“He wants a contract wife to act as a mother to his daughter and complete the appearance of a perfect family. Well, that’s the story that he’s giving us…” Justin said with a hint of suspicion in his voice. “What do you mean? Is there something else that I should know?” I asked dubiously. “Well, this isn’t confirmed so it’s off the record but there are strange rumors about his ex-wife and how she passed away,” Justin said before he pressed his lips into a thin line. “What happened to her?” I asked as I was starting to get a really bad feeling. “No one knows. The official disclosure says that she was terminally ill and passed away a short while after giving birth to their daughter,” Justin explained before sighing softly. “I see…” I said softly. “Will you take him on?” Justin asked as he stared at me hopefully. “Are all cases in your agency as complex as this?” I asked curiously. “Nope but then again, the other cases don’t pay as well,” Justin replied before pouting his lips at
“You’re so honest. I really like that about you,” Adrian complimented me. “Thank you, I guess…” I replied humbly. Adrian smiled at me, and I could feel that he was suddenly quite serious. I guess this is where the real talk starts. I smiled a little at him to encourage him to start. “Well, you’ve probably heard from your manager about my request. That day that you were at the hospital, you met my daughter briefly,” Adrian said with his gentle eyes on me. I nodded as I remembered the little girl that ran up to Adrian. “My daughter’s name is Millie. Her mother, my ex-wife, passed away shortly after giving birth to her so Millie doesn’t remember her mother at all. I’ve tried my best to raise her up properly for the past five years but, I guess…it’s hard being a single father. To be honest, it’s been harder than I thought,” Adrian told a summary version of his story. “I won’t lie and say that I’ve got experience with kids, but it does seem like a tough job to be a single father,” I
“I appreciate the offer, really. However, I think you should consider someone else. Perhaps Justin can introduce you to other women from his agency,” I politely refused his offer. “I have considered other women before, but I don’t feel like any of them has what I’m looking for. If you don’t accept the offer, I guess I’ll have to continue on as a single dad,” Adrian said sounding defeated. He looked so sad and deflated that it made me feel so guilty for being the source of his distress. “Why do you want me to take this job so badly?” I asked curiously. “I think you’ll do great at it, and I also want to help you out. I think your situation is unfortunate and there are many things that happened that was beyond your control. Why don’t you help me and allow me to help you out?” Adrian offered passionately. It was like his kindness and earnestness struck a chord within me. The way his eyes held mine as he waited patiently for my answer reminded me of someone that I knew from my childho
Laughing a little at my cursed fate, I wondered how long I’d have to live with it before it got taken down. Quickly, I closed the curtain and headed out with the intention to explore my new neighborhood a little. After all, I had a completely free day today and I worked so hard in moving in. I truly deserve a break. Heading out was the right decision. The weather outside was perfect for a casual stroll. The location of the apartment building was very convenient with many shops lining the streets. There were convenient stores and restaurants. My feet came to a stop when I arrived at the patisserie where EROS dropped by to buy some macarons for us. Just like that day, the shop display was lined with many pretty treats, and they seemed to sparkle like jewels. While I was admiring the pastries and their lovely pastel colors, my phone started ringing. Of course, it was Justin who was calling. “They want a contract wife for EROS?” I asked in shock after hearing what Justin had to say. “
If that was what they wanted, then I’m saying goodbye to this client and this case. Asking someone who doesn’t believe in love to teach another about love is too much of a stretch and I’m not about to take on a task that I know is impossible. “Precisely,” the manager said resolutely. “Of course, we’re not asking you to parade around publicly as EROS’s girlfriend. No one can know about your relationship even if it’s a fake one because it will obviously affect his popularity if people found out that he has a girlfriend. Instead, we’ll have you date him in secret while posing as his assistant manager,” the agency representative said. “Rest assured, you don’t actually have to be his real manager. You just need to act like one enough so that the people around us will believe it. I’m his real manager so I’ll still do my job,” Mark explained. I was starting to see what they wanted but the more I understood, the more impossible this whole task just seemed to me. “Sorry but…I don’t think
EROS looked directly at me, but his golden eyes were blank like he didn’t understand or didn’t give a damn about what I was saying. “I have a problem, you see. I don’t like women and I don’t want to have anything to do with them. Except for sex that is. I love sex with women, that’s all,” he stated bluntly. “Aha…” I murmured, not quite sure how to react to his honest and straight forward confession. “But you’re different…” he said, and his eyes zoomed in on me. Is this the part where I’m supposed to turn and make a run for it?“…how so?” I asked, fully composed. “You smell…very nice…” EROS replied after some thought. “Umm…” I made a thoughtful sound because I wasn’t sure how to react to that. “Shall we give it a try?” EROS asked casually.“Give what a try?” I asked, although I started to have a pretty good idea of what he was referring to. “Sex…” he replied without hesitation. I was beginning to understand why his agency had major concerns on how he develops relationship with
