Time limit to Love

You are bluffing.” He can’t be serious right now. “ I’m not. Get married within a year, and the company will be yours completely, “Dad says calmly. His calmness is pissing me off. “ What if I don’t get married?”. I say trying to calm myself down but it is not working. “Then you lose the Company and all rights to it,” he says, his hands crossed on the table. “Tell me you are joking,” I shouted. “James, you know I do not joke. When I’m gone, no one is going to take you seriously if you don’t have a woman by your side. You are twenty-seven and not married. I already proposed to your mother at that age.” He stated bluntly, looking me in my eyes from across the table. “What if I’m interested in men?” I asked with a raised eyebrow and smirk. I know this is not the time to be joking but I can’t take this stupid request seriously. “We both know that’s not true, get married in a year or lose the company. Your choice.” He says while standing up and leaving the room. The door slammed. “Marry or leave the company”, the words echoed in my head, what a choice. That’s what it came down to. Not the years I’d put into this company, not my sacrifice or achievements. Just … marry or lose it all. I paced the room, hands going through my hair, restraining myself from punching something. How could he do this?. My phone buzzed. A message appeared on the screen: “Just got off the phone with Dad. What happened?” My sister, Anita. Of course, he called her. I stared at the text for a while, then hit “Call”. “You won’t believe what happened, “ I said as soon as she picked up. “Try me”. She replied. “He gave me an ultimatum to marry within a year or I would lose the company”. Silence, then laughter. “What’s so funny about this”. “ So you are telling me that if you don’t find a wife in a year, you lose the company?”. She asked in between laughing. “You heard me”. I say starting to get pissed off. “He is out of his mind”. I muttered. “Damn, this is so funny, so who gets the company? Because I am not interested in it at all.”Ok, she is getting on my nerves now. “Who gets the company? The company is going nowhere.” I said. “So you are getting married?”. She asked, sounding surprised. “I need a favor”. “What type of favor?” She said, cautious now. “Find me a wife”. “Wait, what?”. She yelled from the other side of the phone. “Yes, a real wife… Someone I can stand, even if it’s just a little bit.” I said, adding the last part because I can’t stand any of her friends. “Like an arranged marriage?”. “No, Dad will figure out if it’s an arranged marriage. We need someone whom I will marry. I can’t believe I’m even saying this”. “You, not we. I don’t need someone, you need someone. Hold up, what do I get in return?”. “I’ll give you a position in the company. The one you’ve been wanting.” “I want a corner office”. I smiled despite everything. “Done. So deal?” “Then yeah. I’ll find you a wife. This is a new low for both of us James.” I woke up to the sound of a blender. Not birds chirping. A blender. I didn’t need to guess who was in my house. There was only one person who would break into my house at nine in the morning to use my blender. I walked into the kitchen, hair a mess- there she was, in my kitchen like she owned the place. Raiding my fridge like she paid for this apartment. “You need better groceries.” She said without looking up, holding a jar of almost butter like it had offended her. “Maybe you need more staff around here, not only on weekends, don’t you think?” “You know,” I said, “ there’s something called knocking, ever heard of it?”. “You gave me a spare key. That’s you giving me an invitation to be here whenever”. She said unfazed. “That key was for emergencies.” I dropped into a chair. “Not for breaking into making toasts and smoothies”. “It’s not like you have another edible thing in your fridge for me to eat”. She slid a folder across the counter toward me. “Finding you a wife is an emergency.” She added. I blinked at her, then at the folder lying on the counter. “You are kidding, did you have this folder just lying around?”. “Nope”. She pours the chunky contents from the blender into a cup. “You wanted a wife, I’m doing just that.” “How long have you been here?” I rubbed my face. “Since seven. You sleep like you are dead”. “This is a desperate idea” “Well, desperation works wonders on you. I have never seen you ask for help. It was touching.” I shot her a look. She smiled, totally immune. “Besides,” she added, “I wasn’t going to let you do this alone, if you are looking for a wife, I’m going to do it properly for you.” “What’s in the folder?”. I opened the folder. “The first girl’s name is Emily. She is free tonight and she is surprisingly so excited”. She added. “Try not to scare her off.” “I don’t scare people.” “You do.” “Well, good,” I say, popping a blueberry into my mouth. “What is this Elizabeth girl like?” I added. “Emily, her name is Emily.” “Yeah yeah, what is she like?”. “Her dad owns a branch of hotels across several states, and she graduated from Stanford-“ “What did she study at Stanford?” I interrupted. “Maybe if you didn’t interrupt me, you would know.” She said while rolling her eyes. “I think International business.” “So, she’s smart?.” “Uhm, why don’t you find out for yourself?” “Why can’t you tell me?”