NEW RULES

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 herself

She arrived at the office building at exactly 9:24 pm and was directed by the receptionist to a part of the building after she had stated her name. Elizabeth thought fleetingly about how where she was headed was not the route to his office, the place she had been led to the first time she was here before the door opened.

“Come in, Elizabeth” a voice from inside called.

She walked in clutching her purse like a lifeline and came face to face with him, Jason. He was looking at her like she had just dropped from the sky and she was feeling pretty uncomfortable.

“Take a seat, you look nice by the way. Can I offer you anything before we begin?” He asked

Elizabeth blushed to the roots of her hair, muttered a no, thank you and took a seat facing him.

“I know we have both agreed to the details in the contract but I would still like to go over them with you one last time before it is sealed. You graduated top of your class according to the documents I am holding.”

“Yes I did”

“Well that’s great, we can say you are not stupid which is a good thing.” He said

Elizabeth glared at him but nodded, waiting for him to continue, meanwhile her mind was already dissecting his comment about her dressing.

She looked nice, he had said.

“Earth to Elizabeth, what the fuck are you thinking about?”

“I’m sorry, you were saying?”

“I was asking you a question Elizabeth, about how you would feel if your egg is used for the procedure.”

“My egg? Don’t you have someone else’s egg in place for fertilization. I am not much of a science person but I am pretty sure that is how it works.”

Elizabeth stuttered, her mind going back to all of the research she had done on surrogacy.

“You are right and I should indeed have an egg ready but I don’t and you don’t look so bad yourself, your blood group and type matches mine and it says here that you have no underlying illness and no inherited medical condition. You are as fit as they come so I was wondering how using your egg would sound. Before you refuse, I have made plans to draw up a new contract if you accept. I will be paying double the money and instead of five years after, we could make it six.” He said waiting for her reaction.

Elizabeth was dumbfounded at the amount of money that was being mentioned just so one of her eggs could be used. She could already imagine her mother alive and well and thanking her for taking such risk.

“You are smiling” Jason noted

He was pretty sure this girl was crazy but a mysterious type of crazy. He wanted to know what it was she was thinking about that had made her smile in such a way but he knew she would never tell him.

“I would have to think about this whole thing, I mean this is new and I need time to think about it.”

“I am afraid I do not have much time on my hands but I understand your need to think about this new situation, so I would be giving you till noon tomorrow to come up with a response.”

“Noon! That is so soon, this is a life changing decision and I would like more time to think.”

“Life changing because your eggs are now being taken into consideration? Elizabeth, I have no time for this like I stated earlier, you will give me a response by noon so I can move on from this once and for all. What difference does it make if your egg will be used, I don’t see what the fuss is about.”

“The fuss is that before I thought it would just be a baby cooking inside me who Is totally unrelated to my DNA but right now saying you want one of my eggs changes everything, I would be a mother to the baby genetically.”

“Noon, Elizabeth. Think about it and give me a response by then.”

“Fine, you will have an answer by noon tomorrow.” Elizabeth retorted, she was sure it looks could kill, the man before her would be dead already and she knew, he was thinking exactly that too.

“Thank you, I would have my secretary see you out”

“I can find my way out, there is no need for that. Have a great day Mr Rodrigues.”

“And you too, Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth got up, her knees shaky and her head fresh with ideas on how she was going to invest that much money into her mother’s treatment and her brother’s football career. She was absolutely giddy with excitement and was tempted to let out a whoop but refrained herself.

“One more question, Elizabeth.” Jason’s voice stopped her hand on the door knob.

“Yes?” She said turning around to face him.

“You are not a virgin, are you?” He asked, eyebrow raised.