Chapter 18: Six Years Ago pt. 12

Now, Xander and Rian is sitting at the living room across each other. On the center table laid the contract that Ms. Corpuz made according to Rian's draft.

All it took was a single sheet of paper. The terms were pretty simple. All circulating with living symbiotically while maintaining the secrecy of each other's personal life and hidden circumstances.

The working hours will last twenty-four hours a day without day-off.

Xander should stick close to Rian starting from the house to anywhere she'll go.

However, a personal space have been made and if the employer felt that her privacy is threatened she is free to terminate the contract anytime. The same goes for the employee.

Xander read every letter printed on that contract, not missing any detail.

His eyes widened when he saw the number of zeros in his allowance printed after all the terms and conditions.

It was a whopping two million five hundred thousand pesos, equivalent to fifty thousand U.S. dollars every month.

*She's got herself a rich sponsor.

At the very bottom of the contract lies their printed name with a horizontal line above it where their signatures are supposed to be landed.

He noticed that Rian had already drawn her signature on it.

He fidgeted the fountain pen on his hand. If he signs that paper, there's really no turning back.

The contract's duration was twelve months. If one party wants to terminate it he or she will pay double of the monthly salary-that is what written in the contract.

He doesn't know when will 17 come back for him nor does he want to get stuck in there for a year. It's too long of an abscence.

Xander sighed. Rian who was intently looking at him is eagerly waiting for him to drop his signature down.

Xander doesn't know but there's a part of him that was slightly delighted when he saw that he will be working for her within a year.

He always finds himself smiling at the sight of her very eager, very enthusiastic, and very impatient face. Like this time where he can fell her peircing gaze into h while waiting for his final decision.

He finds this strange but at the same time, dangerous. It felt like he was playing with fire with hands covered in gasoline. It is dangerous but exhilarating, scary but wonderful.

"Is the pay low?" Rian broke his daydream with her growing impatience.

"I can tell Ms. Corpuz to raise your salary." She remarked, "How much do you want? 60? 70? 80? "(She is talking about thousand U.S dollars) Rian asked non-stop.

He chuckled with her statements.

"There's no problem with the price." Xander assured her.

"Really? Then, why aren't y-"

"Why me?" He asked cutting her off. "Why pick me when you can hire anyone with the salary you're offering?"

Rian looked down avoiding his eyes. "Because it was urgent." She replied in a low voice.

"What? I didn't hear you?" Xander said leaning his head to listen to her.

"Because I want it to be you!" Rian boldly exclaimed which caught Xander in surprise.

Rian blushed as soon as she let go of those words. "Is there a problem if I want to choose you?"

Xander coughed clearing his throat. "No, there isn't. Well you can choose whoever you want since you're the one who's hiring." He shrugged forcing the change of topic.

Rian nodded in agreement to recover from embarrassment.

She then heard a scribbling sound. When she looked at Xander, he was just raising his hand after signing the contract.

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Rian sighed in relief now that she's holding and looking at the contract paper with both hers and Xander's signature on it.

He will be her bodyguard for a year. This calms her mind but not her heart.

She somewhat feels uneasy with him around. Maybe it's because she's not used to live with someone not to mention that it is a man.

She's used to isolation and loneliness that he felt someone's companionship uncomfortable.

Except to her Lola, she had been detached to the world. That's the result of her seventeen years of lifestyle.

Now that their deal has been made official, will they survive being together while maintaining the peace, and boundaries written in the contract? Will he finish his duty before he needs to leave? Will her family background continue to shackle her freedom

No one knows, but both of them wishes to find the answers behind every odd, restless, and unexplainable feeling they get when they're near at each other. A feeling they both don't dare to voice out. A feeling that made much more curious about each other but at the same time, wary of it.

That night they slept tight in preparation to welcome the day with their newly signed relationship.