Chapter 2: Contract

All her life, she never imagined giving herself to a man he didn’t love. She hated him. But she owes him. He saved her family, especially her sisters. The day she needed to leave, her family was the most painful day of her life. Her mother and sisters were crying. Her father couldn’t look her in the eyes. "Nina, don’t leave us. We’ll be good sisters. We won’t argue anymore. Please stay here." Nika, her younger sister, cried. "We’re sorry, Nina. We should’ve run when you told us." It was Naomi, her other sister. "I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. It’s my fault. I’m an irresponsible father." Her dad said while bowing to her. "Hey. It’s okay. I’ll be fine. I don’t think he’s a bad person. I just need to work for him, right? Like cleaning and laundry. I’ll come back when all the debt is paid." She said, trying to sound convincing. She doesn’t know what she will do to pay him. He said he owns her. He sounded like she was an object he had just bought. But half of it was true; she basically sold herself to him. "Dad, Mom, here’s the five million dollars. You can start over. Live far away from here. You can still open a ramen shop somewhere. I’ll come and find you, I promise!" She said. She hugged her family for the last time and went inside the car. She sat there, sobbing. When the car started to move away from the place she grew up, she burst out crying. She turned around and saw her sisters running behind the car. Her heart was crushed, but she couldn’t return to them anymore. She belongs to Andrew Cross now. And he owned her until he let go of her. She was brought to a hotel room by a man who seemed to be Andrew’s right hand. He left her there without saying anything. Inside, she saw Andrew sitting on the couch. He was wearing glasses, a laptop in front of him, wine on the table, and a cigarette. So he’s a smoker, she thought. She stood there, looking at him and waiting for him to tell her something. "Are you going to just stand there? Sit." He said, without even looking at her. She sat on the couch across from him. She felt nervous. It wasn’t the first time they were alone. When they helped Alora find her psychiatrist, she rode in Andrew’s car because her friends rode with their boyfriends. "Here." He handed her a three-page paper. She looked at it and it said ’contract.’ "What is this?" She asked. "Don’t you know how to read?" He answered back in sarcasm. She read the papers and was surprised by what was written. "Are you insane?" She exclaimed. She didn’t expect what she just read. "Do you prefer to just serve me in bed forever?" He asked. The contract says that she will have to marry him once she graduates from college. She will be his fiancée once she signs the contract. She will also need to satisfy his sexual needs whenever he asks her. It’s also written that she’s not allowed to have any romantic or intimate relationship with another man except him. "Why do I have to be your fiancé and marry you?" She asked, confused. "I need someone whom I could divorce after 5 years. We don’t like each other anyway, so that’s fine. My father is forcing me to marry any girl or else he won’t hand the company to me. It’s written in the contract, we can divorce after 5 years." He said in a straight face. She couldn’t believe it. She expected she would be serving him sexually, but she didn’t expect she needed to marry him. "What if I don’t agree?" She asked. "You don’t have a choice. You sold yourself to me, remember? That contract was just an agreement that we would divorce after 5 years. I just wanted to make sure that we will separate quietly after. The rest were just for you to read. I can do anything I want with you, even without that contract. I could even have sex with you right now, and you can’t do anything about it." He didn’t show any expression when he said that. He’s heartless and bold. She despised him. She felt nervous when he mentioned having sex with her. Her face was red, her cheeks burned from embarrassment. "Are you going to force me? Then that’s rape!" She mustered the courage to raise her voice. He chuckled. "Don’t reason with me, Nina. You asked for my help, you offered yourself to me. I paid your father’s debt without hesitation. Do the end of the bargain. You just have to act as my fiancé and marry me. Then we’ll go our separate ways after 5 years of marriage." If she counts the 5 years plus her time from now with him until she graduates from college, that would be a total of 10 years. That was too long. But she doesn’t have a choice. She also doesn’t know Andrew well or what he’s capable of. He might have changed his mind and taken back the money. What will happen to her sisters? She will do everything for her family. "Will you let me know if you will-" She bowed her head and suddenly got embarrassed about what she would ask him. He looked at her, and he was amused by her innocence. She was going to ask him when he would have sex with her, but was ashamed of her question, so she didn’t continue. He enjoyed seeing her getting flustered. "I won’t. I’ll just do it whenever I like. Don’t worry, I’m very experienced with women. I’ll be gentle." He said. He was staring at her, and she was blushing again. The conversation was giving him a hard time controlling himself. He wanted to do it with her, but he decided to take it slow since he knows she’s still a virgin. He had dated a lot of women, most of whom were older than him. He doesn’t like fragile and innocent women, but Nina was an exception. The first time he met her, she threw dirty water in his face. She wasn’t fragile; she was fierce. She wasn’t afraid of him. He started to get interested in how long she could keep that stubbornness of hers. When he started to hang out with her and her friends, he found out that she belonged to the Bronze Class and was doing errands for the rich kids in exchange for money. He knew her family needed money. She was just too proud of herself and couldn’t admit it. He doesn’t care about the shop. It was just a small piece of land anyway, but his father insisted on getting all of the properties in the area. So when she begged him, he found a way to get the shop, but didn’t expect that she would offer herself to him. Of course, he wouldn’t miss that opportunity. She was the exact opposite of all the women he had, but she was a virgin, so he wanted a taste of her. He saw her pick up the pen with a trembling hand. She was just wearing a blue faded dress without any makeup on, but she still looked pretty. When she bit her lips before signing the contract, he wanted to tie her to the bed and ravage her. But he kept his cool and moved his eyes away from her. She handed him the paper, and he could see fear in her eyes. Maybe she thought he would take her now. But to her surprise, he took the paper, stood up, and walked out of the room.