Sometimes, I wonder why life seems so easy for others—like everything is just smooth sailing. But for me, it's a different story. I'm Lara Mendoza, twenty-five, an artist working in a gallery in Makati. I prefer to paint my emotions on canvas rather than show them to the world. But on days when I barely have anything to eat, I have no choice but to face reality.
"Lara, you're late!" Sophie, my best friend, shouted as she sipped her coffee in a small café on the corner. "You're already late for work."
"Gosh, Sophie, relax. You know I'm not late with my painting," I replied, smiling even though I could already feel the stress.
But little did I know, this day would change my life.
At the table across from us, a man was seated—well-dressed, serious, holding a laptop, and seemingly out of place in this setting. But somehow, the intensity of his eyes… was on another level. It felt like he could read your mind.
"That might be the CEO of Rivera Corp.," Sophie said to me, sounding excited like she had just spotted a celebrity.
I didn't pay any attention to it. But fate has a funny way of working. Later that evening, we met again at a charity event—I was there as an invited artist, and he was there as a sponsor.
"Ms. Mendoza?" he asked, sounding very confident.
"Yes?" I replied, holding my brush during the gallery presentation.
"I'm Ethan Rivera. I have a proposal… not just a business proposal. It's about a… marriage."
I stared at him, looking completely stunned. "Excuse me? Marriage? Sir, I don't even know you."
"I know, but circumstances require it. It's temporary… a contract," he explained.
It felt like I could hear the sound of the world inside my head—everything else faded away. A contract marriage? In my mind, that sounded like a horror story. But there was also a curiosity I couldn't deny.
"Am I going against… fate?" I asked myself as I looked at him, serious yet with a strange intensity.
That night, I lay in bed, thinking about his proposal. A fake marriage… but why did it feel like there was a spark I couldn't explain?
And just like that… my life was slowly about to be changed by a contract that was supposed to be "business only."