Marry me

"This is not a date." She frowned.

He wasn't expecting that will be her answer, he just wanted to know if she loved the place or not. It's not every day he brings friends up here. The truth is he has never brought anyone up here but himself. Well, he took her word for it and decided to treat it like a business meeting.

A waiter came with two glasses of wine and dropped them on the small table in front of them. Matt signaled him to excuse them which he did after bowing his head.

Jem doesn't want a drink or do anything that will make her feel she's here for pleasure.

"I don't want to drink anything." She said with a frown.

He was about to lift her glass of wine off the table when he heard her say she doesn't want to drink. So he placed it back on the table and took his glass instead.

She knew she was giving him a hard time and she felt slightly bad about it. Still, he needs to know that his action hurt her, he needs to feel guilty for arresting her father and thrashing her mother's bakery.

He sipped off his glass and then placed it back on the small table. He then leaned back to rest comfortably on the couch.

"Tell me, Jemima, what do you want?"

"I need more time."

"Jemima you've run out of time."

"I know but I'm doing the best I can." She looked at his face for a while then turned away. "You found it so easy to arrest my father and thrash my mother's bakery. You know what bakery means to us, to me... But you don't understand, I thought you did but you don't." Her voice broke at that point she quickly held her breath. It's the first thing she could think of to stop herself from crying.

It was getting harder for him to continue to bare seeing her like this. He has only known her for a couple months but it felt like it has been a lifetime. Her emotions affect him in a way that he can't control or explain. It took all the self-control he could muster to take a hold of himself.

She would never believe him if he denies not having a hand in everything she has been going through including her father's arrest. She stopped trusting him when she found out he was the same Valdez that lent her mother money some years ago and he would stop at nothing to get his payment back.

"That bakery is our most valuable memory of my mother. I can't lose it, please." A tear touched her cheek. She wiped it off with her palms and tried to take a deep breath. He just watched her not certain how to present his solution.

To Jem, he looked indifferent and cheerful despite knowing she was not happy. But inside he was hurt and concerned. He finds himself caring for this girl without reason, the feeling just comes up and he can't help it. All he does is embrace the feeling.

"Your father will be released if you pay the money your mother owes."

"But I don't have it yet, you know I don't have a decent job."

He took his glass off the small table, and stared at the wine inside. She watched him anxious to hear his answer. He finally said something after what seemed like forever. "I can only help you with one option."

She gazed at him curious to hear his option for her.

"It's all up to you Jemima."

"Tell me what it is." She inquired acting impatient.

"You'll be able to pay your family's debt."

"What do you mean?"

He smiled at her nervous look then took a sip from his glass and clicked his tongue.

"You'll get a job at the organization and your earnings will be paid to the company until your debt is cleared off." That means working at the organization for free. If that's the price, she's very willing to pay as long as it saves her mother's bakery and gets her father out of prison.

"Don't worry you'll be given a stipend for expenditure. You'll need to look good for the company." He smirked.

"Woah. I love it. Thank you so much I can't wait to resume work. Thank you."

"It all comes with a price Jemima." What he just said stole her smile, the way he said it confirmed to her that he hates to see her happy. She began to wonder how cruel he had gotten to offer her a job at a price.

"What is it?"

"It's simple. Marry me." He answered with a stoic expression.

She gazed at him surprised to hear his request.

It's the last thing she expected a guy like him to even think of.

When they met he was very nice, humble, and selfless. He had never taken her for granted despite their differences. What changed?

"What... What did you say?" she stuttered.

He does not repeat his statement but needed to explain to her that the marriage was important. It's not like he wanted to do this but he had no choice.

"The contract marriage will bind our deal. Once you finalize the payment you can opt out of the contract."

"All of this for my hand." She asked a bit puzzled.

"It's bigger than that Jemima."

"I can't believe you could do this to me. Marriage, that's why you arrested my father and vandalized my mother's bakery."

He didn't answer that. Explaining to her was pointless right now. Her emotions have gotten the best of her.

She stood up after waiting a while for his response. His silence hurt her even more. She couldn't stand him anymore, his mere presence aggravated her.

She broke down cause she knew she was helpless before him. She quickly ran for the door and get away from him as quickly as possible but stopped when she heard his response.

"You have two days to decide Jemima or you lose everything. The bakery and your father."

Her whole body became numb as hot tears ran down her cheeks, "two days?" she whispered to herself but waited for him to answer a question he barely heard.

