The billionaire's sweet editor
Chapter 91: Lucas: Rumors

Chapter 91: Lucas: Rumors

We’re seated around my desk like college students discussing an assignment. Bella looks mad, probably because she didn’t expect us to have Mary on board but I couldn’t care less. I need this meeting done so I can see more of Iris soon.

"First things first, when did the two of you decide to fake being in a relationship?"

I raise a brow. "Fake a what now?"

"We didn’t. The fans are the ones who are trying to make the ship sail," Bella says in an adenoidal voice, rubbing her hands together and adjusting her position on the chair. "But is that even worth our time?"

"We have fashion pieces to discuss, we have a magazine to upsell. I say we start with the important bits and end with trivial matters like these."

Mary gives her a side glance that’s so menacing, I can tell the two of them don’t get along quite well.

"I assume this is just as important because his image will influence the magazine’s sales just as much."

"But he is not yet that popular. He has like half a million followers now."

"Three million on all platforms to be exact."

I almost fall off my chair. Three million? I don’t even post that much.

"And mind you he has only two social media pages. Instagram carries 75 percent of all those followers and it’s still growing because of Adder’s global influence. Do you still think it’s trivial?"

Wow. I grab my phone and head over to my Facebook account. True to her words notifications bombard my phone the moment the app opens and it crashes.

Bella forces a smile. "Are you even on the marketing team? How do you know so much about his account?"

"Because aside from being the main topic of interest these days, I’m Lucas’ childhood friend."

"Me too. I met him in high school."

Mary raises her hand. "I wasn’t done. He’s also my friend’s boyfriend."

That manages to catch Bella off guard. Her eyes widened a little, breaking the tough girl act she was trying to pull. Without any smart remark to throw back at Mary, all that’s left of her is a cheap smirk as she twirls her chair to face me.

"Why congratulations to your friend, and congratulations to you, Luke."

Mary rolls her eyes and looks at me mouthing something about me not stepping in between them. I suppress a laugh.

"So, what are we going to do now?" Bella asks.

I adjust my sitting position and look outside the office at my girlfriend who is talking to Brandon and laughing. I already miss her.

"How about we ignore the dating rumors about Bella and me so we focus on the magazine’s theme and have me post a few pictures of myself dressed in some of Bellas’ outfits."

"See he gets it," Bella taunts Mary. I give her a pointed glare.

"Let’s try our best to work together in peace. We don’t want to pay penalties after breaking contract guidelines now do we?" I hiss.

The two are like kindergartners. I don’t even know why they’re fighting but it seems it’s bigger than I want to acknowledge.

After I remark on contracts, they get a little bit more serious. We discuss how we’re going to progress with the magazine advertisements. Bella has already set aside a few pieces of her traditional wear that I’m supposed to try and promote.

I have become an Adders model in a sense ever since proposing to pose for last month’s bedroom edition and going viral after posting the picture on my socials. Now all my hope is in that power of going viral. It’s either that or I leave the department workhouse ever making the magazine number one on the chart.

Fuck it’s depressing to even think about. If I knew what the future held for me back then, I wouldn’t have promised my mother the gold right at her funeral.

After all the outfits are arranged, Mary asks us to make time on our schedules this week for the photo shoot to happen in their studio. She shows us the entire plan she has in mind with a traditional-modern theme already set by her that she wants to follow.

We all agreed to do it the day after tomorrow. I’ll have to clustered Wednesdays meetings inti tomorrow’s schedule because it looks like the photoshoot will take the entire day to end. It’s all decided in a matter of hours and by the time we’re done, we have a clear view of what we’re supposed to do to boost the magazine’s exposure on everyone’s social media accounts.

By the time we leave my office, it’s lunchtime and everyone has gone downstairs for their meals. Mary immediately rushes out of the department to catch up with the others on good meat, leaving me with Bella whose mood immediately changes the moment we’re alone.

"Wanna take a picture to post?"

"No."

She pouts. "But it’s going to build suspense when you post it on your page and write a caption that shows we’re working on something together behind the scenes."

"Listen, Bella," I close the distance between us, doing my best not to sound as angry as I am. "Just because my old man trusted you to assist me in this influencer shit doesn’t mean I’m a dummy. I know how social media works okay? I’ve worked with big shots whose following is greater than yours and mine combined."

"I-I know that," she stutters.

"Good. So stop treating me like an idiot and tell me what your game is exactly."

Bella avoids my eyes. "What game are you talking about? I just want to build suspense for the upcoming magazine issue."

I ease the tension I’m trying to build, backing away from her with my hands in my pockets. "I hope so."

"Then are we taking that picture or not?"

She looks genuine as she says it, enough to make me nod and stand behind her.

"Say cheese," she shouts and clicks the small white dot on her camera. Once she has the photograph, she turns around and hugs me, thanking me as she disappears to the elevator.

I don’t know what to call our relationship ever since breaking up the deal last week. She seems fine to me but my intuition keeps telling me she’s not for some reason.

Not that I care at the moment. I have to go buy flowers for Iris before she’s back from lunch. Grinning at my awesome idea, I leave the department and rush to the elevator.

I’m still waiting for it to arrive on my floor when my phone rings in my pocket. Taking it out, I see a notification from Bella and open it.

"They love us" is the caption written below a picture she sent and when I download it, I groan.

Right below the picture of us, she took a while ago are two comments.

"You guys look cute together," one of them says, but the one that grabs my attention is right below it. It already has twelve likes and Bella is among them.

"Wait. Are you that girl who was kissing Lucas in that blurry picture at night?"

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