Daniel looked at both Joan and Santiago with eyes wide open as he listened to all that Joan explained to me. He let out a sigh and then shook his head.
“I can’t believe something this big happened to you and you didn’t bother to tell me, give me a call or something, you just…” he didn’t know what else to say. “You went to him of every other person you could ask for help” he exclaimed.
Santiago raised his arms in protest “Hey! I’m standing right here”
“I know, she isn’t your friend, she’s mine and she went to someone that she barely knew for a few weeks… days even,” he said sadly.
“Daniel” she touched his arm in a friendly way but that made Santiago stand straight in alarm as he looked at how close they were. “I’m sorry, I… it was just too much for our family and I don’t want to burden anyone with our problems”
“I just feel bad that my friend was going through something that bad and I wasn’t even informed not until I was going to help them get into a contracted relationship. Not nice Joan, not nice” he pouted a bit.
Santiago was so tempted to knock the pout off his lips and put as much space as he could between them. They were too close for his liking.
“I’m sorry, I’ll call you next time, okay? I know we all have our share of problems but I’ll make you my third lifeline,” she nudged him slightly and grinned.
“At least I made it to the top three, I feel better. Is there any way that I can help? I don’t mind lending you a little money, you pay when you can” he shrugged.
Santiago, not able to take enough of their chit-chat stepped in “That’s where I come in, I’ll be giving her the money she needs to recover her father’s company while she acts as my girlfriend in front of my parents” he shrugged.
“Why did you agree to this? You can draw back and still get your father’s company” Daniel said to her.
“Buddy, you’re here as my friend and support”
“I also have a friend in distress here too” Daniel sighed.
“Daniel, I already made my decision and I agreed to his request… he might be off a little bit but I can still tolerate him” she smiled.
“I’m right here” Santiago announced like he could be barely seen.
“Sorry buddy”
“Sorry,” they said at the same time.
“You’re sure?” he asked one more time and she nodded her head “Your parents know about this?” her eyes went wide and she slowly shook her head.
“They have no idea, Daniel, they will not approve of this if I told them and I am trying to quickly buy back Dad’s company before those Reliso’s do whatever nasty thing they have in mind for the company” she explained.
Joan took his hand in hers “I didn’t want to give them the satisfaction of owning Anderson’s Tech and now that they do, I will not let them ruin all our years of hard work because of their selfish aim” she looked into his eyes “I need this Daniel and I really appreciate you offering to help out but, I got this” she looked at Santiago who was closely watching them.
“He is your friend, I’m safe” she grinned.
“Yeah, about that, give me a minute with him” he walked over to Santiago then patted his shoulder as a sign to follow him. When they were a little away from Joan, Daniel turned to him and looked over at Joan.
“You will not hurt her… I want to make sure that your intentions towards her are clean and forward, she appears real tough and all but she’s soft at heart and could be badly hurt if she cares about you” Daniel took in deep breaths.
“You… is she the girl you kept talking about?”
“That doesn’t matter, what matters is that I am aware that she will be safe with you and you wouldn’t make her cry or let her be sad. If you’re going to make her fall for you and then break her heart, then just stop here and give her what she needs, we will find you a girl who doesn’t like you a.k.a wouldn’t fall for you” Daniel told him.
Santiago felt a bit annoyed with what was going on but he understood Daniel’s protection over her. He isn’t close with his maternal cousin but he would hunt down whoever hurts her just like he did with her ex who wanted to make a fool out of her.
“She doesn’t like me, so falling for me will not be an option”
“Do you like her?” he asked but Santiago couldn’t answer because that is a question he has been trying to avoid answering whenever she comes to his mind. “I heard how you sounded when you spoke about her on the phone some weeks back, it was different from how you spoke of the ladies throwing themselves at you”
Santiago still couldn’t say anything, he looked back at Joan who was now texting on her phone, she had a little furrow on her brows and she looked up, catching him staring, he looked away immediately and back to his friend.
“This is completely business, nothing more nothing less. We are adults and can keep ourselves on track” he shrugged.
Daniel sighed then put his hand on Santiago’s shoulder.
“You are my best friend and I care about you, just as much as I care about Joan, I’ll talk to her to take care of you and not make you go worse like before. I really like her but…” he shook his head then let out a light chuckle “Just make sure she’s always good and if anything, I’m always here,” he said.
Santiago placed one of his hands on Daniel’s shoulder also “I understand you and sure I know that you’re always here, no matter where you are” he grinned “We both are lucky to have you as a friend, thanks man and I’m sorry that I came in between the woman you love”
“Didn’t say I love her” Daniel grunted “Let’s head back, this isn’t an ideal date for a lady like Joan” he said as they made their way toward her “You need to set another date for the both of you, get to know each other… you know start over like two normal people wanting to get into a relationship”
They stopped right in front of her.
“This isn’t real Daniel,” Joan said.
“I know, it will make whatever you got look real in the presence of your parents” he shrugged.
Santiago nodded then looked at Joan who shrugged also “I think that should work”
“Yeah, they wouldn’t spot that anything is wrong”
“Okay then, just let me know when and I’ll try to make time”
“I’ll come to pick you up?”
“When?”
“Friday night?”
“My shift ends by eight in the evening”
“I’ll wait for you then, you guys have nice coffee there” he smiled and she shook her head.
“You drink your coffee black, I do that sometimes” she states.
“Good to know”
“Announcement, two weirdos on board” Daniel put his hands over his mouth like a gramophone.
“Preference,” Santiago said then held his hand out for the agreement paper Daniel brought with him, he took a pen and signed his part then handed it to Joan who did the same. “I hope this is fun” Joan nods in agreement.