Acceptance

Stephanie's POV

Alexander. Alexander. Alex. Xander. That name and its owner have been ringing in her head all night. 

It was the day after running into him in the store, and she hadn't slept a wink. How can she? After what he proposed? Although his proposal is not the only reason he has been on her mind all night, she refuses to pay attention to any other reason why.

She can't accept his proposal, can she? She really can't. She shouldn't. How could she? A fake marriage? She really can't.

Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and a revived and blown modeling career? That sounds too good to be true. Although she doesn't doubt that he could make that happen, she doesn't know him but trusts him. She doesn't know how or why; she does. 

Six months of her life? It's just six months, though. How much time is really six months?

She really shouldn't be thinking about this. This is ridiculous. She can't just lose her life, as she knows it for money, in less than two months. Can she? Why is this causing her so much turmoil? It shouldn't be a problem; she shouldn't do it. She can't. 

Modeling is her life, always has been. It was taken from her so quickly, and now someone is about to return it to her as quickly. Can she really not do this?

What will her mother say if she does this? What will Kate say? Can she really pull this off?

She can imagine herself wearing the dress that he designed and walking down the runway. Everyone in awe of her. That is a dream, a dream being offered to her on a platter of gold. Gold and a whole bunch of money as a side dish.

Why can't she accept his offer again? Right, it's morally wrong. Why is she even thinking about this? Deceiving a dying man is wrong on so many levels.

It's to make him happy, though, so is it really such a terrible thing? 

A divorce, though? Under the law. Divorced under the law. Does it really matter, though? Who cares about that?

No, Steph, no. You can't possibly be considering this. It isn't right, period.

She tried to keep her mind and herself busy. She turned her house upside down and cleaned it up again. She prepared meals that could sincerely be enough for a month, and finally she went to have her bath.

After taking a shower, Stephanie went to fetch her mail. Bills, bills, and more bills. A heap of bills and no job. A terrible combination, if she has ever seen one. She sighed and dropped the mail on the table.

One she hadn't noticed before popped out.

"A house rent increase? The universe must really hate me right now."

She went to her fridge to drink a bottle of water; maybe it could do something to ease her nerves. 

Her phone pinged, and it was a reminder from the nursing home. A reminder to pay up. She really can't do this anymore. She really can't.

She burst into tears, the whole events of the past few weeks finally catching up to her. What is she going to do with herself? She tried with model applications, and they were all rejected. She even tried waitress jobs and hasn't received an acceptance letter yet. She's eating into her savings, and she doesn't know how long she can do this for.

She needs to find a solution fast. Alexander's proposal came to the forefront of her mind.

She wishes she could get some kind of sign, something, anything. 

The reasons she shouldn't accept his proposal disappear from her mind, but no, she'll find something. She'll get herself out of this. She was thinking of this when her phone started to ring. It was one of her mother's caretakers. What could be the problem now?

"Ms. Jackson, hello. I'm sorry to be calling now, but I have a bit of bad news," she said.

"What? What is it? Is my mother okay?" She asked scared

"I'm sorry, but your mother had a heart attack today and has been rushed to the hospital." Her mother's caretaker was still speaking, but she couldn't hear anything any longer. She knew exactly what she had to do.

She hung up the phone, went to her room, searched for Alexander's card, and called him.

"Hello, it's Stephanie. I'll do it."