The Greeks Contract Marriage

CHAPTER SEVEN: NEW LOOK

If there was ever a time when Bailey felt uncomfortable, then this was it. She had always thought that the next time that she drove with Demetrius would be magical, now Bailey was slowly regretting the pipeline dream that she had sold herself.

She did not know what it was that Demetrius had in mind for her, other than the fact that they were going shopping; apparently, her cloths did not match his status. Just thinking of the way Demetrius had openly mocked her made her sick to her stomach.

Now with her hands crossed over her chest, her back firmly pressed onto the car seat. She had not said a word to Demetrius after he had walked out on her, leaving behind a threat. What kind of threat?  That Bailey had no idea of and it seemed as though Demetrius had no issue with her being quiet at all.

She could not help herself but wonder what it was that made this man driving besides her so hardened or better yet, what it was that made him tick. She knew that Demetrius was a cold-hearted executive but simply staring at him from her peripheral vision scared her.

His eyes were on nowhere else other than the road ahead of him, his hands firmly on the wheel, gripping it as though it will escape from him. He clenched his jaw as if he was some type of robot, with no facial expression other than utter blankness.

Bailey tried to amuse herself with the scenery but even that did not work, she tried her best to make conversation with Demetrius but her pride would not allow her to start up a conversation with him. The car came to a stop, Bailey’s eyes grew, shocked that they arrived and so soon.

“We’re here” Demetrius said, his voice flat, as if he would have loved to turn his car back around and head back home.

“I know I can see” Bailey responded to Demetrius who seemed less than impressed with her answer.

“I’ll pretend I did not hear that. Come let’s get inside” Demetrius told her and without waiting for her, he got out of the car, leaving Bailey by herself.

“How rude” Bailey said under her breath as she too exited the car. She had no idea where she was but she knew that the building in front of her was one that she would never imagine stepping in. It was tall at least six stories up and made of glass and to further seal the deal that she had no business being there, was the fact that everyone that came out of there looked rich.

The women would smile at Demetrius as they walked out but as soon as they saw her, their reaction would change and become negative. Bailey did not care, she had become accustomed to people judging and looking down on her because of how she dressed and carried herself.

Over the years Bailey had grown a hard outer shell, ‘never let people see you cry’ attitude that she thought herself.  Her mind was lost in the tall building; she had seen it before, the very day she tried shopping. However, never in her mind would she have imagined stepping into the building.

“Hey, are you coming or not?” Demetrius called out to her, he was well ahead of her at the entrance holding the door for her.

Wow only now you decide to be a gentleman? Bailey thought to herself and decided to think nothing into it. Both she and Demetrius were in front of a crowd and he was probably doing it to keep face. Bailey walked up to the entrance and as she entered, her eyes grew wider, shock flooding through her.

If she had thought that the outside was mesmerizing, then the inside was to die for. The building was an entire mall, with escalators, elevators and name branded stores that she would have only seen in magazines if Demetrius had not brought her here.

“I know you’ve never been to such a place but can you please close your mouth, a fly might enter and never leave” Bailey turned her head at Demetrius direction, he was being arrogant again but then again he was not lying.

Demetrius walked ahead of her and Bailey followed behind him. Demetrius looked confident in his new tailored suite. One hand in his trouser pocket as he walked, all eyes were on him. The younger women waved at him, whilst they walked with their designer shopping bags and the even older women wished that they were at least two decades younger.

The reaction to Bailey was different though, the occasional eye rolls and the sharp glares flung was enough to kill her on the spot. Deep inside Bailey wanted roll into a ball and cry, she hated feeling as though she was worthless. These people, these rich people were the type of people she hated and here she was around them.

Demetrius came to an abrupt stop and Bailey bumped into him.

“Sorry” she apologized, hoping that Demetrius would not be mad at her, Demetrius turned to face her. Bailey swallowed the gulp in her throat, standing face to face with Demetrius was never easy, he was so much taller than her and she’d have  to look up at him and his broad shoulders made her feel like a raggedy doll.

His black eyes looking deep into her eyes and then he smiled at her.

“For the first time in the last few minutes you’ve been extremely quiet, I almost thought I’d lost you in the mall”

“I guess I’ve just got a lot on my mind” Bailey told him and in truth, she did have a lot on her mind and one thing on her mind was to get out of here as quick as possible.

“Sure you do, thinking of how you will spend the fifty thousand dollars?” Demetrius asked Bailey, a sharp pain running through Bailey. She mentally shook her head, reminding herself that Demetrius was no different to the snobby rich men and women that had just walked past her and judged her.

