"Hey," he called my attention while snapping his fingers in front of my face.
"W- Wat were you saying?" I asked.
"So you weren't listening to me?" he sat down on a chair opposite to mine.
We're currently in the dining area. He was cooking earlier. I can see his mouth moving but I can't focus on what he was saying. I was mesmerized by him.
"Sorry," I smiled and raised the pointing and the middle finger of my right hand to create a peace sign.
He just pouted as a response.
"I said if you want to work for me," he repeated.
My forehead creased.
"Why?" I asked.
He ate a spoonful of rice with an egg on top of it. After swallowing it he looked at me.
"What do you mean 'WHY'?" he asked.
"Why do I need to work for you?"
He leaned unto his chair, crossed her arms and sighed before answering me.
"You need to always be near me but you also need to learn my world. You'll be able to explore my world while being safe with me. Plus, you're going be bored if you're stuck here. Who knows what would happen to you when I'm not around. You can also make money." he explained.
I nodded as a sign of me agreeing to what he said while thinking.
He's right. I can earn money if I work for him. I can always be around him. Plus, we can show everyone that we're really in a relationship. We publicized our relationship— fake relationship — anyway.
"That's a good idea," I said then ate again. After chewing and swallowing, I drank a little bit of water before saying anything. "What kind of work?" then drank water again.
"Can you do anything for me?"
I choked to what he said but he just laughed at me so I glared at him but it didn't stop him from laughing.
"W- Why do you s- sound like t- that?" I stuttered.
"Sound like what?" It was in a teasing stone.
"Nothing!" I said, "Just tell me what work I'm going to do."
He put both of his palm beside his cheeks then put his elbows on the table. He looks... cute.
"hmmmm..." he hummed while thinking, "you can be my makeup artist or what do you call that again?"
"Manager?"
"Yeah," after snapping, "You know, I will be the first person to have a manager here."
"What was the reason again?" I asked.
"People here are taught to be independent even at a young age. You must be able to feed yourself when you're twenty years old," he explained.
"Ahhh," I said as I nod. "Some people in my world don't know the word 'independent'. Some people would depend on their parents or their parents money to survive even after entering their thirties."
"Are you one of them?"
"No!" I denied. "I live alone you know. They let me stay at a hotel because they didn't want to take me in. In other words, I don't rely on them."
I felt something in my heart. It felt like something was stabbing me over and over again. The truth hurts me everytime. The fact that no one wants me hurts like millions of stab wound. And I hate feeling this way.
"I'm sorry," he said that made me look at him.
"Why are you sorry?" I asked with my forehead creased. He couldn't utter a word. He had no excuse to tell. "Forget it."
"I've already told the company about you working for me" he changed the topic.
"Where's my contract then?" I asked then ate a spoonful rice.
"That..." he said before giving me a marker and a bond paper. I reached it without standing.
"What am I going to do with this?" I asked while looking at those.
"You're going to write your conditions and I'll also write mine. Then we'll sign afterwards," he explained and I nodded.
I wrote 'Fake Relationship Contract' aesthetically, then showed it to him and he gave me a thumbs up.
"Number 1..." I wrote the number.
I look up and touched my chin with my right hand that also holds the marker. I smiled when I thought of something. I immediately wrote it down and showed him.
"Apply the No Touching Rule?" he read it. He faced me with a creased forehead and pouted. "Really?"
"Uhmhmm" I nodded.
"What about outside? They might think we're not real," he reasoned out.
"Hmmm," I hummed as I think about it, " You're right." He smiled as if his energy came back. "Maybe we should apply it when we're inside."
His shoulders went down showing how disappointed he is. I didn't mind that and grabbed the bond paper from his hands. I wrote down the second condition.
"Ask for permission for kissing or hugging each other," I said as I write.
"What?!" he asked LOUDLY. As in loudly that it even echoed in the whole house.
I stick my hands together.
"You shouldn't make kissing and hugging me without my permission a habit. I might find it disrespectful," I said.
"Okay," he said sounding like a child.
"Next, hmmm," I looked up and think again.
"Beautiful."
I immediately looked at him when he said that. He avoided my gaze by looking at the window. I wanted to smile but I couldn't. I can't let him see me react like that. I suppressed my smile and looked up again. When I thought of something, I wrote it and showed him.
"Don't flirt with other girls while in this relationship." I read it to him.
"Of course that's given." He said. " Why would I do that? People might think I'm a cheater if I do that."
"Okay," I replied, "then let's change it to 'Do not chase me away while I'm here in your world'"
"Okie!" then showed me an okay sign with his right hand while smiling and winking.
He looks cute.
"That's all?" he asked when I gave him the paper. I nodded. "No falling in love during the fake relationship??"
That made me silenced. How can I forbid that when I already feel it. When I'm already falling for you?
"T- That's a g- given of course."