Intimate Stranger
Prologue
A stranger? How could I attempt something like this? It would surely be a recipe for disaster. I didn't know what I was feeling I didn't know how I would survive this arrangement. A blackmail is surely not the best way to start a marriage now is it ?
But then again I wasn't blackmailed, not really. I smiled and blinked back the tears in my eyes. What I was doing was justified. My father needed me, he needed my help and I wasn't going to deny him that. Even though we never got along his heart was weak and I could make it all better. No I wasn't a doctor but one simple word could change everything for us. Our past was not a nice place to visit, our present was equally bleak and our future didn't look good either.
I always wanted to be a teacher and I wasn't going to give this up. No matter what the cost, the price, I was going to achieve my goal and in the process I would make my dad happy. People say that money don't bring happiness but maybe they provide some kind of relief. When your whole life has been a joke, when your own mother has never cared for your well being your perception is changed, values are redefined and the end justifies the means.
At nights I disgust myself. I wonder how my partner in crime feels. I kind of feel sorry for him. I feel sorry for myself as well but if he is involved with someone then the poor guy must be desperate at the moment. Being in love with someone and then getting married to someone else must feel like a suicide.
Oh well. He could always deny this marriage. I know I won't, I'm too stubborn to do this and I have nothing to lose but then again I don't have a boyfriend and I'm not sure I even have a heart. Surely if I had one it would prevent me from becoming a gold digger. But the remorse and all the regrets that haunt me at night seem to disappear in the morning and I become more and more determined to accept this union, to become the wife of an almost stranger even if it is only for a few months and acquire the money my father and I need.
I'm going to say yes. My whole life is about to change for the better or maybe for the worse but you never know. My mother always talked about taking risks about putting yourself out there cause that's the only way for the soul to fly according to her. As I was sitting in my car that incredibly rainy afternoon I was wondering. Am I about to sacrifice my soul or give it its wings? I guess I'm about to find out soon.