, you’re serious?” I nodded and couldn’t help but giggle at him. “Oh … Lainie! Why?! I’m going miss you!”

“It’s for the good of all humanity,” I exaggerated, letting him attack me with a hug. “And I’ll miss you too.”
“Promise we’ll keep in contact? We’ll email and phone and whenever I can, I’ll visit you!”
He sounded so excited about the plans that I had to agree. Keith then snapped his fingers. “Let’s go and visit Natasha! You have to say goodbye to her too!”

“What, right now?” I asked, surprised that he brought this up. He nodded and after a few seconds of thinking, I agreed to visit her. He gave me a few minutes to change out of my pyjamas and into a pair of shorts and a flannel shirt.
We headed out and rode on his motorbike off to ‘ Hilton Curaçao ’, the place where Natasha was staying along with Clara and her boyfriend. It took kind of long and when we arrived, I gawked. The hotel was a white, gigantic rectangular structure with the beach right in front. I wondered where Natasha’s hotel room was, out of all the windows.

We hopped off the bike and started to walk inside when suddenly, Keith’s cell blasted out ‘Barbie Girl’. I burst out laughing at his choice of ring tone and he swatted my arm. “It was stupid Henry’s fault,” he muttered, defending himself. “Hello?”

I listened to his very short conversation and started panicking when he let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m really sorry Lainie but Peter called me in.”

Oh. “It’s fine, you can go,” I reassured him.
“Are you sure? I’ll pick you up when you call me then,” he promised. I nodded and let him go, while I walked up to the front desk feeling insignificant.

“And what do you want?” the pretty receptionist asked, looking at her polka-dotted painted nails. What a snotty … “Are you sure you’re in the right place?” She eyed my attire and I fought back the urge to slap her.
I forced myself to be polite. “Yes I’m sure. Now may I ask which room Natasha Lesley is in?”

“I’m sorry, we don’t help stalkers,” was her instant reply. Feeling sick of being treated like a piece of dirt, I slammed my hand down on the counter, which made her jump in her seat.
“Look here, if you don’t tell me right now which room Natasha Lesley is in, I will seriously damage those pretty little nails of yours,” I threatened.

Her eyes widened and she hurried to type in Natasha’s name into the computer. I felt like laughing. Girls were all about looks these days. “Room 90,” I heard her murmur.
“Thank you.” I turned around to walk away from her but not before adding, “Oh, just a word of advice. If you don’t want to get fired, I’d suggest you should get that stick out of your butt.”

She gasped, while I snickered evilly as I headed for the elevator I had spotted when I had first entered the lobby. I punched in the right level and leaned against the silver wall of the elevator. I couldn’t wait to see Natasha because she always made me feel better. She was cheerful and bubbly and always made me laugh.

When the elevator doors slid open, I stepped out and scanned the corridor. The door nearest to me indicated that it was number 75, so I kept walking, staring at the golden plates on the doors. 87, 88, 89 … 90.

I hesitated before I knocked. No answer. Great. Now what? I’m not sure what it was, but suddenly a force pushed me to try the doorknob. The door opened at my touch and I took a small step inside. What the hell was with Hollywood people leaving their doors unlocked?

I knew Natasha was in because I heard the water running in the shower so I decided to sit myself on the chaise longue by the window. I admired the view from my seat as I waited for her to come out of the ensuite. I hoped I wouldn’t scare her, but I didn’t feel like waiting outside in the quiet corridor.

The sudden shrill ringing of the phone in the room snapped me out of my daydreaming and I eyed it, feeling wary. Should I answer it? I stared at it, not knowing what to do until it stopped, and a ‘beep’ went off. Voicemail! Yes, I’ll just let it go to voicemail.

“Natasha, I have to congratulate you. Everyone is disgusted to find out that my son and his so-called fiancée’s engagement is not real. You did a wonderful job and I liked that extra touch with the picture of Hudson and Lainie hugging. Once I am out of jail, I will be sure to contact your father and make arrangements for the engagement. Henry will love you, I am sure. I am very proud to be able to call you my daughter-in-law. Please call me soon so we can discuss the alliance between ERLA and Parker Corporations.”

What the? Was that … Mr Parker?! Why was he calling Natasha his daughter-in-law?! My head started to hurt as it spun with possibilities and questions.

“Lainie … what are you doing here?!”
I slowly turned to the source of the squeal (aka Natasha), who stood by the doorframe of the ensuite in a nightie. I looked her in the eye fiercely, but all the while, my body was shaking from shock, anger and disbelief. She was supposed to be my friend . What kind of friend backstabbed you? “Why are you in cohorts with Rafferty Parker?”

Natasha’s plump lips dropped into an ‘O’ shape and she took a step forward. “I … I had to! I’m so sorry!”

“I didn’t ask for apologies, I asked for a reason,” I replied coldly.

She flinched, hurt by my indifference. “I had to Lainie, you have to understand! My father … his company … my family are going to become
broke!” she blubbered through her tears. “Marrying Henry means saving my family …”

I shook my head at her, disgusted that she would still go to lengths to save her family. Even if she was trying to save her family, why did she have to split Henry and I apart and make us miserable?
“Please forgive me,” she pleaded, inching closer to me. I automatically stepped away and took in her tear-stricken face. She looked sincere about being sorry for hurting my feelings, but I couldn’t just bring myself tell her that everything was ok between us. I felt nauseous. I needed to get out of here.

“The reason why I came to visit was to say goodbye, because I’m leaving, so goodbye Natasha. I hope karma hits you in the face someday because you ruined the best thing that ever happened to me.”

After giving her one last, hard look, I turned away from her and ran out of the room as fast as I could, away from Natasha, my so-called friend.