Chapter One

　　Subtitle: My Contract Marriage

　　Written by: Marvy Hyacinth

　　"Jace, you should stop running around!" Alexa shouted for the second time.

　　It was 11 o' clock in the morning and after eating breakfast, the 10 year old, Jace could not stop running around the house.

　　"Jace, stop running, its not good for your health" Alexa said, more like whispered.

　　She was out of breath, mainly because she had been chasing after her kid bro. She bent over a little and placed her hands on her knees and rested a while.

　　For a 10 year old boy, he was sure agile and fast.

　　"Jace, please I'm begging you, stop running" She pleaded one last time.

　　Jace stopped, turned around, looked at her and dropped on the floor.

　　Alexa on seeing what happened, panicked and ran over to where her brother lay.

　　"Jace, Jace, Jace," Alexa called out while shaking him.

　　"Please, answer me, don't do this to me" She whispered, her eyes glassy with tears and they dropped one after the other.

　　"Gotcha!" Jace shouted and stood up.

　　Alexa immediately wiped her tears and stared in disbelief at her brother. Her disbelief slowly turned to anger.

　　He did that purposely and made tears drop from her eyes.

　　Her once teary eyes turned red in anger.

　　"Jace!" She screamed.

　　"Yes Alexa?"

　　"What did you do that for?" She questioned while taking slow steps towards him.

　　"Do what? I didn't do anything"

　　"Stop acting that way. You knew I'd get worried, so why'd you act like you fainted?" Alexa asked half screaming.

　　"Oh that?" Jace asked "Nothing really" he smirked.

　　"You pretended you fainted for nothing? Oh Jace, you made me shed tears for nothing?"

　　"It was just a prank Alexa. Get over it" Jace rolled his eyes and this made Alexa so angry she took long, menacing strides towards Jace, making him move backwards in fear.

　　"Uh oh...this is not good, she's angry" he thought.

　　Soon, his back came in contact with the wall, he could not escape. Alexa caught up with him soon, put a hand on his shoulder and tightened her grip on it.

　　"Ouch...it hurts" Jace said and tried to free his shoulder from her grip, but that only made Alexa tighten it more.

　　"Jace, you know how hard it is for me. Taking care of you hasn't been easy since it became only me and you. You know how hard I work so we can survive. You know how hard I work so we can survive. You know how hard I work to pay for your medication. Yet, all I get is you making it harder for me."

　　"I was only trying to play like other normal kids" Jace defended.

　　"Jace, you're not normal" Alexa sighed

　　"At least, not until you've been operated on. Please, try to listen to me all the time."

　　"OK. I'm sorry Alexa. I promise to start listening to you" Jace apologized.

　　"Thank you... Thank you Jace" Alexa said and pulled him into a hug.

　　Alexa glanced at the wall clock and gasped.

　　"What's it?"

　　Jace asked and pulled away from the hug.

　　"I'm late for my afternoon shift"

　　Alexa replied breathlessly.

　　"But its only 3 minutes after 12"

　　Jace said.

　　"Yes...I didn't know we had spent so much time arguing" Alexa replied.

　　"But you're only 3 mins late. Mr. Judy won't be angry, right?" Jace asked worried.

　　Alexa looked at him and smiled.

　　What does he know? Her boss was one mean human, if not the meanest. He was always in a grumpy mood.

　　Alexa sighed and moved towards the rusted iron rail where their scarves and Jackets were hanged on. She quickly grabbed one of each, kissed Jace's forehead and hurried out of the house.

　　"Be good Jace!"

　　She shouted and closed the door.

　　"She never says a proper goodbye"

　　Jace sighed and went to lock the door.

　　Immediately Alexa stepped out, the cold that hit her made her cringe, her house was surely not the best in weather fighting conditions, but it was sure warmer in there. She quickly put on her Jacket and tied her scarf around her neck as fast as she could. The cold was sure harsh...well, what did she expect? It was winter.

　　She checked her wristwatch as she dragged her legs in the snow. It was 12:05 now. She had wasted another 2 mins. She started digging her legs in the snow and ran as fast as she could. Taking a bus was out of the plan, the last one left around 5 mins ago, and she wasn't expecting another till another 5 mins. she could not opt for a taxi either, they drove at an extremely outrageous price and Alexa knew it was better to save all that money...perks of being poor

　　Alexa slowed down on getting to her workplace, A restaurant. She looked up and smiled as she read the name of the restaurant "En Lunche". She had always wondered why Judy gave it a French name when he was a pure American breed. Well, it wasn't her business. She tightened her scarf, straightened her rough gown, took a deep breath to calm her nerves down and went in...getting ready for whatever fire Judy was gonna spit.

　　She walked in and sighed in relief when all she could see after glancing through the restaurant was a few customers on their tables. She walked straight ahead, to the counter and greeted the receptionist.

　　" Hey Tina"

　　"Alexa! Good morning"

　　Tina greeted back warmly, a smile plastered on her face.

　　This was the only thing in En Lunche that awed Alexa. She could not understand the reason why Tina Michaels always smiled! It was like she had no problems at all.

　　"Good morning to you too Tina"

　　Alexa smiled back.

　　"Judy...?"

　　"Oh, Judy?"

　　Tina repeated and chuckled a little.

　　"You're afraid of being caught? Don't worry, he's in his office with one of his whores"

　　Tina said, lol, more like whispered and Alexa giggled.

　　It was a known fact within the restaurant that Judy Brown liked whoring around, but in as much as he liked girls, he never harassed any of his workers. He put distance between them and kept the relationship work related. That earned him a huge chunk of respect from his workers.

　　Alexa breathed a sigh of relief and went to the kitchen to drop her bag. As she made to step out, she jumped in fright. It was Judy...standing at the doorway, with a mean look smeared on his face.

　　"Are you just coming in...Alexa?"

　　Judy scrunched his eyebrow.

　　"Ughm...yes"

　　"By 12.13pm huh?"

　　Judy asked.

　　"I'm so sorry. I was caught up in taking care of my brother, I didn't notice the time passing"

　　Alexa apologized and bit her lower lip with her head bowed slightly.

　　"So how's that my business?"

　　"I missed the bus and I'd have to wait another 5 mins to catch the next one, so I decided to walk...fuck! what am I saying?" Alexa cursed

　　"I ran all the way here" she explained.

　　"And I ask again, how's that my fucking business? I don't fucking care about your stupid excuses. Your brother? Oh forget that, he's not and will never be the only one with a heart disease. The bus? I don't care! I wasn't the one who told your parents to fucking die without leaving you guys a proper life."

　　Tears clouded Alexa's eyes. She knew he was damn right, but it hurt her so bad. Mentioning her brother's condition wasn't enough, did he have to mention her parents' death? He knew too much about her family she felt she was standing stark naked in front of him.

　　"But..."

　　Alexa tried to explain and worked furiously on not letting even a drop escape from any eyeball of hers. She'd face everything, but would never face this heartless monster and cry in front of him.

　　"But what?"

　　Judy interrupted.

　　"Alexa, just stop all these acting of yours."

　　Wait, did he just say she was acting?

　　"I know your type already. You fucking want to reap when you've not sown, but young lady, listen up. Make sure you don't leave here till its 4.30pm. That's the extra 30 mins you've wasted already."

　　Judy said.

　　"Idiot"

　　he muttered, and then stepped out.

　　Alexa felt the tears threatening to pour out, she couldn't hold it anymore. She ran to the toilet and cried to her heart's content.