"To avoid today's fiasco, you should probably save my number," Phillip suggested with a brief pause, his tone bland. "Unless, of course, you prefer orchestrating your own amateur theatrics." So much for his gentleman act. Tina rolled her eyes.

Unlocking her phone and placing it in his palm, Tina shifted the blame onto him. "Why didn't you give me a heads up about hanging out with my dad? Made me look like a complete fool."

"Your actions are quite unpredictable, hard for me to anticipate what you might do next," Phillip remarked as he saved his number and added himself on her social media, handing the phone back to her. "But I'll try to keep up."

"Why would you do that?"

Phillip explained, "If all goes as planned, we're in this for the long haul. Getting in tune with each other and having each other's backs-it just makes things easier. Our partnership will be stronger for it." Halfway through his speech, Tina felt a touch moved, but by the end, any warmth had fizzled out.

Reclaiming her phone, she responded, "Well said, partner."

It was fitting, after all. Their marriage was essentially a business deal they both needed to manage.

Even after exchanging contact details, Tina and Phillip hadn't spoken much.

their relationship came at

Perez's birthday this weekend.

bit of a torture device. Clinging to Phillip's arm, she endured half the party

าวน์

and rest. Unable to escape,

belongs to

height on tiptoe was even more exhausting than the shoes, and she soon

seemed to notice

looking at?" Tina challenged,

eyes dropped to the floor, but her

distraction, Tina tiptoed again, momentarily regaining some height, as if he

a quiet request before resuming his business

server brought over a pair of slippers, which Phillip

all eyes followed

The Novel will be updated daily. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

Comments ()

0/255