Chapter Six

"We should talk." Ema blurted out with his mouth full of pizza.

"Okay." Lila muttered, wiping the corner of her mouth with the back of her palm.

"I'm really sorry about what I said to you. I shouldn't have called you selfish."

There was silence. Lila didn't like that Ema had called her selfish but she didn't want him carrying the guilt either. She was grateful that they were finally addressing the elephant in the room.

She pushed her plate to the side and leaned on the table.

"It's fine, Ema. You don't have to beat yourself up for it."

"So no hard feelings? I just want to see you happy again."

"No hard feelings. You're forgiven, but you owe me lunch for tomorrow." Lila told him, pouting her lips and pretending to be cross with Ema.

"Uhm, Lila…I have an appointment at work with this new online best selling author. I promise I'll find time for us to have lunch together next week."

"That's alright. I'm jobless but I'm not senseless. Are you going to finish that pizza?"

"It won't matter if I tell you no because you're going to snatch it from my plate either way." Ema told her.

Lila giggled and leaned even closer to take the pizza.

"We should do this every night." Lila said delightfully.

"Apologize to each other?" Ema asked, oblivious of what Lila was talking about.

"No, you idiot. I meant we should order pizza every night." She raised the pizza and just as it slipped off her fork, Ema caught it right before it landed on the table cloth.

They both laughed at Lila's clumsiness.

"You should try to cook sometimes, woman. By the way, Victor likes homemade meals."

Lila frowned, forking the pizza from Victor's plate and dropping it on her own plate.

"Now that is the only thing that put our marriage to asunder. He has the money, he should get a cook."

Ema folded his arms as he wondered how much of a problem the contract marriage would turn out to be. Their house would have a chimney, he thought. Arguing morning and night, day in and day out would rent their marital home in flames. The chimney would help with emitting all of the heat.

"Since you won't be working, you should try and be a nice little housewife." Ema told her dryly.

"A nice little housewife? Seriously?" Lila was waving the fork dangerously now and Ema feared she would pierce her spotless face or even her pretty eyes with it.

"I think you should drop the fork first, Lila."

Lila was already opening her mouth. Ema shut his eyes briefly. The girl could nag all day and she wouldn't grow thirsty.

"I can't be anyone's housewife. I can't afford to be treated like a common commodity; like I was some grocery from the mall. I hope he learns that sooner. You could tell him."

"You're talking nonsense."

"Because I'm a lady you think I'm talking nonsense."

"You always put words in my mouth."

"Oh, Ema, don't you know? There are better things I can put in your mouth than just words."

Ema licked his lips, pretending to get naughty.

"Oh, like what?"

"Like this fork!" Lila yelled, bending over and pretending to want to shove the fork in his mouth.

Ema moved his chair backwards quickly. Lila could be very playful but sometimes she played way too dangerously to be taken slightly.

"I thought you were going to turn me on?" He asked, making a sad face.

"With the fork? Yes, I was going to." Lila answered.

Ema couldn't help but wonder what would become of him if Lila moved out eventually to live with her contract husband. His heart would never recover. He liked her so much and was hoping she would realize the love he had for her was true but he wanted her to be happy too.

"Lila, Victor says you should be at his house by weekend to sign the contract."

"Victor's errand boy!" Lila yelled from the bathroom.

"Not fair. I'm just trying to be a little nice to him. He's not a monster. He deserves to be treated nicely." Ema defended his boss.

"And by nicely, you mean running errands for him even on Sundays? Nice." She was out of the bathroom already. Ema's eyes raked Lila's body up and down. She was not aware, she was too busy drying her hair.

"I think my hair still has shampoo in it. I'll just rinse it again."

Ema forced his eyes away. Lila was perfect. Why was fate so cruel to him? She would be moving away soon and he would die of loneliness soon after.

Just before going to bed, Lila thought to goof around on F******k. Would she change her relationship status to married? That would be too much. Besides, Victor might not even feel that way. He was too cocky.

She searched for him on F******k and surfed through his profile.

There he was on the beach with a woman by his side on the lounger!

