Forcing The Billionaire

Chapter 7

I Thought Of Never

The door of my room burst out open. Revealing my mom in her silky black night wardrobe, she gives me a round of applause.

I roll my eyes at her and pull my blanket above my head. I’m not in the mood to talk to her.

“Good job, Ari. Good job!”

I felt my bed move as she sits at the edge of my bed. “Never have I thought that not being strict with you would bring fortune.”

I furrow my brows under the blanket. I know what she’s talking about. These past months, she and dad were always getting into a fight. It’s not a secret to me that money and the state of our company are the reasons.

Our fast food has been at the top for so many decades. But given the rise of new fast foods, technology, and improvements from other competitors, our company failed to notice that even though we are increasing in sales, we are far left behind.

“Continue doing that. You’re already 18. And if you and Hyko—”

I aggressively remove the blanket from my face and sit on the bed. I glare at my mom. “Stop it, mom,” I warn.

I do not want to hear it. I know what’s playing on her mind. Even though I know I have a choice and I am certain my dad would disagree, it still irritates me knowing that my mom is willing to sell her only daughter in exchange f the stability of our business!

“Come on, this is the only time you’ll help our family,” she says. Persuading me aggressively won’t help. I know what I want and getting close to Hyko and forcing him to marry me are not on my list of priorities.

“No, mom,” I calmly answer, hoping this will end our conversation.

However, my mom won’t stop without giving me a good headache.

“Why not?”

“Why would I?”

My immediate response makes her furious. She stands from my bed and put her hands on the side of her waist.

“Ari, this is the only thing you can offer—”

“Offer what? My body and my future?!”

Trust me, I tried to maintain calm. But seeing my mom going ballistic because I do not want to marry for money is something I can’t handle.

I may be materialistic, but I have my own guide of morals.

My mom points her finger at me. She’s fuming mad. I’m not sure if it is because of my way of talking back to her or because I do not want to do what she is suggesting.

“We give all the things that you need and want in this life. The only thing we asked is for you to help us in this situation!”

“What situation?” I raise a brow.

They never opened up about the company’s problem. Although given the fact that we are living in the same house and my friends are in the same world like me, it is not impossible to hear what’s going on in our business.

This is the first time I liked acting like I do not know anything.

“See? You do not even know that the company is sinking!”

I maintained a straight face. “So you want to sell your only daughter?”

“What? Of course, not…” she walks towards me and sit beside me. She reaches for my hand and places them on her lap. Her thumb gently caresses the back of my hand as she looks at me with pleading eyes.

Instead of getting my sympathy, I am feeling more furious. Is it so hard for her to not maintain her social status? Is money only the thing that matters to her? What about me as her daughter? What about dad as her husband? Are we nothing to her without the money?

“Look, I’m not saying that you’ll marry him. You’re young and you still have much to experience. You will meet a lot of people and learn new things… all I want is for you to be friends with him. What’s wrong with that?”

I know there’s nothing wrong with befriending someone. But knowing that there is a motive behind it makes me sick.

I will never use anyone for my own benefit. I’d rather choose to be rat poor instead of using people.

Every day when I got back from school, my mom always welcome me with “How was your day, who did you hang out with, are the two of you talking, how is it going?” And it always ends up with, “Invite him over, we’ll prepare for him.”

Within the years of avoiding Hyko, my mom has finally given up— although not completely. She’s still asking me if we are still friends and if we are hanging out. She even goes to the extent to contact my cousin, Gerix, only to invite Hyko here to our house. I never felt so ashamed and pitiful, not just for myself, but also for mom.

Our company is slowly sinking. I completely felt it when my mom put a limit on my card. I did not complain. I understand, and I’m afraid that if I’ll confront her, she will bring up Hyko.

“It’s okay. I have nothing to buy either,” I say to myself after my mom told me about my card. Sometimes, it is only us who can comfort ourselves.

Unfortunately, my mother got tired of everything. During the time when our company is at the edge of hitting rock bottom, several cheating issues of her resurface, which pushed my father to entertain himself with gambling.

My dad never brought up Hyko, although I am sure my mom once mentioned it to him. Good thing that his principles aren’t inclined on mother.

I avoided Hyko on every occasion and in any situation. However, being in the same school with him, it is inevitable for our small world to not cross.

“Are you sure, it is safe here?” Gela anxiously asks while playing with a stick of cigarette in between her finger.

“No one’s forcing you, Gela,” Jaira answers and puff a cigar. I am aware of their vices. Even before we hit the legal age, these things aren’t foreign to us. Only that, drinking and casual s*x are the only things I experienced.

