Out of Contracts, Into Love

I proposed to my benefactor that we end the contract, explaining that I had earned enough money and wanted to start a sweet romance.

Jonathan pulled me into his arms and gently ran his fingers through my hair, asking, "What's this about? Did you want a bonus again? Or maybe a raise?"

1

Back when I was in school, my classmates envied me because my "boyfriend" was handsome and loaded. Most importantly, he spoiled me rotten.

Yes, everyone, even my best friend, assumed he was my boyfriend. Only I knew the truth. He was just my benefactor, and there wasn't a shred of real affection between us.

It all started when I was heading back to school from a part-time job. Some thugs cornered me on the way.

With no options left, I faked an accident by bumping into Jonathan's car. I never imagined that little stunt would land me a five-year gig. The job? Playing Jonathan's "girlfriend" to shield him from his family's marriage nagging.

"Why did you pick me?" I asked. "I've never even dated. I wouldn't know how to help you dodge your family's pressure."

"It doesn't matter," he replied. "Your student status does the trick. If my grandparents or mom pushed me to settle down, I could just say you're still in school and not ready to marry."

"Oh, uh, let me think about it!" I hadn't even had a boyfriend yet. How was I supposed to jump into being someone's fake "girlfriend" like that?

"Base pay is 100, 000 a month," he said. "If you come with me to the my parents' house for dinner or tag along to banquets, we'll settle extra fees separately."

"Deal! But I'm only selling my acting skills, not anything else. You have to promise me that." Love couldn't hold a candle to cash. I agreed to Jonathan's offer without hesitation.

"Sure," he said. "I'm not into a boyish figure anyway. We'll sign a contract."

"Boyish figure? Have you ever seen a bean sprout like me?" I tugged at my baggy T-shirt. "Ever heard of oversized, old man?"

He glanced up at me, and my bravado fizzled out in an instant.

"Whatever. He's the one with the money. What he says goes." I thought to myself.

"Check the contract," he said. "If it looks good, sign it. You start tomorrow." Jonathan handed me the papers.

I had a hunch he'd planned this all along and I just happened to stumble into it.

I grabbed the contract and pored over it, more focused than I'd ever been during my college entrance exams. I read every single word. By the time I finished, half an hour had slipped by.

Jonathan didn't push me. He sat quietly, waiting until I was done.

"It's mostly fine," I said. "But you need to add that there's no physical contact."

"No physical contact?" he asked. "Do you think anyone would buy you as my girlfriend without some touching? There'd be necessary contact, sure. But don't worry, nothing over the top."

"Fair enough. You're the boss, you're right."

I had zero dating experience and no clue how to be a decent "girlfriend."

At first, I messed up a lot and ticked him off.

Whenever his tantrums or growing demands made me want to quit, I remembered that 100, 000 base salary. That thought alone jolted me into apologizing fast.

Plenty of people around Jonathan figured I was some master manipulator. They thought I'd somehow convinced him to ditch a slew of fancy socialites for a naive college kid like me, sticking by his side for ages and keeping his doting act going strong.

If only they knew what a giant misunderstanding that was. Sure, I was a naive college kid who'd been with him a long time. But he didn't fall for me. I was just his tool to block his family's marriage demands.

Jonathan came from old money, but his family wasn't like the ones in soap operas. They got along great.

Their only headache was the constant push from the older folks to see him wed. Now that I was in the picture, he could throw himself into work without distractions.

Why me as his fake "girlfriend"? He said I was young and still in school, so he could use my reluctance to marry as an excuse. Plus, I was easy to pay off. Fine. The rich folks' world was beyond me.

2

Before teaming up with Jonathan, I wished I could clone myself to juggle school and part-time jobs. Romance? No time for that.

Once I was with him, I dropped the side gigs and breathed easier. But I didn't slack off. I knew my moneymaking days by his side wouldn't last forever.

As a small-town girl from the countryside, I needed to build enough grit to land a solid job in this city after graduation.

When we signed the contract, Jonathan laid it out plain. My job was to fend off his admirers and his family's marriage talk. The base pay hit six figures, with bonuses tied to how well I kept the romantic pests at bay each month. So, in my downtime, I signed up for all kinds of skill classes.

I met Jonathan's mom for the first time during my sophomore year. I'd just gotten back to the dorm after class when my best friend Sirena burst in, all flustered, shouting that Jonathan's mom was outside waiting for me.

"She's not here to make you dump her son, is she?" Sirena asked.

"Probably not," I said. "Jonathan told me she's always on him to get married. Why would she want him to lose his girlfriend?"

"Are you dense? Pushing him to marry is one thing. Whether she likes his girlfriend is a whole other deal. Haven't you seen in shows and books how rich families obsess over matching status? What if she's here to slap a check in your face and tell you to ditch him?"

"So, if she hands me a check to break up with him, should I say yes? Or yes?"

"If you take it, guard that check with your life. Don't fold it, or it's no good at the bank."

I burst into laughter.

"Relax, I'm kidding. Go meet your future mother-in-law already! She's by the pear tree to the right of the dorm. Hurry up. I'll wait here."

Sirena kept cracking jokes as she shoved me out the door.

The second I stepped outside, I spotted a stunning woman under the pear tree. She wore a chic Chanel outfit, her thick, wavy hair spilling over her shoulders. She outshone our campus queen by a mile.

Sirena must've gotten it wrong, I thought. This wasn't Jonathan's mom; it had to be his sister. But he'd never mentioned a sister.

Still, chatting with someone that gorgeous melted my nerves away.

"Hi, miss," I said. "Are you Jonathan's sister? You came here for his girlfriend?"

She laughed. "You've got a sweet mouth. I'm here for you, but I'm not his sister. I'm his mom."

"Oh, I'm so sorry..."

