Chapter 8 THE DEAL

After leaving Mr. Farusco's office, I hurried back to the hospital to company my grandmother. Mr. Farusco's words kept ringing in my head, but when I faced my grandmother's concerns, I just brushed them off, saying the studying was too hard.

I didn't come back our house but to stay with her all night. I can only feel at ease when I'm with her.

The next morning, as I opened my tired eyes and looked up from the hospital bed, I noticed that my grandmother was breathing very hard and her face was as white as wax.

"DOCTOR! PLEASE COME-"

The doctors and nurses heard my crying and poured into the room.

"Everything will be alright, grandma. Everything will be alright." I kept on mumbling in my grandma's ear while she was being taken to the operation room.

She opened her eyes and looked at me. "Paula..."

"Everything will be okay, grandma."

"I love you, Paula..."

"I love you too, grandma..."

Then the doctors finally delivered her inside the operating room. "I'm so sorry ma'am but relatives may not go inside the operating room. You can just wait here outside until the operation is done."

"Please, do everything to save my grandmother."

"We will do everything we can, ma'am." He said then he finally stepped inside the operating room.

I took a deep breath as I sat on the wooden bench outside. "Please, please save my grandmother... she's all that I have, please..."

Then my phone suddenly rang.

My hands were shaking as I reached for it inside the pocket of my jeans. "Hello?"

"Miss Edwards."

"Yes?"

"Voltaire Farusco, remember?"

My eyes widened upon hearing his name. "Oh, yes. Mr. Farusco, good morning."

"Good morning. May I just remind you about the contract signing? I will have a meeting with a very important person later so I don't think I would be able to entertain you at that time. Would you mind going here now?"

I glanced at the operation room. "Actually I-O-Okay. I'll go there now, please wait for me."

"Okay, I'll wait for you here at my office, Miss Edwards."

"Thank You."

Then he finally hanged up the phone. I wiped the tears in my eyes as I dialed Cindy's number to look after my grandma. Then, I went towards the school head office.

***

"I'm so glad to see you here, Miss Edwards." Mr. Farusco said to me as soon as I stepped inside his office.

I smiled awkwardly. "Thank you."

"Please take a seat."

We both sat down. My heart has been beating so loud ever since I stepped inside this building. It feels like I'm going to sell my soul to a devil. A woman wearing corporate attire went in, holding a tray of coffees in her hand.

She placed the two cups of coffee on the center table and curtsied before walking out of that office again.

"So, are you really sure about this now?" Mr. Farusco asked me. I looked at him and my heart started beating even louder when I realized he was looking intently at me.

I averted my gaze from him. "My grandma's operation is happening now, there's no way I would still decline your offer."

"I see. I know she'll get well soon."

"Thank you. Can we proceed to the contract signing now? I badly need to go back there as soon as possible. I want her to see me as soon as she opens her eyes again."

"I understand. George?"

The door of his office opened again and Mr. George, his assistant, came in holding a brown envelope in his hands. He handed it to Mr. Farusco.

"Thanks." He said then he opened it and took the paper inside it and put it above the table in front of me. "Please kindly read it carefully before signing it so that we won't have any misunderstanding."

I just scanned the contract and immediately signed it all. I didn't read it line by line because I don't care as long as I can get the money for my grandma's operation. "I-Is it alright now?" I asked him.

Mr. Farusco looked at the contract that I just signed and nodded when he's contented.

"Everything has been settled now. I will forward some money in your bank account now."

"Thank you so much, Mr. Farusco."

"No need to thank me, Miss Edwards. It's a win-win agreement, anyway."

We both stood up. "I'll go back to the hospital now."

"I understand. But don't forget that your job will start next week. I will be asking some of my men to pick you up from your house. Also, don't forget to tell your grandma that you will be living in my house starting that day."

"Wait! Living in your house?!"

"Yes, Miss Edwards. Of course, you have to live inside my house since you will be pretending as my wife. It would be suspicious if you're leaving every day, right? And aside from that, that includes in the contract. Didn't you read it?"

I almost smacked myself for not reading the contract. "I understand. I will tell it to my grandmother but please let me just take care of her while she's still recovering from the operation."

"Let's talk about that next week. I'll be having my meeting now. So, see you next Monday and a happy collaboration."

"...Okay."

After that, I finally decided to go back to the hospital to check on my grandmother.

"How is she?" I asked Cindy as soon as I arrived in the hospital.

Cindy smiled at me. "She's alright now, Paula. The doctor said that she'll just be needing to take some rest and refrain from doing hard works."

"Thank goodness..." I mumbled.

"She's already inside. Go on and see her." Cindy said.

I took a deep breath before I stepped inside grandma's room. I saw her sitting on the bed while looking outside the window beside her bed. "Grandma?"

She looked at me and a smile automatically appeared on her face as soon as she saw me. "Paula!"

"Grandma!!!" I ran towards her and hugged her tightly. "I missed you so much..."

"I missed you so much too, my Paula..."

We hugged each other.

I couldn't be any happier. As long as my grandma is happy and alright, I'm the happiest person.

Even if I'm making a deal with the devil, I won't regret it if I can get my grandmother's health back.

"Oh Cindy, please look after grandma for some more while. I need to check the bill for the operation to see if I can pay it in instalments with my credit card."I thought of something and said to Cindy.

"The bill? I had just asked about that when your grandma was in the operation room. The staff in the fee collection service just told me that you had paid the entire bill in one go and that you had also deposited some money on the medical card and that it would be enough to pay for further treatments." Cindy said, blinked and looked at me in confusion.

It had been paid? I knew it must be Mr. Farusco.

I was speechless, but only to laughed awkwardly and replied perfunctorily, "Oh...y-yes. I forgot that. I was too worried about grandma. One of my friend helped me knowing we were in difficulties."

Just then, I received an email alert from my school on my phone. My thoughts were now a bit confused and my mind was a bit apprehensive, so I unconsciously opened the email to check it.

[Monday morning at 8:30am, I pick you up at the gate of your house. There is a place I need to take you first & No baggage needed.]