Once the two of them made it to the immigration office, they encountered a big line in front of them. Nesta almost gave out a long stressful sigh before an idea snapped on her head. She looked at Cassian and hit his bicep slightly. "This way." She said and was now cutting the line.
Holy shit, she's really out of her mind! Cassian thought. "Nesta, wha-" He whispered but followed her. He knew the people on the line were starting to glare at them, to which he apologized.
"Come. Hurry." Nesta said hurriedly. Cassian snapped his head back and forth and it almost cracked.
"That's the line." Cassian told her through his teeth but she ignored him. When the person attending the line said for the next people in line to come next, Nesta quickly cut it.
"Just…" She stood in front of the woman that was going next. "Sorry, I need to ask him something." Nesta gave an innocent smile, which Cassian knew was far from innocent. "I need for you to file this fiancée visa for me, please." She now faced the guy behind the counter and gave him the paperwork. He only looked at her up and down unamused before reading the papers.
"Miss Archeron?" He asked and looked at her as if she was being serious.
"Yes." Nesta confirmed with a smile.
The guy took the papers and motioned his hand to follow him "Please, come with me." He said. Both Nesta and Cassian glanced at each other before following him into a small office room.
Nesta stood next to the door as Cassian took seat, turning his head to look around and shifting on his seat every few seconds. "Stop fidgeting. You're making me nervous."
"May I remind you that this was your damn idea. Sorry I can't help but have a bad feeling about this." Cassian glared at her to which she only replied with a stare of her own. As if she was saying Touché. Soon, a man knocked on the door and Nesta made way for him to get inside. He had unique features, his skin and hair were white as snow and yet he was wearing a black long sleeve turtleneck, batching pants and brown dressing shoes.
"Hello." He said in a way of greeting, to which Nesta and Cassian replied almost in unison.
"Hello." The two of them shaked his hand before taking a seat in front of his desk.
"My name is Kallias. And you must be Cassian?" Kallias asked to confirm his name. Cassian nodded as he nodded in response. "And you must be…" He stopped for a moment.
"Uh, Nesta." Nesta clarified as he nodded.
"Nesta, well…" Kallias clarified his voice. "Sorry about the wait. It's a crazy day today." He said, shaking his head.
"Tell me about it" Cassian mumbled, knowing Kallias may take it as a joke when it was actually a real crazy day for him as well.
"Of course, of course." Nesta said in understanding. "We understand. I can't tell you how much we appreciate you seeing us on such short notice." She forced a smile.
Even though we did cut the line, Cassian thought and he swore her eyes shot at him. As if she heard what he just thought.
"Ok." Kallias snapped the both of them out of whatever they were thinking. "So, I have one question for you." He gave them a heavy glare before asking. "Are you both committing fraud to avoid her deportation so she can keep her position as editor in chief at Adriata Books?"
Both Cassian and Nesta stiffen but he quickly responded. "That's ridiculous."
Nesta huffed a laugh, to which Cassian knew well enough that it was fake. "Where did you hear that?"
Kallias shifted on his seat. "We had a phone tip this afternoon from a man named…"
"Would it be Balthazar Spaulding?" Nesta then asked. She will not let Baltazar ruin her plans.
"Balthazar Spaulding." Kallias repeated the name while staring at her with suspecting eyes. Cassian shot a look at him and Nesta back and forth.
"Bal. Poor Bal. I am so sorry. Balthazar is nothing but a disgruntled former employee. And I apologize." Nesta said with a small sigh. "But we know you're incredibly busy with a room full of gardeners and delivery boys to tend to." Cassian was fighting the urge to scoff at her lies at this point, but yet she kept on talking. "If you just give us our next step, we will be out of your hair and on our way." She finished. Cassian now pressed his lips, waiting for a reply.
Kallias layed back on his seat and shook his head. "Miss Archeron, please." He then looked up at her. "Let me explain to you the process that's about to unfold." He crossed his arms. "Step one, will be a scheduled interview. I'll put you each in a room, and I'll ask you every little question that a real couple would know about each other." He said, to which the two of them gave a small glance before nodding. "Step two, I dig deeper. I look at your phone records, I talk to your neighbors, I interview your co-workers." Kallias pointed.
Uh oh. Cassian's throat bobbed and Nesta slightly fidgeted.
"If your answers don't match up at every point, you will be deported indefinitely." Kallias pointed at Nesta before pointing at Cassian. "And you, young man, will have committed a felony punishable by a fine of $250,000" He kept pointing as Cassian saw a young woman squirming while being taken away by two police officers, not even twice his size. "And a stay of five years in federal prison." He held his stare. We're in utter shit. Total, knee deep, shit! Cassian though. "So, Cassian.." Kallias said his name lowly. "You wanna... you want to talk to me?" He asked, raising a perfectly white brow.
