Paid To Love

Episode 29

Paid To Love EPISODE 29

Victoria’s POV

He waved me off, as if chasing me like a little child.

Choosing to ignore that even if it was a bit insulting.

“Are you talking to your father?”

“Gerald, I will fire you if you don’t pass the phone to him,” he sounded pissed.

Who was this Gerald? More importantly, could it be my brother? How was Gerald alive? And what was he doing, working for Henry?

“Who are you talking to Henry?” I grabbed his phone from behind me.

“Why did you snatch my phone, give it back now.” He tries to snatch it back but i swiftly move my hand behind me.

“No, Who where you talking to and what did you want to tell your dad ? .”

“Victoria, just hand it over... I can’t do this anymore.”

“I’m sorry Henry, I over reacted a bit there and I shouldn’t have taken out by frustrations about your father out on you. Hell, I shouldn’t have let him affect me in the first place. Just don’t ruin it all by telling your dad.

He let out a sigh and shakes his head. “You shouldn’t be the one apologizing here.”

I pursed my lips as I looked back up at him. “Yes, I should. I over reacted and you were so nice with your words. You’ve done a lot to help me these past few days and I just screwed it up. I’m a big time screw up. My voice cracking and almost disappearing.

“You’re not a screw up Victoria, you’ve managed to survive all these years with zero help from family and you still took care of yourself. I wouldn’t have survived without money or family.”

I suddenly remembered my brother. It could possibly be my brother Gerard, who has he talking to? Was it just someone else with the name Gerard? Anyway I didn’t know how to ask. I didn’t want to tell Henry anymore than he had already heard.

“Henry..”

“Relax, I know he told you something, James told me. ”

“Let’s just drop it, I’m done with that. It happened already.”

“How dare he, the nerve of him to...”

“Just drop it Henry, lets just go and not drag this any further than it should go. ”

“Uhhhh” He screamed furiously.

“ Fine, Just this time but I still need to talk to him so hand the phone over.”

I gave him a poker face. “No, why should I.”

“Victoria. He needs to get a piece of my mind and I don’t think I would feel right till I set things straight. ”

“And I told you it's ok, there’s no need”

“No, you don’t get it, he always does this, he feels like he can do anything he feels like and say anything he feels like to anyone, especially people I care about. “ His voice rising fast and falling just as quickly.

Did he just say he cares about me?

“He needs to know that he can’t keep doing this to me. Not anymore, I won’t stand for this anymore. He called you worthless? Who gave him the right to decide who’s worthy of me. And if he can’t see how much of a beautiful and compassionate person you are then all the money he has is just worthless.”

First he admitted he cared about me and now he just called me beautiful and compassionate. I let out a big blush, but I couldn’t help it, Henry was actually being sweet. I remembered that I had to respond.

“Look you shouldn’t spoil everything we’ve done so far and you know we just started. Just let us finish this.

“No Victoria, I’m cancelling the contract I can’t let you get insulted by him again. You don’t deserve the stick you get from him.”

How do I tell him that I really want this, to prove his dad wrong. And to prove to myself that I can do this too.

“Henry, please don’t cancel the contract, we can still do this. I want to show you that I can do this”

. “Why? Because of me, you really sure you wanna show me or is it because you want to show my Dad that you’re not worthless ? ”

“Does it really matter though?”

“Yes it does, You shouldn’t have to prove anything to anyone Victoria”

“No, I have to do this Henry, It’s not just about him. Just let me do this Henry”

“But what if he insults you again?”

“I’m not going to let it happen again. I would be more prepared now. We’ve gone shopping and we’re about to do a total transformation for me so next time your father sees me I’ll make sure there’s nothing for him to pick at me about.”

He pulled a hand through his hair, sighing. “Exactly Victoria, I don’t want you changing yourself just so you can pretend to be someone you’re not”

“Henry, It’s just a role I have to play, just picture what we’re doing as a movie and you write the slip while I play the role. It’s part of the contract.”

“Well that’s a different way to look at it but—”

“Plus I knew what I’d be getting into when I agreed to this. And i accepted all terms and the consequences of this too.” Trying to convince him at all cost.

“We didn’t know he’ll be trying to degrade you then, if not I wouldn’t have asked you to play this role. That’s why I feel guilty, I didn’t brace you for this” he replied

“Yes but I'm more prepared for this now. “

“Why are you pushing for this so much? We should just end the contract right now”

“I’m the one who got degraded by your dad, not you and now I have decided that I don’t want to end the contract. ” I yelled really loudly, forgetting people were still around. A few of them stopped and stared making me embarrassed that I screamed in the first place. I moved back a bit and took some deep breaths.

“Relax Victoria, I just want to know why you’re so adamant?”

“You want to know why?” I intensified the look i gave him and we were glaring into each other’s eyes for a few seconds.

“Is it the money?”

“No, although it was good money,” I said immediately. I was sure it wasn’t the money but I just didn’t have any credible reason to do this, I knew why I didn’t want Henry to cancel the contract but I couldn’t think of telling him. I could barely tell myself that.

“Then why?”

What other reason could I give him? Should I tell him the real reason why I wanted to continue it? Was it solely because I was too stubborn to let his father win? Although I had something to prove but that wasn’t the real reason. Maybe it was more about discovering who that Gerard might be. But then again It could be any random guy named Gerard. I couldn’t play this game of self denial anymore. I had to admit it, I had to admit that I didn’t want to let Henry go. I know it had only been a short time but I already cared a lot about Henry, especially because of how lonely he seemed.

“I can’t say”

“You can’t say what, Victoria? Just give me one reason why you want to help me so much”

“I made a promise to you to help you and I have to make sure I do that,” I lied.

“I said I’d help you and I will, your father cannot stop me from keeping my word. Let’s just forget this happened and go back to how we were before. We’re getting to be pretty good friends, aren’t we? I kind of want to show it of to your father’s face.”

I smiled trying to end the whole drama. I hoped he’ll just take the hint and drop it so we can go inside and I can find my shoes.

His facial expression suggested he was ok with my answer but he was still looking at me like something made him ponder. Thank goodness I didn’t tell him that I didn’t want to lose him. Like I would have never recovered from that, what was I even thinking? I need to remove such thoughts from my mind. I didn’t want him thinking that I had feelings for him. We had an agreement that we couldn’t have feelings for each other. And I’m sure didn’t have feelings for him. It was Henry. We were just friends. I just didn’t want him to think so either. He was still silent while pondering.

“So you won’t be cancelling our contract?”

He nodded.

I finally felt relieved.

“Thanks, now I wanna apologise, I kinda let it get out of hand just because I wanted you to give me a compliment. It’s very embarrassing.”

“Wait, all this for a simple compliment?”

Having him put it that way made me cringe. “Yeah, as much as I’m working for you I’m still a woman.”

“Yeah, I'll try to remember that.”

“Thanks”

“Anyway there will be a few changes to our agreement. From now on there’s no interaction between you and my father unless I am present.”

I shrugged. “That’s fine with me. I mean, I would prefer to never see him again period.”

“Go back inside and get your shoes. I don’t want your face appearing on the news for being a mad person in a popular mall .”

I would give an eight out of ten for trying to be funny.

“You’re coming with me”

“In a minute.”