“Fine, lit my stick.” She handed the stick to Jaira. But Jaira refused and hand her the lighter instead.

“Do it yourself. How will you learn?”

“I’ll be back. I’ll go to the café first,” Chinie announces and walks away from us. Smoking is not allowed in this area, and as the daughter of people who respects the law more than others, she refused to join our group in experiencing ‘new things’.

“Give me a stick,” I say.

The two look at me. Gela’s jaw drops a little while Jaira arches her brow. Even Chinie who heard what Is said from afar stopped and turn to look at me. In the end, she continued walking away while shaking her head.

“You sure?” Jaira asks.

They know how I hate smoking. No matter how hot and good-looking the guy is, once I discover he smokes, I back off.

“Yeah. I want to try it. After all, we are here to experience things, right?” I smirk.

It’s just a stick. Not that this is illegal. We are of the legal age and this isn’t m*******a or some sort of dr*gs.

“Here…” Jaira handed me a stick of cigarettes. I put it in between my lips and let Jaira light the end for me.

This is my first time but I often see some colleagues smoke so I kind of know how. Jaira told me to sip, inhale, and exhale it. But she did not say how big should I sip!

My throat went dry and itchy. I am certain my face looks red. I cough endlessly while lightly hitting my chest, hoping it would subside.

“Sh*t!”

“Oh my gosh!”

The two utters. I thought it was because I am coughing and nearly dying. But when I lift my face and trace their line of sight, my eyes widen.

Hyko, with one other council member whom I do not know the name, is coming to us. Before I know it, Gela and Jaira already run as fast as they can, leaving me stunned in my place.

The guy is running but Hyko remained calm and walks at his usual pace. I do not know why I am still not moving. The other student already steps away for catching me but my eyes are all focused on Hyko.

‘He’s not wearing his glasses.’

Since when? It’s been months since I avoided him. Things change, huh?

“Got you!” The guy, who looks younger than me held me by my arm. I tried to free myself from him but he won’t let me.

“Let me go or I’ll hit you!” I warn.

“Then it’s an additional penalty,” he smirks.

“Brian, get the two girls, I’ll take care of her.”

Behind him is Hyko. Both of his hands are in his pocket. He’s too calm and maintained, completely opposite to me who looks like a pale white lady drained with blood.

Brian, the guy who caught me, immediately let go of my arm and obeyed him. He runs after my friends.

I tried to escape from him earlier, but now, I wish he had just run with me.

Being left with Hyko made my chest tight.

“J-Just give me penalty points.” I bite my lower lip and face my back. I close my eyes tightly as I stop myself from covering my face with my palm.

I was about to walk away when he spoke. “Where do you think you are going?”

I stop but did not face him. “S-School… I h-have classes.” I lied. It’s our exam week. We do not have classes.

I want to slap myself for obvious lying. He is also a student, of course, he knows the school’s schedule!

“Next time, do not do things you do not want to do.”

This time, I face him. I search for a pen and a penalty paper in his hand but I do not find any.

I raise a brow.

“The hell you care if I smoke? Just hand me my penalty!”

I irritatingly say. I held my hand to ask for my penalty paper, but he did not move. Instead, he moves a step closer to me.

I gulp, but I did not let him see how nervous I am when he’s around. These few months, I distanced myself from him. I did not attend any social gatherings for I know my mom will force me to interact with him.

“Gerix said your mom invite us for a small bbq party in your house. She said, she wants to meet your friends.”

My brows furrow. Is this why I saw the maids cleaning our pool? What the hell, mom?!

“I never thought we’re friends.”

I glare at him. As someone who is a Frantz, he definitely knows why most people wanted to befriend their family. Maybe he senses what my mom wants. I felt a pang of pain in my chest but I brush it off. What he thinks of me and my family should not be my business.

“Don’t worry. We’re not. And We’re never going near on being one.”

I am not someone who thinks I am, but what irritates me is maybe, he’s right about my family… about my mom.

I felt so low. I never thought my mom will push me to do these things. Just like others, my mom is not a perfect mother. But seeing how she handled things made me hopeless.

I was confident that when I grow up more, I will be no near her. However, seeing where I am today made me think that I’m worst than her.

I never thought this day will come… the day when I will swallow everything—my pride, my words of not befriending him, and my dignity as a woman.

Today, I break my own principles.

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Forcing The Billionaire

by: Joanne Cristel

©2022

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Note: Unedited. English is not the author's first language so expect grammatical errors. Thank you!