Chapter 1: Contractually Yours

Jem's POV 

It’s a stormy night, and I’m just returning from my mother’s hospital when the rain starts to fall heavily.

I have no option but to run under a tiny metal shelter near the bus stop, where I wait for the storm to calm so I can catch the last bus home.

I barely notice how drenched I already am. I just wrap my arms around myself and continuously tap my feet against the pavement to keep warm.

The storm had chased everyone else away hours ago. Now it was just me… and the sound of rain dropping on the metal roof where I sat. 

There are no buses. No people. Just me and the streetlight across the road, flickering weakly like it might give up and die at any second.

No matter how much I try to distract myself, I can’t stop thinking about how pale Mom’s smile looked before I left her ward. Instead of pushing the memory away, I only sink deeper into it.

I remembered how the doctor avoided my eyes when he talked about “funding issues” and how my mother will soon be moved out of the hospital… to a general hospital for cheaper care.

“Funding issues!” The words kept ringing in my ears. I bet that was the most polite way of saying your son can’t afford to keep you alive anymore.

I wasn't feeling the cold anymore.

Right now, all I could feel inside of me was pure disappointment.

I'm disappointed in myself.

I ran my fingers into my hair as I stared at the road before me, but I wasn’t seeing it.

All I could see was her—Mara.

Mara was my girlfriend, now my ex…

I could remember the first time she’d sat beside me in the university library, her shoulder brushing mine like it was an accident.

The way she smiled at me screamed of a woman deeply in love.

The way she reached out to me and made me tell her everything about the scholarship foundation and how I managed to get into the school despite my poor background.

And I'd asked her why she got into law school and I'll never forget her response, “I hate corruption, so I want to help expose it.”

God, I had believed her. In fact, I fell in love with her instantly.

Another drop of water slides from my hair down my chin as I remember how Mara and I were just fine a few hours ago, before everything fell apart.

Three years ago, I was in my first year and my relationship with Mara had just started. We became inseparable.

We started off as study partners, then slowly we turned into investigation partners. 

We became the top best law students for the semester… people knew us and thought we were just perfect for each other.

And just somewhere between case files and coffee stains, I'd fallen deeply in love with Mara… somehow I couldn't go a day without fucking her.

Slowly, she became my second half and I'd told her things I had never told anyone—about my mother’s illness, about working three jobs, about the fear that if I failed, everything in my life would collapse.

I opened up to Mara. She saw me, she knew my fears.

I can remember how she'd held my hand and said, “You won’t fail. I’m with you.”

While I was still lost in thought, a car suddenly sped past me, and the screeching sound of tires hissing on the wet floor dragged me back to the present for a brief second.

I shook my head and swallowed hard. “Stop thinking about her, Jem!” I warned.

How can I stop thinking about her?

How am I supposed to believe that Mara never loved me all these years, and she was just using me?

Honestly, I saw the signs, but just that it didn't make much sense at that moment. 

Sometimes around last year, most of the private meetings we held, the contents of discussion got leaked.

Physical evidence started to disappear.

Criminals that we were just about to track down started to stay one step ahead of our investigation. Somehow they knew our next move even before we strike.

I had blamed myself, thinking I’d made mistakes, missed something. I never suspected her. I never imagined it would be her.

I suspected everyone in my team but never did I think about Mara as the spy.

She knew my weak points and used them against me—got me drunk, rode me real hard, until I didn’t just spill out cum, I ended up spilling all my secrets to her too.

I trusted her.

I never imagined that while I was dreaming about building a future with her, Mara was busy negotiating my downfall.

I replayed Mara's smile in my head as I began to question if maybe I really deserved any of what happened to me today.

Maybe I missed something.

Maybe Mara tried to tell me.

Maybe I was just too blind to see the signs—the warnings.

For a second… the thought suddenly came to my mind, “What if I just disappear?”

But then I saw Mom’s face again—sick, dying and helpless.

And just like that, the thought died down, followed by how the incident had happened earlier today.

It was after my morning lectures—Mara and I were stepping out of the school premises to go grab breakfast.

Then there were security guards waiting outside our lecture hall. 

Then it happened like a dream. I was being accused.

My name is now tied to the very criminals Mara and I have been trying to expose. Every day, we work nine extra hours, piecing together evidence just to take down this same mafia group.

And just like that, I became a traitor.

They claimed I was the traitor all these years who has been leaking confidential information to the criminals and they've evidence that I'm working directly with them.

Students had already gathered around us, pointing fingers at me for something I didn’t even know about.

Then everything became clearer the minute Mara was called out as a witness who saw me in the point of making physical transactions with the said criminals.

Everywhere blurred at the moment.

I turned around and waited for Mara to deny everything… to step out and grab my hand and tell them I was innocent.

But no.

Mara stepped back slowly, pointing her trembling finger at me, “Yes, it's him. I saw him. He even told me to join him and get rid of all evidence against the criminals.” she said.

My eyes watered instantly.

I didn't even realise when I rushed forward to grab her at once, “What are you saying, Mara?” I screamed. “What happened to you?” I shook her roughly and she began to cry.

“Stop, you're hurting me,” she begged.

The security guards didn't hesitate before they rushed towards me and separated me from her.

Almost all the students had gathered around the faculty, so I just stood there confused and lost.

Frozen faces of my classmates stared at me with judgemental eyes. Disappointed eyes of professors lingered from the corners. 

Within that second, my scholarship was instantly terminated. Every single one of my access into the university was revoked. My reputation was shredded in a single morning.

And Mara?

I didn't get to have that breakfast with her and she just stood there, in the back of the crowd, eyes wide with fake shock… while she watched the guards drag me out of the school premises.

She hadn’t even looked guilty.

She looked safe. Happy.

I ran a hand over my face, rain and tears mixing together.

I told myself it was just the storm. But deep down, I knew I was going crazy.

I still couldn't believe everything that had just happened to me today.

Now, because of Mara, my mother’s medical support had been cut off immediately. Of course, the foundation wouldn't fund the family of a criminal… except I'm not the criminal here.

Nobody will believe me anyway.

Even after they dragged me out of the school today, I still couldn't believe it… so I sat by the school gate for about an hour or two. I didn't know where to go. 

It was after a while that I got a call from my mother's doctor, he wanted me to come to the hospital immediately.

I rushed to the hospital without a second thought, and the doctor didn't hesitate before dropping the bombshell. Mom's weekly dialysis has stopped… The people sponsoring the bill have cut it off, and I’ll have to cover the payments myself—otherwise, Mom will be transferred to a general hospital for lesser care.

Everything that was ever dear to me has now been taken away from me—my dream to study law and become the most popular lawyer around the world—and the choking need to take good care of my sick mom.

I straightened slowly on the bench, I was completely tired to the bones.

The rain is refusing to stop.

If I stay here, I freeze. If I go home, I have nothing.

If I want Mom to live, I need money. And at this point, I don’t care what it costs.

Right now, if a devil appeared and offered me a deal in exchange for my future, I wouldn’t hesitate. I’d sign it away without a second thought.