CEO's Runaway Mate and Her Cubs

«Relax? Is your job tiresome, Lara?» Joy asked, curious about every little detail. She had to tell everything Mary when the party was over. But, for the moment, she would focus on collecting new information.

«I work at the LY Corp,» Lara said.

«Oh, is the company where you met Nate?» she asked, tapping on her chin. Had it been an office romance?

Regardless of what it looked like, Nate Woods wouldn't be as easy as to fall for an employee with unclear intentions. He had asked her to marry him: it didn't matter anymore how they had started it.

But hearing about the first meetings was the sweetest part of every love story. Joy would tell her friends about how she and her husband met and fell in love, and she sure was always in for hearing a good story.

«No, actually I started working there after meeting him,» Lara said, choosing one path she would have needed to follow from that moment on.

She had to be the closest to truth if she wanted to keep the details in mind. And, the truth was: Nate helped her get the job. She didn't get the job and later decided to seduce the CEO, at least. She could erase that possibility from those women's eyes.

«How so?»

«I was looking for a job, and Nate said it would be all right if I worked at the company. That we wouldn't let it influence our private life.»Nôv(el)B\\jnn

«Usually people are concerned about their professional career being hindered by personal affairs, not the other way,» Fiona chuckled.

«We're making it work,» Lara cut it short.

«But isn't it too much? Meeting at the company and then even after, when you date. Also, is it true that you're living together already?»

«How do you know?» Lara murmured, taken back.

«I read it in a magazine.»

«Magazine?» She repeated the names of a few she had gotten her hands on, but the women just laughed in scorn.

«We don't read that stuff,» Sarah pointed out. «We have a few good-quality magazines we sometimes buy. We're not interested in gossip because we already know the real story before it's published. And, believe me, what the tabloids publish is not nearly as interesting as the truth.»

«So, you read from other titles,» Lara thought. «I hope it wasn't too bad. I've read a couple of articles as well, and they mainly don't say the truth about any matter.»

«You'll grow used to it. They might try hurting you in many ways, and it will never be nothing. It will hurt even when you tell yourself it's not important. But, eventually, you will get used to it just like you can get used to taking the subway instead of the car.»

Lara bit her lower lip while thinking about her monthly card. She couldn't just say she had no problems with taking the subway. If even Nate would stare at her in shock, she couldn't imagine the women's reactions.

«I working on it,» she said, at some point. «On not letting it ruin my day. It's not like the people around me would actually believe to what tabloids say. It's just a lot annoying, right now.»

«So, you're working for the company... What is your job, exactly?» Sarah continued, settled on getting every small detail. Anything that could be relevant.

«Yes, I do. Right now, I summarize the documents for Nate.»

«He... He lets you?»

«Yes, of course.»

«Isn't he afraid you'll sell the information to other companies? After all, you admitted you two haven't met for long.»

«Nate trusts me.» She furrowed her brows, annoyed. Were they trying to say something she wouldn't like?

«Of course! I mean, you're going to get married! Have you already set a date?»

«Not yet, we'll proceed with calm.»

«I can't wait to hear about the wedding. It will be grand...»

«I don't think so,» Lara said. Nothing too grand. There would be the whole pack, for sure, and maybe a few friends. From her side, only her uncle - if he accepted the invite.

Oh, but there was so much time ahead. Things might change.

«We don't like attracting attention from the press,» she said.

«It's understandable, after all you've been through. And they're not leaving you alone even now. I don't read tabloids, believe me, but I couldn't miss your face on all those covers. It's so tiring,» Fiona said.

All those women were part of the same world. They understood the pressure of being on every cover, of reporters asking difficult questions, of the need to keep their life private.

Even though Lara didn't consider herself one of them, she felt their empathy. They had gone through the same challenge, maybe more than once.

«How does one even fight it?» she asked.

«One doesn't,» Anna chuckled. «The paparazzi will find something else to talk about real soon. Even though I would check out my surroundings if I was you. This amount of gossip means there's someone leaking information. True or fake doesn't matter.»

«Do you think I should give a statement?» she continued, tilting her head. «Should I tell them that some things are simply not true?»

«It won't change much. But you can do it if it will make you feel better. It won't make them back down, though. And you can't sue them because they don't say: they wonder, they suspect, they ask themselves questions. Any tribunal would let them go because of that press freedom bullshit.»

«It's not right! They should be free to write what the want, but they're ruining people's lives. They're not responsible of their words!»

«I know, right? That's what we have to live with,» Joy murmured. «Our world seems so shiny and perfect, but it's not as easy and comfortable.»

She smiled at Lara, thinking a couple of questions before deciding whether to say what she meant.

«You don't belong here; not yet. I can tell. It has nothing to do with the family you come from, don't misunderstand me.»