Elizabeth was led into one of the most beautiful house she had ever seen in her entire life.
It was furnished with taste and exuded class and affluence. The person who had ushered her in had taken one look at her shabby dressing and decided she must be one of the homeless on the streets always begging for some change or food.
It wasn’t until she had stated her business and mentioned the name of the secretary that she had been escorted in to wait. Elizabeth gazed around the house, she was awed by how many antique furnitures were present and effectively clashing against the modern equipments, it was almost like they were involved in a game of tug of war.
“The mister shall see you now.” The lady whom Elizabeth guessed to be the housekeeper said to her and led her into a small, also classy office.He was already seated and flipping through some papers in front of him.Elizabeth thought for a moment if those were her replacement, should she fail to either give him an heir or agree to the ludicrous demands in the contract she was holding.
“Sit. My secretary told me you are here to hand the papers over to me and discuss some things you found uncomfortable in the contract?”“Yes, I am. I haven’t signed it yet because I have series of questions as to how this is supposed to go.” Elizabeth answered, taking a seat in front of him“Good, I would have been startled if you did not have questions. So what part of all the clauses in that contract is hard to comprehend.”“The part that says once I move in with you, I won’t ever go back or anywhere without your permission and I am to be escorted even if I want to get some fresh air in the gardens.”“What was not clear?” He asked.Elizabeth stared at him like he had just sprouted a second head.Was he joking, was this his idea of a joke? She thought to herself as she stared, waiting for him to get the memo.Was this some kind of test directed at her to know her abilities at calming her anger?“Is this some sort of test or trick question whatever.” Elizabeth asked“No, it isn’t. What pray tell is not clear to you, I am a very busy man and as at right now, I have an ongoing meeting in the second room. I hardly have time for such shenanigan.”“Shenanigan? You are literally confining me for months if not years because I am going to be having your child. That clause of this agreement is nuts, I should have the right to move around without being shadowed by security.”“You are unbelievably outspoken today, aren’t you miss…”“Elizabeth… my name is Elizabeth”“Of course. It seems you still do not grasp the situation on ground, which is quite understandable seeing your type of person. You are becoming a surrogate to the top man of the country after the president, I have enemies who would love to see me in total shambles and I would not allow your stupidity cost me that. Like I told you yesterday, if you are having problems with the way things are going to be done, you are totally free to leave so I can move on to other interested parties.”“You are an absolute condescending jerk, do you know that?” Elizabeth said, glaring at the asshole in front of her.“Excuse me” Jason wasn’t sure he had heard her correctly.“You heard me quite alright, how dare you think you can speak to me in any manner you please because I am in this situation with you. Were you taught no manners? How dare you sit on your high horse and decide who you call stupid, you asshole.”Elizabeth knew she was kissing this surrogacy thing and the only hope for her mother’s treatment goodbye but she wasn’t about to allow this man speak to her like she was an irritating fly buzzing around his ear.Jason sat deathly still as he watched the girl in front of him rant, he could see that she was way past caring about who he was which he found absolutely commendable.Very few people could talk to him in such a manner; men and women alike.
“I have most certainly endured your condescending attitude but I have had it up to my neck with your choice of words to me. You will speak to me with respect and I do not give two fucks who you are. I am never signing this contract and you can kiss Satan’s ass on your way to hell.”Elizabeth did not wait to see the look on his face before she slammed the papers she was holding down on his table and practically fled.What the fuck have I just done? Elizabeth thought to herself as she made her way out, hailing a cab immediately.…“Did something happen?” Agatha, his housekeeper asked. She had seen the girl walk out in a rush and had wondered if something bad had happened. She has been working for the family of the Rodrigues' ever since Jason was a child and it was only right that when he had gotten his own apartment, she decided to become his housekeeper.He had that look on his face, the one he always had whenever he was shocked about something but a happy kind of shocked. Agatha wondered what the girl must have said to put him in such a mood.…Jason threw back his head for the second time that day and laughed… it felt absolutely good to laugh. She had cursed at him but he was feeling good… how crazy was that?.He had thought her weak and pathetic while she had been anything but that. Jason wondered what exactly it was that had made her try for the job of being his surrogate. True enough, there was no way he was going to employ her for that after the antics she had displayed in front of him but for the first time in a while, a woman had caught his attention.“You what?” Elizabeth’s friend, Mara screamed at her.Elizabeth after much deliberation had told her friend about the surrogacy thing and also that she had just botched the one job she had to do to take care of her dying mother.“You can’t be serious, I mean you talked about it at the club and I just assumed it was the drink talking cause we were both drunk but actually going through with it?”“I went alright, met the man I am supposed to have his baby and even went over to his house, it was almost settled. After nine months I am to be paid $80000 and then taken care of for five years after. Do you know how wonderful that is?”“Liz! Being a surrogate is a very big decision, I can’t believe you made such decision without telling me and how do you think your mother would feel when she hears you had to get pregnant to foot her bills, she would blow the roof down. Come on, this isn’t you talking.”“Well it is not going to happen ever again because I yelled at the man in question, you know
