Three conditions?

\VALERI’S POV\

''Hey Mama,'' Vivian speaks up after a very long time of just leaving me to my thoughts which I quite appreciate because it made me feel like she understood where I was coming from a little bit and she is trying her best to respect my decisions and also come to terms with them in the same way that I am, instead of her trying to force what she thinks is the best decision for me on me.

''I know that you are probably still trying to process your emotions after waking up from what your life looked like a year before this, only for you to relive those same events over again, and I promise you that I am trying to see things from your perspective',' she continues and I hold my breath because, from the way my bestie is carefully selecting her choice of words, it is obvious that there is more to the info that she is dishing out.

“I know that I must have mentioned earlier that we have all the time in the world to come up with a solid plan, but the truth is that the more I take a look at the overall situation the more I realize that we barely have time, we barely have the upper hand, and the only thing we have here is the memories of your past life which is not enough to turn things around 100% because the only things you know are the things that happened from your point of view, not the overall event that happened," she trails off and I start to reason things from her perspective.

“From what you have told me, the things that you know are way below the barest minimum for us to turn the tide around because you are still the typical Valeri that I know," she continues

“What is your definition of “the typical Valerie that you know?” I quickly cut in.

“The typical Valerie that I know is someone who feels cornered easily, someone who finds it difficult to say no to people or stand up for herself when she is being bullied, but she will move mountains when it comes to other people’s situations,” Vivian lists and I chuckle slightly.

“I was not expecting that but …. I guess that is a way to describe me,” I remark.

“What I am trying to say in essence is that we need a plan,” Vivian starts in a bit to convince me.

“We don't need a plan….” I cut in

“I already told you that I will be getting married to Grey Remington so stop stimulating your five senses to think of an escape plan for me, because even if you do come up with an escape plan for me, I won’t take it,” I make myself very clear in case she missed it the first time.

“That is the problem that I have with you,” she says springing up from the bed

“You are so stubborn Valerie……you are so stubborn and hardheaded when it comes to doing stuff for yourself and it is not nice at all because I know you to be somebody that will go through the extra mile for people,” she accuses.

“Ohhh please Vivian…” I stop her from going any further.

“No matter how uncomfortable we both are about this, I won’t be changing my decision to marry Grey Remington, and as a matter of fact, I will be checking the email that Matilda claimed that she sent to me so that I can sign the marriage contract A-fucking-sap, maybe by doing that it will register in your mind that I am not going to change my decision,” I warn her sternly.

“Let’s assume that I understand where you are coming from," she starts and I shoot her an utterly confused look.

"Are you going to just append your signature on the document without reading through to know what you are getting yourself into?” She questions batting her eyelid in shock.

"What is wrong with me doing that?" I answer her question with another question and she shoots me a dissatisfied look.

"Am I supposed to try negotiating something that holds the key to my mother’s life without proper leverage?" I send another question to her side.

"Goodness gracious!" she exclaims, holding her forehead as she starts to pace around the room like a hungry lion.

"For goodness sake Valeri you are not an illiterate, so you should know better that you have to go through every document thoroughly before signing it," she points out and I sigh.

"You claimed that being born into a family of lawyers has nothing to do with how you live your life because you will be living away from their strict laws, but it does because their rules are starting to influence how you think," I remind her

"Being born into the family of lawyers has nothing to do with this, it is just normal that you will go through a document before you sign it,” she objects.

"In this case, it is pointless going through the document because whether or not I see a clause that I am not satisfied with, I will still have to go through with the signing, so why bother?" I question her.

"You know what?" she suddenly starts waving her hand as if she wants to surrender, and that makes me raise an eyebrow at her.

“I don’t want to be that type of person that will argue my way into making you see things from my point of view just because I want the best for you, so……..if you dance, I will also dance,” she states and my eyes dart in her direction.

“Are you for real right now?” I question her to be double sure that she is not just trying to lead me on so that peace can reign.

“Of course, Riri,” she answers and I pause, sending her a suspicious look because I want to believe that her answer is surely going to come with conditions.

“On three conditions though,” she adds after waiting for me to say something but I don’t.

“Three conditions?” I question with my eyes widening in shock.