PAPER VOWS Novel Chapter 9

“Jade,” A voice calling me wakes me up. “Jade Marshal.”

I open my eyes, rub them, trying to make sense of everything. I am one of those people who need a second to defrost after waking up. That’s when I remember, I am in Dante’s house, in his bed and in his arms. Last night I accepted his proposal and we had sex. Does this mean we are dating or he wants us to get married right away? I guess we will have to talk about it.

I feel Dante’s hand on my chin. He lifts my head and says, “Good morning.”

“Hey, you are here?”

“Where would I be on a Saturday morning?” he asks. I know to him it’s not even a joke. I doubt humour exists in his world – I bet he is ever serious.

“It’s a joke, Dante, meaning you didn’t run away after having sex with me.”

He says, “Do you think I would bring you to my house if I wanted to run away?”

“It’s a joke, Dante. I just woke up, it’s too early to be this serious,” I sit up and quickly cover my nakedness.

“How are you today? I hope you don’t regret accepting my proposal last night. You were a little intoxicated.”

I eye him. I am an adult, I know what I was doing and everything that happened, I wanted it. “I don’t regret anything, Dante Lyon.”

“That’s my thing, Jade Marshal. I use your full name, not the other way around”

“So if we get married, I become Jade Lyon?” I ask him. That sounds really cool.

“It’s all up to you if you want to change your second name, but I would love it if you changed your second name to Lyon.”

He sounds like a fictional character, making all this weird for me. I really hope he stays like this. The last thing I want is falling in love with all this, only to find out he is a different person. “What now that I have accepted your proposal?”

“You said you wanted me to court you, Jade Marshal. I guess we are still in that phase. I also need you to understand that I am a very busy man. I will not be home as much as you would want me to be, but one thing is for sure: I will sleep next to you every night.”

“As long as you communicate and don’t make me wonder where you are and who you are with, I think we will be fine,” I tell him.

“I can do that. What do you want for breakfast so I can tell the staff?”

I eat whatever is there. I really don’t care what I eat as long as I eat something. I shrug my shoulders and say, “I don’t know, Dante.”

“I don’t know is not an answer.”

“A fruit salad would be lovely,” I finally say. He should take it easy on me. I am not used to all this.

He gets out of bed, puts on his shorts and says, “I’m heading to the kitchen to tell them to make you a fruit salad, then we can shower. I will also tell Anne to get you something to wear.”

“I will fix the bed in the meantime.”

“Someone will do that, don’t worry. Before I forget, your phone was making noise, so I put it on silent. You should really put a password on that phone.” With that, he leaves the room.

My phone barely rings. I don’t know what noise he is talking about. I look around the room. I didn’t get to do that last night. His room is just as pretty as the other one. But I don’t like that big, weird-looking portrait – never been a fan of those shapeless drawings that don’t look like anything. My clothes with Dante’s are still on the floor where we left them last night.

I reach for my phone. If there is anyone who calls like a madman, it’s Giselle. I don’t know why she would be calling me because she knows I am at Dante’s. I am surprised by the calls and messages on my phone. Did something happen? Did Giselle maybe tell people that I am missing, because why do I have so many missed calls? It’s like the whole of my contact list called me.

An email from the company I used to work for catches my attention. I quickly open the email, it’s from the front desk, they tried calling, and they are asking me to call as soon as I get the email. I hope it’s nothing bad. I hope they don’t want to accuse me of stealing something. I get comfortable on the bed and dial them.

Female: SP Fashions, how may I help you?

Me: Hello, this is Jade Marshal. I received an email that you guys were trying to reach me.

Female: Yes, Miss Marshal, we did call. Mr Gomez wanted to speak to you. Can you hang on while I connect you to him?

Me: Sure, no problem.

Mr Gomez is the man who fired me because I refused to sleep with him. I hope he is calling to apologise. What he did was wrong and very unfair.

Mr Gomez: Miss Marshal, hello!

I remove the phone from my ear. Am I hearing right? Gomez just called me Miss. This man mispronounces my name every chance he gets. Sometimes I am Julia, sometimes June.

Me: Mrs Gomez, it’s me, you wanted to talk to me.

Mr Gomez: Yes, I hope I didn’t catch you at a bad time. I would like to apologise for what I did. It was wrong of me, I sincerely apologise.

Me: Okay…

Mr Gomez: You have been with us for years; we shouldn’t have dismissed you like that. If you still want to work with us, you are free to come in anytime. We can find a better position than the one you had.

Me: I am confused right now, let me think about everything. Thank you for reaching out.

Mr Gomez: We will hear from you. Thank you, Miss Marshal.

Gomez called me Miss. My family needs to hear about this. I have so many missed calls and messages, I don’t even know where to start.

‘JADE MARSHAL ANSWER YOUR DAMN PHONE!’ I text message from Giselle. What am I being yelled at for so early? I call her.

Me: Why are you yelling at me? Capital letters and all.

Giselle: What the hell, Jade? I called you twenty times.

Me: I was sleeping. What’s up?

Giselle: Don’t fucken what’s up me. You are trending. You are all over social media.

Me: Trending? For what? Hold on.

Giselle: Don’t you dare hang up on me!

Me: I said hold on, I am not hanging up.

I put the phone on speaker and go on Twitter. As if I would trend there, I leave Twitter. I realise Giselle sent me pictures on WhatsApp, ten of them. I open the pictures – every newspaper in GoldenRock wrote about Dante and me. Everyone has their own story, one that catches my attention reads: ‘Billionaire Dante Lyon was spotted at Oday’s with a woman. Rumour has it that it wasn’t just a dinner. Those two were seen dancing and kissing. Is Jade Marshal our Mrs Lyon?’

They attached a picture of Dante and me walking into Oday’s. I look good, but I didn’t see this coming. Is this why people are blowing up my phone? This explains why Gomez called; he was just kissing my ass – that bastard.

Giselle: Jade?

Me: I am here.

Giselle: He is a billionaire?

Me: I didn’t know, I only know that he owns restaurants all over GoldenRock.

Giselle: Did you accept his proposal?

Me: I accepted his proposal. I didn’t know he was a billionaire. I will call you back, Giselle.

I get out of bed, pick up Dante’s shirt from the floor and put it on since I slept naked. I head out and bump into Anne, who is outside the door. Was she just standing there all along?

“Good morning, Miss Marshal,” she greets. She is wearing the same black and white uniform from the other day.

“Hey, where is Dante?”

“This way, please,” she asks me to follow her. I wonder if I will ever get used to how big this house is. She stops in front of a room and says, “He is in there.”

“Thanks, Anne.”

She opens the door for me, I go in, then she closes it. I can get the door for myself, geez. Dante is on the phone but says his goodbyes the moment I walk into the room.

“Did I take too long?” he asks. He is still wearing just his shorts.

“You didn’t think to tell me that you are a billionaire?” I ask, folding my arms to my chest.

“I didn’t think that mattered.”

“I think you should have told me. Right now, I am trending just for being out with you. I am not used to this,” I say to him.

He walks closer and says, “I understand that, but this will be your life as long as we are together. You should get used to it.”

(See you on Monday unless we get sponsors)