2| THIS OR THAT…

PERSY

It had to be my ears. Perhaps it was the hunger? I stuffed more bread into my mouth, just as a flashy BMW pulled up beside this man, whom I was now realizing that I had seen on our neighbor's faulty TV once. Though the screen of the TV was half-blind back then, I remembered seeing him clearly on the good side of the TV; I also recalled how my neighbor gushed over him.

Apparently, this man was one of New York's hottest eligible billionaires. What did he want from me?

Someone alighted the BMW, he wore the same ‘uniform’ as the first man whom I now recognized as the billionaire's driver.

"What do you mean 'come with you'? I don't even know you…" You could be a serial killer, I thought, but I knew better than to say it out loud. Somehow, my eyes locked with the new driver's, who gave me a once over before exclaiming with shock in his eyes,

"Holy Son!"

I moved back a bit at the exclamation, but the billionaire in front of me just looked at me with a straight face, his eyes judging me.

"Either that, or you pay for the damages you have caused here today. It's up to you to decide." He spoke coolly.

Wait, what?

"I never asked you to pay for what I took! You cannot blackmail me into doing what you wish… What do you want from me? I have nothing to offer you, so leave me alone." I turned to start leaving, but the driver known as Sam, suddenly came to stand in front of me.

"The boss is still speaking, miss." He also looked at me with a wonder in his cool blue eyes that made me wonder if there was something they saw that I couldn't.

"I'm sick and tired of your boss. I need to get some water because I'm almost done with this," I waved the almost empty loaf in his face. "So move."

"You will rot in prison, not just for stealing a loaf of bread, but also for damaging my car worth millions of dollars. I bet you will be able to raise a couple million dollars to fix my car, won't you?" His voice was so calm, so business-like. He always sounded like he had the upper hand; such an egoistical bastard!

I spun around to face him now, my body trembling with both anger and fear.

"It was not intentional for me to cause an accident, surely you won't hold it against me, it's not fair…" I cried out, my eyes searching his gray orbs for an ounce of pity. I found nothing, his eyes stayed dead, without emotion as he stared straight into my soul.

"I'm not a very fair man, woman, in fact, I am mostly unfair in my dealings…" He peered into the shiny wristwatch strapped onto his left wrist, and then he looked back at me with a new impatience, "What would your answer be? You're wasting my time, I have to be in a meeting."

I gulped. "Just let me go."

He bobbed his head once. "Fine. My driver will provide you with the full bill for my car. You will pay immediately, or you will be thrown behind bars until you can come up with the millions required to fix the damages. Have a good day."

With that, he whirled around and started to leave. On realizing what was in store for me, I stopped him, "What if I fix your car?"

At this, he slowly turned around. One of his full brows were raised in question as he asked, "You will do what?"

"My dad was a mechanic," I told him, then stuffed the last piece of bread into my mouth and dusted my hands, which were hardly clean in the first place. They were almost numb from the freezing temperature at this point, as I had lost my gloves recently, but I was determined to make them work. At least if I could get the car to move…

"Will you be calling up your dad, then?" He asked me with a puzzled expression. I shook my head no, trying my hardest to keep tue hurt away from my eyes as I responded,

"Unfortunately my dad is an angel now, he can't be fixing cars." I stated and he nodded once, not even sparing me the slightest form of pity.

"So?"

"I'll try to get it to move. Let's see what's wrong first…" I told him, then began to walk briskly towards the shiny red, damaged car. The moment my eyes landed on the destroyed bonnet, I already knew that there was little to nothing which I could do to salvage the situation. Because there was no harm in trying, I got under the car and started to loosen some nuts here and there.

For the next five minutes, I stayed underneath the car, fiddling with anything and everything, knowing fully well that there was literally nothing I could do to salvage the situation.

Suddenly, I was pulled out from my ‘hiding place’ and pulled up until I was on my feet. The moment I was standing, I spun around and tried to make a run for it.

Sam caught up with me effortlessly, and brought me back to his boss, kicking and screaming.

"Be quiet." The handsome bastard ordered and just like that, my screams quieted, turning into pants. I still struggled in Sam's hold though.

"You will either come with me the easy way, or the hard way. It's your choice to make. The hard way will have you thrown in days until I am sure you can behave." He explained. My stomach rumbled again, just as my shoulders slouched in defeat. Damn, I was hungry again.

Licking my lips, I finally said, "I'll come with you, but on one condition."

He looked at me like I had grown horns on my head. If I were him, I'd have the same expression on, too. How dare I come up with a condition for him when he clearly had the upper hand?

Well, I had to give him a condition because I knew that there had to be a very important reason why a man like him wanted me. They all looked at me like they were looking at a ghost, it had me wondering if I could be a doppelgänger of someone they knew. It was my best bet so far, and my instinct never proved me wrong.

"Do you want to hear my condition or not?" I asked, trying not to cower from our intense eye contact. He simply nodded after a while.

I did not waste time, "You'll give me free food. Everyday, until you decide that you do not want me around anymore."

"Is that all?" He did not miss a beat.

