ERIKA "Why are you still walking?" A voice too familiar hit her immediately. Her heart thumped in her chest as she finally looked to her side to see his perfectly devastating face. The face she couldn't see before leaving. Nigel Asher. "You have zero survival instincts." "Why are you here?" She slowed down but didn't stop walking. "If I was a creepy man, would you have not run? How do you think you will survive out there?" He said with a small smile that underestimated her. She didn't want that before leaving. "Leave me alone. I didn't want to-" "See my face before leaving?" He raised an eyebrow and she didn't say a thing. He scanned her and her belongings and Erika hoped he didn't ask her where his gifts were. But then he said with a neutral tone, "Get in." His straight face gave out almost nothing and it completely looked the opposite of how Erika looked. Her eyes had widened at his proposition and she realised that even if she was trying to avoid the things that could go wrong
ERIKA "Are you ready to sign a contract?" She asked, looking straight ahead like she was embarrassed to meet his eyes. He flipped his head towards her with a confused look as the car slowed down on the highway. "What contract?" "Just like the one you made me sign. A contract stating that I'll stay a month and you'll let me leave after that," she asked and was met with his immediate yes. He was on board, even though she didn't understand why he was worried about her distress so much. It was almost.. out of his usual. "Turn the car around." And the glint in his eyes suddenly appeared as he realised she had said. Maybe what she agreed to was a mistake, but something inside her, the full blown feelings she had for him, turned her weak and his brightened eyes made her fall for it with half the regrets that she should be having. But she knew returning back would be a better option because of the newfound shortcomings she had encountered. She was afraid to be left alone with that much
Erika "No, you won't do any of the work here. I'll make sure to get rid of the slave contract you signed, you're not a servant here anymore. I'll make sure you're kept here with proper care," his words held some degree of real care and concern if she was even seeing it right. He stared at her like he had already thought of all the answers to all the questions so she skipped through all of them that were popping up in her head. "Why are you doing this? What can you even possibly gain from this? You kept saying you hated me all this time then when I'm finally getting out of your hair, how are you suddenly so nice to me? What are you planning?" She asked, really concerned. "To win you over," he said, without batting an eye. It looked like he was a child because they were always brutally honest. Erika's mouth opened and closed as he blinked at her like he had said nothing at all. "All these things aren't going to work on me, so please don't.. talk like this," she said, making sur
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