HEART FOR HIRE ✓

Sixteen

By the time I'm done with narrating what happened at the lunch meeting with Mrs. Thompson, I'm met with three pairs of surprised eyes. Jeanette, Alex and Zion.
After the lunch meeting, Zion came to pick me up from the hotel before his mother could send me back to the theater because that would make her visit more. And of course, that wasn't part of the plan.
I hadn't succeeded in making her hate me but instead, she embraced me and called me the daughter she never had.

I'll never understand rich people, Marble Thompson in particular. What exactly does she find likable about me?
If she finds out that her son is paying me a fortune to do nothing, she will definitely lose her shit and hate me.
Yet, I can't find it in my heart to be responsible for the disappearance of that warm motherly smile on Marble's face.

Call me selfish or not, but she will be happier if she spends the rest of the days in the dark. In the future, Zion and I can always fabricate a lie and say that we broke up.

"Your mum uses an Android phone? Which era is this?" Jeanette bursts out laughing

"Hey, I use Android too!" I glare at her

When Zion is leaving, I escort him to his car as always but this time, he opens the door to the passenger seat and motions for me to get inside. When he closes the door behind me, he comes inside through the driver's seat and then locks the car.

"Are we going somewhere?" I ask him.

"Now, why would I do that?" he turns to me, the muscles of his jaw clenched. "Do you know what you have done?"

"Please enlighten me."

"You had one job," his voice raises by a few octaves. He is clenching his fist as if he wants to punch someone or get hold of someone's throat and chock them to death. "You couldn't make my mother to hate you? Did you even try? Or is this what you wanted?"

"Excuse me?"

Zion shakes his head and lets out a mocking laugh. "I should have known that you are not any different from other women. Is the money I give you not enough that you decided to have my mother wrapped around your little finger? How money hungry are you?"

Letting out a deep breath, I look away from Zion and stare at nothing out of the window.
Does he actually think that I didn't try? Oh, here comes the tears of last night. Worthless. Useless. Capable of nothing. Undeserving. Money hungry.

"Fucking answer me," Zion yells again. "Do you think that making her believe that you are my girlfriend will make you my girlfriend? I don't like you. You are not my type and let me make myself clear, do not feel important to me because you are not. I pay you to wash my clothes not to act like a fucking daughter-in-law to my mother."

As his voice raises, tears keep coming. Why is he being so cruel to me? I tried, I really did.
Why doesn't he believe me? Why is hell-bent on making me feel like a loser who can't accomplish anything?

Or am I a loser?

Of course not. I can't let him insult me anymore. I can't take this anymore. So, with the remaining energy I have, I yell at him.
"You asshole," he looks taken back from my outburst, "don't sit there and blame me for nothing. Maybe, I would have done better if you had told me about your mother. I entered that room on my own, do you know how terrified I was? I did all that without prior knowledge, so, do not sit there and assume for one minute that I wished for her to like me."

"Before you start comparing me with those money-sucking Barbies you surround yourself with, I would never throw myself at you," I push his shoulder. He flinches but does not retort. "If you must know, I planned on calling off the contract last night but you had to call and ask me for a favor. And I was stupid enough to agree because I should have known that nothing I do is enough for you. I may not be enough for you but I won't let you insult me like this, I'm tired."

"How dare-"

"So, you are allowed to speak and I'm not?" I interrupt him. "Just because you are rich, it doesn't mean that the world revolves around you. I'm poor and happy, you a rich attention whore who pays strangers to pay attention to you!"

"Poor and happy you say? Or you would do anything if anyone promised you money?" Zion mocks me. "How much did my mother give you after calling you the daughter she never had?"

"You know what? I'll be expecting my payment by tomorrow morning and after that, I won't bother you," I say calmly, hoping to stop the argument. Not that I'm not hurt, I just want to get out here. I never want to see him again. He is such an asshole.

"Why should I pay you? You had one task and you failed. Tell me why I should waste my money on you. Do you deserve it?"

At that, I jump from my seat and snatch the car key from his hands. He immediately lets it go because I catch him off guard, he was not expecting it. I unlock the car before he can snatch it back and jump out leaving him  speechless.
Before I leave, I make sure to come to the driver's side where he can hear my final words.

"Screw you!" I shout. "You can keep your money and if you do, our contract is off. Do not contact me. Don't show yourself in front of me again. Don't even think of showing up here because you aren't welcome anymore."

Zion does not say anything. He doesn't drive away even after I leave. When I look out of the theater window at 6pm, his car is gone.

Gone and forgotten, that's where he belongs.