Chapter 33

33 Falling in Love Again

“You may not believe it, but many have found true love or something or the sort and have gotten married. Some even got married even before the contract expired. I was there at their wedding, and I cried of joy...” Justin said as he pretended to wipe tears away from his eyes.

“Really?” I asked dubiously.

“Who knows maybe you’ll end up falling in love again...” Justin said wistfully.

Falling in love...what kind of sick joke is that?

“Love? What is that...exactly?” I whispered as if I was talking to myself.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

I thought I was in love more than once before in my life but was I really in love? Even if that was love, does it even matter?

If this is where love would lead me then, I’d prefer not to know or feel it at all.

Before I knew it, I had started laughing.

“Haha...I don’t believe in love...” I said while laughing.

.....

“Well, you don’t look very convinced at all. You might not realize this, and I didn’t want to say this to you like this but...there’s not a lot of jobs out there that’s going to make you 700 million dollars. Most people live and die without even seeing that amount. I’ll probably be one of them, seriously,” Justin said as he glared at me from across the coffee table.

I knew what he meant. Even in my messed-up state, I realized that I didn’t have a lot of options. The only way to make that much money is to firstly associate myself with people who had that much money in the first place. I rolled my eyes at the absurdity of my reality.

“I’ll do it,” I said like it was no big deal.

I had made up my mind just like that.

“Really?” Justin exclaimed in disbelief.

“Yeah. I don’t have a choice. If you can find filthy rich guys that will have me, then...let’s do it,” I said with renewed motivation.

“First billionaire coming right up, babe!” Justin cried out in his high-pitch excited voice.

As we clinked champagne glasses filled with cheap wine later that night to celebrate our renewed friendship and future partnership, the semi-official start of my life as a contract wife began.

...

Despite the enthusiasm and excitement that accompanied my agreement to work at Justin’s contract wife agency, I didn’t really know what I needed to do or what was expected of me. Based on Justin’s encouragement, I’ve been spending the past few days just chilling and adjusting to a normal down-to-earth life.

“You seem to be in a better mood...” Justin said observantly.

“Really? How so?” I asked before smiling at little at him.

He was right. I was beginning to come to terms with my new reality now. Embracing the change with fully opened arms because I didn’t have any other choice.

“You’ve been humming that same melody again,” Justin replied.

“Really? I’ve been humming?” I asked, cluelessly.

“You don’t even realize it? If I remember correctly, you were always humming it back in university too,” Justin recalled.

“I don’t remember. Maybe I’m just doing it unconsciously. But you’re right, I’m feeling slightly better about everything,” I responded.

“I remember asking you about it before and you said that you didn’t remember where the melody came from,” Justin said lightly.

“Maybe it’s just something that I heard, and it sort of stuck?” I said speculatively.

“Anyways, ignore me and my randomness, it’s good that you’re feeling better,” he said as he waved his hand to dismiss the whole thing.

“So, what am I supposed to do in the meantime?” I asked.

The countdown for the first two weeks starts today. I was extremely curious to see if Justin could find clients for me.

“Just relax and spend some time enjoying normal activities in life. Don’t stress. I want you to be fit and ready for when the real job starts,” Justin said as he grinned at me.

“Enjoy normal activities...like what? Going to the spa? Go Shopping? Get my nails done? All of that requires money...something that I don’t have,” I said as I crossed my arms over my chest.

I never truly understood that being broke could be such a pain. Maybe that was because I’ve never been broke before, at least, not since I got old enough to use money.

“No. Those are not normal activities. You should go to the supermarket and the park. Then take a night stroll along the street where people hang out. Get out of that socialite lifestyle and just relax...” Justin explained before beaming a smile at me.

“I’ll try...” I said softly.

“I have to go to the office. You go out and relax and I’ll meet you back here for dinner,” Justin said with a tired sigh.

“You have a cook?” I asked excitedly.

Since we’re eating in then that means that someone is cooking for us, right?

“No, I don’t. We’re ordering in...” Justin replied before rolling his eyes at me.

“Oh...” I replied.

“Good luck adjusting to the real world, princess. See you later,” Justin said as he headed out the door.

Now that he was gone, it was time for me to get dressed and go out to live a ‘normal life’. Sitting here and worrying isn’t going to turn things around for me. So first, I’m going to do exactly as Justin suggested, I’m going to go to the supermarket at a nearby mall.

Actually, there was something that I needed to do before that. I picked up my phone and started dialing a number.

“Hi...I’m looking to sell a bag. Are you guys open for today?” I said once the line connected.

...

After heading out of the house, the first place that I dropped by was one of the most well-known branded fashion traders. I didn’t have anything left and I was very low on cash. My credit cards didn’t work anymore but I still had the bag that I was using that fateful day. Thankfully, that bag wasn’t confiscated too.

“Is this the best you can do?” I asked as I stared down at the number on the calculator.

The young lady smiled tightly at me as she turned the calculator around and started typing in another number. I knew that the bag was worth much more than she had just offered, and I knew that she knew that as well. I’m desperate for money so I wasn’t look for a fair price but something a little more decent would be good.

–To be continued...