Was Josh stunned by my appearance?


    I had always thought that his insides matched his stern exterior-straightforward, unmoved by superficial beauty.


    But now I could see that men, no matter how rigid they seem, were just like everyone else.


    I knew I had definitely caught Josh’s attention, but just to tease him further, I ran my fingers through my long waves of hair. His gaze darkened instantly, and his face seemed to grow colder.


    I couldn’t tell exactly what was going on in his head, nor did I care to guess. I cut straight to the point: “So, Josh, are you going to agree?”


    “What?” He asked, his eyes now darting away from me.


    Iughed. How did I not lose control of myself, but he seemed to have?


    Of course, I knew he hadn’t—this was all an act.


    “I want you to be my boyfriend-just temporarily,” I repeated the words I’d saidst night.


    Josh didn’t respond immediately, his gaze drifting over to the distance. I followed his line of sight and noticed that the Ferris wheel was at its highest point.


    I frowned, remembering what Davy had said about Alvin wanting to propose. Could it be that he nned to do it on the Ferris wheel?


    I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out what was going on, but Josh broke the silence. “What do you mean by ‘temporarily”?”


    “It means just pretending to be my boyfriend for a little while,” I said, unable to stop myself from feeling a bit trashy as the words left my mouth. “Once Alvin’s crazy phase is over, we’ll go back to nothing.”


    I swallowed hard, then quickly tried to rephrase. “It’s not real. We’re just putting on a show for Alvin to make him think we’re together.”


    “Why would I agree to that?” Josh looked at me with a mixture of disbelief and confusion.


    I couldn’t bring myself to meet his gaze, ashamed. If it weren’t for Jasmine’s encouragementst night, and if Alvin weren’t spiraling further into madness, I never would havee up with such a ridiculous n.


    A gust of wind blew past, lifting my loose hair and covering my face.


    I reached up to push it back, then said, “Because you’re the most suitable person, and…”


    I hesitated, not quite knowing how to finish. What I wanted to say was that he had the potential to want to marry me, and that he had feelings for me.


    But if I said that, it would change everything. Josh would think I was using him because of his feelings for me, and I couldn’t


    risk that.


    “Because… what?” Josh asked when I left my sentence hanging.


    I smiled awkwardly. “Nothing.”


    “And because I like you, and I’ve even told you I want to marry you, right?” Josh finished my sentence bluntly.


    He got it. He understood everything, so there was nothing to hide anymore. I turned to look at him and asked, “So, will you


    do it?”


    Josh remained silent, his eyes locked on me. I felt my heartbeat speed up, a flutter of nervousness sweeping through me.


    Seconds passed, and he still didn’t speak. My face flushed with embarrassment.


    So this was his silent rejection.


    I ran a hand through my hair again, trying to ease the tension, and said, “If you don’t want to agree, that’s fine. Forget I said anything.”


    I started to turn away, but Josh reached out to stop me. “I’ll agree, but only if we do it for real.”


    I looked up, meeting his steady gaze as he looked at me with determination. “Zoe, I won’t be your temporary boyfriend. I want to be your real boyfriend. If we end up not being right for each other, we can break up, but I’m not going to be your paper boyfriend. I won’t just be some prop for you to use.”