All in her head

She is supposed to be thinking about her dad, paying her debts those sorts of things but Jem's mind only thought of Matteo Valdez. Why marriage? It would have been easier to decide if he hadn't acted like the devil himself before now.

It's like those stories where an angel steals a girl's heart after accomplishment he shows his real face as a demon.'

The thought of Matteo appearing like satan in her mind scared her out of her sleep.

She opened her eyes her face pale, what she thought were her thoughts turned out to be a dream and a scary one at that. If it were true she'll, well she can't imagine how that will affect her.

Just then she felt the muscle in her head tighten. She held her head and rose to sit on the bed, her head felt like it was going to fall off or worse explode. She grimaced trying to stand up and go to the bathroom but couldn't. The pain was too severe, so she decided to just sit on her bed and hope the pain goes away.

While Jem was combating her sudden severe headache, Arie had already finished making breakfast. He opened her door without knocking and also expected her to be asleep but saw her struggling with a headache.

He quickly dropped the tray on the furniture beside her bed, then took a sit near her.

"Jem, what's wrong?" He asked wrapping his arms around her.

"I have a throbbing headache."

He didn't wait to ask anything about how it started or any questions at all. He simply stood up and went over to her wardrobe. He searched inside but could not find any drugs so he left the room to look for some medication for headaches before they can think of going to the hospital. He came back shortly with some aspirin and a glass of water.

She swallowed two capsules and then drank water. Arie waited as if he was expecting to see an immediate result, but nothing happened. Though Jem was handling the pain better than before, the pain was just as severe.

"I think it's because you're overworking yourself. You'll be alright." He held her face as he said this. She nodded.

"You barely had anything to eat yesterday, maybe what you need right now is good food. Good thing I made Rye bacon pancakes with blueberries."

His charming smile was contagious, she forced a smile staring at his nice-looking dish. Her head still hurts but that didn't stop her from having a taste of Arie's cooking.

Arie was right eating did help lessen her headache. Though Arie ate with her cause she insisted, he spent more time staring at her. He was worried about her. She could easily predict what was going on in his head.

"I feel a lot better now." She assured him.

"What happened?" It took her a while to understand what he meant.

She swallowed a mouthful before giving her answer. "He asked me to marry him."

Arie was stunned into silence. Valdez is no doubt the most powerful and influential man in the city. What could he want from a lonely commoner like Jem? No one knows anything about his relationship status, but, surely, he is single or perhaps has never really been in any noticeable relationship. And just when he finally decided to enter a relationship, it was with his best friend.

"He said if I accept I'd be given a job at Silver."

Arie's lips fell open, this is the breakthrough Jem needs to get out of her difficulty. Who would have thought that his childhood friend would even be noticed by a man like Valdez?

"Well, what did you say?" Arie finally spoke, to him this was good news. Mostly because he knows Jem is in love with Matteo even though Jem has never admitted it to him. It's written all over her face. Sometimes he thinks Matt would have figured it all out too.

"I don't know what to say, Arie, I know my dad was in the wrong going to the bank to cause trouble but he went too far by arresting him."

She filled her mouth with pancakes. Arie waited for her to swallow so he can hear the rest of what wanted to say

"I mean why does he want to marry me all of sudden?"

"Cause he likes you."

Jem shook her head. Matt was a good friend but his attitude toward her over the past weeks is anything but love. "I don't know what to say. I need to talk to my dad first."

***

Arie made sure Jem went back to sleep before leaving for work. She was already better by then but that didn't stop him from leaving a wet rag over her head.

Jem relived that night a red convertible almost knocked her down. It was a rather terrifying night to remember, with so many fears attached to one night. Fear of losing her father, her mother's bakery, then her life.

She felt something else saved her that night because the driver was completely out of control, there's no way he could have stopped the car in time. But she can't tell what did. Matteo's face popped into her head when she thought of why she was given a second chance. In her imagination, he witnessed the scene and saved her from the car accident.

She quickly flipped her lids open her face lined with worried about Matteo's effect on her, she is thinking of him way more often than she should be which is bad for her.

"Now I'm going crazy," she whispered to herself.