Niall has been working at the same company for the last ten years and since the beginning he has seen so many of his collegues starting to fall in love, start dating, breaking up and even getting married and having kids. In the entire time he has never had a girlfriend and feels left out at company-dinners or parties as he's always on his own. This weekend there is a christmasparty and everyone is already annoying him with the questions "Going alone again?" "Got someone this time?" "Do you even want a girlfriend?" and many more.
Lily on the otherhand feels left out because she is pretty poor, not that she doesn't have any money and lives on the street but that she has trouble paying bills sometimes. She never goes shopping and doesn't own the trendiest or most expensive clothes. Not many people like to hang out with her and not even her boss likes her which means she never gets a christmas bonus and her paycheck stays very little.
When Niall goes into the coffee shop to get his usual morning coffee on his way to the office he stands in the queue. Next it's Lily's turn and Niall looks up from his phone as he hears Lily swallow. "Uhm,...", she starts and Niall notices her struggling and looking in her backback hecticly. She is trying not to cry. "Here you go!", Niall says putting the money on the counter.
A few minutes later when the two of them each have their drink they meet outside of the coffee store. "Hey!", Lily says tapping Niall on shoulder. "Oh, hey!", he answers once he has turned around. "I... I just wanted to say thank you!", she says shyly. "Oh, no problem!" "I feel so embarressed that I didn't have enough money..." "Don't worry, I love helping out..." "Thank you so much! I just...", she starts and Niall wipes away one of her tears. "Hey! No need to cry! I am so sorry, I actually really need to head but how about we meet up later?" "Ok!"
The two of them exchange numbers and decide to meet up at seven o'clock at that coffee shop. They go on with their day as usual but unlike the other days they can't really concentrate. Throughout the entire day Lily thinks about Niall alot because she is so thankful that he was there and didn't have to give back the coffee which wasn't even for herself but for her boss who doesn't even give her money for it. Niall thinks of Lily the entire day because he is not used to people arround him not being able to afford things and loves helping others.
At ten to seven Niall arrives at the coffee shop and sits down at one of the tables. A few minutes later Lily walks through the door and Niall waves at her. She sits down oposite from him. "Thanks again!" "Like I said earlier this morning already, it's absolutely no problem!" "It is! I'm so sick of feeling bad because I don't or barely have enough money to pay for my stuff! I just can't imagine what my boss would have said when I would have arrived at the office without her coffee... like... she doesn't even give me extra money to pay for it... I have to pay for it with my salary which is lower than everybody else's...", she says tearing up.
Niall walks around the table and gives her a hug. "Oh, honey! I'm so sorry to hear that! Nobody deserves that! Please let me buy you a coffee, or soda or what ever... maybe a cookie?", he says and waves one of the barista over to their table and orders the two of them a soda and a cookie each. "You really didn't have to..." "But I wanted to!", he explains and sits down on the chair next to her.
The barista comes back with their drinks and cookies. "You guys are such a cute couple!", she says and Niall and Lily try not to laugh. "Oh, thanks, but we're not..." "We're not a couple!", the two of them answer at the same time. "Oh, I'm so sorry! Well, you would be!", she admits laughing and leaves the table again once Niall pays her. The two of them look at eachotherand Nialls eyes widen as he gets an idea.
"You know what... this might sound stupid... but... she kinda gave me an idea...", he starts and Lily looks at him. "How about, uhm, how about we date or even get married?" "What?", Lily asks completely confused. "Let me explain..." "I hope you do!", she laughs. "Ok, so, I would support you, help you pay your bills and all... and you, you would help me, because I'm litterally the only one at the office who's single and therefor get left out alot...", he tells her.
"You'd do that?" "Yeah, I mean, I'd be helping you and I love helping others, so... if you'd like that... I'd be all in!" "Really?", she asks looking him in the eye and nearly tearing up because she would really like that. "That would really help me out!" "If you like we could try it out this weekend! My office is having a christmas party so, would you like to come along?" "Ok, sure!" The two of them continue talking and get along very well which makes the idea of a marriage of convenience so much better.
That weekend the two of them go to the christmas party and every one of Niall's collegues stare at them. "Hey, Niall!" "Oh, hey!" "Who's this?" "This is my girlfriend, Lily!" "So you finally found one!" This is the conversation we have with nearly everyone there. At the end of the evening Niall drives Lily home and decide to get married.
Over the next few weeks and moths they plan everything for a small wedding. They don't tell anyone about their plan and just tell them that they have actually been dating a pretty long time and just never told anyone. Eventhough their family is very unsure about what they are doing they support them and help them plan some little stuff.
About four months later they have a small wedding with about ten to fifteen guest and have a fantastic day. The two of them drive to the hotel where their parents have booked a suit for the two of them as a wedding gift. When they arrive there the two of them sit down on the bed and start talking. "So, I've had so much fun with you!" "Me too!" "I am so happy we did this! From now on you will never have any financial problems anymore and I'm so glad I am able to help you with that!" "And you will have me at your company-dinners and parties and all that!", she explains and hugs him.
He hugs her back and kisses her on the forehead. "We're gonna have such a great time!" "We definitely will!" Over the last few months the two of them got to know eachother so well, that even without the marriage of convenience thing, they would have started dating