Cassian stumbled at his words. "No?... Yes?..." He cleared his throat and found his thoughts. "The truth is… Kallias, the truth is…" He glanced at Nesta and once again saw those pleading eyes. "Nesta and I…" He faced Kallias. "...are just two people who weren't supposed to fall in love. But did." Cassian held Nesta's hand in supposing comfort. But, he had an idea to get back at her. "We couldn't tell anyone we work with because of my big promotion that I had coming up!" He gave a happy yet cocky smug, to which Nesta almost dropped her jaw.
"Promotion?" Kallias asked a bit unamused.
Promotion!? Nesta almost sank her nails on his hand.
"Yep!" Cassian just nodded, still with the cocky smug on his face.
"Your?" Kallias asked again.
Cassian nodded again and let go of Nesta's hand before pulling her seat close and throwing his arm over her shoulder. "We both felt that it would be deeply inappropriate, if I were to be promoted to editor…"
"Editor." Nesta repeated as he held her. She can't argue with him right now so she just has to go with it. She leaned on his embrace, half surprised that his torso was rather hard.
"While we were… you know." Cassian pointed at her then at him so that Kallias could get an idea of what he meant. The man of gorgeous white scratched his forehead.
"So." He proceeded to ask. "Have the two of you told your parents about your secret love?" Cassian could feel Nesta stiffen under the weight of his arm.
"Oh, I... impossible." Nesta fought the urge to fidget. "My parents are dead. Just me and my two sisters. We're still trying to reconcile after years of disagreement" Nesta said. The only truth she spat out of her mouth so far, she thought.
"Hm.." Kallias looked at Cassian. "Are your parents dead?"
"My mother passed away when I was just three months old and I have no idea who my father is, so it's just me and my two brothers from the orphanage." Cassian said in truth. Nesta actually felt her heart stop. She had no idea Cassian was an orphan. "Still, we were gonna tell my family and friends this weekend." Cassian shrugged it off like it was nothing but Nesta could see the pain lingering in his eyes. "It's my brother Rhys' 35th birthday, and the whole family's coming together! We thought it'd be a nice surprise." he smiled.
Kallias hummed before asking. "Where is this surprise gonna take place?"
Nesta answered this time. "At Cassian's brother's house."
Kallias raised both eyebrows. "Where is that located again?"
Nesta was now losing it. "Why am I doing all the talking? It's your brother's house. Why don't you tell him where it is." Nesta smiled. Oh, Cassian was going to enjoy this far too much.
"Sitka." Cassian smiled at Kallias.
"Sitka." Nesta only repeated.
"Alaska." Cassian kept his smile as Nesta stiffened again. She looked at him with a shocked expression but had to quickly recover.
"You're gonna go to Alaska this weekend?" Kallias looked slightly taken away.
Cassian nodded, to which Nesta hesitantly did the same, almost cringing. "Yeah."
"Yes, yes." Nesta stumbles on her words. "We are going to Alaska. Alaska, that's where…" Nesta chuckled rather nervously. "That's where my little... that's where my Cassian's from." She forced a smile.
Kallias glanced at the two before responding. "Ok. Fine. I see how this is gonna go." He wrote something down. "I will see you both at 11.00 Monday morning for your scheduled interview." He said before glaring. "And your answers better match up on every account."
Both Cassian and Nesta nodded with a Thank you before leaving his office.
Once out of the building, Nesta broke the silence. "OK... so, what's gonna happen is we will go up there." Nesta pointed up. "We'll pretend we're boyfriend and girlfriend, tell your relatives we're engaged. Use the miles for the tickets." She kept on talking but Cassian was utterly pissed off to pay attention. "I guess I will pop for you to fly first class. But make sure you use the miles. If we don't get the miles, we're not doing it. Please confirm the meal. 'Cause last time they accidentally gave it to a vegan, and they forced me to eat this clammy, warm, sticky salad thing, which was…" Nesta noticed he stopped in front of her with her arms crossed, his hazel eyes glaring at her angrily. "Hey, I'm… Why aren't you taking notes?" She dared to ask.
"I'm sorry, were you not in that room!?" Cassian snapped, which surprised her.
"What? What? Oh! The thing you said about being promoted?" Nesta asked before patting the bicep on his chest. "Genius! Genius. He completely fell for it." She smiled.
Cassian did not return the gesture. "I was serious." He rubbed his temple. "I'm looking at a $250,000 fine and five years in jail!" He took deep breaths before saying lowly. "That changes things."
"Promote you to editor?" Nesta huffed a laugh. "No, no way." She shook her head.