He listened to her sobbing without batting an eye for a second. Her heart was heavy seeing a man she loves watch her suffer without a care in the world. Slowly she turned around to leave, from walking to running off till she got in the elevator.

Immediately after the door closed she leaned against the wall breathing heavily tears still crawling down her face.

After she left, he stood up and threw his glass as well as hers across the room. Anger is not enough to explain how he felt. He picked up the small table and smashed it on the floor.

Seeing there was nothing left to break he slumped on the couch dragging his hair like he was ready to pull it off. He then hid his face in his palms and drooped his head.

If only she could see right into his heart, it will be easier to make her understand everything. He won't have to hurt her anymore.

The elevator door opened and Jem came out wiping her face with the back of her palms. She left the back building into the pool area where she ran into Clarice and Diane standing side by side. She couldn't wait for any comment Clarice had to say, though the latter wanted to inquire why she was leaving so early. She expected they'd spend the rest of the night together.

"Leaving so soon?" Clarice asked tauntingly.

Jem shook her head with her palm covering her mouth. One would think she was holding herself from fighting back but she was battling the urge to cry in front of Clarice not to give out the impression that Matteo had hurt her.

She sprinted between them and out of the pool area into the dark balcony. She kept bumping into people as she ran cause the place was so dark.

A strange guy grabbed her firmly by the hand,

"What's the rush," Jem imagined the silly smile he must have as he spoke to her. She felt more irritated by the stench of alcohol coming out of his mouth.

"Let me go," She used her bag to hit him. The guy released her immediately amazed by her reaction.

Jem used the opportunity to run off, it took a while before she could find her way out of the balcony.

She was so frustrated and miserable, she started walking hastily through the hallway into the first club they came across when they first got in. She kept her head down as she walked to prevent people from seeing her messed-up face. It's not like it matters to her but she'd hate to call for attention.

Tim saw her run out of the building and tried saying something to her but with the way she ran there is no way she will hear him. He didn't expect Mr. Valdez' guest to leave so early, it was obvious she did not have a good time. Well, it's not his job to ask about the comfort of their customers.

Jem ran into the street without looking both ways first. Everyone who noticed her run into the street screamed at her to wait but she didn't listen, more like she couldn't hear anything anymore. Everything around was quiet all she heard was Matt's voice.

She used to think meeting him was the best thing that's ever happened to her but it turned out to be worse than a nightmare. And all because of money, it really can't be money cause Matt was so rich he can easily overlook her debt to him but he insisted they pay in only a short amount of time. She lost her mom a couple of years ago, she just can't afford to lose her dad too.

She didn't realize a car was about to hit her and the slightly drunk driver didn't notice her earlier enough.

"Shit." He yelled as he stepped onto the break with all his might. But there's no way his car would stop in time to avoid hitting her. Jem saw a red Mercedes convertible running towards her. Out of shock, she stood still as if waiting for death to come to her. But truly she wanted to move out of the way, her numb legs just wouldn't give in.

The man in the car stirred the steering wheel to the left as quickly as possible even though it was still not going to help avoid hitting her. As if his car read his mind, it turned left and halt only a few inches away from her. The driver knew there was no way he controlled his car to avoid the accident but his drunkenness made him doubt that thought. Jem didn't move from her spot, she was dead stricken with shock, while the driver stood up and yelled at her for being careless. Just then she heard her name.

"Jem," Arie yelled after jumping out of his car and came running toward Jem.

Arie sat in his car nodding his head as he sang along with his favorite band, that's when he saw Jem running out of the club wiping her face repeatedly. He noticed she wasn't herself anymore, there was a car coming and she wasn't looking. He jumped out of his car calling out her name but before then the driver had already stopped his car. He was scared to bits knowing that car could have killed her.

Immediately his hands touched her she gasped in terror, then she fell into his hands. Even in her state, she was able to tell it was Arie.

The driver came out of his car yelling at them mostly Jem for her carelessness. Arie was equally angry at the reckless driver. Instead of apologizing, he yelled back, he even went as far as kicking the car.

"Dickhead." The driver screamed at Arie who was already helping Jem into his car.

He heard so turned and showed the man his middle finger and mouthed, "Fuck you."

Then he went around and got into the driver's seat.

Inside Heaven, on the upper floor was a big window. There stood Matt who witnessed everything that just transpired. Good thing he was able to stop the car before it came in contact with Jem. He would have killed the man if as much as a scratch touched her skin.

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