ERIKA After what felt like a few hours, Erika's eyes opened to see that she was carefully tucked into her bed with the blanket over her. Her shoes were opened and the curtains were closed as well as the room was dimmed even if she didn't remembered doing any of it. Someone had been here. She got up with a concerned face and looked around till her eyes fell on her bedside table. There were a file and on top of it was a sticky note stuck to it. "You don't need to sign it, I'm going to make you stay anyway," the note said. And under that was the contract papers with the title, "the girlfriend contract." It felt like the words were physically hurting her with how persuasive they were. She could feel how he wrote everything as a challenge when all she wanted him to was mean it. She didn't want to be a nobody, a game that he would like to play till the end of time. She wanted to be someone he reallt valued beyond the thrill of it. But the knots she felt in her stomach was different. She
ERIKA Erika always wondered why there was a need for that much service at his house because he was the only one living there. But as she looked up at the family photograph placed on the mantle on the other side of the table, she was reminded that his family had temporarily moved to Italy for Nigel's bother's treatment. It was a pretty big family he had and by the way they were rich, it made sense why he had servants and security. Erika knew he was the kind of man to try and give it his best to make sure his family had it easy. He just was that kind, a total family person. Erika walked to the table and waited for Nigel to notice she was there. He looked up but he didn't seem surprised. Immediately, one of the servants scurried to pull a chair at the other end of the long table, far far apart from Nigel. Erika didn't really mind even though it was a little strange. But that's when Nigel's eyes snapped up and he looked a little off. "What are you doing? Make her sit here," Nigel said w
ERIKA "It was," he said with a distant voice that was mostly rummaging through his thoughts but then he finally chose a thought and settled on it, about to voice it for good.. or not. "But I'm sensing it wouldn't stay one sided for long." Erika's heart pounded and thumped in her chest like it would pop out any minute. What did he mean by that? What does he mean by one sided love? The only image that flashed in front of her face was the day she overheard Nigel and Selena's conversation. And just as quickly her heart sank as she thought the person he referred to could very well be Selena. Who else could it even be but her? Selena was the only girl who had been by Nigel's side throughout and they seemed to have a very complicated relationship. Now that Nigel had said that he might have a one sided love, there was no one else that could be cut out for it but Selena. He didn't have anyone that he allowed to be in his life that prominently. There had to be a reason Selena was so consisten
ERIKA Nigel stated that he would make sure to announce and stress on the fact that Erika was a better and changed person. That would trigger public opinion on her and then it will all be rainbows and sunflowers. Erika hated his moral high ground but she was almost caged up. It was impossible for her not to agree to it. "So?" He asked. "Perfect," Erika said sarcastically. "Great, because the media appearance is tonight. Prepare yourself, Sterling," he ruffled her hair and smiled at her. That made her jolt immediately because she felt the electricity charge through her body. She took a deep breath and set her nerves aside, trying not to look that bothered that he patted her head. She hated him for toying with her body she hated herself for not resisting it. But she had to if she wanted to be able to leave in a month. With her newfound feelings that were the closest thing she has ever experienced to love, she knew it was growing at an alarming rate and if she didn't stop now, she'd
NIGEL Whatever dress she would pick was bound to surprise him and he liked the thought of that. He couldn't help but smile to himself, giving himself enough room to imagination. But just when he stepped out towards the main door, someone stood there with their back turned to them. "She's here, isn't she?" He turned back around, Metin Divit. He knew instantly who he was talking about. Nigel's jaw clenched at his sight as Metin turned around. He knew that Metin would be hard to get rid off. And even if he was a roadblock for Nigel, it wasn't possible for him to fire Metin from the job as his lawyer. Metin has been one of the longest employees of Sterling & Co. and everyone else loved and respected his work thoroughly. If he fired Metin, it would only mean that he would lose some of his credibility among other employees and it can also cause unhappiness. This was a very crucial time of his life and he couldn't afford upsetting anyone at all. He hadn't even had a talk with Matthew Ster
NIGEL Nigel slowly stared down at his boots as he came to terms with how possible that was. He didn't know this version of Erika and it was already coming out as repressive and aloof. And she would need someone to open up to, to which Metin wouldn't leave the chance at any cost. He'd do whatever it takes and because Erika didn't know better about him, she would let him be the one she trusted. Even after all these thoughts, Nigel knew he was intentionally trying to skip out on something. A possibility that might come true despite his wants. The possibility of Erika falling for Metin Divit too. He would be lying if he said that didn't shake him up. He was trying not to lean too much in that thought but he couldn't help it. It just didn't feel normal for Metin to straight up come up to Nigel and confront him about this if he didn't mean to do something about it. It felt like his intentions were more than just dumping his true feeling about him, the intentions were to threaten Nigel
ERIKA2 "Nothing you'll say to me will make me stay!" "And what if I tell you that I.." "What?" Erika's breath caught up inside her chest. It bundled up and made her almost sweat because the expression he was making made it look like he was about to say something that would alter her entire brain chemistry. "That I.. want you.. to stay.. and not because of the revenge or any tricks up my sleeve or keeping you as a plaything or an act of humiliation or anything I've done in the past. But I want you to stay.. because of how I feel for you," he said with an exasperated voice that sucked all the air out of Erika's lungs. It was so evident that she was frowning that she could tell he hesitated on whether he should go forward with what he was about to say or not. And even if she was dying for him to continue, she knew that once he was done, he would be asking her to give an answer to that or at least that's what she would be expected to do and she was not ready for that. And she wasn't s
ERIKA "I have waited long enough," he said as his hand carefully slipped on her waist and he pulled her close, raising an hand to wave at the media for the pictures as they walked towards them. Erika's heart fluttered and her cheeks warmed up that almost made her want to shy away like a school girl. It's always words like that that set her off about him, words she couldn't decipher but felt like it came from such a deeper decree that she just couldn't grasp it yet. "Come on, Sterling. Smile for the cameras," he said, tugging at her waist a little more. ~ "And that's our story," Nigel finally concluded after what felt like hours of narration. Erika felt like her smile was tattooed on her lips because she had to hold it for so long as they took turns adding to the story they had created earlier and to her worst fears, they made an actually amazing team together. It was very coordinated as well as thought throught and Nigel could only give up surprised looks as if they had really out