"Who is this?" She asked Ema who was trying to go to sleep. She shoved the phone in his face.

"Ema, who is the lady?"

Ema opened his eyes and looked closely at the duo in the picture.

"That's my boss." He answered softly.

"I know, dummy. The lady is who I'm interested in."

Ema gave her a strange look and raised his brows.

"You can't be les. You're getting engaged to a man in a few days."

"You're so dumb! Who is the lady with him?" Lila was shouting now.

"Oh, Angela. His ex girlfriend."

"Oh. Is she a model?"

"Lila. She's not a model. Go to sleep." He rolled over and pulled the duvet over his body.

"I just want to know the kind of competition I'll be dealing with. She looks like a whole lot of competition."

"Why should you be worried when you're in a contract marriage with her ex?"

"You sound like you're inside a coffin."

Lila wasn't a fool. Giving him the impression that she didn't care would motivate him into bringing one night stands into their home.

She checked his other photos and when she saw the one of him half naked with only a towel at the beach, she turned off her phone and went to sleep.

Ema had gone to work and she was all alone at home. She could use the time to visit her mother. She was dressing in the bedroom when someone barged in. She jumped on the bed quickly, not even bothering to cover herself, she looked for an object to grab hold of just in case she had to defend herself. Right! The table lamp.

"Are you okay?"

It was Ema? She suddenly started to feel silly, acting impulsively and jumping like a raccoon.

"Well, I was until you stormed in like a thief. Did you forget how to knock?" She asked, dropping the table lamp back where it belonged. She suddenly realized how heavy it was.

"Please cover yourself up. I need to get over there."

"Like you don't watch porn." Lila slammed him.

"Lila!" Ema warned.

"Sorry. Why are you back anyway?"

"I forgot to get samples of our book covers. The best seller I told you about, we're meeting up today at Quong's Cuisine."

"Oh. Okay, do your thing. I'll be going to the hospital to see my mum."

"Do you need me to drive you?"

"No, you'll be late for work. I'll just get an Uber."

"The stress.."

"I'll be fine, Ema."

"Can you do something else since you won't let me drive you?"

"What?" Lila asked confusedly. Ema thought she looked like a barbie doll with her facial expression.

"Get some clothes and save my eyes!"

"Okay, daddy." Lila said laughing satisfactorily.

Her mother was still asleep. The sedatives were still at work. The nurse on duty said they had just given her the last dose of sedatives for the day and that she wouldn't be waking up until nighttime.

Lila stood over her mother's bed and caressed the hand that was not connected to the drip. Her mother's weight loss worried her, but she knew now that help would be coming very soon.

After trying to stay awake just in case the sedatives given to her mother wore off, she finally went to sleep on chair that had become her bed.

Someone tapped her and she jolted from her sleep.

It was Ema. And he was carrying a bag. Like a food pack.

"You scared me."

"Good evening to you too. For how long has she been asleep?"

"Since late afternoon when I came. What is that?" Lila asked, rising from the chair to assume a sitting position. Ema drew out another chair to sit opposite her.

"I figured you might be starving, so I brought food. Pasta and egg sauce."

"Oh, I could marry you right now."

Her dull eyes came to life at the mention of food.

"I also brought for your mother."

"You did?"

"Yes. And I added vegetables."

"Aww. Thank you so much, Ema."

"You're welcome."

Ema watched as Lila ate in silence. Everytime he looked at her he felt like memorizing every inch of her face as if that would make it stored in his head forever. She was going to be someone else's woman very soon. And she was going to share her bed with him!

"Are you okay, Ema?"

"What? I am."

"Well, blood is rushing to your face and your fingers are clenched into a fist."

"Really? I'm just reacting to the strong hospital smell."

"Are you sure? You look like you want to punch someone right now. You-"

"Look, your mother is awake!"

He was rather too excited about it for he wanted badly to get out of the awkward situation. He really wanted Lila but he was going to let her go so she could pay her mother's hospital bills. But it was going to be hard at first, letting her go.

Her phone chimed from her bag and she fished it out her from her bag. A text message from an unknown number.