Chapter 6

The ride to the coffee shop Giovanni had in mind was silent, Emily having so many things to say to him yet choosing to remain quiet.

Giovanni on the other hand had his attention fixed on the road, his mind constantly wavering as he tried to figure out if the entire plan wasn’t just a waste of time. He was supposed to be spending his afternoon at the office making his every second as productive as it could be but instead, he was on his way to a coffee shop to have coffee he wasn’t even craving.

But then, he had taken the first step already and it was already too late for him to back out. He just needed to get it all over with as soon as possible.

They finally arrived at the cafe, Giovanni immediately reaching for an envelope that was next to him the entire time. Sparing Emily a glance and signal informing her they were at the coffee shop already, he stepped out of the car and had her mirror his actions.

“Mr. Reuben,” the familiar waitress bowed lightly at him as he walked into the coffee shop. Her head remained lightly bowed until he took his seat, Emily doing the same in the seat opposite him. “It’s a pleasure to have you here. What shall I get you?”

“My regular, coffee,” he said then faced Emily. “What would you like to have?”

“I’m sure you know I didn’t come all the way here with you to drink coffee,” she snapped at him. “So tell me why you brought me here and go straight to be point.”

“Oh, great. Make that two then,” he glanced at his wristwatch and signaled at the lady to leave. “I only had thirty minutes to spare anyways so it’s for the better.”

Uninterested in his unnecessary talks, Emily repeated her words. “Why am I here? Why did you show up at my school and bring me here? What is this about?”

She didn’t know much about him yet but knew enough to know he was acting out of character. He had made the fact that he didn’t care about her very obvious so she had not planned on seeing him until their wedding.

But all of a sudden he was in her school and now in front of her.

“I gave your words a thought,” he finally went straight to the point. “And I was able to reason with you a little bit. All of these- suddenly having to get married in youe sister’s place must be shocking and rather sudden for you.”

“Oh,” she suddenly softened. Was that really the reason he came all the way to meet her? Was it really as Tyler said? Did he reall suddenly have a change of heart? “Well, it is.”

“Even more, you’re a child,” he continued, Emily almost taking offense at his words. From her little research he was 33 meaning he was 10 years older than her but that didn’t mean he could call her a child. Especially when it sounded so derogatory coming from him. “So I probably shouldn’t be snatching your youthful days and moments away from you.”

Before she could utter a word of slight gratitude, he cut her off, speaking to again. “But again, that doesn’t really have much to do with me. Your parents shouldn’t have borrowed so much if they wanted you to live a normal youthful life.”

“Okay so?” Emily was suddenly confused all over again. His choice of words were confusing. Was he a changed person or still his normal rude and narcissistic self. “You realized all these might be so sudden for me. And you also realized you shouldn’t feel too bad for me since all of these happened because of my parents. So what now? What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Your coffee.”

Causing a short interference in their conversation, the waitress appeared again with a tray housing two cups of coffees in her hand. With a polite smile, she dropped them on the table, placing one directly in front of Emily and the other in front of Giovanni.

“I didn’t order for coffee.”

“Doesn’t matter,” he took his and had a sip. “I don’t want anyone around thinking this is an uncomfortable conversation with me being the only comfortable one. So if you do not have the coffee, it’s up to you. At least, it’s in front of you.”

“Fine,” she held back a hiss, grabbing the cup of coffee to take a sip. “Christ, it’s bitter.”

“You should have chosen the one you wanted when you had a chance,” he replied her. “You didn’t so enjoy it like that.”

She sighed internally. “Would you just go straight to the point?”

“Ah, yes,” he adjusted his cuff links as he returned the cup of coffee to the saucer. “I want us to go on a date.”

The statement immediately hit Emily like a punch in her gut, taking her so off guard she inhaled sharply and immediately began choking violently on the coffee that was halfway down her throat.

Not even moving a finger, Giovanni remained in his seat, watching her cough and sputter, thumping against her chest wildly. It took a while and when she was finally done and regained her composure, she shot him a demanding look.

“A date?”

“Were you that shocked?” He finally lifted his hands to send it to his pocket, taking out his handkerchief to hand it over to her. “Or were you thrilled?”

“Don’t flatter yourself,” she yanked the handkerchief from his hands and wiped her mouth and chest that now had coffee stains. “Why would you want to go on a date with me?”

It made no sense. What happened to not seeing each other until they had to both walk down the alter? Was he really changing?

“The most reasonable reason would be me trying to do you a favor,” he replied. “You made a scene at my office the other day about how you barely know me and how offended you were I barely knew you too and had no interest in doing that.”

“I wasn’t offended.”

“So I decided to help you change that a little bit,” he ignored her words. “We have three weeks before the wedding. We can go on a couple of dates during that three weeks and then, when we finally get married, you wouldn’t be getting married to a total stranger since you dread it so much.”

It was so sudden. And truthfully, sounded a bit too good to be true. What had suddenly gotten into him? Did he suddenly develop human feelings in the span of 48 hours.

“Why do you want to do that?” She couldn’t help but ask. “It’s so unlike you.”

“One, I do not know why I am doing this either,” he replied. “And two, you’re in no position to say what’s like me and unlike me. You do not know me.”

“Right,” she raised her eyebrows. “I do not know you.”

“And here I am giving you an opportunity to know me,” he folded his arms. “So take the offer while it last cause trust me, it won’t.”

