Preparations

Fredrick Hughson observed from his rear view mirror as the displeased Avery watched him drive off. He couldn’t understand why he suddenly felt bad for leaving her, but partially he knew Avery could take care of herself.

By the time Avery got home, Adrian was already waiting, he looked pale and tired. Seeing him, Avery saw the need to make this contract with Mr Hughson work. She needed more money to take care of her brother.

The next day came so rapidly, Mr Sinh had told her to take some days off until she felt better. She was about to risk part of her savings to look better, after all, whatever she spent, she was going to replace it with the payment. She saw with her mind’s eyes all that she needed to change within her, beginning with her hair. Sadly, Avery wished she had a friend to go shopping with, a friend, a sister, anyone. But growing up the way she did, her only consistent friend was her brother.

“what are you doing?” Adrian asked startling her from her crouching position.

“Who hides money underground?” Adrian chuckled, teasing her.

Avery looked up and saw her brother, he was gradually becoming a version of his father, tall and skinny with a round face. He looked better than when she had saw him yesterday.

“Adrian I am about to take a big step in my life. It’s for a good cause” Avery said partially as a hint to Adrian about the deal she was about to close today and the other half was a motivation to herself internally. It took her two years of painstaking saving to have the eight thousand five hundred dollars she had saved up and today, she was about to splurge half of that on a crazy deal. Yes, she definitely needed a valid pep talk. Adrian could see the difficulty on her face, but he also understood that Avery knew what she was doing.

“I trust you, Avery. If you say it’s for a good cause, then I believe you.” Adrian said, hoping to encourage her sister. As if that was all she needed, Avery took out a chunk of money from underneath the carpet, placed it carefully into her bag and set off for a self care treat.

First, she’d go to a spa. She was going to do everything the rich people did- from a glassy skin, blonde curls to nail care. She was ready for them all.

Fredrick Hughson spent the day anxious that nothing went wrong, he had written down all the possible questions nei-nei would ask Avery. Still, he was convinced that the evening would end in a terrible disaster. By 2pm, Nei-nei had already called her three times to ensure he came with his mystery girl. There was no backing out of this madness now.

“Mr Hughson, you have a meeting with…”

“Cancel all meetings!” Fredrick said cutting his secretary off. He really couldn’t handle anything at the moment and being who he was, he loved perfection.

“Yes Sir, okay sir” the timid Secretary replied.

Fredrick rose from his chair, checking his wristwatch anxiously- it was almost time.

He brought out his phone and thought about sending her an address to meet up but what if she came out wearing what she wore yesterday. No, he needed to pick her up from a place closer to her home.

“What’s your address?” He texted, pacing around as he waited for a reply.

Soon after, his phone beeped. “Maingate” was the reply from Avery.

“Maingate? What have I gotten myself into?” Fredrick exclaimed.

Although Greenville was a beautiful city, Maingate wasn’t a great location for residential areas. It was the outskirts of Greenville, but the deal had already been drawn. He picked up his car key and headed to the garage, he had especially picked a more expensive care for the occasion- Ford B29, the latest edition of Ford Focus.

By exactly 5pm, Avery was already done dressing. She stood in her room looking at her reflection in the small mirror. She had a striking semblance to her mom, she nearly broke down in tears wishing she was alive to see this glow up. Suddenly there was a beep on her phone, she took it out of the fancy purse and checked the message, it was Mr Fredrick Hughson.

“At Maingate now, where are you?”

Avery couldn’t possibly disclose her house address just like that, instead she picked up her and threw it over her shoulder heading to the only park at Maingate. When she arrived, she said noticed an expensive looking car waiting by the side of the road, even though it wasn’t the same car from their funny encounter, Avery was sure that the car belonged to Mr Hughson. Nobody in Maingate owned that type of car.

She walked confidently as practiced towards the direction of the car.

From the car, Fredrick’s jaw dropped in awe at the sight of the approaching young lady. She looked stunning and classy…she looked like perfection. Her hair was neatly done in curls, her honey-brown eyes looked dreamy and enticing, he was almost lost in them. He was suddenly brought back to reality when Avery knocked on his tinted glass window.

“You cleaned up nice” Fredrick said clearly attempting to hide his surprise but Avery didn’t mind. Today was all about pretense and she was going to make it work.

“Thank you love” she replied, smiling enchantingly. Fredrick couldn’t help the smile that escaped his lips as well.

“We need to go over a few things on the way” he said urgently, Avery nodded.

“Name: Fredrick Luca Hughson.

Age: 32, no siblings, and I call my grandma nei-nei but you can call her Jojo.” He said nervously.

“Avery Bells Graham, 23, and one sibling” Avery replied.

“But you’re forgetting the most important things” she added quickly seeing the urgency.

“Like what?” Fredrick retorted.

“Like where did we meet? How did we fall in love? How long have we been together? You know, the things that actually matter.” Avery said. By this time, their car had just pulled up to the mansion grandma Jojo lived in. She was eagerly awaiting their arrival with a bunch of white roses in hand, something Fredrick did not even think necessary.

Avery stepped out of the car and ran over to Nei-Nei. “I’ve heard so much about you!” She said quirking happily.

Grandma was overjoyed at the warmth. “I haven’t heard anything about you!” She said, playfully hitting Fredrick by the shoulder.

“All that is about to change now Nei-nei”

“Oh dear, I can’t wait!”