Chapter 7

It was like my happy bubbles popped all at once.  I was shocked and angry at the same time.  I don't know what his motive was.  I know he knew they're my parents, I also know he had a plan why he did that. But really?  A triple interest, for what?

I couldn't sleep a wink that night.  I don't know what confrontation I will make with him.  I was now infront of his office, talking to his assistant.

"Can you please tell him that I'll wait here for a few more hours?"  I begged, I was holding his black suit.

His assistant eyed it, and raised her brow a little.  "I told you to go back to work and I'll call you once his schedule frees up today."

"This is really important," I insisted.

"And so are his meetings, Iris," she replied calmly to me.

Iris?  What the hell?  She never called me Iris.  It was always Ms. Villafuente just like his boss.  I was gritting my teeth already.  And sat on the waiting area.

Hours had passed, Romeo was calling me but I didn't answer.  His assistant looked annoyed when people came out of Zach's office.  I stood up immediately.

She blocked me immediately.  "That's it, I'll inform your boss that you're not doing your job," she threatened.

I pointed to Mr. Esqueza's office. "Then tell him!"

We both jumped when Mr. Esqueza showed up. His assistant stepped back ready to explain.

"Is there a problem here?"  Mr.  Esqueza asked seriously.

"Sir, she's forcing me to inform you that she needs to talk to you. I already reminded her you still have meetings to attend and wait until your schedule frees up ---"

"Cancel all of it," he shut her off, eyeing me.  "Until we're not finish discussing. Shall we?"

His assistant's face got irritated eve more. Not that I'd care at all. I didn't bother apologize and followed him inside of his office.  I was mesmerized how breathtaking the view was.  His office was alot bigger than I thought, there was a glass door on the left side for his private meeting and on the other side was a black door, I assumed it was the toilet.

He pointed the chair infront of his desk and sat on his swivel chair, hands entwined.

"Do we have a problem, Ms. Villafuente?"  he asked calmly, as if he knew why I'm here.

My blood heats up watching how serened he was.  As if he calculated this things to happened.  I didn't sit down, I stood infront of him and threw his black suit on his face.  He was shocked and mouth fell open.

"You planned this, am I right?"  I still tried to control my voice not to tremble.  "You didn't look surprise at all, you know my address at home and you're just acting like you don't know a thing about me when in reality, you've searched about me and my family!"

He gathered himself and sat back on his swivel chair.  "Meeting you the first time on that elevator and knowing your family's debt, I believe you somehow need my help."

"Help?"  I laughed bitterly.  "To triple our debt? You called that help? How dare you?!"

"Would you rather see your father die while debt free?"  He was watching me, calculating my every reactions.

I was confused by what he said.  "What are you saying?"

"Gathering informations about you and your family's debt, my investigator found out that they're already planning to assasinate your father if he won't pay the money he owes them."

My knees seemed to weaken at what I heard.  Assasinate?  My father?  Just because of debt?  I sat down on the chair in front of him, holding my chest.  Mr.  Esqueza stood up and gave me a glass of water to calm my nerve.

"You should thank me for saving your father. My lawyer talked to your mother alone since your father has a heart attack. I bet he's not ready to hear that someone is planning to kill him, does he? Or you want me to inform him  ? "

My hand is shaking while drinking the water.  It was as if my chest would explode at the information I heard from him.  I can't believe it happened without my knowledge.

"Your mother agreed to my offer and she is fully aware of that triple interest, Iris," he continued.  "I never force anyone to do this deal with me, I'm just trying to help."

I was confused by what was happening.  I don't know how to understand everything.  I focused on how to breathe properly because I seemed to be running out of air in my body.  My heart was starting to beat faster than usual.

"And why do you have to do that?"  I asked, trying to calm myself.  "What can you get? Why did you help us? You know we don't have money, you also know we can't afford to pay triple what you lent."

He walked over and sat down in front of me, calmly watching me.  "I've an offer to make," he began.

"An offer?"

"Yes, I will be needing someone who can be my fake wife."

"F-fake wife?"  I could not believe what I heard.  "Me? You want me to be your fake wife?"

"You heard that right," he said too formal.  "My parents will be back from states and they're planning to arranged marriage me with their favorite ex of mine, she's from abroad too."

I swallowed, still processing his offer.  "And you want to have an arranged marriage with me instead of her?"

"I'm a man of my own, Iris. I don't want anyone dictating me what to do. But with my parents, it's a different case, I can't say no to them unless I've valid reason to do  so, "he shifted his seat.  "You see, I need you as much as you need me."

"And that's it? I can pay all our debts if I agree?"

"I need to know your answer first before deciding what's next," he answered then stood up.  "That's it for today, atleast you know now your option and what you're getting yourself into. That's for you to decide."

I was puzzled throughout the day.  Romeo and Rose were wondering why I was called because such thing doesn't happen.  I'm just a simple employee like them and why would the CEO asked for me?

I just told them that he was verifying my informations since I lied before.  Luckily, they believed me.  But it makes me think deeply, who wants to marry a guy you don't know who exactly?  I only knew him as my boss.  I mean, I got it, he was the man of every woman's dream.  But marrying for money?  Would it saved me?

"Think about it, Iris. I'll give you until 6:00 PM tonight," he reminded me earlier before I left his office.

And now it's 6:00 pm.  My mind is even more confused.  It was as if my heart would explode with too much weight.  It was like selling my freedom, my rights and my dignity for money.  It's not me, but for my family?  Should I do it for them?