To Demetrius, Bailey was nothing other than some gold-digging stripper who wanted cash and she thought of him as nothing other than a rich snob who had too much money, so much money that he had no idea what real problems looked or felt like.

“Yes that I all I think about, every single day” Bailey responded to Demetrius. She did not care what he thought of her anymore, she had no need to prove herself different. Demetrius had made up his mind about Bailey and she did not intend to prove him wrong.

“Come on then” Demetrius told her, they waked into a store where a door staff opened the door for them. Bailey knew nothing about fashion but what she did know was that the door attendant looked far better than what her cloths did.

The store was huge with only the sales assistants there, not a single client other than Demetrius and Bailey. Bailey walked closer to Demetrius trying to get his attention.

“Demetrius why are we the only customers here?” she whispered at him, her hands in her pocket.

“We’re not customers Bailey, we are clients. Oh and I booked out the entire store so that we could shop in peace” once more Bailey saw how much power money had, booking out a store of this size would never come cheap but then again Demetrius was filthy rich and even he knew that, so did the people around him.

“Good afternoon!” A middle-aged woman walked towards them, dressed in a professional and well-tailored suite, her hair tied in a neat ponytail. Her hands spread out as she hugged Demetrius and her attention fixed on Bailey. Not once, did the woman lose her smile but Bailey caught the twitch in her eye.

“Oh, so this must be your fiancé, uhm”

“Bailey. Bailey is my name” Bailey answered the woman before she could butcher her name and call her something other than her name.

“Good, I must say that you are a lovely young lady… and you look very— beautiful. I love your style” The middle-aged woman told Bailey.

Liar! Bailey mentally thought to herself. She was well accustomed to liars like the middle-aged woman in front of her.

“Anyway my name is Catherine Swan and I and my assistant Logan will assist you in shopping today. Is that okay?” Catherine asked her and right before she could answer Demetrius jumped in.

“Yes, my beautiful fiancé would love that. Wouldn’t you dear?” Demetrius asked Bailey, with that taunting smile on his face.

“Yes my love” Bailey responded and in a few minutes, she was whisked into the deferent sections of the store. Bailey did not know what to think or do, on one end Catherine grabbed different gowns that looked fresh off the runway, then she grabbed different jewelry and even under garments, something that Bailey had not expected that she needed.

“I think we’re done here” Catherine said, after dragging Bailey around the store for almost an hour and grabbing almost every piece of clothing in the store. From simple evening gowns to jewelry to shoes.

“Oh dear you look tired and the fun has not even begun yet” Catherine joked with Bailey. Over the course of the shopping, Bailey had learnt something, Catherine was not so bad after all and she did treat Bailey like an equal.

Bailey slumped herself onto the leather chair close by and breath out a sigh of relief, the heels she was wearing was not doing her any justice because her feet were hurting.

“Please tell me that we’re done shopping?” Bailey asked Catherine who simply smiled and nodded her head, indicating a no. This caused bailey to roll her eyes. She was not used to this kind of shopping, back where she lived she would go into the charity shop and got the best deals and she would walk out again.

Demetrius sat on his phone; it had been almost an hour since the girls had gone out picking out cloths. He hated shopping, in the past he would give his mistress’ his card and they’d go and get themselves whatever it was that they wanted, but with Bailey it was different. Demetrius smiled down at his phone at the thought of him shopping with a woman. Something he had not done in years.

His mother’s name appeared on the caller ID and Demetrius picked up at the first ring, his mother was that important to him.

“Yes mother” he answered his mother.

“Good afternoon my lovely son” His mother responded, the happiness in her voice was noticeable. How Demetrius had missed this side of his mother, the woman who always smiled even when she was sad.

“Why is my mother in such a happy mood today, if I may ask?”

“Well I’m sorry to spring this up on you my boy but I just had to do it” Demetrius’ mother told him, this had Demetrius sitting up straight on the designer couch at the store, panic kicking through him.

“What happened, mother?” Demetrius asked his mother, ready to jump up and leave if anything was wrong with his dear mother. Demetrius looked around, neither Bailey nor the sales assistants were in sight and he was contemplating calling on Bailey so that they could leave.

“It’s nothing that urgent my boy” his mother answered him but Demetrius was still not satisfied with her answer.

“Mother if you do not tell me what it wrong with you, I promise you that I’ll drive out to the family home and find out” Demetrius now standing up from the couch, ready to step out of the store and step onto the gas.

Demetrius’ heart beat faster than it had ever beaten before, patiently awaiting for his mother to explain what had happened that caused her to call him like this. In his mind all the negative scenarios that could have played out, played in his mind. He remembered the time when his mother was taken to the hospital and for more than a month she had not come home.