"Note to the wise: whenever someone insists that he wants to buy something from you, but tells you there’s no real value in it yet, two things are happening: he’s lying, and you’re being taken."
~Michael A. StackpoleThe doorbell rings and I groan and get up from the couch where I'd fallen asleep in last night after Luke left. My head is pounding just like it did last night when Luke came to visit. After falling asleep last night, I woke up to remind myself that Ade was dead and I was responsible for it. I wanted Ade to die, for what he did to me, but that was just because of the anger I felt in that moment and really didn't want that. But as much as I tried to push it off, I couldn't, I was guilty and yet unable to do anything, but wallow in my pain and grief of my reality and that kept me up for another four hours before I finally slept.
I need painkillers more than ever.
The doorbell rings again and this time I drag myself up to my feet and walk towards the door, wrapping my left hand over my head as a way of holding it together so it doesn't explode.
I open the door and there is Anna, holding a cigar to her red lips. She takes a long drag of it and puffs the air out in a unique style that creates a trail of circles in the air. She has to be smoking for long to be able to master that act, I wonder to myself. But also wishes she can just smoke outside.
"And you're hungover, great." She says entering into the room even without me inviting her in. Not like she needs me to, she was in my room yesterday without permission, we are way past that.
She's wearing a red designer gown reaching her knee that hugs her body perfectly and brings out her curves, a black veil over her shoulder, red heels that showcases her nice legs. Pity such a pretty woman is a monster on the inside.
Nevertheless, "Well, come inside," I beckon dramatically, gesturing with my hand. "And I am not hungover, this," I point to my head and then to the parlour a little upside down, "is as a result of the messy life you're dragging me into." as well as the guilt of having killed someone.
"Messy is all of this," she points to the ground and giving the whole room a disgusted look.
I cross my arms, "Did you come here to through insults around, Ms Wilson?"
"I came here to talk and reach an agreement, I hope you were able to go through the sample contract," she says walking into the kitchen where she was yesterday like she owned the place.
Well, she owns the owner of the place so that means she also owns the place.
I step towards the table where I last kept the document, my pen and jotter, "I decided to take your advice and read through and make adjustments to some things I wasn't comfortable with." I see her eyes narrow immediately, but she nods for me to continue, "As for your rules and regulations, I have to ask, are they what you follow yourself or did you make them up for me."
"I didn't come here to be questioned, and certainly not by you." She states, sounding offended.
"You will have to sit down and listen because I will be Ms Wilson for three weeks and according to the section 3 of page 10, the replacement has the right to ask questions when she's confused. And that's what I'm doing, Ms Wilson."
She grits her teeth and I know if she could torch me right now, she would, "Fine! Some of the rules are my personal rules and you have to follow them if you want to replace me without getting caught. Anna ignores that question, "Any more questions before we begin?"
"You barely said anything about your parents," I point out, but there are not dead according to these.
"They haven't been in my life for years and I intend to keep it that way," she replies almost angrily.
She is getting married though, how was she going to do it? Isn't her father going to give her away?
I shut down those question, cross the question out in my jotter and I proceed to ask, "Do you have an active sexual life with Eli??"
She glares at me, obvious not too comfortable with my line of question. "No, sex has been out of our lives for many months now, we are two busy people, Eli being the busiest. Is there a reason you're asking? Because you will learn a lot about why as we go on."
"I am asking because I need to know if they will be a need to have sex with this man who happens to be your fiancé."
"In those three weeks, he wouldn't be my fiancée, he would be yours and so yes, you can have sex with him if the need arises as stated in the #31 rules."
"I don't want to have sex with him," I mutter under my breath, but it's not low enough because she hears me.
"You will once you meet him in person." She assured with a completely certain voice.
I saw the picture of Eli in the document she brought over yesterday, He was a man with olive skin tone, curly black hair that falls to his eyes. He has glasses on and his face is bare of beards. He had round aluminium-grey eyes that seemed a bit weird, but I did not pay much attention to it. His freckles covered nose is well sculpted. His lips were rosy pink, with natural cupid's bow bottom lips. His left brow had a parting that divided the thick hair into two parts and as I looked closer, I realised that was a scar on his brow.
