Paid To Love

Episode 18

Paid To Love EPISODE 18

Henry's POV

Her entire family was dead? They all just her? How tragic. No wonder she had it so rough. How long had she been living on her own income? And her mother had some illness? She probably had to pay her mother's hospital bills even after she passed. That must be why she hadn't gone to college straight out of high school. There was no way she could save any money if she was handling everything alone.

She didn't have anyone to rely on.

"Henry, you're thinking about how tragic my life must be right?" she chided me. "I see that look on your face."

"How can you say all this so casually?" I managed to get out, my thoughts whirling in my head.

"It happened a while ago and I already got the hint life's not on my side, so what can i really do about it?" she responded with a dry laugh. "It's honestly not that bad, so don't overthink it."

I had to look away from her; afraid the sympathy I was feeling might show on my face. I'd known something had to be going on— no one would willingly live in that apartment she rented— but it was worse than I'd imagined. Her only family last family her brother just got shot, how must she be holding it together?

My family was distorted, but at least we had money. Even if my father died and everyone left me, I could live comfortably. Yet, here she was, with no one to support her but herself. And as far as I was aware, you couldn't make too much money working the jobs she worked.

And yet I'd criticized the place she lived, the car she drove, the clothes she wore. How she styled her hair. I felt the world slow as the realization crashed down on me. Just how badly had I treated Victoria? I had thought I'd understood, but I really hadn't until now.

My cousin's last words to me suddenly echoed in my head. You'll never understand just how hard life can be, Henry.

"Um, sorry, maybe I shouldn't have told you that. You probably have to watch who you interact with," Victoria began again, sounding self-conscious. "I totally understand if you want to find someone else to help you out, though."

"I don't want that," I said immediately and without thinking. I turned back to her, catching her gaze.

She blinked at me, her mouth open. "O-oh, okay."

My body suddenly felt hot and I pulled at my collar, trying to get some air. What was she insinuating? That I would think she was repulsive after telling me that? Did I come off like that to her? Was it because of all the rude remarks I'd been making? It had to be. How could I have been so cruel? How could I have not realized? "Victoria, tell me, how shallow do you think I am?"

"I don't really think you're—"

"It doesn't matter to me where you live or what your family background is," I said, clenching and unclenching my fists. "Please don't think what you just told me would affect how I think about you. It makes me feel bad. I understand why you could think that, though. I've been rubbing such a lavish life in your face. I didn't even realize it."

She shrunk back a little, her breathing increasing. "It's okay, Henry."

I brought my hands up to my forehead. "You've been doing a favour for me and I've been treating you like a rich brat would treat a poor woman. I owe you so much more respect than that."

"Henry, I didn't tell you that to get anything from you," she said and I could see her hands shaking a little.

Was I scaring her? That's not what I wanted. I felt so guilty. I moved toward her, which must've startled her because she jolted backward. A small gasp escaped her mouth as she lost her footing, forgetting that the living area sat higher than the rest of the floor. I reached out immediately, managing to snag her by the arm and pull her back into me so she wouldn't fall.

"Thanks," she breathed and I could feel her heart stuttering in her chest. She tried to pull away, but I held her firm. "Henry?"

"I'm sorry, I'm disgusted with myself right now."

Victoria breathed out a slow breath and after a moment I felt her tiny arms wrap around my shoulders. "Don't worry about it, Henry."

"I've been awful to you."

"It's fine, so stop. You're making me feel bad for telling you. Didn't I say not to pity me?" she argued.

I pulled away from her a bit. "I'm not. I just truly feel bad for the way I've treated you."

"As long as you know what you've done wrong, it's fine. Don't beat yourself up about it. I'm a tough girl, I can handle it," she replied cheekily, giving me a tiny smirk.

My heart skipped a beat and pushed away from het, suddenly wary of just how fast my heart was going. Had she felt it? What was I doing? I needed to calm down. Victoria shouldn't be the one soothing me in this situation. It was supposed to be the other way around. I had to make this less awkward.

"I'll help you with dinner, so let's get started," she insisted, breaking out of my arms, and stealing my plan away from me. "You said you find it relaxing, so let's do that. We both need to relax, I think."

"Let's do that," I agreed quickly.

"Um, thank you though, Henry."

"For what?"

She poked her head into my field of vision and gave me a bright smile. The first smile from her I truly believed. "For caring."

I knew it was coming. I couldn't stop it. I couldn't hide it. All I could do was stand there stock still as a blush engulfed my cheeks.

