Fired and Evicted
“Miss Adaobi, your services are no longer required. Collect your things and leave immediately.”
The words sliced through the bustling office like a blade.
Adaobi blinked at the HR manager, her fingers tightening around the files in her hands. Leave? Her lips parted, but no sound came out.
“I...I don’t understand,” she stammered, her voice thin. “The project delay wasn’t my fault. I submitted everything on time. You can check”
The manager snapped the folder shut. “It’s not up for discussion. The CEO has already approved your dismissal.”
The CEO.
That untouchable figure she’d only ever heard of, never seen. The man whose signature had just ripped her life apart.
Adaobi’s chest constricted as she packed her few belongings into a box. Her colleagues avoided her eyes, some whispering, others smirking. The humiliation stung more than the unemployment itself.
Minutes later, she stood outside the gleaming glass building with the box in her arms. Cars whizzed past, horns blaring, but the world felt muted, heavy.
She had no job. No money. And her younger brother lay in the hospital, waiting for medicine she couldn’t afford.
Her phone buzzed. She fumbled to answer, praying for good news.
It was her landlord.
“You’re three months late on rent. Get out today, Adaobi. I won’t wait any longer.”
Her knees nearly gave way. “Please, just a week”
Click. The line went dead.
By evening, Adaobi was dragging her suitcase down the street, her box of office belongings digging into her side. The streetlights blurred as hot tears filled her eyes.
I’ve lost everything in a single day.
So when she collided with something hard, she barely reacted, until a cold, commanding voice snapped above her.
“Watch where you’re going.”
She looked up.
A man stood before her, tall and broad-shouldered, his tailored suit perfectly molded to his frame. The city lights glinted off his sharp features, hawk-like eyes, a straight nose, lips pressed in a firm line. He radiated wealth and danger in equal measure.
“I..I’m sorry,” Adaobi whispered, stepping back.
But his gaze lingered on her, narrowing as though he saw through her very soul. For a breathless moment, the world around them ceased to exist.
Then, in a voice calm yet absolute, he said:
“Marry me.”
Adaobi froze. “…What?”
“Marry me for one year. No love. No feelings. Just a deal.”
Her blood turned to ice. This stranger, this arrogant man, had just shattered her reality with six impossible words.