He didn't look ugly, but he wasn't an awestriking handsome either.
I don't know what's in him that I would find attractive but I try not to tear down her fiancé before her because I had no issues with him.
I press my lips together trying to clear the awkwardness.
"But don't worry, Eli wouldn't push you to have sex with him, Jumai did a good job raising him."
And yet here you are running away from your Mr Right.
Let's just pray he stays so busy that sex doesn't come up in the three weeks I'll be there, but that's like praying it doesn't snow in winter.
I shake the thought out of my head, "Moving on."
"Rule #27 states -you have the right to say no to Mr Wilson whereas rule #6 says -do not say no to Eli's requests. Aren't these rules going against themselves right here?"
"Rule #27 was talking about sex and rule #6 is talking about anything that isn't sex, Eli doesn't always ask for much but when he does, do not say no." She explains.
I flip the pages of the document to the settlement page and began to read aloud, "The replacement would be given a settlement offer of fifty thousand dollars which would be paid within the three weeks she will be a replacement and the last instalment would be paid the day she finishes."
"You're reading what I already know," she informs me with a rather boring look.
"Fifty thousand is too small because if I get caught I will be thrown into prison or worse, you said the terms of the contract were negotiable and so I want to negotiate that."
Her eyes narrow, "Payment was a way of me being generous and you're going to negotiate that?"
I smirk watching her struggle to stay in control, "You know how the saying goes, never put a price on yourself and if for any reason you do, do not sell yourself cheap."
"You made that up," she stated with certainty as she stared at me.
I did and I have lived by that rule in the last two years.
I don't deny, "Well, I'm only going by your words that said the terms were negotiable, the payment is amongst the terms of the contract so that applies too unless you're not a woman of your words."
"Fine, how much are we talking about?"
"Two hundred thousand."
Her eyes widen in disbelief "Are you crazy?!" She demands with murderous eyes.
"Yes, that's why I'm choosing to risk my life and freedom while you go off for three weeks doing God knows what."
"Still, two hundred is preposterous! Did you forget that you are going to do this whether I pay you or not?"
I cross my hands over my chest, "Yes but I know that whatever has you coming to such great length is worth the price."
She grits her teeth and drags a deep breath, "Fine, a hundred thousand dollar."
"One hundred and fifty thousand." I prob with a small voice.
I see her brown eyes turn black, "I'm not going fucking higher than that and you can either take that or don't."
I groan and dramatically roll my eyes, "Fine." I sigh aloud although this negotiation went so badly in my head.
"Now we have reached a point of agreement, I will have the contract corrected once I get home and have them brought over and signed tomorrow." With that said she gets up on her feet and takes one step back from the chair she was sitting on.
"I need you to go get bathed, dressed and ready, we have only one week to train you into being Ms Wilson."
"There is a price to pay for speaking the truth. There is a bigger price for living a lie."~Cornel WestTen hours laterI open the door of my bedroom and throw myself onto the head burying my face as far into the pillow as I possibly can. Anna took me to one of her beautiful resident the penthouse which she acquired not very long ago which had lots of room and space where she and I were the only ones present. I thought my legs were going to give up on me after the intense seven hours training I took on how to walk on heels, a characteristic that Anna told me she is most famous for. I also got taught the gestures and the manner of approaches which Anna uses from her greetings to her casual commentary and flirts with Eli, all the while walking around in a four-inch heel. There were small breaks in-between the training and we ate the food Anna had brought along. She sa
"When I turn the lights out, when I close my eyes, reality overcomes me, I'm living a lie."~Avril LavigneFour days later"By now I hope you've known the faces of all those in the file I brought because you will be associated with them these three weeks you will be replacing me. Since there are the weeks before my wedding, there are a few people you need to know because they are important, others you can just excuse yourself by blaming it on the stress of running around and making preparation for the wedding." when she finishes, she's already down the stairs and walking towards me.Anna hasn't always been present during my training in the last few days, some days I had to follow videos tapes which she made talking about fashion, work and her life and also handwritten instructions, but I persisted in learning, not for her, but myself because that's all I'