I wasn’t sure what he meant but I was party appreciative of the fact that he wasn’t dodging my question. At least, he was willing to be honest even if he did not provide me with a lot of details. Plus, his dislike or liking of women had nothing to do with me. “I look forward to working with you, Sean,” I said as I held out a hand towards him for a shake. Sean burst out laughing before his much larger hand enveloped mine in a firm handshake. However, that wasn’t all that he had in mind. Suddenly, my body was pulled forward against his and the smell of his shampoo, soap, cologne, and everything else filled my senses. I felt his arm around my back and his hand holding the back of my neck. His soft blond hair brushed against my cheek softly before I felt the warmth of his breath against my neck. I felt goosebumps on my skin when I realized that he was sniffing my scent. “Sean…” I said his name, stunned at his sudden action. “Elena…” he whispered my name close to my neck before I felt
“Ok. So, this is how it’s going to work. You’re going to have to juggle all three guys, which is going to be very tricky. However, don’t worry, they know that they’re not the only one using your service,” Justin explained. “What does that mean? They know that I have other clients?” I asked. “Exactly. Although by confidentiality, you and I can’t tell them who the other clients are. That’s a rule…by the way…” Justin warned. “I see…” I replied with an understanding nod. “You will split your time in each week between the three guys. 2 days per guy, Mondays to Saturdays and you have Sunday off. How you split the days is up to you and your guys but to start off you will spend 2 days with Adrian, then 2 days with EROS and then 2 days with Brandon, in that order,” Justin explained. “Is there a particular reason for the order?” I asked curiously. “No. That’s just the order that the contracts were signed. First come first serve basis. Fair and square,” Justin replied with confidence. “Ri
“What are you sorry about, Elena? Are you sorry for turning me down?” he asked.His cold and very calm tone made my body tremble, and I could feel myself sweating from my own nervousness. I wanted to answer him but then I realized that I didn’t know what I was sorry for. “Please let me go home. I’ll make it up to you another day,” I said to excuse myself for the day. I turned to reach for the car door and once again I felt his grip on my arm pulling me back. It was rare for Brandon to act persistent like this, and it just made me want to scream at him out of frustration. I whirled around to face him ready to do just that.“What is it that you really want?” I spat. “To have sex with you,” he replied smoothly.“You know well that that isn’t want I’m talking about…” I said through clenched teeth as my frustration quickly turned to anger. “What’s wrong, Elena? If you can do it with him in the hospital, surely, you can do it with me here in the car…” he said as he stared at me with a v
The lights turned green, and we were on our way again. Our brief yet intense conversation came to a pause. We were getting close to the intersection where Brandon would usually let me off so that I could walk back to my place. The night felt darker than normal, and I wasn’t sure if that was because of my mood or not. Not a lot of cars were on the road which thankfully made the traffic lighter than normal. “Should we go to your room? It’s supposed to be really close by, isn’t it?” he suggested seductively. I turned to give him a curious look. His sudden question came out of nowhere and it surprised me even more to find that he seemed quite serious about it. My lips curved into a smile before I automatically began laughing it off as a passing comment that didn’t mean anything. “Thanks for driving me back,” I said as I reached for the door. There was no point in delaying my departure any further. We had arrived at the spot where I was supposed to get off and so I should do exactly th
“Yes, and I like it that way as long as I’m the only one buying,” he replied without missing a heartbeat. I bit hard on my lower lip when I had to admit to myself that I had asked him the wrong question and had invited this misfortune upon myself. His hand around mine felt warm and his grip was firm as he pulled me after him toward his car. Something told me that he wasn’t kidding when he said that. I let out a sigh when I resigned myself to following him silently to his car. Fortunately, there weren’t many cars on the road and traffic was extremely light. That meant that it wouldn’t take too long for him to drop me off so that I could walk back to my place. It wasn’t like I was scared of him, but I did feel uncomfortable being in the enclosed space of the car with him alone. The revealing and brightly colored dress that I had on did not make me feel better and I wondered why I wasn’t smart enough to opt for a pair of pants and matching blazer instead. Everything might have been in
