Chapter five

All the way back to my house, I racked my brains to find an explanation to my stepmother and younger brother why I decided to move out of my house. As for the stepmother, I was not too worried, as long as I didn't do anything to affect my brother, she definitely wouldn't care about me. My brother was different, he was my only blood relative in this life and also the person I cared the most. Since childhood, my brother had always considered me as an example to follow. I didn't want him to know that I had to sign a marriage contract because of money.

Actually, I could lie to my brother by saying that I found a good job, but it was far away from home so I had to stay in a boarding house. My brother would definitely believe it. But there was a problem, my brother was a person who really liked surprising others. If he suddenly comes over to surprise, everything would be revealed and then he would definitely be very disappointing to me.

So what should I do now?

The car came to the end of the alley then stopped, I got out of the car, when I was about to say goodbye to Brian, he also got off.

Brian handed me two business cards. I took them carefully and looked at them, one from Brian, the other from Matthew.

"You should talk to your family tonight, I'll come pick you up tomorrow morning. There are my business card and Mr. Brown’s business card, if you has any problems that you can’t solve on your own, you can contact me or Mr. Brown.” Brian said.

I clutched the business card in my hand, replying, “I got it, thank you, Brian!”

"No need to thank me, that's my business." Brian said, "I'll be back first, if you need help, just call me."

"Thank you!" I bowed slightly and thanked him again.

Before returning, Brian glanced at the alley, it was full of old houses, there was a flash of surprise and pity on his face, maybe he didn't think I was in such a poor place like this.

It was ridiculous, if I wasn't born in such a poor place like this, if my parents hadn't passed away when I was a little kid, if I had enough money to pay for the tuition fees, If… Unfortunately, there were no ifs that could come true. Infacts, because my family was poor, because my parents had passed away and because there was no one to take care of me anymore, I had to accept to marry Matthew and give a bird to a child for him before we got a divorce.

Even though Matthew said that even if we divorce, my child would always be my child, he would not stop me from visiting him. Even though I knew that Matthew was a billionaire, our future child would get the best care if he stayed with Matthew, but I couldn't help but feel guilty for not being able to take care of him. After all, I was still a bad mother.

When I got home, I was just in time to see my brother, Venn, who had just come back from hanging out with friends. Venn was very playful and naughty but he was also a good brother. Venn knew his mother was biased, and also knew that I was upset about it, so he cared about me a lot. When he was young, he often hid his food and shared it with me.

Seeing me step down from a luxury car, he asked in surprise: "Have you found a rich man?"

I was dumbfounded and feeling a little embarrassed in my heart. Normally Venn was an innocent, playful kid, but he wasn't an ignorant kid. He often joked with me that she wanted me to quickly find a rich man so that the whole family would be less miserable, but I knew that if one day I really found a rich man and brought him in front of Venn, the first person who was not happy was him.

He was afraid that I would lose myself because of money and I would be hurt.

“Venn, you hang out all day, don’t you? Have you done your homework?” I asked him in a serious voice.

Venn knew I was not happy because every time I was angry with him, I often mentioned his studies. My stepmother had only one child, Venn. She was very concerned about his studies and often forced him to study a lot. At that time, Venn often asked me to help him with his homework. When he wanted to go out, I would help him find an excuse.

If Venn made me angry then he had to take care of himself, I wouldn’t help him.

Venn embarrassedly scratched his head and said, "No, I was just joking..."

"Go back and do your homework." I yelled at him, "You know, if Mom knows that, no one can save you."

"I know, I'm going back now." Venn pouted, annoyed but he had to obey.

Then he immediately ran away.

I shook my head, smiling helplessly. However, that smile quickly faded. Tonight I had to find a reasonable reason to explain to Venn why I was going to move out. But now, I still hadn't found any reason.

It was only a few steps from the alley to my house, but it took me half an hour. When I got home, the two business cards in my hand had already been crumpled.

Suddenly, I found a way, I quickly flattened two business cards and rushed into my room.

Seeing my shadow run past, Venn said in surprise, "Why have you only come home now, are you going to other places?"

I heard him ask but didn't answer. I just rushed into the room, slamming the door. Looking at the crumpled words on the business card, I panicked a bit, but in the end I was determined to dial the number and press the call button.

A deep, warm voice came from the other end of the line, "Hello, Matthew speaking."

"Hello, I'm Laura." I said hesitantly.

“Hi, Laura, is something wrong, are you home yet?”

"I just got home, there's something I need your help with, Matthew." I carefully asked.

"Just say it." Matthew answered slowly. I hear the keyboard sound coming from the other end of the line, maybe he was working while answering my phone.

“Can I ask you to pretend to be my boyfriend?” I said, a little afraid he would disagree.

According to the contract, Matthew paid me to be his wife, and he had no obligations to me other than to support me. Pretending to be my boyfriend was not his business, He didn’t have to do that.

"Your boyfriend?" Matthew asked again with surprise evident in his voice, accompanied by a laugh, "Don't you want your family to know you're getting married?"

I didn't know if he would accept or decline my request. The truth was that no girl wanted to let her family know that she accepted to marry someone she had only met for a month because of money.

"Can you help me? My brother is still young, I don't want him to know about the marriage contract." I carefully explained.

"We will marry quickly, it's not bad to try being lovers first." Matthew replied.

I let out a sigh of relief, thank God, he finally agreed to pretend to be my boyfriend.

"Thank you very much, Matthew." I don't know what else to say other than thank you.

"No need to thank me, just prepare everything in advance, I'll come pick you up tomorrow." Matthew said while he was still typing.

“I have one more request, I wonder if you will accept it?” I spoke quickly before Matthew hung up.

"What do you want?" He asked.

“Can you drive a normal car to pick me up tomorrow?” I carefully made my request.

"Why?" Matthew asked.

In his mind, he thought what was good should be shown to everyone to make them admire. He didn’t know why I had to cover it up? 

Of course he didn't understand my situation and my thoughts. To a poor person like me, it was very lucky to date a guy with a stable job. If I bring home a billionaire, I would definitely be scrutinized and speculated by others, especially my stepmother and My brother. 

I didn’t care much about my stepmother, even if she had doubts, she didn't have energy to care about me. My brother was different, as long as he doubted it, he would surely find out the truth.

"If my family members know that you are a billionaire, they will surely be scared." I answered.

"Okay, I'll do as you say." He agreed.

"Thank you!"

"If there's nothing else, I'll hang up?" Matthew said nonchalantly.

“Bye!”He and I almost spoke at the same time.

I heard him chuckle then I smiled.

I put my phone in my pocket and plopped down on my comfy bed. I let out a sigh of relief. Everything seemed to have been resolved satisfactorily. A lot of my friends who had boyfriends had moved in with him, so my brother won't be too suspicious.

Until everything had already settled down, I would tell him everything. I hoped he would understand my suffering.