Hopefully she didn’t notice it much. We went to the kitchen to make dinner, we actually had a lot of fun while preparing dinner. I felt pleaser as i made up for the horrible date we had last time.

Victoria’s POV

As we left his house, I caught myself glancing back at the room he'd scolded me for almost entering earlier. Seeing how it was his cousin’s room, I get that he didn't want me going in there. But what really happened to his cousin and why was he living here with Henry? Why would Henry still leave his room set up if he no longer lived here? Maybe his family was just as messed up as mine.

Henry held the door open for me and we headed for his fancy BMW. I turned the radio on as soon as the car started, enjoying the sound of Justin Beiber's voice. Surprisingly, Henry didn't start talking immediately. Even when we were halfway to my house he hadn't spoken. I really began to think he was taking what I said way too seriously.

"So what's the next step of your plan?" I asked, deciding to break the silence.

"Of what?"

"Tricking your dad," I clarified.

Henry drummed his fingers on his steering wheel. "Hmm. I do believe she'll be coming to talk to me tomorrow at work, so I can really pretend I'm falling for you hard."

I nodded. I guess that would be the next step. "What are you going to say? You should say that I've got the best personality in the world and I'm as cute as a button."

"I wouldn't be pretending if I said that," he responded and I caught my breath. He really thought that about me? He seemed to realize what he said, too, because he quickly coughed. "Well, I mean, I've seen girls cuter than you."

"Wha—hey!" I snapped.

"I will say something along the lines of that though," he continued, ignoring my indignant huff of air.

I crossed my arms. "I bet she won't believe you."

"Why do you think that?"

"No one could fall for you with your attitude," I remarked offhandedly.

Henry whipped his head toward me. "What? I have a very charming, tactful personality! I've closed many deals and solved many issues with my personality."

"I can't believe you just described yourself as tactful."

"Do you even know what that means?"

"Just because I'm poor doesn't mean I'm illiterate."

"That was not what I was insinuating at all—"

"What does insinuate mean? I can't help not understanding, I'm just a poor girl. Nobody loves me. I’m such a poor girl, from a poor family, spare me all these big words that I'm too dumb to understand!" I sang, putting my hand to my heart.

"Victoria," he said, sounding exasperated and annoyed. "You know I didn't mean it like that. And why did you just start singing?"

I squinted my eyes at him. "Those were perfect lyrics."

"What? That sounded horrible"

I puffed a bit then tuned his radio to another channel. They were playing one of my favourites. Immediately started singing loudly.

"Why are you so loud ?" He said.

"What, this is a classic"

“What is?”

“Wait you don’t know this song?” i asked feeling really surprised.

“Not Really” he replied.

I put a hand to my forehead. "And I thought I've had a rough life... no wonder your radio is never on."

"I'm not a fan of music," Henry defended himself, coming to a stop at a red light. "What's your street address again?"

I told him while pulling out my phone to show him one of the greatest songs in musical history. "I can't believe you don't know it."

"Music distracts me."

"I really think we were destined to meet Henry," I told him solemnly. "You obviously need a positive influence in your life and that influence is me."

He turned to me with the most apprehensive expression on his face. "I'm starting to feel our age difference. When you get older you don't have much time for—"

"This is exactly why i thought you were thirty," I interjected. "Who really grows up, anyway?"

The light changed to green and he hit the gas just as I figured out how to sync my phone to his car. Making sure the volume was a notch louder than he was comfortable with, I began playing the song. Henry's face was expressionless for the intro to the song. I bit my tongue to keep from singing so he could just enjoy it.

"All i wanna say is that they don’t really care about us...," I screamed, unable to resist any longer.

"That's disturbing," Henry commented.

I turned down the volume and scowled. "Just be quiet and enjoy it."

Henry nodded and I turned the volume back up. As we were pulling onto my street, the song was ending, and I didn't get out of the car until the last note finished. I pushed on the overhead light so that I could see Henry's reaction. "Amazing, right?"

His face still held that unsure look. "It's... different."

"But amazing?"

"I liked your singing," he said.

I blushed immediately. "That wasn't— why were you listening to me sing! You missed the point."

"But—"

"No buts! I'm leaving! Buy that song and listen to it until you know the lyrics by heart," I said quickly, reaching for the door. He liked my singing? I sounded like a dying whale. I'd gotten too into the song. How embarrassing.

"Victoria," Henry responded, chuckling a bit.

I turned to give him a dirty look, but froze when I caught sight of light in my room in my apartment. "Wait..."

"What?"

I felt dread run through my chest. "I didn't leave my light on when I left."

Henry looked up at my apartment too. "Are you sure?"