Alexander's POV
They arrived at the restaurant shortly after, and Alexander wasn't sure what he wanted to talk about.
He led her into the restaurant and to a table. A waiter came to take their order shortly after. He kept staring at Stephanie in a way that made Alexander irritated. He didn't know why he was feeling this way, and he didn't care.
"Are you just going to stare at her, or are you going to take out the order?" he asked, irritated. The waiter cleared his throat and apologized.
"What would you like to have?" he asked, facing Alexander this time around. Alexander looked at Stephanie and raised a questioning brow. She glanced at the menu a bit before speaking.
"I'll have the salad and water, please," she said quietly.
"And for me, a burger and fries with water," he said to the waiter.
"Your food will be ready in 15 minutes, but I'll be right back with your water," he said, leaving them alone.
"So, how are you?" Alexander asked after a moment of awkward silence.
"Um, I'm good—as good as I can be," she answered, giving him a little smile. At that moment, the waiter returned with their water.
"So...the proposal—you wanted to talk about it?" Stephanie asked nervously after the waiter had left.
"Yes. I needed to be sure you were fully on board with this. You didn't sound very... sure over the phone," he explained.
"Oh yeah, that was." The waiter came back with their meal and interrupted her. She thanked him and continued what she was saying after he left: "That wasn't you; I got a phone call... but that isn't important. I honestly accept."
Alexander wasn't convinced and wondered what almost brought her to tears. He wasn't sure what, but the thought of anything upsetting her made him really mad.
"Are you sure about this? You really don't have to do this if you don't have to," he asked again to be completely sure.
"But I want this; I promise I really do. Unless... unless you found someone else?" She asked, deflated.
He hated the resignation in her tone. He quickly squashed the idea.
"No, no, I haven't. I was just making sure, and since you're sure about this, we need to go over the details of this arrangement, but first, let's eat," he said, and she nodded her head, and they dug into their meal.
After their meal, Stephanie looked at him expectantly.
"So," he started clearing his throat, "the day I proposed this, we already went through the basics, I presume. We get married and divorce after six months, and in turn, you get $250,000 in total. A hundred and fifty days before the wedding and the remaining after we get divorced. Also, I'll get your career back on track, and you'll get anything you want in the next six months."
"I don't know what to say; that is a lot of money. You're sure this isn't some sort of elaborate prank?" She asked, looking around like she was looking for a camera crew. He smiled slightly and shook his head.
"And I don't have to, you know, do anything. You and I don't have to." She was struggling to get her sentence out, and that made him furrow his brow in confusion. Before what she was really asking dawned on him,.
"Oh God, no. No, I'm not paying you for sex, Stephanie. That isn't what this is about, I promise. You know what? Let's state our rules. I ask you for exclusivity starting off, and although this is fake, I'm not sure how I'll explain to anyone that my wife is seeing someone else. So for the period of this contract, you are not allowed to see anyone. Would that be a problem?" He asked, praying that the answer would be negative.
"No, it won't. I'm not seeing anyone, and I don't plan on doing so," she answered, which made him happy for reasons he was not willing to dive into at the moment.
"Okay, that's good. Another thing is that this has to be a secret. You can't tell your friends or family about this. I can't risk my grandfather knowing about this arrangement. I'll have my lawyer draft up an NDA to that effect." He paused to allow her room for questions, and when he saw that she had none, he continued.
"Finally, we have to get to know each other a bit; we need to make this believable and natural. Get comfortable talking to and touching each other. We have two weeks before I introduce you to my grandfather."
"Touching each other?" She asked, confused, "I thought you said..."
"No, no, I don't mean that. I mean slight touches and little kisses here and there. To make this more believable. Are you comfortable with that?" He asked
"Oh yeah, that's... that's fine."
"Good. Do you have anything of your own?" He asked
"yeah. First, no sex, but you addressed that already. Secondly, exclusivity from you as well. It's only fair. You can't police what I wear or where I go. I need to keep my career on track, so that's a big condition for me. Finally, six months is a long time, and I need no complications in my life, so... no falling in love," she said. Out of everything she said, the last part bothered him the most, which is weird because two weeks ago, before meeting her, he's sure that'd been a rule of his.
"That sounds fair enough. For your career, I promised, and I made good on my promises. I have no intention of telling you where to go or what to wear, as long as it doesn't jeopardize the arrangement. I can't ask for exclusivity from you and not do so myself, and for falling in love, that won't be a problem. I have no use for it," he said, keeping his doubts off his sentence.
"I would have my lawyer draft up a contract and an NDA to finalize this, but until then, deal?" He asked, putting out his hand. She looked at his hand for a few seconds before finally taking it.
"Deal."