“Have a seat,” He said when I arrived at the restaurant, I was a bit conscious of the clothes I was wearing upon arrival, the good thing is that he reserved a private room for us to talk.
“Thanks for answering the call,” I said and sat in front of him, he was still wearing his office suit, and his coat was hanging on the sofa next to him.
“I ordered food, if that is okay with you,” my stomach grumble upon seeing the set of dishes in front of me, it was mouth-watering. I haven’t eaten since last night, and it’s almost seven in the evening, “Why don’t we talk about it over dinner? Let’s eat?”
I nodded and started to devour the food in front of me, “Why don’t you eat too?”
“I’m alright, you looked famished, something must have happened that you were pushed to call me,” His voice sounded neutral. I don’t know, but that feels awkward.
He let me eat for the span of twenty minutes, he wasn’t looking at me, he was busy reading some papers he put out from his bag. He seemed busy but still came tonight.
“SO, What happened?” He asked after I eat.
I am embarrassed to converse with him, I feel ravenous and reluctant, “Before I continue, I’d like to ask one question,”
“Shot it,” He informally said and lean on the sofa.
“What’s the real purpose of this marriage? With that kind of money that you have, you could have just voided the marriage, so, what’s the real reason behind it?” I was intently looking at him.
“Well, that’s an inevitable question,” He trailed, “But to make the story short and true, I have to stay married to stop my family from pestering me,”
I blinked twice, looking at him like I was waiting for him to say that he was joking.
“That’s it?” I can’t hide my tone, it was unbelievable, “You’re at your age where you can decide for yourself, you’re a grown old man to reason that out,”
“Well, as of now, you won’t understand, and I believe you wouldn’t but I believe, you have something to say, regarding our marriage, why don’t we make a deal out of it?”
“A deal? For what?” I asked while looking at my reflection on the teacup I was holding.
“Let’s not make a fool of ourselves, you wouldn’t call me just to ask why I didn’t void our marriage, you have something to say, right? I bet it is something like this. A deal,”
I gulped, I think I bite my tongue, how could he guess it immediately? He’s not a well-known businessman for nothing. However; his mood and approach do seem inconsistent. Once he was sweet and looked so careful, then ravish and ruthless, then cold and motionless.
“Yes, It is something to do with it,”
“So, what do you want?” He spoke back.
“Consider me as your hired wife, although we both know that it is legitimate and valid, this marriage should be voided, a long time ago,”
“Hired, meaning you’ll be working with me? Is that what you mean? My employee, means, you’re under me, and you will do as I order. Why don’t we make it a partnership? A win-win situation, where we will both benefit from each other,”
“What do you intend to do?” Now, I’m curious. He gets a piece of paper from his inner pocket.
“These are the rules I have on my mind,” He handed me a pen, “You can put yours, then I’ll make it official and give you a copy, how’s that?” I nodded, “Okay, let’s start,”
“Alright,”
“So we will prolong the marriage for another six months, people won’t believe that we got divorced right after we met each other, you will be attending any kind of gathering I requested to summon you, it’s just for appearance, don’t worry, I won’t let them ask any kind of intimated act in front of them, excluding holding hands and hugs,”
That’s too detailed, but I didn’t talk back and just listened to him.
“After six months I’ll be paying the whole amount of the contract, excluding the monthly payment that I’ll be providing, consider that as my parting gift to you,”
“I don’t want to owe anyone—”
“It’s not something that you owe me, it is something you worked for,” He cut me off while wearing his serious face.
“Okay, must that include living together?”
“Yes, we will be having separate rooms, we don’t need to sleep together, and besides, I hate to sleep with someone I don’t know,”
I gritted my teeth, he is undeniably jerk throughout the meeting we were having, far from the man who keeps on saving me.
“Your turn,” He suddenly said.
I wrote it on the paper and handed it to him.
“As you can see there, I won’t be accepting any kind of money from you, all the payment that I’ll be receiving will straightly go to this bank account,” I said and handed him a card containing the hospital’s bank details, “That’s where my brother is admitted, don’t ask questions, that’s the only payment that I wanted. You can call me anytime, but not when my siblings needed me, that’s a deal breaker,”
I want to laugh at myself, I’m here to ask for money in exchange for my service, and I still have the audacity to demand like this—
“That’s unreasonable, but okay. I’ll take that as part of our deal,” I nodded, “Are we through? Do you have any additional things to say?”
“I’ll still be working, although, people wouldn’t have to know that we were married, we can only disclose it if it’s a life and death situation,”
He nodded, “Okay,” he stood up and extend his right hand, so I stood up too, “Well, it’s nice having business with you, Ms. Marquez, let’s work together,” he said and smile, his perfect set of teeth showed up, but his eyes were still as nonchalant as before.
“Looking forward to working with you, Mr. Spencer,”