Chapter 39 BAD PUBLICITY

When I was almost about to start with the final exams in college, I was extremely tensed about how everybody would react to the result I would score in my final exams. I just could not study with my hundred per cent concentration because something in my head used to keep bothering me.

Firstly, it was the thought of being the girlfriend of the richest man in town. Anything that I did, any place that I went to, what I wore, what I ate, things as personal as the brand of sanitary napkins I used for those special days, every single thing was publicized to the level that would embarrass me most of the times.

The way media people would perceive anything that I would do then onwards became something that I feared. Being rich and/or belonging to such a family is definitely a dream for many people who do not consider the repercussions.

Some even say that they would be okay with whatever came their way, but if anyone saw you even hugging someone you considered your brother and the media was not aware of it, their reaction would certainly prove you to be characterless as they would somehow come up with their own theory that you could be cheating on your partner.

They would not even leave the room for thought and write about something they really saw, but rather they would directly accuse you of doing something that they wanted to see or needed to spice up their TV channels, newspapers, and magazines no matter how dirty it may be without considering the reality about the person whom they knew. Maybe because good things stopped being read about. Nasty things became the hot potato as anything controversial was to increase their sale.

One such thing happened when I went to the orphanage where I spent my childhood in, and I met one of the boys who was also my age. He was more like a brother to me because we grew up together and shared a time which was capable of being cherished for the whole life.

Neither of us had a family, and we were each other’s family. In fact, everyone at the orphanage shared a similar thought. All of them treated one another as one of their own because just because we didn’t have a family, didn’t mean we could not create one.

Media people saw me hugging him in the grounds of the orphanage. I had gone there to take a small talk on life as Mr. Alberto had asked me to do. He looked forward to calling all the ones who grew up there to talk to the little ones at the orphanage so that they could be motivated and their mindset changed for good. He wanted every single one of them to be so positive that nothing in life could ever bring them down.

That could be one of the reasons that I still managed to stay strong after being deceived in life by someone from whom I ran away from the orphanage for. I kept myself strong and my head up high. I could have easily returned to the orphanage after that incident, but I chose to maintain my dignity and do good on my own rather than going back and seeking shelter of a place that I took no time to think about twice when I fell in love at first with a jerk.

Degrading news which had headlines like ‘Charles’s fiancée not really his,’ ‘Charles being played,’ ‘Richest man being used,’ ‘Olivia with Charles only for money,’ and such like floated everywhere I looked. The way people started looking at me made me feel as if I was not a good person anymore, and that I was some kind of gold digger who was with Charles only because he was rich, and I wanted nothing else but his money.

Without knowing the whole deal between him and I, all kinds of rumors were spreading like wildfire. It was definitely not easy for me to cope with that kind of harm to my reputation. I still get a feeling of anxiety and feel tremors in my leg as I remember that bad time only because I had never lived like that until I became Charles’s girlfriend.

All of that was getting to me and depressing me so much. I also stopped eating properly and sleeping peacefully at night became an extremely hard task for me to achieve. It was becoming difficult for me to be in the same room with Charles because I feared from the news that it would give a spark to anything that wasn't true.

And even though there was no possibility of any channel people getting in his house because of the crazy security that he had for himself, I still could not be completely okay with being around him as the news had gotten to me in ways that could not be mended.

Having always lived a very simple life, I was not able to learn how I must deal with any kind of publicity. Whether it was good or bad, I never used to feel happy about it after I accepted the marriage proposal from Charles. I had no one I could speak to about what I was going through back then.

Mr. Alberto would never really understand how it felt to be on the other side because he was fascinated by the fact that a girl who was raised by him was at first living with the richest man in town, and then it grew even more when he got to know about the proposal.

Everyone must have got to know about the most romantic proposal which must have happened in the city by the man who everyone knew about. So, in the end, I decided to walk to Charles and learn from him the way to live in the world where such mean and pricking headlines were a part and parcel of the lifestyle he lived.

One fine day he had come back home from work early in the evening, which was much before the time that he would usually return. I took that as an opportunity, and I welcomed him the way I always did. But it didn’t take me much longer to get to the point because I was worried about my exams starting the week that followed.

“Charles, please help me out,” I said to him just the minute that he was going to switch on the television in the hall, after he freshened up and just when he settled on the couch with his drink that was served to him. He planned to drink that day to unwind as business needs had been exceeding that week.

“Yes, princess,” he responded and asked, “What help do you need?”

“The news about us running around everywhere is not letting me live peacefully,” I replied almost instantly because I could not keep it any more inside me.

“Especially the news about me being with you only for your money is somehow getting to me,” I explained only to continue, “I was not cheating on you by hugging the guy in the orphanage. Terence has been like a brother to me; I grew up with him–”

“Olivia!” Charles cut my sentence and called out my name with a slightly raised voice.

As I looked at him with tears in my eyes for feeling bad about everything that I was mentioning to him, he brought his hand to my face and moved his palm on my cheek.

It felt very comforting to me, undoubtedly, but I was seeking shelter in some words from him because neither he accepted that I truly loved him nor he said otherwise to stop me from saying what I was. In my mind it suddenly hit me—what if he also felt the same about me? What if I was just a gold digger to him?

As he opened his mouth to say something, I was looking at him with my heart ready to shatter if what I was thinking were to be true. The wait to hear him talk to me was killing me every second.