Chapter 1: A Bold Offer

Amelia’s POV

The expression on his face was candid “I’m not just going to accept your offer” I said harshly, holding my phone firmly.

“You need the money, I know you do” he said nonchalantly, hands in his pocket.

“And you think I’ll take it from you, at the cost of my future!” I yelled, forgetting that I was in the ICU ward, my eyes boring holes into his head.

“Take the offer or leave it, we both don’t don’t have all day” he said, taking a lighter from his pocket.

“Miss Princeton” the nurse in her blue scrubs bolted through the door “The doctor says she needs the surgery and fast” the lady said, concern in her voice.

“Your call” he said almost immediately, placing his hand on the lighter every now and then.

“Fine, I’ll do it, Ju..just pay for it” I turned to him and said, holding onto the nurse’s hand.

As the nurse went back into the ward, I looked at him, my hands clasped together, tears welling up in my eyes, I was going to sign my future away to pay for my mother’s surgery.

“Alright then, I’ll make the necessary payments, tell the doctor to start the treatment” he said, taking out his phone to make a phone call.

I tried to control my tears as I peeked through the door “Here, sign this” the doctor said, offering me a document, I turned to look at him, in distraught to see the document that read ‘If by any chance the patient does not make it out of the surgery, I am not to sue’.

I quickly read through it, I wasn’t going to let mother die, not like this, I signed it off as I glanced behind me to see him staring at me blankly while I sobbed.

“We’ll do the best we can” The doctor said, taking the document away from me as they proceeded to the operation room.

I could only wonder what was going through his mind when he offered that proposal to me.

“Since that’s taken care of, you now have to sign the contract with me” he said, grabbing my hand.

“I..I need to stay here, till the surgery’s over!” I screamed, struggling.

“It’s a 12 hour surgery, you can’t wait that long!” He yelled back pulling me away “You need to sign my contract, remember” he said still holding on to my hand tightly.

“Fine!” I answered sharply, yanking my hand away from his as I walked in front of him “Let’s get it over with” I added, looking at my wrist to see the bruise.

“Sign here and here” he said crossing his legs as he watched me.

“Done” I answered after signing all the places, then almost immediately before handing him the documents “We need to have couple moments? What does even that mean?” I asked, regretting my decision of not reading some of the pages before signing.

“Oh and we’ll be living together” he added, folding his arms, making my blood boil even more, how could he be so calm about deciding my future so easily.

“Huh!” I said loudly, almost alerting the people in the hospital cafeteria of my predicament.

“You heard me, we’ll have to look like the most lovely couple in front of my late father’s wife and son and even the lawyer, if there’s a sign of animosity, this contract is over and I’ll hunt you” he said ruthlessly.

“B..but” I muttered, holding the documents as I fidgeted.

“But what? You’ve never had a love story before?” He asked, churning his lips.

“Whatever” I snapped back, handing over the documents to him as I quickly walked away to avoid any more silly questions.

“Wait!” His voice was soft “You’ve had nothing to eat” he added, a show of concern? I couldn’t tell since he was always yelling at me.

“I’m fine, I won’t die if I don’t eat in a day” I said without turning back as I headed for the waiting room.

The twelve hour surgery felt like it went forever.

“She’ll be alright” the doctor said, breaking the good news to me as my eyes welled up with tears.

“Tell the young man as well” the man added before walking away. I quickly squirmed, happily, my mother will finally be free of her illness.

The weekend had been rather uneventful, that is after my little contract with the ‘rich devil’, it was time to go back to classes. I was already lagging behind, the part time jobs I did had taken most of my time, now I wouldn’t want to miss any more school activities.

“Amelia!” Ariel yelled at the top of her lungs, the moment her eyes caught a sight of me.

I rushed to give her a long warming hug, something I wanted to do for the longest time.

“I’m so happy to see you” Ariel said with a full smile as she had me wrapped in her arms.

“Me too, I missed you so much” I said, teary eyed.

“Ladies, ladies” the calm baritone could not be mistaken, it was Maxton, his firm body build coming close to us to join in a big hug.

“We missed you Amelia” he said in a whisper when he hugged us both.

“Get seated!” The professor in front of us yelled, I missed everything else, except the professors.

“Good morning class” Professor Caleb said, his voice was sharp, yet it was calm.

“Good morning Professor” we said in unison, taking out our textbooks.

“You’ll be welcoming a new Professor because, I’ll be out of town for family events, I have been requested for” he said with a slight smile.

“The substitute lecturer is Professor Cawthorn” he said loudly as a man walked in, his firm body build, his light green eyes and blonde hair, something I couldn’t miss, the way his trench coat looked on his body, it was him, I stared at him long enough for people to notice but they didn’t because the place was all in whispers and gasps.

“He’s really hot” a girl said from behind “He’s so younger, I think he’s younger than Caleb” another said, giggling “Now this is eye candy” another retorted, taking her hands to her lips.

The Professor stared at me, his expression unchanging as I stared at him wide eyed, a shiny ring on his finger, my soon-to-be husband is my professor, I looked at him and he glanced back at me, a smirk formed on his lips, a smirk only I could understand.