The Proposal

3 - Contract

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The next day, i got ready to meet with Nicholas. He had told me during the call that we should meet and discuss everything that is and will be involved in our arrangement, and I agreed.

He also informed me that he would send a driver to pick me up at exactly 9 am. and bring me to him.

So I put on my usual jeans and a black T-shirt. I didn't forget to fill Ruby in on all of it.

I was not really the secretive kind of sister, well, at least not most of the time, so I told her everything. I mean, I was going to meet a total stranger who I met at the bar, so if anything happened to me, at least my sister would have all the information to give to the cops.

That aside, my sister was weirdly thrilled about the whole thing. It was almost like she didn't care that I was going to be somebody's fake wife for a year.

Her words, "At least you will be happy doing what you love."

She was not wrong, though, or maybe this was just my desperate attempt to make myself feel better instead of judging me.

Anyways, she had left for school while I waited for the said driver who was going to pick me up.

Exactly 9 am, I heard the honk of a car just outside the house. I took a deep breath and went outside to the very nice car that pulled over in front of my house. I was instantly in awe.

Little did I know that that was just the beginning of my amazement.

I was in literal shock by the time the driver stopped at our supposed destination. It was a massive building, with glass all over that almost looked like it sparkled.

I had only ever seen buildings like this in the movies, and now I was not just only staring at one in real life, I was about to walk into it.

The driver gestured for me to follow him, and so I did. I walked behind him as he led me into the huge building, past a lot of workers, then to the elevator.

I was nervous for some reason, maybe because of what I was about to embark on or just because of the stares I got the moment I came off the elevator on the 10th floor.

I had never felt so out of place in my life. Everyone was dressed so corporately and nice, it made me almost look down on myself for wearing a simple Jean.

We stopped at a desk where a blonde lady sat, and the driver interacted with her while I still admired the building, ignoring the random glances that were thrown my way.

"She will carry on from here," the driver said to me and gave a small bow before leaving me with the blonde lady. His politeness amazed me.

"This way, please," the lady stood up and said. Her voice sounded exactly like the lady I spoke to on the phone. I followed her instinctively to the end of the room, where she knocked on the door before opening it and gesturing for me to go in.

I nodded and walked into the office, which was huge, by the way. I didn't really expect anything less since he was supposedly the boss of this entire place. it was beautiful and had a very modern setting.

All these only made me wonder what a man like him would be doing in a bar, drinking.

"Welcome," his voice brought me out of thoughts. "Please have a seat," he gestured to the chair in front of his large desk.

I took my seat as told, feeling quite unease yet comfortable at the same time.

Nicholas, on the other hand, seated just across me, looked so different from the other night. He looked much more polished and exotic with his tuxedo. Well, I guess the only difference was he wasn't sad and drunk.

And let me add that he looked so good, but I was really, really trying to ignore that fact. It would definitely be a bad start to already be attracted to my soon to be fake husband.

"I know you have a lot of questions, and I assure you I will answer all of them, but first, I didn't get to know your name," he said

"Crystal," I answered

"Okay, Crystal, fire away," he said, leaning back on his chair.

I wanted to ask why he was doing this, but I thought against it because that necessarily wasn't my problem. All I needed to know was how it would affect my life.

"How are you going to make me an actress?" Was my first question.

"I have my connections, I can get you into the movie industry with just one phone call," he said with so much confidence.
"However you wish to go about it, if you want to go to training or you want to go into acting immediately, hell, if you want to be a director, I can make it happen" his words surprised me.

Could he really do all that? Did he really have that much power? This really seemed too good to be true.

"And all I have to do is be your fake wife?" I asked

"Simple, right?"

"You sure you wouldn't ask me to sleep with you as well?" I asked, unsure.

He smiled and leaned forward on his desk, "Don't flatter yourself," he said, and I blinked
"If I wanted sex, I wouldn't need to go this far to get it."

Okay cocky much....

"I am going to be honest with you, Crystal, this is really important to me. I wouldn't go this far if it wasn't. Like I told you that night at the bar, I need to get some certain people off my back and by doing this, I will" he brought out a file from under his desk and pushed it towards me.

"This is the official contract. You sign this, and we are both bound to our deal. Once we get married, we will be expected to go for a honeymoon for sure, and I've got that covered. We will have to travel but don't worry, we will live separately for the whole of that time period. After that, we return home, and you will have your separate room as well. All you need to do is be my wife when needed. Once the one year is over, we will get a divorce, and I will simply say things didn't work out. Then we can go our separate ways."

His speech was so damn convincing. I was still so curious as to why he would go to all these lengths to do this, but then again, I didn't care about that.

"Everything is in the contract. All you have to do is sign it," he said, "after reading it, of course," he added.

I took the file in my hand and opened it.

"I have one last question." I looked at him
"Why me?" I genuinely wanted to know.

"You seemed really passionate about being an actress, and one thing I now for sure is that a career driven person is always successful and is willing to take any risk. You have proven me right by being here. Besides, I feel more comfortable knowing you will be so focused on your goal that you wouldn't be distracted. "

"Distracted?" I didn't get that.

"By me," he said.

"Why would I be distracted by you?" I totally understood where he was going with that, but I still decided to ask anyway.

"Come on, you seem like a brilliant young lady. You definitely understand what I'm talking about. Falling in love is not an option. That will only break the contract, " he said.

"Please, don't flatter yourself." I used his earlier words on him, "What's to like about you?" A small smile came across my lips

"What's not?" He retorted, his lips also tugging up in a smile.

"You'll see, I will prove to you that I can do this without getting distracted," I confidently said to him.

"I can't wait to be proven wrong." his smile didn't go away as he watched me. I wasn't bothered, though. I knew I could do this. I was totally over men, especially cocky men like him.

So, without further delay, I read through the contract thoroughly before signing it.