In His Grasp: Contract Wife

To meet

Leila breathlessly hopped into the elevator, still feeling the man's sweet plush lips on hers. He tasted like After Eight, cool as mint and hot as chocolate.

She can't lie, not to herself. That kiss was something.

And she couldn't wait to get to Alice and tell her all about it.

The evening was a complete disaster, starting from meeting Sam, all up to that kiss she enforced on that stranger just minutes ago.

That was the best she could think of at the moment.

Alice will praise her for doing what she did just now. Her act was daring.

Leila definitely surprised herself. It was nothing like her. She was still a virgin, with only one relationship behind her.

And it lasted barely two months as that Louie, a French guy that arrived as a student swap in their high school, broke up with her. She refused to have s*x with him that night, thinking it was too early for that kind of intimacy.

Leila never lacked admirers, but she couldn't afford herself fall in love. How could she? Men are different. Just look at her father! He re-married only two months after her poor mother died.

She would never make a mistake and trust a guy!

Still, she couldn't understand why that man from the bar wanted to kiss her again when she looked like this.

Luckily, she pushed him away and fleed toward the exit. But not before she felt his taut body under her touch. She liked what she felt when she kissed him. He must be so handsome.

And boy, was he tall!

Before going out to meet Sam, Alice brought her father's old clothes, a shortcut ginger human wig her grandma wore because of her alopecia, and those thick, dark eyeglasses, ordering Leila to disguise as a tomboy.

"Sam likes you because of your pretty face! And God knows how he eats up your body with those blue eyes! Put this on!" Alice commanded her like a general during the battle. Ugly, screaming orange freckles covered Leila's face, ruining her perfect complexion. Of course, Alice painted them there.

"I look like freaking Ed Sheeran!" Leila screamed when she first saw herself. Alice's father's mouse-gray shirt danced around her breasts and hips, making her perfect, curvy figure lose itself within it.

"You say f*****g, not freaking!" Alice scolded her while hiding all her beautiful, pin-straight dark long hair under that awful wig. Leila couldn't recognize herself, looking at the mirror.

If they ruined her good looks, maybe Sam would lose all his interest in Leila. That was Alice's brilliant plan.

"I can't see a thing, Alice!" Leila laughed, thinking she was blind as a bat wearing those sunglasses. Thanks to that and those dimmed bar lights, she didn't even see that man's face. But that didn't stop her from kissing him.

Who cares? She won't see him again.

Sam chose a rooftop bar with views of Waterloo for their meeting.

When Leila entered, friendly bartenders and impeccable vibes welcomed her. She was feeling a bit silly, considering her looks. But she hoped it would work on Sam. Maybe he would find her even disgusting.

He was sitting inside the bar, not on the terrace. She liked those pods outside. Probably his sinuses again, Leila thought.

"Good evening, Sam," she greeted him first. The music was great and not too loud. A jug of sangria was in front of him, so she ordered the same for herself when the waiter came. This bar was fabulous for getting drunk. Everyone has been drinking, and only a few were eating something.

"Leila! What happened? Are you ok? Let me help you!" As expected, Sam didn't recognize her, but he showed no disgust. Just the contrary.

After the initial shock, he stopped giving her funny stares, becoming romantically aggressive very quickly. He even offered his help with her home situation.

"Thanks, I don't need help. Alice has been helping me. What I want to tell you is...," Leila began speaking, wanting to repeat what she had told him so many times. That she couldn't return his feelings, plus he was engaged to Cecilia. But Sam stopped her, suddenly moving over, closer to her. She tried moving back, but there was no place to go.

She was in the corner, and Sam was only a few inches from her.

"Stay with me tonight, please," Sam told her, trying to pull her sunglasses down. She put them back, feeling more spirited with her eyes shielded.

"No! I can't. I, I,..." Leila didn't know what to say anymore. Sam's manners were frightening her, and she tried pushing him again. But he didn't move one bit. Instead, he hugged her, squeezing her tight.

"Say you'll stay with me, Leila. Tonight! Stay with me!" He recited, and she saw him leaning forward. He would kiss her if she didn't come up with something. Leila needed something he would believe.

"I can't! I have a boyfriend. We're together a month only, but still, I h-a-v-e a b-o-y-f-r-i-e-n-d!" She spilled it out, spelling it for him.

"Haha. Right! And where is he?" Sam laughed, clearly not buying it. What should I do now? What next? Leila asked herself.

"Over there!" She stretched her hand without any thinking, pointing it toward the counter. "Waiting for me over there. You're lucky he didn't see you," Her lie gave her courage to scold him and lie even more. He backed off a little, and Leila pushed the table forward. Sneaked out from her seat, stepping around the table swiftly, she finally escaped him.

But will all this be enough? Leila doubted.

She turned around, seeing Sam following her. Damn it! He will never give up!

She should end this story once and for good. Sam must believe her.

So, she must show him her boyfriend was real.

And so, to convince Sam in her lie, Leila pulled the first passer-by, kissing him. And she kissed him hard.

Only a few minutes more of the walk, and she'd be at Alice's. She sorted everything out. Sam, checked. And that man, he was history, too. All left to do was get rid of that billionaire groom her father arranged for her.

"Ms. Leila Swift!" Someone behind her shouted.

"It's she. Yes?" Leila turned around, carefully asking. She found four men in black in front of her. But no Will Smith among them. She chuckled at her own thought.

Before she realized what was happening, she found herself dragged by them to a car parked on the street. Leila put up a fight, but she stood no chance against them.

They were all tall, extraordinary strong men.

"Where are you taking me? Is this kidnapping? Tell me!" She yelled when they dropped her on the backseat, locking the car after her. They said nothing, and it made her more nervous. They weren't joking at all.

But if they planned to ask her father for a ransom, they were in for a big surprise. Bob Greece was broke, or he wouldn't make his daughter marry a complete stranger.

She slid her hand in the pocket of Alice's dad's pants. There was her phone, and she slowly pulled it out.

"Give that! Or I'll throw it through the window!" One of the four men, she heard others calling him Ivan, ordered her. He saw her when she tried to call Alice.

Apparently, Ivan was in charge here. Leila did what he asked, handing him her phone.

She looked at the men in the front seats. Only two were in the car with her. The other two she has seen entered another vehicle.

All four were so handsome as cut out from those girly journals.

But why were they so cruel?

She did nothing to deserve this.