"Are you coming home, sister?"  my friend inquired again when he saw that I was putting away my belongings in advance.

"Daddy, they are ordering something from me, I have to go," I lied.

"You have a date maybe, what?"  Rose replied by my side.

"Nothing!"  I answered quickly and the two looked at each other mysteriously.

"Confirmed!"  They both said in unison.  "Okay, goodluck, we won't interfere anymore. Just don't forget to wear condoms, okay?"

I laughed hard and my imagination worked quickly at what Romeo said.  "You're really crazy! All right, see you on Monday!"

When I came out of the building, a car waiting at the entrance then a man came out and opened the backseat door.  I was confused and looked around, when I saw that I was the only person.  I pointed finger to myself.

"Me?"  I asked.

He smiled.  "Yes, Ms. Villafuente. Mr. Esqueza is asking you to come," he replied politely.

I rode nervously. Why is he being suspense like this?  We can talk in his office and tell him what my decision is. I was quiet the whole ride, familiarizing myself to the road we were taking.

We stopped infront of a high class bar.  I was even more confused because this is also the bar we went to Romeo on his birthday.  The driver opened the car door for me, I quickly got out.  Next there was another new man waiting for me outside.

He just guided me where to go.  There aren't too many people today because it's too early.  He guided me upstairs where the VIP rooms of the bar were.  When the man left me, I sat on the sofa.  I was studying the room because never in my life I'd get to enter a VIP room.  My friends and I were just on the couch.  I stopped when I saw a box in the middle of the table.

'Take it if yes, leave it if not.'  Written on white paper next to it.  I opened the box and it was a wedding ring, a tiny little diamonds was around it. I got mesmerize because the design is not the usual.

I smiled, how did he also know the size of my finger?  That man was really something.  From my family background, my personal informations and now my finger size.  What else does he know about me?

I lifted the ring to reflect the light.  I slowly slipped it on my finger to know if it really fitted, and yes, my instinct was right, it did.

Half an hour had passed, food and drinks arrived.  But I have no desire to move that.  Who would want to eat when you are suddenly given a difficult decision in your life?  I was just gazing at the food when Mr.  Esqueza arrived.

I moved to give him space. He was still wearing his usual black suit and tie.  "I got late, had a last minute meeting to attend," he said and loosened the tie around his neck.

"It's okay, it gave me time to think."  I moved further as he sat next to me despite the size of the space in the room.

"You're not hungry?" He eyed the food on the table.

I shaked my head.  "I have no appetite."

"You should it first then," he commanded and began to put food on the plate and handed out to me.

I was just stunned because I just told him that I had no appetite.  Then he handed me food as if he had heard nothing?

"How about you?"  I asked while trying to eat.  "You're not going to eat?"

"I prefer watching you eat."  He was abit smirking as if I didn't get an inside joke.

He also joined me eating after awhile.  We were quiet while eating, I guessed he was giving me some time to think.  When he finished he immediately handed over the orders to the waiter.  Then he faced me.  My heart skipped a beat.

"What's your decision?"  he asked, I also noticed that he was looking at my finger earlier.

I smirked.  "To make it clear, you don't have a girlfriend? I won't be a hooker? No one's going to pull my hair because I'm going to marry you?"

He grinned a little.  "None."

I stand towards the glass window where you can see people below.  I placed my hands on the railings.

"Then why real marriage? Can we tell them that we are married even if we are not?"

"My family will probably hire an investigator if I'm telling the truth or not. You can't fool them easily, Iris."

This was complicated than I'd imagined.  I was surprised when he suddenly appeared next to me, like me he was watching the people below.

"We have to act like a happy-inlove-couple and convince them. And it'll give us enough time to know more about each other if they ask some questions."

I looked at him.  "You have a very controlling family."

"And you have an uncontrolled one," he replied back.

I laughed bitterly.  "Guess we can't have it all."  I crossed my arms.  "Let's say we're married, I have to live in your house?"

He looked at me in disbelief like I asked a dumb question.  "We are married so basically, yes."

I turned to him and picked up the small box on the table on the side of where I was sitting.  "You can have all the girls in the world, so why me?"

"I don't know, something in you makes you unique from others."

I blushed but managed to hid it.  I was playing the box on my hand.  "How about at work, how is that? Should we let them know?"

"No, they don't have to. This is between us two and my family. Don't worry, I got you. I can buy you anything you want as long as you're willing to submit with my every rules ..  . "

I seem to be offended by what he said. I shrugged it off abit.  "Like following you like a dog?"

"Not a dog, Iris. I'm still your boss, we have to set limits. I'm not comfortable when someone forgetting her limits with me."

I laughed bitterly.  "By the way, this is an arranged marriage to my boss."

I stood out the door.  He was suddenly nonplussed of what I did.

"You're turning down my offer?"  he asked, shockingly.

I threw him the small box and he caught it.  Mr. Esqueza immediately opened it.  His shocked turned into surprised when he didn't see the ring in the small box.

His hard mouth slowly smiled triumphantly.  I smirked at him then crossed my arms so he could see the silver ring on my finger.  For the first time in my life, I saw him smile.  The unusual warm smile he never lets anyone see.

"We'll marry as soon as possible," he said.

I bid my goodbye and walked out.  I could feel he was still watching my back intently.  I need to get used to it, I'll get to see him everyday once we got married.  But I just hope that this would end well.