My Billion Valentine

Tessa Greene Love has always been a complicated thing for me. From the moment I learned the word ‘romance’, I haven’t been able to stop myself from chasing the impossible nor from setting incredibly high standards that most men can’t even understand to begin with. Quite the contrary, I would be the first to tell people; ‘Take it easy, nobody’s perfect.’ Yeah, I’m a complete hypocrite. It’s one of the few things I keep hidden from everyone around me. If any of these facts came out, my reputation would be tarnished and my business would tank. Now let me explain; I’m not just a social media star, I am what they call ‘Goddess of Love’. What I do, in a nutshell, is to give people relationship advice, tips and tricks to increase their odds in terms of attracting their crush and so on. ‘Tessa Greene, Goddess of Love.’ That’s a great title to hold, isn’t it? Not to sound conceited, and it’s not even myself who came up with that, it was my very first customer. I forgot her name, but I’m thankful for her idea. So far in my life, as a twenty-two-year-old psychology student, I’ve only dated once and even that ended terribly. Thankfully, nobody knew about it except for myself and my mother. With her being kept in an asylum for the past ten years, my history has remained pristine. As I stare into my reflection in the mirror, I can’t help but to feel somewhat irritated. I feel like a complete scam. The only reason I’m good at what I do is thanks to the unhealthy number of rom-coms that I’ve watched and the books that I’ve read. Well, I also need to do something with my eye bags, or I might actually start to look like a panda soon. Fixing my morning hair, I notice my dye is starting to wear off and my natural black hair is starting to show again. ‘I’m starting to look like her again..’ I thought to myself. I take a deep breath and put on my boxers. Well, in my defense, boys clothes are very comfortable. And they have pockets. I heave a long sigh as I sit at my desk, a clutter of books swarm around my computer. I can’t help but to smile a little as I open up my email, a flood of new requests from potential customers with all of their own not-so-unique problems seeking advice from little ol’ me. ‘Hi! My name is Ashley, so my boyfriend has been acting a little off for some time.’ I grin as I read one of the emails. Girls really don’t beat around the bush when it comes to these. I stretch my body and arms and then continue to read. See, these people always come in the same colors, same problems, same thoughts and concerns. Like this girl, for example, it’s clear from how she describes her situation that her boyfriend is cheating. The lack of communication, the lack of affection and his sudden act of secrecy. Men are simple creatures. They function simply with how they perceive themselves and the world around them. Men don’t dilly-dally, most of them are at least, they do what they want exactly how they want it. How they act is a mirror of how they feel and how they perceive you. If a man truly wants it to happen, it’ll happen. He’ll do his best to make it happen. ‘Dear, Ashley. Firstly, I would like to thank you for trusting my service to help ease your concerns regarding your situation.’ I can’t help but feel proud over myself as I type down my response. What started as innocent advice that I gave to my classmates has now turned into a full-blown business. My body shivers a little; This January hasn’t been so kind to me with its temperature. Maybe I should close the window, but then again, I like the smell of fresh morning air to start off my day. A little bit of cold doesn’t bother me anyway. I hit send as soon as I finished with my response. I don’t need to check for typos since I’ve been responding the same way with the same tone and same structures since day one. Now one customer is done, unto the next one. “Oh?” I mumble to myself as I find a particularly different email. The sound of a mouse clicking then follows and sooner than a minute, my eyes go wide and my chest feels as if I’m being strangled by a python. “Late Night Show with Steven Morgan?! Holy s**t!” my mouth gape as I hold myself in disbelief. Little ol’ me is invited to be a guest on a literal talk show is a massive event. ‘We’d love to have you in our studio to guest on our special episode for Valentine's Day.’ And that’s when I realize, it’s only fifteen days from now. ‘To have you share your experience, your wisdom with regard to a loving relationship and to celebrate with us. Please contact us—‘ This is it… this is my big break. This is the moment when I’ll be able to grow my business even more. I can see the dollar signs in my head, dancing and twirling around. I can see myself under the spotlight and finally have everything I’ve always wanted in life. I can’t wait to leave this dingy house behind and upgrade myself and the first step is to guest this late night show. ‘Please bring your partner as we would also like to interview him.’ That’s when all my imaginations come crashing down. Sadly for this Goddess of Love… I haven’t been so lucky in finding my own love and worse, I’m completely and utterly single. ✰ ✰ ✰ “You should calm down, girl.” Justine shakes her head at me as she’s sipping on her latte. “It’s not the end of the world, you still have time to find one. Well, a little bit of time.” She’s sitting across from me at the coffee shop just outside the campus. It’s our frequent spot to hang out. Irritated. I heave a sigh as I lean back in my seat, filling up my lungs with the scents of coffee. The warmth of my black coffee gives me a sense of comfort, although my mind is still spiraling. I suppose it’s true what they all say: a path to success always comes in twists and turns and is often a burden. “Justine, I really don’t need people to know that I’m a frickin’ failure in my own love life.” The stress in my tone is very apparent for her to notice. With her change of facial expression, I can tell what she’s thinking. “And I can’t just get a man in less than two weeks.” “Maybe I can introduce you to some of my male friends?” “We both know