Nina couldn't sleep. It was already midnight but Andrew hadn't arrived yet. She was thinking that he was with another woman and got restless.
When she made a deal with him, she didn't expect he would agree. She knew he was disappointed that's why he left her untouched. She took a deep breath and picked up her phone. She started typing and sent a message to the girls.
'Anyone still awake?' Sent.
Beep. 'I am.' Peggy answered first, followed by Emily, Alora then Sophie.
'What is it?' Alora replied.
'Andrew is not yet here. Luke and the others arrived two hours earlier, right?' Sent.
'Yeah. Did you fight?' Peggy messaged.
'No. But I think he was mad at me because I made a deal with him.' Sent.
'What kind of deal?' Sophie asked.
Then she started telling them what happened earlier and her deal with Andrew.
'Why did you make that stupid deal in the first place? It's as if you are telling him that whoever falls in love first loses. Nina, what's bothering you?' It was Emily who reacted first.
'Nothing.' She simply answered.
'How about we go out tomorrow and let's talk about it in person? You might need some air because everything happened so fast.' Alora suggested.
They agreed to go out in the morning and have breakfast outside. She fell asleep waiting for Andrew but he never came.
"Tell us what's bothering you." Peggy started.
They went to a newly opened restaurant, Breakfast and Brew. After they ordered and waited for their food to arrive, the girls started asking her about her deal with Andrew.
She took a deep breath and pouted.
"I don't know, I suddenly felt afraid." She answered.
"From what? What are you afraid of?" Emily asked.
"I'm scared of my own feelings because I was beginning to like him. I don't know when it started but he was always kind to me. He didn't really treat me badly ever since I met him. Even when he was visiting the shop, he would always sit quietly at the same table and order food. After eating, he would stay for a while and leave. Our fight started when he told me about his father's plan and started offering us a huge amount of money so we could sell the shop to them." She answered in a worried tone.
"Nina, did you ever think why Andrew needed to do that? I mean he's an heir to the Cross Empire. There are different kinds of fathers. I think Andrew's father was the kind who would need his son to do a job for him before he would give everything to him. In short, Andrew needed to prove something to his father so he thought he didn't have a choice." Alora explained.
She thought of that but she couldn't accept the fact that he would just accept everything his father said. Afterall, when he told her about his father's plan on marrying him off to a girl he chose for him, Andrew made her his contract bride. So definitely, Andrew has a choice from the beginning.
"You haven't answered the question. Why did you make that deal? You said you were afraid because you started to like him but what's the connection between your deal and with you liking him?" Peggy was beginning to get impatient.
She took a deep breath again before answering.
"I wanted to have a reason not to fall in love with him." She answered.
The girls glanced at each other before turning their eyes on her.
"You're saying you made that deal because you don't want to fall in love with Andrew? Are you stupid? You don't need a reason to fall in love with someone, you will just feel it. You can't stop your heart from beating for someone." Emily grunted.
"Exactly! But you could have a reason not to fall from someone, right? I mean, if I will always think of our deal then maybe I won't fall in love with him. I want to win." She insisted.
"Nina, can you tell us everything that you are thinking? I don't understand the reason why you don't like to fall in love. It's a good feeling. And besides, you will be married to Andrew, it would be great if you marry someone you love." Sophie commented.
She looked at them seriously. Alora and Sophie were in love with their fiance, Peggy was now starting to be on good terms with her current boyfriend, Jayden. Emily was the only single in the group but she definitely wanted to marry for love.
"It's not that I don't want to fall in love with him in the future. But I wanted him to fall in love with me first. What if I loved him but he didn't feel anything for me? I don't want to have my heart broken. I wanted to make sure that he's head over heels in love with me before I give him my heart." She finally said it.
"Nina, getting your heart broken is a part of falling in love. You can't expect that you will always feel happy when you love each other. You will have issues on the way and you won't always walk in a flower bed in your journey to love. Sometimes you will need to walk in a thorny path before you actually find happiness. And when you do, you will learn how to fight for it and you would never allow someone to get in between you and the person you love." Alora said.
She didn't answer and kept quiet. She knows she was being a coward and her friends have a point. But she was not yet ready to get hurt. She wasn't ready to cry for a man like Andrew. Besides, she won't take back what she already offered him. The deal will still continue and she will do everything to make Andrew fall for her even if she needs to use her body.