CH 1: Ten Dollar?!

“1. Party A and B both agree to keep the truth about this relationship a secret from their family.

2.Party B agrees to attend every occasion that Party A wants and to act accordingly.

3.Party A is not allowed to be physically intimate with party B nor in public or private. Only light hugs and forehead kisses are allowed.

4.Party A is not allowed to interfere in Party B's professional life.

5.No Party is allowed to date or show any inappropriate behavior with opposite s*x, until the contract terminates.

6.The contract is valid for a span of a year, before that no party is allowed to break the contract. In doing so that party has to pay 50,000$ as penalty.

7.Party A and B now agree to be legally husband and wife.”

"I, Ryan Scott, agree to be your contracted husband." he offered his hand for a shake, with a challenging lift in his brows.

Ignoring his hand as well as the deadly glare, I replied " I also agree ".

"Not like this, Ms. Bell "he smirked.

"I, Rose Bell agree to be Mr.Scott's contracted wife "

The last four days have proven to be hell on earth for me. It looked like all my karma had betrayed me into his trap, and I was struck with no other option to rely on.

Guess what, it's going to be worse.

But before jumping into any conclusions about the future, let me give you the clear details of my past. Not my past, but the past that got me here.

It was May 27th, the sky was clear, and weather in California more promising than any of the communist members.

I grabbed my Identity Card and got out of my tidy yet untidy room. Bidding my farewell to bestie Jane, who had been with me since the beginning of college freshman year, I was about to take my leave. She was sitting on the couch streaming ‘To All the boys,’ on Netflix when I whispered in her ear "the food is prepared, in the refrigerator. Eat it after microwaving. I gotta go ".

She passed me an okay smile, still fixing her dirty gaze on Peter (who happens to be the lead), asked me to call her later. Taking my side bag, I rushed to get out of my two room apartment.

I had been the assistant director of the publication management department of my company, Zero publications (well they are quite popular and have published countless novels, magazines, blogs and other stuffs— not quite matching the name)

And after writing and editing articles and journals and reports for three years. Now, my department wanted me to take an interview, to be published in their upcoming magazine.

It was going to be my first interview and my target was one of the youngest and richest CEOs in The United States. I grabbed a taxi and started reviewing his profile.

Name - Ryan Scott

Age -28

Height - 185cm

Weight - 75 kg

Position - Chief Executive officer (CEO), Scott Mansions.

Interests - Sports, music, business, success, money

Relationship status - unknown

Net worth - 2.5 billion

Though I have read this profile like a thousand times, the nervousness made me repeat it a time more .I reviewed the questions to be asked and started preparing them, for like they were the bible verses that I needed to be through in the church.

As I reached the Scott Mansions, reception. I was taken to his office by one of his lady employees or to better say, his secretary,Mia.

She knocked the door and a second later, a voice raspy male baritone allowed our entry inside.

Inhaling a deep chunk of air, I pushed my legs inside, and the first thing that came to my mind was Holy Jesus, he is f*cking hot.

Well, not quite a professional response, the fact was true though.

He looked nothing like the youngest CEOs (I had an image of a young boyish looking face, holding on the authority, back packed with some intelligent family background and authority). But he looked quite mature, not by the looks but by the vibes, more to say the aura, that his expression was exhibiting.

He wore a navy blue coat over the white shirt and blue necktie covered the best part of his chest.

The shoulders were broad and legs hid behind the desk that felt like I had underestimated until he stretched them out to stand. They were long, extremely long, making me feel insufficient. His lips, (that felt smooth and maybe soft) lit into a professional smile, as he pushed a hand forward, while giving his intro (as if he even needed to do that.) Work, work I repeated in my mind to distract.

Being 28 myself and that too single, you couldn’t really blame me for my over flowing erotic hormonal response. That was perfectly natural, (at least that is what I believed), until I was going to work on them and molest a guy (that isn’t a high possibility until— I was drunk).

He took me to the couch, after we had enough of our handshake and introduction.

We both sat down facing each other with his legs crossed and hands intertwined over the knee.

God! He looked so hot.

I again tried to calm my expression, not letting him know what I thought. I turned my recorder on and began the interview by introducing myself.

By the time the interview came to its end, I had already known his future plans about the company. I had skipped all the unrelated and personal questions which the company wanted me to ask.

Though I was the most curious to know but, first; I know that I had no chance with him —nor I ever wanted to have one and, second; I don't want to peek into someone else's personal life, —that's the work of an entertainment reporter and that's the reason why, I’m forbidden from stalking a celebrity.

"Thanks for your time" I smiled and called the interview over.

As I stood up from my seat, a confused look spread across his face as if he wasn’t satisfied with the interview and made it very clear when he spoke, “I guess you forget something”.

I looked around and started to search for the thing I lost. My side bag was with me, my phone resides inside it and even the recorder I had in my hand.

Till now the interview was fine, his rough but tamed seducing voice still echoed in my ears. And I thanked God for a heaven on earth. But who knows the thing I consider to be heaven could turn into hell .

Being unable to find the forgotten thing, I turned towards him with a frown.

“Oh it’s not anything, it's just….that you haven't asked about my relationship status" he said,with a smirk that well said, that ‘I know I'm an attractive man and I know everyone especially you would be interested in knowing so.’

"No, it's okay the interview was only work related, it was not designed to interfere in someone's personal life, so I'm not interested in that " I replied while giving a simple business smile, "Then I shall take my leave"

With that I started to move towards the entrance when he stopped me in the middle. The karma was about to strike, and that too without a clear warning.

“How about having dinner tonight, Miss Bell?” he smiled, then added, “if you don’t mind.”

Though he looked good, but “I'm sorry, I have to work”

I don't believe in love and relationships. It's like a dream that I have already left behind. Besides life ain’t a fairy tale but reality—it's the thing that scares me the most.

So, I refused as politely as I could, hoping for him to understand, and that’s where I went wrong. Cause with all the respect I had conjucted to form a reply was shattered through with his next sentence.

“Then how about spending a night together?” he gave a sneaky smile.

“Sorry?” my eyebrows automatically went up, with the sudden shock.

Men they are always the same, s*x is all they want. Well, the hook up culture doesn’t really fit me quite well, but before I could refuse, his guts kicked in (I wish they would have hit his balls— but guess it missed).

“I'll pay, how about a thousand dollars” he was still sitting with a totally calm face. As if I'm only a toy to him and that's the worst.

“A thousand dollars?” I repeated in shock. Was I just insulted? I tried to control my anger.

“Oh, it's less, how about a ten thousand, or a hundred thousand?” His voice which earlier seemed to be sweet, turned into a devilish one and his still calm expression, made me disgust more.

I can't handle it anymore.

I took a deep breath “ten dollars?”

“Do you think your worth is only ten dollars?” his calm expression changed into amusement while his lips curled into a smirk.

“No, it's your worth!... I'll pay you ten dollars... to leave me”

***This work has been signed with NovelToon, and piracy such as reprinting without permission is strictly prohibited.***

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***