The desire that I sensed in his intense gaze made my heartbeat quicken despite the many times that I told myself silently in my head to remain calm. My lips felt dry, and my tongue instinctively moved to lick my lower lip. “Thanks for the advice, I guess. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave so you can get back to whatever it was you were working on,” I muttered softly as I tried my best to excuse myself. “One more thing before you go,” he said to halt my departure.This time it was Brandon who got out of his seat. I turned my head around as he walked toward the worktable in the room. To my surprise, he returned with a box. Brandon came to stand right in front of me before shoving the box toward me. “What is this?” I asked with a hint of suspicion. “Open it and you’ll see,” he said without answering my question. “Ok…” I murmured while feeling slightly confused. It was so like Brandon to be mysterious about everything. With what had just happened between us, I didn’t think
Maybe, just maybe, things would have turned out differently if he hadn’t left me. If we never broke up, my life might have been better or more normal. I was very tempted to think that it was his fault that I ended up the way I was. If I had been younger and less experienced, I would have thought exactly that. That it was all because he dumped me that I was forced to marry George to save my family’s face. Back then, I was too heartbroken to think straight or resist my parent’s proposal. The man that I chose out of my own free will had betrayed me and suddenly left. I was too shocked to even face reality and the mistake that I made. It made me lose all self-confidence that I could make any correct decisions in my life and that perhaps, my parents were the ones who knew better. If I had been younger, I would have pinned everything on Brandon as his fault. However, I was no longer that young, fresh, and green. I looked up and I couldn’t hold in my giggle and ended up laughing softly at
There were many things that I needed to apologize for, and I was certain that he knew that already. It was unfortunate, but I wasn’t in a position with a whole lot of bargaining power, and he absolutely knew that as well. It wasn’t going to be easy, but he wanted to hear me say it, then I had no other choice but to say it. “That day at the hospital, I was unprofessional. Although I was supposed to be working for you, I ended up serving another client when we happened to run into each other…” I said before I pressed my lips tightly into a thin line. My throat and my lips felt dry, and I had to run my tongue along my lower lip. Brandon did not say anything, and he did not seem at all impressed at my attempt to do things his way. His eyes stared coldly at me, and I knew that he was waiting for me to go on. “This is all still kind of new for me, and yes, I know that it’s not a great excuse, but I didn’t know how to handle running into two of my clients at the same time. I panicked…” I
Just as I had expected, within the already very private space was another level of privacy when he led me to a private room. Once again, I began to wonder what exactly Brandon had planned. Although he appeared the way that he always did, I couldn’t deny that the atmosphere between us was unusually tense. I wondered if he also felt the way that I did or if I was the only one who felt unusually stiff while we were together. “Sit anywhere you like,” he instructed casually as he gestured to the large set of white sofas in the middle of the room. My eyes scanned the pristinely white and modern interior of the private room that we were in. Apart from the large sofa set that was in the middle of the room, there was a very large shiny white work desk with a matching white leather chair. Brandon must have been working in this room before my arrival because his laptop still had its lid open on the table. “I didn’t know that you liked working in shared working spaces nowadays…” I said to make
Brandon was definitely the heir to the largest chain of casinos on top of hotels for sure. Brandon never played any game unless he was the gamemaster. I have never seen him lose a bet before either in my life. George was seriously a fool to think that he could win against Brandon and at his own casino at that. So now, what game is he going to make me play?The only way to find out was to ask him. I thought that that was ironic in and of itself. If I had to pick, then I would say that I would prefer not to see Brandon. Although what happened was more my fault than his, my desire to hide away from him outweighed my rational sense and reason to want to meet him. Before I would chicken out and change my mind, I took out my phone and sent a simple text to Brandon. ‘Where and when do you want to meet me?’ I counted silently in my mind to around twenty as I stared at my phone screen. Just as I had anticipated, Brandon sent me back a reply within that timeframe. Had he been expecting for m
“About that trip to the orphanage that we were talking about…” he began before looking at me as if to gauge my reaction. “I’d still love to go if you still want me to,” I replied almost immediately. “Really?” Adrian asked with such an excited look on his face. Suddenly, he appeared much younger and a lot more innocent. Just like an excited little boy who had successfully invited his friend on a trip, he beamed a smile at me. With what had happened between us, maybe he thought that I would have changed my mind about going on a trip with him. If he was someone else, that might have turned out to be the case. However, if I was being honest, I really looked forward to going on that trip with him. It wasn’t just because it was a chance to spend more time with Adrian, but the idea of visiting orphanages felt like the right thing to do for me. Getting in contact with my past life might do me some good and help me figure out something about my sense of self and who I was. After being adop