"What's the whole point of being pretty on the outside when you’re so ugly on the inside?"Jess C. ScottI stand staring off into space for a long while that I don't hear the car honking beside me."Ms Wilson! Ms Wilson!!" a deep voice calls out from beside me and I begin to wonder how my life is going to be in the next three weeks as Ms Wilson. Oh, Ms Wilson..., that's me.I snap out of my thought and quickly turn to see the driver standing beside the car and looking at me. He gets down from the car and comes over to the back seat and opens it, waiting for me to come and enter into the car.This is Gabriel, this is the driver that takes Eli everywhere and occasionally drives Anna. I saw his picture amongst the pictures Anna brought over a week ago and after memorising his face for more than a hundred times, I can identify that dark-skinned, mi
THERE WAS A MIX UP IN CHAPTER 10 AND 8, I HAVE FIXED IT, BUT THE ONLY WAY TO SEE IT IS TO REMOVE THIS BOOK AND ADD BACK INTO YOUR LIBRARY."Always sleep with one eye open. Never take anything for granted. Your best friends might just be your enemies."~Sara ShepardTwo days later...Since the first night of my return, I haven't seen any trace of Eli and I should be happy right? But I'm not instead I am terrified!Anna told me how Eli work was 24/7 and sometimes slept at the office which I understood before everything started, but a part of me wonders if he's away because he sensed something was different with me- the Anna he met that night. I can't shake off the thought and it has been giving me a hard time and barely making me think straight and my panic is almost every hour. I remember him pausing after
"People wears a mask of lie so they look attractive, so be careful"~Muhammad SaqibGetting ready for work wasn't very difficult, if anything I was eager to get out of the house so I don't end up seeing Eli, I open the drawer and pulled out the calendar on it which had the schedule and duties of each day's carefully written in it. Unlike the weekends that its dos and don'ts are blank, the weekdays had a lot of activities lined up in them. Monday had; Work, and Spa with Loo on the calendar and the closing hours and hours to spend at the spa. I close the file and slide it into the document folder before dropping it inside the bag I am to take to work. I was instructed to never allow anyone sees these document and since I am going to be at Anna's place till Friday and already knew the term of the contract, it was only best to take them to her place and only use them there. I would be taking the calendar
"Love cures people—both the one's who give it and the ones who receive it."~Karl MenningerI don't know which is more shocking, that Eli is standing in my room, or that he heard me get frisky and moaning while in the bathroom early, or that I am currently standing naked before him.I haven't seen him since the night and because the light wasn't the brightest in the room when he came, I was barely able to make out his face and now standing before me, the last thing I want to do now is to look away from him. Firstly because that would mean that I am conscious of being seen naked by him, (which happens to be true,) but Anna wouldn't be because he is her fiancé so no need to be ashamed. And secondly, because Anna was wrong, he isn't a bit different from the picture I have, he's very different from the nerdy-looking man, I've stared at during my week of training. This one ha
"Never love something so much that you can't let go of it."~Ginni RomettyKeeping to the promise which I made Eli yesterday, I step out of the house at exactly 6:40 pm, wearing the long silk gown that holds on to me as though their life depended on it and my curves are out and because of the much detail it reveals, I decide to throw on one of Anna's white veil on my shoulder.The gown was one of the few exceptional outfits on the calendar and Anna chose them for just-in-case events and this dinner date is one of those events.I advance Eli gracefully—more like gently because the last thing I want is to fall on my face while Eli waits beside the car for me, and carefully watches my every move.He's wearing a black long sleeve with a pair of black, well-ironed trousers and a pair
"The reason I talk to myself is because I’m the only one whose answers I accept."~George CarlinAfter dinner, we have a bit of discussion about his work because I found it a bit interesting and we have a laugh, but I notice Eli checks his wristwatch now and then. At first, I was lost but soon remembered his glasses were scheduled to go off at a particular time."How much longer do you have?" I ask as he glances at his wristwatch."Ten minutes and I don't want you to see me use the stick," he admits, hints of embarrassment in his voice.I find myself smiling stupidly, but manage to roll my eyes, "Don't be silly, Eli, you came into my room a few days ago with a stick remember?" I remind him.He rolls his eyes in return, "You're not helping, young lady." He scolds although his cheeks heat up. "I wasn't on a date and trying to woo you over wit