Marriage of Convenience

Chapter 16

She tossed and turned in her bed.

After Caroline finished her dinner, she hadn't heard another word from Klaus. She didn't make any attempt to leave her room either. She was not ready for another confrontation with him.

He wanted to get to know her, but couldn't sit down for two minutes to hear her out. She came to the conclusion that he only listened to himself. It was rather annoying, but with as much cash as he has in his pocket she expected nothing less.

She didn't want to go by a set of 'rules' and a 'how to' manual. Clearly, Klaus never has a relationship that went beyond business. He didn't understand that you don't get to know someone by staring at a piece of paper.

She knew that if the INS was ever going to believe that they were in a genuinely consensual marriage they needed to learn to work together.

Everything so far had been one-sided and Caroline knew it would never work the way Klaus was insisting. She just needed to get Klaus to look at it in a new light. Preferably hers.

Caroline picked her head up from the pillow and glanced over at the digital clock. 2:36 a.m.

She groaned and threw the covers off of the bed.

She was hungry again and knew that this 'perfect suite' had to have a bag of pretzels or even an apple to satisfy her unsettling stomach.

She slowly opened the bedroom door and tiptoed down the hallway. She looked back at Klaus' door as she continued to walk towards the kitchen area.

Turning her head back around she collided with an enormous figure. She let out a yelp, but her screams were muffled by the person's hand. When Caroline's eyes finally adjusted to the darkness, she realized that it was Klaus.

Klaus dropped his hand from her mouth and looked down at her. "What the hell are you doing up this late?"

Caroline crossed her arms across her chest. She did this because she wasn't wearing a bra and because Klaus was already starting to get an attitude with her. "I'm hungry." She stated.

"You didn't have to run into me."

"I didn't see you." She told him honestly. "You don't see me asking you what you're doing out here this late."

"That would be none of you—"

Caroline waved her hand in front of Klaus' face. "My business. Yeah, I get it." She was in no mood for an argument this late.

She brushed passed him and continued her journey to the kitchen. She knew that Klaus was trailing behind her and it annoyed her more than it did the first time he did it earlier that day.

"Is this a habit of yours?" Caroline turned to Klaus.

"Not really, no." He told her. "I usually don't follow women, Caroline. They flock around me." He said confidently.

Caroline rolled her eyes. He was such a conceited prick. She hated it.

"But I seem to have an issue with you." He brought his hand underneath his chin and looked as if he was in thought. "And since this is only a business arrangement, I don't expect it. It's just unusual." He stated. "But you need to honor the contract and honor how I want things done. There is no room for error, Caroline. We need to do this my way." She knew he was starting to confront her about earlier. He wouldn't let it end until he had his way, but Caroline wasn't about to give it to him.

Caroline laughed and turned her attention back to her stomach. She opened the refrigerator and found that it was well stocked. It exceeded her pretzel and apple expectations.