I never imagined that one day I would be paid to keep a marriage that never should have happened. Sure...people get drunk and get married to strangers, but normal people tend to get the marriage annulled immediately…...right?

"Next in line, please." I smile as the next customer comes up. A woman with hair that is a yellow blond compared to my dirty blond hair walks up. She wore an eye patch with a lightning bolt on it. She smiles back at me as I ask if she found everything okay.

"Yes, I did." She assures me. I notice that the book was title, "How to Treat Children Kindly 101."

She must have notice the quick rise of my eyebrow. "It's for my husband. He's not that good with kids." She explains in an embarrassed giggle. "He really is a good guy though."

"Marie. There you are." I turn to see a man with a stitched up lab coat on and a huge screw in his head.

No way. Please someone tell me that I'm seeing things.

"I was wondering where you wandered to." The man stated.

"You were taking too long in the knife store. I got bored." Marie said with a pout.

"D-Dr. Stein?" I questioned in a meek voice.

His glasses gleam as I receive his attention. He turns his screw a few times before a smile appears in recognition, "Maka."

"You know her, Honey?" Marie inquires.

"Yes. She is Spirit's daughter and one of my former students. A brilliant one." Stein explains. I beam at the compliment.

"Are you still studying to become a lawyer like your mother?" Stein asks.

I nod, "Yes sir." It's my dream to become as great of a lawyer as Mama.

"Well I'm sure that you're doing well and I'm not surprised to see you working in a bookstore." Stein looks back at Marie, "let's go."

He turns around to leave and waves his hand while saying, "Tell Spirit that I say hi."

"Bye-Bye! It was nice to meet you." Marie says as she catches up to her husband.

Who had any idea that Dr. Stein is married? I didn't know that there was a woman who wouldn't be afraid to get dissected in her sleep. Dr. Stein was my biology professor in high school. All we did we dissect in that class.

I shiver as I recall my time spent in his class. We once had to stop him from dissecting an endangered bird. I use to get nightmares of Stein standing over my bed with a scalpel... I shake my head to rid myself of these thoughts.

"Maka! Come unload our next shipments of books unto the shelves."

"Yes, Sir!" I work at a normal bookstore in the corner of the mall. I love books and working here part time is convenient, since it is close to my collage. Unfortunately, two of my co-workers got sick and I had to pull two double shifts this week. I have no idea how I got my homework done.

"Maka hurry up. We don't have all day." My manager has been a hard case all week, because of the lack of hands.

Today has not been a good day for me at all. I don't even want to think about this morning…eventually I'll have to resolve this…problem…I wince at the word..…marriage.

To add on to my horrible day, when I got home, I found an eviction notice on my door. That is not good. Working part time at a book store while paying for rent and living expenses is not enough. Luckily my scholarship covered my books for collage, but I still have to pay for the classes.

My father has offered me money to help pay for things, but I refuse to take it. I don't want any help from that useless idiot.

I continue to stock books on their appropriate shelves while mumbling,"Good for nothing…cheater…" I ignore the bell signaling that a new customer has arrived. I was too far in the back to notice a small exchange between my manager and the man. Soon the man was heading in my direction.

"Stupid…moron…" I continue to mumble until I was interrupted.

"Whoa…Who pissed you off?"

I whip my head around to respond. I was not in the mood. "My useless…!" I couldn't finish my thought, because I found myself looking into a pair of familiar red eyes.

"Hey." He said with that same stupid smirk from earlier this morning.

Today really is not my day.

Hmm…I found her. I thought to myself as I walked to the back of the store. It isn't hard to find someone, once you have the right information. Joe's smug look when he handed me the envelope made me want to smack him. I had to remember that he was useful.

The manager was easy to convince once he had a few Benjamin bills in his hand. He happily pointed out what direction she was in. I finally found her stocking some books onto a shelf. Her hair was pulled into a pony-tail. Sadly I noticed that she had no chest. I mourned at the thought.

Her work uniform required her to wear a skirt. I was happy to see that she had a great pair of slender legs; then again she was a skinny woman in the first place.

"Stupid…Moron…" I heard her grumble as I got closer. A thump noise could be heard as she stocked the shelf. Poor books. I'm sure that they were innocent to whatever her frustration was.

