A Wife for the Billionaire
Chapter 101: SOFIA

Chapter 101: SOFIA

Perhaps I had been too quick to make assumptions, because his face betrayed no emotion as he callously explained,

"Bung fu, adrip, bombed, flooey, corned, razzled, they all fucking mean the same thing, so do you get the idea now?"

"So you’re telling me that you sent such a text by 11pm because you were drunk? How typical" I surmised.

Pulling his chair, more like rolling it since I didn’t hear a squeak and how it effortlessly rolled into position, the damn thing must have wheels. He said,

"As much as I hate to acknowledge it, but that pretty much sums it"

"Hmmm," I mused, cupping my jaw like someone in deep thoughts, "be that as it may, people are usually more truthful when intoxicated, so yeah, it’s either you tell me the truth or we can keep this shit going"

He muttered something under his breath.

"What was that? I asked, "don’t tell me you talk to your lapels now"

After the morning I just had, I was enjoying this immensely. It was so satisfying to momentarily forget the caprices of my life and taunt another.

He was very angry now, his tongue bulged on his cheek and his fingers clenched again to a fist.

And when he spoke, he wasn’t at all merciful,

"At least, I can own up to my mistakes, but what about you? What would you say that prompted you to dress like a slut to an official appointment, was it weed or wait a minute, are you high?"

He was good, very good. I wager at high school, he was one of those students who badmouthed others and was pretty good at it that no one else held a candle to him.

"This," I pointed to my outfit, "was not by choice"

"Oh really," he said, leaning forward, "so you want me to believe that you were coerced into wearing that, but I have to ask, was it by someone or certain objects of intoxication?"

He knew he had turned the table, that he had the winning hand now and he flaunted it like a prize.

"That’s why I hate your kind, you are always quick..."

"My kind?" He iterated.

"Privileged pricks," I offered, immediately shutting him up as I continued, "you are always quick to dismiss the sufferings of others as a joke. A trivial matter, and that is the height of your insolence"

His eyes narrowed, as if he saw or noticed something. Never have I ever felt exposed. More than anything, I wanted to sit down, but if I did now he would capitalize on that. Asking why I didn’t sit when I first came in.

Reclining on his chair, he asked,

"So, tell me, have you made a decision yet and what’s your answer?"

I tsked. Typical of him to wave off my statement like it meant nothing, and the mature thing to do would have been to follow his lead and answer his question, but this wasn’t one of those times. He doesn’t get to make me feel like shit and go free, I was winning before and I must reclaim that.

"Why did you do that?" I asked.

He couldn’t even hide his confusion, when he asked, "Do what exactly?"

"Dismiss my words like they are of little consequence, like I don’t matter" I replied, regretting it immediately. I sounded like a child fussing for her mother’s attention.

"I just thought you wanted this to be over as soon as possible, and before you lie, it’s clear in your mannerisms, why else would you not want to sit down?"

As much as I hated it, he was right. I wanted whatever this is to be over, especially as it held little to no chance of change to my predicament.

"You are right, I want this to be over as quickly as possible, so yes, I have made a decision and my answer is no"

A flashlight of surprise, marred his features for only a second, before it disappeared as if it was never there to begin with, and he asked,

"Why?"

To be honest, I didn’t think he would ask that. I thought he didn’t care whether or not I took the job, unless... he really needed me.

"I can’t take the job, because I’m not cruel enough to pull the rug from under a man who has been nothing but kind to me ever since our paths crossed. I just can’t do that"

He remained silent for a while, as if taking in my words, then he said,

"I never saw you as one of the good ones, at least not one to pass up such a once in a lifetime opportunity especially for a boy. A boy who only showered you with something as slight as kindness"

He didn’t understand and I didn’t expect him to, all his life he has never known cruelty or how stifling the hands of unkindness could be.

"You will never understand" was all I could bring myself to say.

"Oh I understand just fine, let me guess, you are not used to kindness and because a boy showers you with a token, it becomes everything to you" he accused.

"Here we go again, you think you know me. That you understand what my life is like, but I’ll have you know that I didn’t just turn down this job for him. I did it also for me, because I’ve decided to succumb to my fate, it was no use fighting in the first place. How foolish of me to think I even had a fighting chance"

That wasn’t how I expected that to go. I hadn’t expected to reveal a side of my vulnerability and it was late now, I couldn’t take it back. And I knew he might pick at that vulnerability, until I’m reduced to yet another defeat.

Surprisingly, he didn’t, instead, he asked in a tone softer than the previous ones,

"What happens to your dreams, or have you forgotten about them already?"

My eyes, became heavy with tears, as I remembered the so called dreams he spoke of. Dreams that now, feels like castles built in the air, there, only for a fraction of time and lost in the next glance.

I couldn’t allow myself to cry in front of him. I couldn’t give him that win. So I sniffed back my tears and said,

"Those dreams don’t matter anymore, and whether or not I take this job, it won’t matter. Like someone said, ’dreams are for those who can actually actualize it, not for someone like me’"

He leaned forward again, his eyes upon me piercing and once again I felt too exposed before his scrutiny. And even though I had revealed yet another side of my vulnerability, I tried to stand straighter and match his stare.

It wasn’t easy, especially as time stretched. My poise almost failed me just before he surmised,

"It sounds like you don’t have a choice"

"I don’t suppose you know what that

feels like, to have yourself stripped of the right to decide your own fate, to make your decision and chart your own course" I found myself saying, too weary to keep up the bravado, especially when I’m certain that there’s a chance we might never see each other again.

Let him take the win, I don’t fucking care. I have a lot on my plate to add more to it. Why fight for dignity, when it has been stripped of me? Why try to be brave, when I have been reduced to a coward? A coward with no hope, no fighting chance and no choice, but to submit and succumb to my already decided fate.

Not meeting my gaze, almost as if he was ashamed to acknowledge what he was about to say, he said,

"As much as I hate to say this, but I actually relate to what you are saying, you might not believe it, but my life now is just as choiceless as you described and I think we might help each other change that"

"Change that," I intoned, "did I hear you wrong?"

He chuckled at my confusion, but it wasn’t the mocking kind. This was one of pure amusement.

"Take a seat, let me enlighten you" he said, gesturing to the pair of leather chairs before him.

I remained where I stood, not trusting this humane side of his. It felt like a move, a ploy and any wrong move, I might find myself face flat in yet another slum of defeat.

But in truth, I was tired. My legs burned from standing for too long and my waist ached to sit. So, if this was one of his twisted games, I didn’t care. And what was a slight defeat in the face of the ultimate one?

"Just sit, I don’t bite and it’s no games, we may not have known each other for long, but you can trust me when I say something for I’m a man of my word." He nudged.

Slowly, reluctantly I made my way to the seat at the right and sat. Intrigued by what he had to offer.