"No worries, no worries. Come on, let's find a spot to talk." Jonathan's mom tugged me into her car and drove us to a nearby coffee shop.

So it was his mom. What did she want with me? Had Sirena nailed it? Was she here to break us up? If she really tried to buy me off with a check, would I go for it? Hmm, I'd figure it out on the fly, I decided. Breaking up or not depended on how big that check was. I stared out the window, lost in my thoughts.

"We're here. Hop out."

"Oh, right." I snapped back and followed her out.

Even as I sat down, I wrestled with whether to take a check and call it quits.

"Don't be nervous," she said. "I was just curious what kind of girl would catch Jonathan's eye. I had some free time, so I thought I'd swing by for a chat. What do you want to drink?"

"A latte's fine," I said. "Thanks."

"No need to thank me. I should thank you for putting up with my frosty son."

Wait, what? This wasn't right! She wasn't here to split us up! Damn, I even felt a tiny bit let down.

"Jonathan treats me really well," I said.

"Good, that puts my mind at ease. Don't give up on him, okay? He's a bit cold, but he's got great genes. The Dobson family has a long tradition of cherishing their wives. If he messes up, tell me. I'll have his dad sort him out."

I couldn't help laugh, "Got it."

I hadn't expected Jonathan's mom to be so down-to-earth.

Looked like I wouldn't have to stress about her giving me a hard time down the road.

3

After that meeting with his mom, I stepped fully into Jonathan's world. I tagged along with her on shopping trips and kept his grandparents laughing. I swatted away the endless stream of women chasing him and even joined his buddies' hangouts, clicking easily with their girlfriends.

Anything that might've slowed down his career, I cleared out of his way, never letting it bother him.

He appreciated it, and I could tell from my paycheck. It kept climbing every month. When he was in a good mood, it even doubled.

In the end, we both came out happy.

Sometimes, though, I hit little snags.

Jonathan's temper was unpredictable. He'd blow up out of nowhere.

Early on, I had no idea what to do.

Before "dating" him, I'd never been in a relationship. Total single-from-birth status.

I couldn't figure out why he got mad.

Our setup wasn't like a normal couple's anyway, so there was no playbook to follow.

I couldn't sweet-talk him like I did my dad. Even if he'd let me, I wouldn't have managed it.

But my paycheck hung in the balance. What choice did I have? I needed to crack the code to calm him down fast.

So, I put my yoga, cooking, dance, and painting classes on hold and threw myself into learning how to smooth things over.

Every time he flared up, I treated it like a science project.

I tested different tactics, hoping to nail down a quick fix for Jonathan's moods. He was my cash cow, after all.

If he got mad around payday, it'd hit my wallet hard.

I binged every rich-family drama and CEO romance novel I could find, trying out every trick.

After each cooldown, I wrote up a summary. Over time, once I'd stacked up 80 or 100 of those, I finally mastered the art of soothing Jonathan.

I figured that skill would come in handy later with cranky customers or bosses too.

Pretty neat, right? I hadn't planned on picking up a survival trick like that!

4

I stuck by Jonathan's side for five years. Five years could wear down anyone's resolve.

Mine was shaky to begin with. If I'd had real backbone, I wouldn't have ended up at just an average university.

Falling for Jonathan felt inevitable, I guess. He was amazing, and he treated me so well most of the time.

When did I realize I'd caught feelings?

About two years in, I noticed I couldn't stop staring at him.

Every new skill I picked up, he was the first person I wanted to show.

When I learned to draw, my sketchbook turned into a Jonathan gallery. Jonathan hard at work. Jonathan cooking for me. Jonathan teaching me to swim...

At first, when I knew I liked him, I wondered if I should walk away. But I couldn't bear it. Not him, and definitely not the money.

I didn't want to lose both. If I couldn't have his heart, I'd take his cash instead.

I decided I'd leave when I couldn't keep my feelings in check anymore.

In the end, the pull of money and my stubborn belief that I wasn't some lovesick fool kept me glued to his side.

But I misjudged myself. Three years later, I had the cash, but I'd lost myself too.

I fell head over heels for Jonathan, even convincing myself I'd be content just staying near him forever.

That bubble burst at a charity gala in September. While Jonathan mingled with business partners, his old flame Rena swooped in.

She glared at me with that haughty air and said, "You think Jonathan actually likes you? Let me set you straight. He doesn't like me, so there's no way he'd go for a hick like you from the sticks. You're just his little toy."

"He didn't tell you, did he?" she went on. "He's got a childhood sweetheart. They were thick as thieves growing up. If she hadn't gone overseas to study while he stayed here to take over the family business, you'd never have gotten near him."

"And if it's not me, it'd be you?" I shot back. "I'm the one by his side right now. Five years with him. You? He sees you as nothing but a wilted flower he needs to prune. Got that? Wilted flower."

"Looks like this high-society princess can't even measure up to a country bumpkin like me!" I fired back without missing a beat. It wasn't my first time getting flak, and I didn't have to bite my tongue like I did back when I was clueless.

Jonathan could handle any fallout anyway.

Since I'd started hanging around him, jealous women hadn't let up with the personal jabs.

Early on, I swallowed it to avoid stirring trouble for him.

Those girls were all heiresses. If things went south, I couldn't cover the cost.

But one time, Jonathan caught it happening and told me to stop putting up with it.

He'd deal with whatever came. He'd pushed me hard to go from clamming up to clapping back.

"You-" she sputtered. "Don't get cocky. Your lucky streak's about to run out. His childhood sweetheart's coming back next month. Let's see you strut then!" With that, Rena stormed off, her ten-centimeter heels clicking arrogantly.

A bit later, Jonathan wrapped up his schmoozing and headed my way.

"What did she want with you?" he asked.