She pursed her lips as she stared at him, thinking about how strange the entire encounter was. Regardless of what could have suddenly gotten into him, he was indeed giving her a chance to get to know him better so it was a good thing, right?

One thing was sure- there was no getting out of the wedding for her so she could as well get a glimpse of what she was getting herself into a couple of weeks before, right? After all, she had nothing new to lose in the process.

“Fine then,” she said after giving his offer a brief thought. “I’ll go on the dates with you to get to know you better or whatever.”

“Smart choice,” he smirked and turned to pull out an envelope Emily had no idea was by his side all along. “I knew you were going to say yes already so I prepared this ahead.”

“What is it?” Emily eyed the envelope, skeptical about it. “Since you prepared it for this moment, does that mean-“

“Yes,” he stretched out his arm and handed it over to her. “It’s for you. Prepared just for this moment.”

Nervous, she slowly reached for the envelope and picked it up. It was sealed and from the look in his eyes, she knew it was okay to open it and check out the contents.

Carefully, she tore it open to reveal a piece of paper. Sparing Giovanni a quick glance, she took it out, her eyes immediately widening as she read the first few lines of it.

In her entire twenty three years of living, it had to be the most ridiculous thing Emily had ever set her eyes on.

“What is this?”

She was in shock. Total shock it was surprising she could still come up with words. Just what was she thinking? That he had changed from his rude, annoying and narcissistic self in barely 48 hours?

“It’s a contract. Can’t you read?”

It was indeed a contract. A contract regarding the dates they were going to go on for the next three weeks.

It was more like a schedule, filled with rules and regulations. Dos and don’ts.

“Did you write this?” Her eyes didn’t leave the paper as she stared it in disgust. “You took your time to draft this up?”

“Well my secretary did but I made sure it was detailed enough,” he replied. “It has everything you would need if you want to go on dates with me for the next couple of weeks. From the times you can call me to the days I would not be available to pick up calls or even respond to text messages no matter how urgent they are. There’s also a number of locations we can have our dates and another number of places I would never set foot in. Things you can talk about and things you should stay out of. There’s a detailed list of questions you can ask me there and an even more detailed list of things you should never mention. It’s not too much. All you need to do is go through it, sign the contract and we’re good to go. I’ll text you the dates and locations of our dates and have my driver come pick you up.”

Emily was bewildered. “You’ve got to be joking with me right now.”

“Oh, one thing,” he snapped his fingers. “I forgot to add it but you cannot wear purple around me. Whether it’s a date or just us casually meeting up, the color purple is forbidden.”

“Purple’s my favorite color.”

“Too bad you’ll have to have a new favorite color,” he shrugged. “I’m allergic to that color.”

“No one’s allergic to color!” She almost raised her voice but stopped. What was she doing? Arguing with a 33 year old man about colors when she had more reasonable things to argue with him about? Like how he had given her the most ridiculous contract ever and expected her to sign it? “Mr. Giovanni-“

“Do you need a pen?” He pulled out a ballpoint pen from his pocket and handed it over to her. “I guess not all college students are as diligent as I was.”

She stared at the pen for a while before letting out a huff. Unable to believe her eyes, she dropped the paper on the table and ran her hands through her hair, genuinely confused on what to say or where to start from. “I’m not signing this contract, Mr. Giovanni Rueben.”

He arched an eyebrow at her. “You just agreed to go on dates with me. So why aren’t you signing it?”

“Because,” she almost raised her voice again. “Tell me, you’ve never had a girlfriend before? Never gone on a date before?”

“No.”

“You’ve at least liked someone before, right?”

“No, I haven’t,” he returned the pen to his pocket and folded his arms. “I’m not sure where this conversation is going but no. I don’t have that much time on my hands to waste on such feeble emotions.”

“Oh, that explains this.”

“And that is supposed to mean?”

“Nothing you’re going to understand anyways,” she shook her head and shifted the paper right next to his coffee cup. “But no, I’m not signing this contract. Going on dates should be voluntary and I should be allowed to be spontaneous if I’m on a date with someone. So, no, I’m a human being and I refuse to be treated like nothing but another business deal.”

Her expression hardened as she rose to her feet, tightened her grip around her bag and turned to walk away from him. She had so many things to say. She wanted to yell at him for even for a second downgrading her but instead, just walked out of his presence.

Until she was stopped, only a couple of meters away from his seat, by his words.

“You’re human?” He let out a mocking laughter. “You don’t want to be treated like a business deal? That’s funny coming from someone whose entire existence is no different from a contract.”

“What?” She sharply turned to face him. “What did you just say?”

“You’re getting married to me simply because of a business contract gone wrong,” he joined her on her feet, taking a step closer towards her. “Our marriage and everything connecting you to me is a contract. So don’t you think you do not have the right to not want to be treated otherwise?”

His words stung. So badly it had Emily at a loss of words for a while, a strange pain in her heart taking over her entire brain. “You’re an asshole.”

“You won’t be the first saying that,” he smirked. “But too bad, you would be getting married to that asshole in three weeks.”

She wanted to yell at him and tell him he was delusional. Wanted to say it was all a lie. Wanted to tell him to get off his high horse and brag about how she’d rather die than her married to somone like him.

But she knew she couldn’t. It was her reality and indeed she was getting married to that asshole.

So instead of yelling at him confidently, all she could whisper to him was, “Jerk.”