Chapter - 3

Isabella's pov;

"May we go, ma'am?" The driver motioned for me to enter the vehicle.

When the driver attempted to open the door for me, I told him, "It's all right. I can do that by myself."

"It's also my job, ma'am." He opened the door and stood beside the car's door like a chauffeur out of a fairytale.

I stepped inside the car, and he carefully closed the door behind me. He climbed into the driver's seat and began driving the car.

After a few moments, I broke the silence by asking, "Is your boss wealthy?"

"Ma'am, yes. He is."

"How does he make this much money?"

"Ma'am, he's the CEO of Skyland Corporation."

CEO??? That clarifies a lot! Skyland corporation. I've seen it in the telivision once being one of the biggest companies in the business industry. And, I heard it's hard to get a job there.

The car came to a stop, and just as I was about to open the door, the driver rushed in and opened it for me.

I got out of the car and looked at the house in front of me. Actually, I shouldn't call it a house. It appeared to be a castle. When I tried to depart the house this morning, I didn't consider how big it was. Now that I think about it, it was enormous.

One of the butlers from the house ran up to me and said, "Our master is anticipating your arrival, ma'am. Let us go inside."

Master? Is that still how people refer to the owners? What year do they believe they are in?

I followed him inside the home, nodding.

When I walked into the house, the tiles looked rich and as if they were reflecting something from above. When I lifted my head above to see what it was. There was a magnificent chandelier hanging over me. When I first saw it, I was in awe. It was my first time seeing something like this in person because I'd only seen it on television when they showed advertising for it.

"Shall we enter, ma'am?"

That brought me back to reality. I followed him into the house. He led me to a large room where the strange guy who approached me yesterday was sitting and there was a guy wearing glasses standing by him, talking with the strange guy.

I entered and approached him.

"I knew you'd show up."

I sighed and sat across from him on the couch, asking, "What do you want with me?"

He handed me some papers and asked me to look into it. It appeared to be some medical information about someone as I read it.

"Who's this?"

"Mine."

Yeah. I had no idea what this strange guy's name was until now. I re-read it and double-checked the patient's name.

"Alexander Mar...to...ti..."

"Alexander Martinez here. Address me as Mr Martinez."

"You mentioned shaking hands at school, so why am I looking at your medical report?"

He sighed and motioned for the man next to him to speak up.

He stepped forward and pointed something in the report and said, "To know the reason for holding hands."

When I looked at it, "Hae...Hae… hae pha…"

The glasses-wearing gentleman stated, "Haphephobia. It signifies that the person who has this phobia is afraid of contact or being touched."

"What is it got to do with me?"

"Mr Martinez didn't have that phobia when you held his hand. Your touch had no effect on him."

"So, what are you attempting to do here?" I asked Mr Martinez.

Mr Martinez instructed the man next to me once more. He removed a piece of paper from his file and handed it to me and said, "Read it,"

When I looked at the paper, I noticed a big headline: 'CONTRACT AGREEMENT.'

"Contract???"

"Read it thoroughly."

I started reading the contract. As a result, topic A refers to him, while subject B refers to me. There were some restrictions to follow as well as some perks. I ignored the rules and went straight to the benefits section. 'Subject B should report every Tuesday and Thursday of the week. Subject B receives $100 for every minute that Subject A is awake.'

"For each and every minute? Are you serious? Is this some sort of joke?"

"Everything in the contract is true, ma'am." remarked the man standing next to me.

"I must be lucky then," I responded with a chuckle.

"And, ma'am, don't forget to read the termination condition."

"Termination circumstance?" I went through the contract and read what he said.

'If Subject B fails to carry out the tasks and responsibilities described in this contract, Subject A may cancel it at any time and without warning. Subject B should compensate Subject A with ten million dollars if the assignment is not completed.'

"TEN MILLION DOLLARS??" my eyes practically popped out.

Mr Martinez, "Only if you violate the terms of the contract."

"Do you truly require a written contract?"

"Go ahead and sign it if you want money. You are free to leave if you do not wish to. I'm not bringing you here by force, and I don't want to do it that way."

What do I do now? Should I sign and take the money, or should I refuse and leave?

I remembered my... mother... Mom has been caring for me since my drunken father left. Mom suffered greatly since she did not have a consistent source of money. I'm studying thanks to a scholarship I earned while playing basketball. Despite the fact that I alleviated half of her concerns regarding my education tuition, she became anxious for money, leading her to purchase lottery tickets. She became addicted to it and began purchasing a large number of tickets whenever she returned home from work. My mother began receiving loan money because the money was insufficient to support us. Debts began to accumulate on the opposite side.

Even though I really need money, I can't sign this contract and get trapped in this money-revolving world like my mother.

I stood up from my seat and said, "Thank you for the offer but I'm sorry, but I can't sign this."

I turned and began to walk out of the room.

When I tried to leave, I heard him say, "I'll give you 24 hours to think about this."

I walked out of the house without looking back.

"Are we leaving, ma'am?" inquired the butler.

"I'm taking the bus."

I walked out of the premises of that big house and headed out.

I was walking to the bus terminal when I remembered something that happened not long ago. We shouldn't trust rich people so easily, they're not trustworthy, my mother always told me when we went out.