“What do you mean by you will be going away?” Darren, Elizabeth’s brother inquired as he watched her type away on her laptop. He could hardly understand why he had to be the one to take care of their mother at such young age, no offense or insult intended but he had his own life ahead of him and he could hardly imagine himself being bound by his ailing mother. To him he felt it was his sister’s job to take care of her and ever since their father had died some years ago, she had been doing that just fine without his help.“I need to go work to get money for her treatment, Darren. You just have to be with her for some months and I will be back. This is really important to me and it is literally the only thing that can get us out of this level.”“What kind of job is it? You know I am playing for the local football club and I just recently got selected to represent at the international level. I cannot botch this, coupled with the fact that I have school and a life.”“Who do you think is w
Elizabeth thought against putting on makeup, he had said dress nice but did that mean she had to look good for him. She did not want to look good for him but she still found herself applying some lips gloss, no need getting her lips chapped just so she could look gross.Her mother was still asleep when she slipped out of the house, she has been sleeping much these days, no doubt to conserve energy. She looked so fragile and this only strengthened Elizabeth’s resolve at going through with this surrogacy thing and getting her mother up and about again.Darren was also still asleep, he had come back very late at night, drunk and had called her a coward. She knew he meant nothing by it and it was only the booze talking but she could not help but think about what he had said.What if this was her own way of running away, by bearing another man’s child and claiming she was only doing it for her mother while she just wanted to escape, she thought to herselfShe arrived at the office building
CHAPTER SIX“What did you tell him? When he asked if you were a virgin, what did you say?” Mara asked, squatting in the floor beside me. They were picking beans for their dinner, Mara had plans to sleepover because Darren had practice and he was going to be spending the night at a friend’s place.Honestly Elizabeth knew that he was merely trying to get away from her for a while and their mother, seeing as she had sprung taking care of their mother for the duration of time she would be gone. She could hardly blame him for wanting to be free with the time he had left.“I panicked and I said no, now I regret it because what if he was asking because the procedure involves something going through my vagina. What am I going to do then?” Elizabeth wailed.“You have to tell him the truth, just let him know that you panicked and you are indeed a twenty four years old virgin, let’s see how well he would take you lying already. I am sure he would say ‘oh wow, that’s great. You are perfect for the
CHAPTER SEVEN“What decision have you made?” Jason asked over the phone.Elizabeth took a deep breath, she so desperately wanted to say yes, if not for anything but for the sake of her mother but she could not bring the words of her mouth.“Are you there?”“Yes, I’m sorry. I was just… forget it.”“Your answer, Elizabeth” Jason said, reminding her.“I really want to be a surrogate because of the money involved but I have thought about this so much and I don’t feel comfortable giving my egg out for your deed and I’m sorry if I have wasted your time but my answer is No.”“I see. Even if I tell you that you can keep the money and I would personally make sure your mother gets the best treatment, any doctor in the world has to offer? Would your answer still be No?”“How do you know about my mother?”“I have my sources, Elizabeth and I know she is the reason you are even considering doing the surrogacy. I understand and would like to take care of her treatment, you just have to say yes to bea
CHAPTER EIGHT“It says here that you want me to move in with you immediately the contract is signed?” Elizabeth asked in disbelief.“Yes” he answered“But I cannot do that, I need to say goodbye to my brother and my mother. I have a life I need to put on pause for the next year.”“I am well aware of your life, Elizabeth” he drawled on the word life as though she could ever call what she had a life.“Then you should understand why I cannot agree to the clause of this statement. I need a week after this to prepare myself.”“Two days”“Four days” Elizabeth argued.“Two is all I can give you, starting Monday, I want you to be ready. The doctors who will treat and check up on you from time to time will be coming over to this house. I am a very busy man and so I can only squeeze out two days.”“Fine, two days.” Elizabeth said, her face sullen.What was she expected to do in two days?“My driver will drop you after you finish eyeing that document and signing it?” Jason said breaking her inten
CHAPTER NINE“You would not believe who I just encountered.” Elizabeth was giddy with excitement. She had always had a crush on Lucien Rodrigues and this was ever since he came for a family donation to her high school some years back. He had changed a lot, because she did not recognize him until he said his name. He had offered to drive her home seeing as her clothes were ruined but she politely declined and then he had asked for her number.It was funny because seeing your crush after a long while and realizing you still have a huge crush on them tends to mess with the head. She had declined giving him her number and watched him drive away, slapping herself mentally.“What happened to your clothes, did you get in an accident?” Mara asked concerned.“It is nothing like that Mar, a driver splashed dirt of me.”“Assholes, they do not look where they are going just because they drive cars.” Mara fumed.“No, let’s make an exception to this one. You remember Lucien Rodrigues right? Younger
CHAPTER TEN“You are back.” Elizabeth said to her brother. He had been gone for two days since he claimed he was going for practice and although she had tried calling him, his number never went through. He nodded once and walked straight to him room and although it was at the tip of Elizabeth’s tongue to call him back and ask him where he had been, she didn’t.She and Darren were exactly five years apart in age and she had always been his big sister, she had always been there to defend him against bullies until he could properly take care of himself and then their father had died, leaving their mother to cater for them and now she was sick. Elizabeth could understand why he just wanted to do away with this life and his family forever.She contemplated going to talk to him about the whole surrogacy thing but decided against it,He wouldn’t understand, she thought sadly.“Aren’t you going to work?” Darren asked some hours later when his sister had not made any move to go out.“I have to