"And a place to stay as well." I added expectantly. I did not expect him to agree immediately, but as soon as I finished speaking, he said,

"You will get your own apartment and a personal chef to cater to you. Other necessities will be covered as well. Sam, get her in the car."

"Wait! Your name? I never got your name." I called out.

He did not fully turn around as answered, "Aiden Bates."

Okay, so just incase I got kidnapped, I knew the name to call out. Hopefully, it was his real name.

With four large strides, he got into the passenger seat of the new silver BMW, while I was ushered to seat beside him. The two drivers took the front seat.

Yes, I had some experience with a handful of cars as dad used to be a mechanic before his passing, and he had worked on a lot of cars, but I had never seen him work on any BMW as luxurious as this. We lived in a poor province, those farmers could only afford trucks and outdated small cars.

I relaxed my back against the car seat, my legs crying for joy now that they were finally resting. The car was warm, so I suspected that there was some heater somewhere. Everything was so comfortable, that I could not resist shutting my eyes for just a short while…

"Cancel the meeting, Sam. I will take her to the beauty parlor myself for the makeover. I need her to look exactly like Kassie in no time." I heard Aiden say.

My eyes shot open right away, just as Sam responded, "Noted, Sir."

I could not keep quiet any longer.

"Can you at least tell me what this is about? Will I be losing my identity? That's all my family has left… me. Would you be wiping me off from the society? Are you planning on making me someone else?" I asked, my bottom lip trembling slightly, as I began to realize what I had gotten myself into.

"Too many questions." He stared straight at me, and then his lips spread in a sly smirk, "You are right, anyways. You are no longer who you used to be. What is your name?"

"Persephone Walters." I told him with a hidden plea in my voice. Please don't make me disappear…

"From now on, that person is dead. You will now be my girlfriend, and wife-to-be, the elegant Kassandra Aaron."

"No." I countered at once.

"It's either that or jail." Aiden said nonchalantly, and that was the end of it.

No matter how I took this, the fact was that if this man wanted to take me to jail, he would, and nothing would stop him. No one would save me, too.

After a few minutes, the car came to a halt in front of a tall building which I figured was the beauty parlor. The car door by my side was pulled open by Sam while the new driver opened Aiden's side.

I stood by the car until Aiden walked up to me and took my hand. I tried to snatch my hand away because it was simply too dirty for him to hold on to like that, but he did not let me pull away. In fact, he held on tighter and walked towards the beauty parlor with our hands entwined, leaving me to struggle with meeting his fast pace.

The moment we entered the beauty parlor, all eyes turned to us and even if my cheeks instantly flamed red, I held every single one of them's gaze as they stared at me with eyes that were openly judging me.

Aiden passed by the receptionist without a word, even when she tried to get his attention by pushing her boobs up. I held back a laugh as he dragged me towards… God knows where. We finally stopped in front of a huge door, and Aiden simply tapped some digits before entering.

I gasped on seeing the place we had just entered. The entire place was too luxurious for a mere office. A woman sat behind a table, looking so prim and proper that I decided that she had to be the manager. The expensive looking couches and even bed inside her office proved my point even more. Sculptures and the frames ton the white walls took up a large area of the wide space. The temperature of the room was just right, too; it made me want to ask for permission to crash on her bed, in fact.

The lady however, pulled me out of my thoughts when she got up to her feet with smiles on her face as she asked, "Hey cousin! To what do I owe this visit?"

"I will be needing a makeover for her. A complete makeover." Aiden went straight to the point, pulling me by my hand until I stood before him.

"What happened, though?" The woman looked so concerned as she analyzed my looks. "Kassie would never look like this out of the ordinary. Did something happen?"

Oh, great. She thought I was Kassie.

I had to correct her, just to make her work easier, so I started, "You are absolutely right about that, I—"

"Kassie got into an accident and she developed amnesia. The doctor said she may eventually get those memories back if we showed her how happy she used to be with these memories. So, first step… get her to look exactly like she used to."

The woman ‘oohed’, then smiled warmly at me and said, "Welcome to Elle's beauty parlor, Kassie. My name is Elle, I own the business. We would get you looking your best in no time."

Once again, I yearned to say that I was not Kassie, but Persy… and once again, Aiden made sure I did not speak, squeezing my hand in his until it hurt when I tried to say something.

"Ow!" I cried out. He handed me over to Elle and whispered against my ear, "Behave."

With that, he turned and exited the room.

"Let's get started?" Elle suggested, and took my hand before I could say anything, leading me out of her office.

A whole four hours passed before I stood before a mirror, staring at a completely different version of me, with Elle standing behind me with a huge smile. My skin was fresh and much more softer now, my hair was even more luscious and my designer maxi dress was simple yet very elegant. I stared at the picture of Kassie in Elle's phone and noticed that I looked very much like her now. She had more flesh than I did though, but it was not very noticeable.

"You look splendid! Now, this is Kassie! Aiden would be so pleased when I send your pictures to him!" She gushed, snatching the phone from me in excitement.

What had I really signed up for?