When I got close to my residence, the lights were off. Mom hasn't arrived yet, I believe. I walked in, opened the door, and shut it behind me. After turning on the lights, I changed out of my school uniform into my home clothes. I opened the windows to look for my mother. I couldn't find her anywhere, so I went to the stove and boiled some instant noodles in water before setting the timer.

While the noodles were cooking, I went through my school bag and took out my notebook to do my homework. I heard the timer go off while I was halfway through my schoolwork. I rose from my seat, turned off the burner, and took the noodles and the hot pan, holding the handle with a cloth, and placing it beside me as I sat at the table.

While slurping the noodles, I did my schoolwork on the other side. After finishing with dinner and the homework, I put my notebook back into my backpack and got ready for school the next day.

I heard someone knocking on the door. I believe it's Mom.

I approached the door and opened it to find that it was not my mother but an unknown man, who was accompanied by two other men.

"Where is your mother?" The man who came to my door inquired.

"She hasn't returned home yet. Why are you inquiring about my mother? Who are you?"

"Your mother owes us money, sweetheart," one of the men stated.

I couldn't say anything else since I knew what I was up against.

"When will she arrive?"

"I-I'm not sure."

"Does she store money around the house?"

"What?"

They stormed inside and looked about the house, exclaiming, "Do you call this a house?"

"It's not even as big as a public restroom," he laughed.

Another man inquired, "What happened to your father? When will he arrive?"

"I don't have a father."

"How do you know you don't have a father?"

He took a step closer to me.

As he approached, I stepped back. I couldn't back up since there was a wall behind me. He pushed me to the wall with his hands on either side of me, asking, "How old are you?"

"L-Let go off me... let me go," I whispered, turning my head to the opposite side.

The other guy said, "Hey, what are you doing with that girl?"

The guy who's in front of me took his hands and walked to him saying, "I was just teasing her."

The three guys waited and left after saying, "If your mom comes home, inform her that we'll be coming here again tomorrow."

I shut the door and sobbed on the floor, thinking about what had just happened. I slept without realising it and awoke to the banging at the door. I was worried thinking about who could be this time.

It was mom, I discovered when I glanced through the window. I wiped my tears away and opened the door for her.

"Did you finish your dinner?" She entered with something in her hand.

I withdrew it from her hand and placed it on the table, informing her that some men had come looking for her and would be back tomorrow.

"I'll look after it. What did you have for dinner?"

"Instant noodles."

"How many times have I told you that you shouldn't eat that? It's bad for your health. Okay. Come on, people. Eat with me."

"I'm not in the mood to eat, Mom."

She opened the bag, took a few boxes, and placed them on the table, adding, "Come take a look. I purchased your favourite today."

I approached her and checked the contents of the box, "Chicken nuggets!"

"They were selling while I was on my way, and I knew you'd like it, so I bought it for you."

"Does it benefit my health, Mom?"

"Actually, Favorites are excluded from that category," she remarked, flicking my brow. That made me smile.

"Did you complete your homework?"

I nodded and began munching on the chicken nuggets from the boxes. We went to bed when we finished eating.

I'll get more money if I sign the contract. I'm sure we can pay off all of our current bills with that amount. Yes. I intend to sign the contract.

The next day at Mr Martinez's house,

"I know you'll come back," says Alexander Martinez.

I came straight to his place after finishing school.

His aide handed the document to me to sign. I looked over the contract and remembered what had happened at home the day before. Those people. My mum. Tears began to fall down my cheeks without my knowledge. I wiped the tears off my face.

I took the pen to write my name and put a date on it before handing it to him and asking, "When should I come?"

"What made you cry?"

"N-Nothing."

Mr Martinez turned to the man next to him and inquired, "What made her cry? What occurred?"

"I believe she's thinking about what happened yesterday, Sir."

"What happened the day before?"

"When I arrived at her residence, I noticed three men exiting her home, sir. They appeared to be some thugs. I'm sure that those guys will not come after Ms Garcia after being punched by me. I let them go when they begged me, Sir."

I stood there, surprised, and inquired, "What exactly did you just say? ... Did you just tell me you beat those guys?"

He nodded, prompting me to rush over to him and hug him while exclaiming, "Thank you incredibly much. This is something I'll never forget."

When I heard Mr Martinez cough, I had to break the assistant's hug.

I inquired of the helper, "What is your given name? I'd never heard your name before." After I hugged him, he seemed stunned. I chuckled and asked for his name once more.

"Johnson, Noah."

"Noah. Noah, I like your name. Noah is the name of my friend in my class. Can I address you as Noah rather than Mr Johnson?"

Noah stared at Mr Martinez as if he was asking for permission.

"What's the point of staring at him? Please respond. Can I address you as Noah?"

When Noah nodded when I was expecting an answer, I smiled and said, "Thank you, Noah."

Martinez stated, "Are you finished with the introduction? Please have a seat here."

"Does he always act like that?" I muttered to Noah.

Noah motioned for me to sit as Mr Martinez had instructed.

I took the seat in front of Mr Martinez once more and asked, "When should I begin my work?"

"Follow the terms of the deal."

"All OK, Sir." "Then I'll take my leave, Sir," I remarked as I walked away, making Noah laugh.

"See you later, Noah."

While I was walking away, he grinned and waved.

When I walked out of the house, all I could think was, "All our obligations will be paid, mum."