contrary to the last time, this time i drive to the huge glass building with harriette instead of with luna by my side.

i didn't see both of them in the past few days because i had to do some more promotion work for my movie here in los angeles, but soon enough i'll have to attend busy premieres and nation-wide interviews, which in all honesty is something i don't really look forward to doing at all.

to say that harriette and i are nervous for the upcoming meeting would certainly be an understatement.

as i turn to my right in order to look at her, i see her chewing at her nails, one of her legs wobbling up and down. i can't remember the last time i saw her this anxious, but her resulting to her old habits doesn't seem like a good sign. 

i could only imagine that from the outside i looked a bit of a nervous mess as well but i like to believe that i repressed all of that and let it live inside of me but not show. i needed to appear calm now because i know that otherwise harriette would doubt our plan to sabotage our own 'romantic relationship' even more.

to comfort her the best way i can, seeing as i myself am nervous as well, i extend one of my arms to put around her shoulder and she shoots me a strained smile. i try to reciprocate her facial expression, though i know she will look through it. who knows, maybe she'll find comfort in knowing that we're both feeling the same way.

the car comes to a halt, which causes the both of us to look out of the half-rolled-down window.

i get out of the car first, holding the door open for harriette.

she thanks me and quickly strides towards the glass building, trying to get away from the few greedy photographers who seemingly never leave these premises.

harry now opens the glass door to the building for me, as i am standing behind her. i mutter a weak 'thanks' and she nods, proceeding to press the button for the elevator, her hand shaking ever so slightly as she does so.

whilst the elevator travels to one of the many upper levels, the atmosphere is tense and neither harriette nor me are speaking a word. she is still occupied with chewing on her thumb.

but before the door opens to reveal the conference room we'll have to defend ourselves in, i carefully put my hand on her shoulder again, patting it softly and whispering, "it'll work out. we'll do this, we are doing this, together."

i turn to look at her as she puts her hand on mine to squeeze it tightly, "thank you, phil."

i blink and smile again, digesting my own words and trying to convince myself that way as well. it'll work out, the board won't kill us, right? right?

we slowly make our ways towards our seats, sitting down. i down the glass of water in front of me and wipe the corners of my mouth with my hand, scanning all of the faces in the room, luna notices that i seem to be stressed and musters me, confused as to why i gulped down the water in one take. apparently harriette, who now looked very confident and collected- straight posture, stern gaze and concentrated and determined facial expression, and me were the last ones to arrive at today's meeting.

luna sits directly across of me and harry and looks somewhat tense from what i can deduce. her fingers tap a rhythm on the glass table instead of typing on her phone what she would normally do and her aura doesn't seem as impressive as it usually would- normally it consumes the entire room and the attention in it.

"shall we commence?" she asks and eyes stevey, who is her boss- in a way, as he owns the promotion agency luna works for. i bet being a manager of personal managers would not be an easy job and stevey contributes to that assumption. his dark heavy eye bags and engraved frown made him look not only sad but permanently angry. he also isn't known to have the kindest personality.

"we shall." stevey nods. "why don't phil and harriette start to tell us what's been bugging them as they asked for this meeting to be held a week earlier before we discuss publicity and improvements in image?"

harry nods slowly and shoots me a look, as to ask 'should i or do you want to tell them?' i nod in her direction.

"phil and i have come together and talked about this topic multiple times before actually thinking about voicing this mutual concern of ours." she pauses and takes a sip of her glass of water, every pair of eyes in the room is watching her closely and the next few sentences she is going to state will shift the atmosphere in the room, "we are very well aware of the fact that our image has altogether improved but to be frank, i am still in the same tv-show i was in when we signed the contracts and phil would be on this exact path with or without me- in fact, i personally even believe he may have landed a few more roles and affection from his fans if they knew he is single..."

