What was Mr. Alexander thinking? His son? This Greek God who must have a community of sexy sultry models throwing themselves at him will agree to this? No wonder the poor man was sitting as still as a statue. Surely Mr. Alexander must be pranking him.
I could not stop my laughter thinking about what must be going on in Emilio's mind. I could not help but pity him. His father put him in a tight spot. Poor him must be thinking why his father was planning to send him to the gallows with someone like me.
I looked at him. His expression was indiscernible. And again, I burst into another round of laughter.
"OMG, this is so funny..." my hysteric laughter continued. I was trying to control myself, but my laughter could not stop. His poor son. Poor fellow.
"Mr. Alexander, why are you pranking him like this? Are you planning to give him a heart attack?"
Emilio
I was completely perplexed. What did she find funny? I turned to face her and saw how hard she was trying to stop laughing. I glanced at dad, and he was just calmly looking at her and me. This situation was going out of control. If my grandmother was not attached to the Alexander Palace, I would have never dream of entering a marriage even if it was just a contract one.
Marriages do not exist anymore, and I have learnt about it the hard way. There were no longer marriages as my grandparents had. My father's brother Justin was planning to usurp the property. The only way to stop him was my marriage. My grandfather wanted me to be the heir of the Palace to the dismay of our relatives. Maybe Grandpa knew that I would do anything to keep Grandma happy, but his additional clause felt like a noose around my neck.
I had to be married before my 38th birthday to get full ownership of the Palace or else it would be split into shares between our relatives. Unfortunately, the latter would bring great sadness to Grandma. She wanted to live her last days in the Palace along with her husband's memories. Though I would never understand the type of love and attachment my grandparents both had, I could not let myself be the cause of Grandma's sorrow. So, I contacted my father for help and never in my life i would have guessed that he would find her as the solution. He could have at least talk to me before dropping this on me right when I am next to her. I was dragged from my thoughts when she said.
' You cannot be serious? Ok wait are you playing some sort of pranks on him?' She turned and asked me.
'Is he pranking you? Is there an underlying joke that I should get?' She arched an eyebrow at me waiting for an answer while I was staring at her. It was the first time I was tongue tied in front of a woman. I cleared my throat and answered.
' I do not think so Jane' She stared back at me disbelievingly and then turned back as my father told her about my situation.
' Jane, let me explain the situation to you. Emilio also needs a contract marriage and I think that this is perfect for both your situation' said my father and he went ahead to explain Jane all the family problems we were having. She sat and listened intently occasionally glancing in my direction. I took advantage of this and looked at her properly. She was ordinary with no extravaganza about her. Her makeup was simple and yet effectively enhanced her sharp gaze and pouty lips. I could still feel how her curves felt against my body. Hearing her talk, I could say she was not someone afraid to speak her mind. And this is the thing that I think would bother me.
I was not used to women giving me a hard time. Most of them readily complied to what I asked them. This woman sitting across me could be a problem for me or could she be a refreshing change? But I started to think that maybe she was the perfect choice as there was no way things would get messy between us. She seemed sorted out and I certainly would not want to extend my relationship beyond the contract marriage. The part I was afraid about a contract marriage was someone getting too attached or physical relationship getting involved. In this case, she clearly seemed to be indifferent by my presence.
This is good, no tangles, no problems Somewhere deep in my mind, this was bugging me.
' Are you sure this is the only solution?' she asked my father.
'I am afraid so. I mean this is the simplest and most effective solution I could think of' replied my father.
' How do you feel about all that? I have an impression that this was dumped on you?' she asked me. I was startled for a few seconds that she would so accurately read me. I contemplated a while thinking about the best way to speak my mind.
'I wouldn't say that I knew about what my father planned but if this could help us both we should go ahead' I replied. She raised her eyes and looked at me. I held her gaze for a few seconds before she broke the contact and said.
'This is so out of the blue. I need time to think about it and also, I would like to know what is the exact plan? So maybe we could meet tomorrow?'
'Of course, Jane, I think you should take two day's leave from the lab and Emilio you should be here too. We could then discuss how we intend to proceed?'
'Mr. ALEXANDER, I haven't said yes yet and I believe your son also need to go over this first....' she paused let out a sigh.
' I think this is a bad idea. People will know that this is fake.' I could see there was an internal battle going inside her.
' What is fake?' I asked trying to search something on her seemingly distraught face. She looked at me and pointed at her and then me.
'Us! We have nothing in common. We are from different backgrounds, we have different lifestyles, and it is not like we are genre different; we are galaxies different. How on earth are we supposed to convince people that we are real?' She let out a sigh and just stared at her lap. My father was surprisingly calm in the face of all his planning going in vain. She had a point though. We were different. She was rejecting me. Well, this is new for me.
' As far as I know Jane, you live on earth itself so technically we are only genre different not galaxies different. Unless you are an alien?'
That is where she chuckled and smiled at me. I could not help myself as I felt like I won a battle. I must say she did have a good smile. It was like it lit up her face.
' So, you speak science?' she asked.
' Why shouldn't I? ' I questioned her.
' Oh well business magnate and all. I thought you were only concerned about investments and wall street' she replied.
'Well, this shall not stop me from getting some general knowledge now?'
She nodded, and I smiled at her... I could not believe that I was having a sarcastic conversation with a woman. We were looking at each other smilingly when we heard someone clearing his throat. I almost forgot my father was in the room.
' Kids, we shall meet tomorrow. Think about it well Jane.'
She nodded and got up as my father came to her side. I could not help but noticed those black pumps she was wearing. It was higher than normal office shoes and it had a way of making her body posture look pleasant... Forget that. Sexy.
Her clothes were quite formals and conservative, but you could see that there were more than these clothes were trying to hide. She was curvy and had meat in the right places. She had a confident stand with her bag slung on her shoulders. There was nothing extravagant about her. Everything was simple and yet there was some sophistication in them.
Could she be right? That we were so different that no one would buy our act?