Since she hadn't seemed to notice my presence, I decided to make myself known. "Whoa…who pissed you off?"

She quickly turns her head, "My useless…!" She stops mid-sentence as her face clearly shows that she was flabbergasted at my sudden appearance in her workplace, which is totally understandable. I would be too if I was in her position.

I smile in amusement, "Hey."

"W-What are you doing here?" she nearly yells.

"We need to talk." I say calmly.

"I can't. I'm at work." She quickly explains while looking around to make sure that no one was near. She definitely wants me gone. Ha.

"I already talked to your manager. You're taking an extended break today. Let's go." I grab her arm to pull her along.

"Makaaaa-Chop!"

"Ow!" I clutch my head in pain, "What was that for?" I growl as my head pounds.

"I can't just leave like that!"

"I told you! I already cleared it with your manager!" I rolled my eyes at her as if she was too dumb to grab that concept.

She narrows her eyes at me, "we'll see about that." She stomps over to her manager. I walk over to the exit.

I watch as she converses with her manager. I grin as she sulks towards my way. I open the door, "Ladies first." My cocky smile made her cheeks puff-up in irritation. We headed to the nearest restaurant.

Now here comes the hard part…convincing her to agree…

"What would you two like to drink?" The waiter patiently waits for us to respond.

"I'll have a coke." The man across from me says.

"A sweet tea, please." I respond.

The waiter bows and leaves to get our drinks. For the past 5 minutes, I've been trying to figure out how this man convinced my manager to let me go. Judging by his black suit, he wasn't hurting financially. I settle on that he must have paid my manager off. It was a safe bet from my perspective.

"My name is Soul by the way. Soul Eater Evans." I gave him my attention. "Maka." I reply simply.

"I know. I had someone check up on you."

Of course he did since he knew where to find me. He's probably some sort of mind reading stalker. Soul places a marriage license paper on the table. Oh…well now I can rule out psychic stalker. My name was glaring at me on the paper. I wanted to shred it.

"Hmm…so you're here to talk about getting this annulled, right?" This was a reasonable guess.

"On the contrary, I want to make a deal with you." His face looked serious.

"Huh?" I was confuse.

Soul sighs as he tries to explain, "I come from a very strict family. My mother would be devastated if she knew and my grandmother would never let me live this down. Trust me. My family will find out about this marriage, even if it was short-term."

"Hmmhm..…" I was still skeptical about what he truly wanted.

"We need to wait at least a year before we get divorced."

"What?" My voice was in disbelief. I'm still young! I don't want to be known as the woman married to a rich man for a year then divorces him.

"I'll pay you." Soul quickly explains, "I know that you could use the money. Plus you'll need a place to stay soon and I have more than enough room. This way when my family comes, the marriage will seem real."

"Are you crazy?" I ask in bewilderment. "You can't expect me to stay at a stranger's place. I don't even know you!"

"You know my name and where I live." Soul points out desperately.

"I have no idea what you would do to me!"

He scoffs, "You don't need to worry about that. I'm not interested in tiny-tits."

He. Did. Not. Just. Say. That. "Makaaaa-Chop!"

"Ow! What is wrong with you, woman!" Soul says while gritting his teeth in pain.

The waiter comes at that moment to receive our orders. I'm too mad to eat. I just order the first thing that I see on the menu.

"I'll have the same." Soul hands the menus back to the waiter.

He waits for the waiter to be out of ear-shot before continuing, "Please just think about it. It'll only be for a year at most; maybe even less if we convince my family that the marriage was genuine."

I keep my arms crossed as he pushes on, "You'll have free room and board. Also, I'll pay for your student loans for every month that you're with me."

Crap.

He knows just what to say. I'm sure that he is grinning as he sees my resolve start to break. He's giving me an offer that I need on a silver platter.

Damn him.

"Don't expect me to be at your beck and call." I glare.

He looks pleased at my response, "I wouldn't dream of it. Just consider us as roommates."

I groan to myself. I can't believe that I'm doing this. I straighten my posture and stick out my hand, "It's a deal." He smiles as he shakes my hand.

Just then our food arrives. I don't even know what I order. The waiter places my meal in front of me. Chicken Parmesan. Hmm…maybe not all of today was so bad.

A/N: I tried to make this chapter longer. Reviews are always nice to receive. ^_^