i take over at this point to try and convince the board with more facts, speaking numbers- especially money- to try and have them listen even more closely and to understand. "the audience rating for sliver has not improved but actually deteriorated since our relationship has been announced. as you can see on the image from the mail harriette just sent you", i look at her who gives me a little nod, signifying that she's sent it,  "it was higher the day before the announcement, crashed on the day we got 'official' and has been slowly stabilizing ever since, now nearly at the rating from before. additionally, due to all of the rumors swirling around us, in particular those concerning the baby and the marriage, the fans feel betrayed and as if they can no longer trust the thing we say in interviews. my instagram account shows a decrease in engagement and fan interaction, which means that even though we get more tabloid articles written about us we will probably sell less tickets for my upcoming movies as due to the increase in unfollowers less and less people see the promotions and more of those people that do see them are less interested in the film, which ultimately means less money for us all, right?"

i pause, not knowing whether i should continue. the hesitation is probably the right choice, i decide as i couldn't tell them about me never being able to properly get out of the closet without causing another media mayhem. they would probably use that against this and bind us for forever. both my and harry's image is already cracked and there needs to be only one thing happening for them to crash. 

"i fear that this won't work because this is strictly confidential information and the both of you signed a contract which means you are bound to the deal you made." stevey says. "what do you think, luna?"

"i mean i would say that if we agree on not telling anyone about this whole thing having been staged we could potentially arrange for a break-up to happen. but you would never be able to tell anyone." luna underlines her last point, looking me and harriette directly in the eye one after the other. she knows that we intent to tell. she definitely knows that i would tell dan in a heartbeat. but if it is for them i would never be able to clear things up, and neither would harriette and that just won't work. 

"i guess so," a voice in the back mutters but i am way to invested in my own thoughts at this point that i don't really look into the direction. i also still feel luna's eyes on me and think that harriette is mustering me now as well. the voice continues, "but we would need at least a month to get out of this without it hurting the both of you. phil, you still need to get on to promoting your film that is out soon, you can't deal with this right this instant."

the discussion has slowed down and i look towards harriette and she hints to the door. we bid everyone goodbye and leave quickly, harriette practically storming out. 

"i don't care about any contracts or rules. i am tired of being caged. i am going to do this now. on my own if i must. are you in or out, phil?"

before i can answer that, of course, i am in, luna who apparently stormed after us, caught up with us. she places a hand on each of our shoulders, "guys, i can't let you do this. i know what you're about to do and you can't do it, i am begging you."

harry takes her hand off of her shoulder and is about to make a scene, when luna gets angry, which she normally never does.

"honestly, both of you are unbelievable! my ass is on the line here! you can't imagine how upset i am that you didn't tell me or warn me before hand -it's- ..ugh! how could you stab me in the back like that? making me have to explain myself in front of other clients and stevie, my damn boss!! i could now get into serious trouble. i think if i wouldn't be lucky enough to have successful clients i would've lost my job and my existence right then and there in that room, but you don't care, do you? you only care about yourselves", a single tear now left each of her eyes and rolled down her face, clinging onto her chin. "i'm sorry for this, i'm sorry. i'm not usually the one to- uhh.. i really want the both of you to be happy, trust me. if anyone wishes you well it's me, i want you two to succeed and lead the life you want to lead. if you remember correctly, i was the one who tried to prevent you from this but you didn't want to listen. but please listen now, in the board's opinion one month isn't a lot to ask for. you should be glad they are willing to compromise and don't insist on letting you go. please show yourselves obedient and wait another month."

* a/n * 

hello everyone. i feel really bad for having been away for so long. but i finally updated again, wohoo! i hope this story is still good and fresh sisters, if you have any suggestions or recommendations please leave them here so i update more because yeah that would be really nice! though this story still has a bit to go i am hoping to finish it until the end of this year so wish me luck and spam me to update if you're annoyed at me okay cool i hope you enjoyed this lame ass chapter be excited for the next few to come because it's finally going to get a bit more interesting hahah