Fine, guess I'll do it the harsh way. Cassian thought and gave her a smirk. "Then I quit, and you're screwed." He said, which he earned a wide eyed expression from her. He started walking away and waving his hand. "Bye-bye, Nesta.~"
"Cassian!" Nesta almost jogged on her heels to keep up with him. Curse his height and long legs! She thought.
"It really has been a slice of heaven.~" Cassian didn't stop until she held his arm with a firm grip.
"Cassian, Cassian! Fine, fine!" She shouted and he turned to her with a smug. "I'll make you an editor. Fine." Nesta lets go of his arm and looks away, defeated. "If you do the Alaska weekend and the immigration interview, I will make you an editor. Happy?" Nesta offered.
Cassian rubbed his chin for a moment before responding. "And not in two years. Right away." He began to bargain.
Nesta huffed in annoyance. "Fine."
Cassian wasn't done. "And you'll publish my manuscript."
Nesta can't believe what she's doing right now. "Ten thousand copies first…" She offered.
"Make it twenty thousand copies, first run. We'll tell my family about our engagement when I want and how I want." Cassian said, still with a grin on his lips, as he pointed down. "Now, ask me nicely.~"
Nesta was now confused. "Ask you nicely what?"
Cassian pointed at himself. "Ask me nicely…" he then points at her. "To marry you, Nes.~"
Nesta's eyes shot open again. "What does that mean!?"
Cassian smirked. "You heard me." He said and pointed down again. "On your knees.~"
Nesta grumbled. "Fine." She struggled a little but lowered herself on her knees. "Does this work for you?" She asked with her hands held out. Cassian only chuckled.
"Oh, I like this. Yeah." There is something dark in his eyes that she couldn't decipher and yet… she felt something hot crawl on her back.
Nesta cleared her voice and found her words as she said with no emotion. "Will you marry me?"
"No." Cassian purred. "Say it like you mean it.~" He said. Nesta gulped at the implication and tried again.
"Cassian?" She looked at him with a soft glance.
"Yes, Nesta?" Cassian asked, enjoying this quite a lot.
Nesta almost gagged. "Sweet Cassian?"
"I'm listening.~"
She wasn't gonna give him the satisfaction so she chose her next words with sarcasm. "Would you please, with cherries on top, marry me?"
Cassian scoffed. Partypooper, he thought and and could have sworn Nesta smirked at his disappointment. "Ok. I don't appreciate the sarcasm, but I'll do it." Cassian shook his head. "See you at the airport tomorrow."
"Good." Nesta nodded. When she reached for his hand to help her get up, he purposely withdrew it and walked away. She lost her balance and was now on her hands. "Asshole!" She growled.
That night, Nesta was on her phone. She was calling via Skype on a meeting call. Her Sisters, Feyre and Elein, and her best friend, Gwyn. "Thank you for answering my call." She said.
Feyre was the first to answer as she was writing down something. Nesta knew she was wasting her time since she knew her hands worked for brushes and paint rather than writing articles for the newspaper. "So… Is it true you're getting married. You out of all people?"
"Yep! Everyone in the office knows!" Gwyn answered her quickly. Elained hummed softly.
"I am glad you found someone. Tell us, how is he?" She asked, Nesta almost winced.
"Uh… Everything a woman can ask for." Nesta hoped they took the lie and could have sworn Feyre could see through it. So she quickly added. "We were going to Sitka… in Alaska… and tell about our engagement to his family… I was hoping you three… could come with me?" She hoped it wasn't too much to ask. "At least as my bridesmaids"
Gwyn squealed. "Yes! Of course, I'll be truly honored!" She said cheerfully. Nesta genuinely smiled at her best friend. Elain was next to answer.
"I can probably get to know more about their culinary traditions so… you can count me in." Elain nodded. Nesta nodded in return and looked at her youngest sister, who took a considerable amount of time to think.
"Ok… Maybe I can use that experience to write an article. When are we leaving?" Feyre asked. Nesta hasn't thought of that. Considering she and Cassian were leaving tomorrow.
"Well… you girls can take your time to pack… unless you wanna leave tomorrow?" Nesta asked.
Feyre stood silent then nodded more to herself. "Sure, I can get ready to take a flight tomorrow on a later hour if Elain wants to hop on with me"
"Sure, I can do that. What about you Gwyn?" Elain asked. Gwyn only hummed.
"Probably in a few days to sort things out if that's acceptable," She said Nesta nodded in understanding.
"I'll see you lot in Stika then." Nesta nodded. The four said their goodnights as she hung up. She took a quick shower and slipped on a dark blue top with matching shorts. She laid down on her bead with a sight, not expecting for sleep and tiredness to find her so quickly as she slept.