you only have like three male friends and they’re all a part of your D&D group.” Justine snickers, her tone melodious and elegant. Her deep green eyes shine under the warm yellow lights as she’s gazing my way. “They’re not really your type, I know, but they’re good guys. You’ve met Jack.” I purse my lips and roll my eyes. “Jack is gay.” “Oh right.. Well, two left then. Hugh is a nice guy, a little bit of a horror maniac and he’s into classical music.” She pauses, closing her eyes as if to recollect some information from within her brain. “Calvin is also a decent man; He’s twenty-five and he likes to surf. He’s got a killer body.” Justine’s smile widens at her own idea, the way she’s beaming at me as if she had just proclaimed the most groundbreaking plan. I can’t help but to shake my head as I snort. “Justine… let’s not even.” I shut her down. My head feels heavy with this whole new problem I’m carrying, the fact that the only thing blocking me from stepping forward is finding a lover. It is a curse, maybe. With all the knowledge I have about love, romance, men and women, I tend to overthink and stress over my own opportunities. A few times, I was so close to dating a man until the slightest red flag got me fleeing for the hills. I know I should be doing what I preach, but it’s as if my mind and body refuse to do so. Everything has a cause, of course. There won’t be smoke without fire after all. My issues come from my previous and only relationship with Joshua. He was like the Joker, had so many faces that it was hard to pinpoint his mind. He would say something and do the opposite and yet he was always ready with pretty darn good reasons. I should’ve known that he was a little sociopathic. “Come on, Tessa. There’s gotta be someone or something. Look, here’s an idea: You can fake a relationship.” Justine pipes in with a grin on her face. That one beautiful grin. She’s got the kind of face that would make women question their sexuality. “Like, it’s a very common practice in Hollywood, right? It’s all just PR stunt.” “But I’m no celebrity and plus I can’t just pay a man to be my fake boyfriend. If people find out, I would be in deep trouble.” “Then sign a contract, make one. Look, the point is, this can be your big break and you might even be able to form a bigger platform for yourself.” What she’s saying is right in a sense but still very risky. It’s a huge gamble on my part but if it pays off, then I’ll be heading straight to stardom. “I’ll think about it, Justine.” My friend nods her head with a kind smile on her face, her eyes gazing at me softly. “What about Ben?” I whip my head and look at her face soon as she mentions that name. “You guys have been friends forever and last time I checked, he’s still single.” “Not Ben. He’s not gonna be able to face the crowd, that guy has a serious anxiety problems as is and just to imagine him sitting next to me in front of so many cameras? He would cry.” “Oh well…” Justine mumbles as a response, looking outside the glass onto the bustling street. “Anyways, my brother is coming to town.” I nod my head, feeling the rush of the caffeine as I drink up my coffee. “What about it?” I keep it short, it has been a bit of a touchy subject between us. Justine being a product of a broken family, her parents got divorced and she chose to live with her father while her older brother chose the mother. She didn’t like to talk about him, so to hear her mentioning it is a bit of a surprise. “It’s just… I’m not sure how we’ll be handling it, having him around.” Justine’s tone is somber and low, it’s unlike her to be acting this way. “Henry and I tried to reconnect last year, you know? But we’re just so different now… well, we’ve always been different.” “What do you mean?” I take her hand in mine, holding it gently. Her face turns to me with a soft smile on her angelic face. “No, it’s fine, it’s nothing.” She takes a deep breath and returns the smile, only this time it’s a little forced. “He’ll be staying in town for a while, said he needs some time away from his life in New York." I chuckle, letting go of her hand to lean back in my chair. “Sounds dramatic.” It’s clear that my response helps to lift a little stress off her mind. Her giggles fill the surrounding atmosphere. “He just broke up with his now ex-girlfriend. You know Olivia West? The actress.” My eyes go wide and I lean forward, mouth gaping. “No frickin’ way! Your brother dated that baddie?!” “Well apparently, according to him, she’s just a plain b***h. Her whole friendliness is fake, just a stunt to make the public adore her and yes, with how rich my brother is, he’s bound to date someone powerful or famous or… both.” Justine shrugs, as if this whole new information isn’t big at all. After being her friend for the last several years, I haven’t learned much about her family background other than her parents were divorced and his dad is a small business owner. I’ve heard about her brother quite a few times, but only in passing and none of them were anything important. I learned that her mother is a very influential woman with an empire of businesses, so to learn more of her brother is a new piece of puzzle I enjoy uncovering. In my defense, my own family is a mess. I don’t have a perfect nuclear family background and that’s why when others have something to say about their family, I find it interesting. “Oh! I have an idea.” Justine pipes with her usual wide grin. “You can try and talk to him, I mean come on, you’re good at handling relationship issues, it’s your whole persona and he’s rich, I can talk to him to pay you and maybe, just maybe, if he likes your service, he can use his connections to help you out.” I raise my brow. “You think some powerful people need the help of a matchmaker? Seriously? When they can afford therapists?” “They’re still people like everyone else with their own issues! Look, just give it a try, I’ll talk to him tonight and I’ll call you if he agrees, okay?” I simply nod my head and sip on my coffee. Either way, I’m still stuck with my own issue of finding my own man in less than two weeks before Valentine's.