CHAPTER 4

“Yes, good morning Mr James…oh you sent it to my email already? Alright, thank you for helping out in such a short notice…have a nice day”.

Jaden hung up the phone and placed it on his desk. He stood up and walked towards the printer in his office, he printed out a few copies of paper.

He went back to his desk, cleared his throat and picked up the intercom.

“Matilda come to my office, now”.

Knock

“Come in”.

“Good morning sir”. Matilda greeted politely.

“We already saw each other this morning, why greet me again? Sit”.

Jaden said with his commanding voice, ushering Matilda to sit.

“I thought about your request from yesterday, and I put one and two together and I figured I can't just help you without collecting anything in return”.

Jaden paused to study Matilda's face.

She looked pale, and anxious. Matilda was anticipating the condition her boss was going to throw at her.

So many thoughts ran through her mind, she bit her lower lip out of anxiety.

“Here”. Jaden flipped the printed paper to her.

Matilda's eyes almost bulged out of the socket, when she read the content of the paper.

Her lips trembling “sir, this…this is talking about a contract relationship. Between you and I sir”.

Matilda was bemused by the situation, bewildered and confused; she kept looking at Jaden's face to seek an answer.

“Alright”.

Jaden said as he sat further in his seat.

“You're not new to this, you know my father always makes me go blind dates and I hate it”. 

Jaden stomped his fist on the table which made Matilda startle.

“But what has this got to with….” She pointed at the paper as she spoke “ what has it got to do with this sir?”

Jaden leaned back into his seat and cleared his throat.

“Now, this is where you come in. I need you to be my fake girlfriend”. He said in a commanding tone, rather than a request.

“I need my father to quit bothering me about bringing a woman home. If you agree with everything that's in that contract, I will give you any amount you want, without paying it back”.

Matilda just kept staring at him, she did not know what to say. She was dumbfounded.

“Can you say something?” Jaden queried, with his squinting eyes and arched eyebrows.

Matilda jolted back to reality.

“Sir can I please think about this before I respond?”

Jaden let out a mocking laugh, throwing his head backwards as his whole body shakes from the laugh.

“Do you have a boyfriend or something? Well, it's not like you have a choice anyway”.

Matilda's face turned white from the shame, she felt ridiculed.

“I do not have a boyfri…”

“Trust me, I don't care. All I want to know is, if you're in or not”.

Jaden said, throwing both of his hands in the air to show how little he cared.

“And like you said, I'll give you time to think about it. I should get your reply by tomorrow evening”. 

Jaden stood up from his chair and was walking towards Matilda.

“But sir…”

Before Matilda could finish her sentence, Jaden moved over to where she sat and bent down to make direct eye contact with her.

“Are you complaining?”

 He asked with his voice deeper than usual.

“No sir..no”

Matilda could feel his breath close to her face, her heart started to race. She stared at his lips, and back to his face.

When she realised what she did, she immediately jolted out of her seat.

“I'll be…I'll be leaving now sir”

Matilda ran out of the office without even waiting for a response.

She held her chest, reflecting on what just happened.

“No no, I can't possibly have feelings for someone like that. It's just…just the situation”

Matilda walked to her desk breathing in and out to calm herself.

****************

Matilda dropped the book she was reading when a text message popped up on her phone.

She sat up in her bed.

Hello baby girl.

Diane, how are you?

I'm good babe, I should be asking you that. What's up with Niki's surgery?

Well, I actually asked my boss for an upfront payment of my salary.

What did the arrogant dude say? I know he said no.

😅No Diane, he asked for something back in return.

And what could that be?

He wants us to fake-date for a while.

Wow, that's crazy babe. What did you say? Did you agree?

I already decided to say yes to him tomorrow, I'll do anything for Niki.

Alright babe, please just be careful. I'm sleepy now, we will talk later. Goodnight love.

Good night Diane, talk to you later.

Matilda dropped her phone and laid back in her bed, she closed her eyes but sleep was not coming. She kept tossing in her bed all night.

**********

Matilda did her usual breathing technique before going into Jaden's office.

Her heart started beating faster again, she held the door handle but it felt like all her strength left her.

Eventually, she opened the door and went in.

“Sit down”

Jaden ordered her, pointing to the seat in front of him.

“I uhm…I came to tell you my response concerning the…the contract”.

Matilda's hands were already shaking, she put them in between her knees to prevent it from being obvious.

“I will do it sir, I'll be your girlfriend”.

“Point of correction, it's a “fake girlfriend”, emphasis on the"fake ".

Jaden said with his hands making the quotation sign in the air.

“Yes..yes, of course sir”

Matilda's face became red from the embarrassment, she cut the eye contact they had held for a while.

Jaden picked a pen from the table, and began to sign. He tossed it to Matilda, indulging her to sign.

“I don't know where to sign sir, there's no.. there's no space for me to sign here sir”.

Matilda spoke in a quiet tone, looking at Jaden and then the paper.

Jaden sighed and rolled his eyes, then stood up and stood behind Matilda's back.

He bent down, his face almost touching hers. Matilda could feel his breath once more, his breath smelled of mint.

His shoulder brushed over hers slightly, which made Matilda flinch a little. Her eyes met with his, and she could not look away. 

Matilda became lost in his blue eyes, like an ocean.

“Stop staring at me and sign here”.

Jaden pointed to the paper and scoffed as he stood walking back to his seat.

Matilda adjusted herself, she held the pen but it was shaking a little. She managed to sign and passed it back to Jaden.

“Here's your copy of the contract”. He passed a paper to her.

“We're officially business partners, ain't we?”

Jaden asked stretching forth his hand to give Matilda a handshake.

Matilda immediately rose up and took his hand, his hand was so soft and larger than hers.

Deep down, Matilda did not want to let go. Jaden gave her hand a little squeeze, and Matilda bit her lower lip unconsciously.

“And what type of treaty did you both sign that needed a handshake to seal it?”

Both Jaden and Matilda's gaze moved to the figure that just came into the office.

“And what the hell do you think you're doing here?”

Jaden inquired angrily, his jaw twitching.