15

"What? What do you mean by that?" I sat up in bed, unable to believe my ears. He had to be crazy to think I'd succumb to his foolish request, more like an order even.

"I mean you'll go with me to my mother's." He sounded confident.

"What?" I gasped, "but that's crazy. Why would you choose me? And tomorrow? I don't even have the type of clothes that suit that, plus, I'm just a casual girl and it's too early to come up…"

"Nikki!" He yelled my name in anger.

"Chad!" I called back with an equally harsh tone.

He seemed surprised by my harsh tone since my loudness was followed by a loud gasp from the other end of the phone. I bit on the edge of my pillow, waiting for him to throw a tantrum and call me out for yelling at him but nothing of the sort came. Instead he spoke in a calm voice, "I'll see you in the office today, and we'll discuss it."

"But I…" I tried to raise my argument but he clearly had no time for that. I found it unbelievable.

I sat up in bed, thinking about the situation for a really long time. There was no way I'd go to a woman who was his mother, and introduce myself as his fiancee. Of course, I'd be talking my way out of this. He was crazy.

*
I woke up when it was a few minutes past six in the morning and I was definitely not enthusiastic about going to work at all.

I sluggishly brushed my teeth and waited patiently for someone to save me from this mess.

"Stupid Nikki." I groaned and spat into the sink.

"Always getting into fucking trouble with your damn crazy ideas." I rolled my eyes at my reflection.

It took forever but I finally managed to get out of the bathroom. I was dressed in a simple white shirt and suit pants and my old, worn out handbag stayed clutched on my shoulder.

I left for work with no idea of what I was supposed to expect when I finally got there.

*

"Mr. Bush?" I called gently as I got to the office. I called a second time and knocked gently on the door.

"Come in." He gave his permission to which I succumbed. I walked into his office and closed the door after him.

"Take your seat." He was back to being my boss. His expressionless face was back on. His suit was hung on his seat while his black tie was attributed to making him appear hot in that blue shirt. Did I just think Chad was hot? Well, he was hot.

"Okay." I hated that he was back to being authoritative. Was he going to yell my head off for giving him such an idea? I hadn't expected that he'd go straight to telling it to his mom anyways. It was only a recent suggestion.

I had to control myself from glaring at him since it was frustrating.

"So, I told you what was going to happen." He began.

"Yeah? And I…" I tried to raise an argument but his barking got me to flinch and maintain silence.

"Silence." He said, "I'm not done talking, listen to me before you say anything."

"Okay."

"I'm not planning on actually marrying you, so you have nothing to worry about." He began.

"I know."

"So, we'll leave for my mother's in the next hour." He said.

"What? The next hour? But I have to get ready for…"

"You don't have to get ready for anything. I'll take you to a store for a dress right now. We'll get your makeup done and all you've got to do is at least pretend to be sensible." He concluded, staring at me with commanding eyes that got me to shiver a little.

"Wait, will I get paid for this?" I wondered with bulging eyeballs.

I watched the corners of his mouth twitch a little, it was going to form a smile, but he refrained from so doing. "You will."

"Why didn't you say so?" I beamed in enthusiasm, "when do we leave? Right away? I'm so ready. Since this is forced action, I get to decide how much I want from this." I felt glad from within, suddenly proud of myself for coming up with this one. There was nothing better than this.

"How much do you want from this?" He asked.

"Like four thousand dollars?" I swallowed, knowing it was a lot. I winced when he spoke since I expected him to disagree with my opinion.

"Done." He said instead.

"Wait, really?" Of course, he was a rich ass man, how could I have expected less?

"Done deal!" I sharply said before he changed his mind. "In fact, let's leave right now. I'll close the office door and keep someone else in charge."

"I already talked to those I wanted to keep in charge of this, thanks for offering." He shook his head, "go ahead, pack, we'll go to a clothing store first."

"Okay." Nikki, you are nine hundred thousand steps closer to being a millionaire. I did a mental victory dance and stood to my feet to do as he had said.