Maria's Contract Marriage

Maria's eyes were widened in terror as she walked into her living room to sit and watch the television while she waited for her father's return, she found two masked figures rummaging through the house. Her heart racing, she tried to understand what was happening.

One of them noticed her and pointed a gun in her direction.

"Don't move," he growled.

Maria was frozen, her hands shaking as she raised them in surrender. The other intruder continued to search the house, tossing valuables into their big brown leather bag.

The first intruder in front of her approached where she was standing, his eyes scanning her body.

"Where's the money?" he demanded.

Maria swallowed hard, trying to think so fast. She didn't want to give them what they wanted, but she didn't want to get hurt either.

"I don't know what you're talking about," she lied.

The intruder sneered, and accused her of lying to them. He wanted to hit her, but the second one told him in his deep voice coming from under the mask, they were here for the money.

"Don't play dumb," he snarled.

Then the second intruder advanced towards her, pointing the gun directly at her.

"We know you have a safe. Tell us where it is." he said angrily.

Maria's cheek stung, but she refused to give in.

"I don't know," she repeated, trying to sound pitied and convincing.

Just then, the other intruder shouted from the next room.

"I found it!"

She didn't know there were three of them until then. The fear rises in her head that she finds it difficult to breathe.

The first intruder turned to leave, but not before giving Maria a menacing look.

"You're lucky we're not hurting anyone today," he said. "But this isn't over."

Just as the intruders were about to escape, Maria's dog, a fierce and loyal German Shepherd named Max, burst into the room, barking loudly. He had been sleeping in the bedroom and had been alerted by the commotion.

They were caught off guard as Max charged at them, teeth bared. One of them tried to kick him away, but Max was too quick. He sank his teeth into the intruder's leg, causing him to cry out in pain.

The other intruder tried to run, but Max was hot on his heels. He chased him out of the house and into the front yard, where the intruder tripped and fell.

As the intruder struggled to get up, Max stood over him, growling menacingly. The intruder cowered in fear, realizing he was outmatched by the fierce canine.

Meanwhile, Maria took advantage of the distraction to call the police. She ran to the phone and dialed 911, her heart still racing from the ordeal.

"Please hurry," she begged the dispatcher. "My dog has attacked the intruders, but I need help here."

The dispatcher on the phone assured her that help was on the way, and Maria waited anxiously for the police to arrive. When they finally did, they found the intruders pinned down by Max, who refused to let them go.

Maria took a deep breath and laughed nervously. "It's just my imagination," she told herself.

"There was no robbery, no intruders, no mysterious message. I'm just spooking myself out because I'm alone and bored."

The sky was crystal clear before the sun went down to hide itself for the next day, my eyes itching like I had dirt stuck in them. I find it difficult to let it be without using my right hand to rub its soft skin gently, avoiding unwanted injury.

I am trying to ignore the calls to the four walls of my bedroom, but I find it so difficult to be the first human that cheats nature, my eyelids closing their upper and lower parts gradually, but I continued forcing my eyesight on the flat screen television attached to the wall in front of me.

The movie was a very interesting one, and I don't want to miss out any chapter of it especially the end of it where the actor and actress live happily ever after.

However, my father hasn't come back from work. It is unusual for him to come home this late and that's why it got me so worried and restless.

I have been calling his number continuously now, but he seems not to see my calls or he's trying to ignore the calls to finish up his work because he has said to me once that he needs to concentrate whenever he's trying to balance an account.

I know my father is a hardworking man. He's an Accountant for the biggest manufacturing company 'Hamtex' here in London, owned by billionaire Patrick John. My father isn't a drunkard, he doesn't womanize even after the death of my dear mother when I thought he would get married again, but instead he said to me one day.

"Maria, I will invest all my entire energy in keeping the promises I made to your mother while she was dying. I made a promise to ensure you attend the best school to have a sound education, and she also made me promise to guide you in choosing the right man to marry."

I was so excited to hear that from him. It was a dream come true because I have been wishing the same thing, and now it has been fully endorsed.

The greatest news after my mother had passed away was the beautiful morning. My dear father checked his mail to find a new appointment letter sent to him directly from 'Hamtex' through their official E-mail, he was asked to resume work in London with good pay.

"Maria, my day is painted with a good image this morning dear." Mr George said.

"Dad, what's the great news?" Maria was curious.

"My transfer has been approved. We are going to London next month," Mr George said.

The air of the room was filled with joyous and happy momentum.

She watched as every second, every minute and every hour passed by in front of her gorgeous eyes, and she couldn't hold on to any of it. Her father was still not back from work.

After an hour of waiting, Maria fell asleep in front of the television while the character in the movie was the one now staring at her as she had slept on the long four-sitters couch, she was deeply asleep that she didn't know when she mistakenly dropped the television remote that was in her hand.

After an hour of sleep, there was a complete silence, enough to hear language the wind throughout the whole building. The wall clock sounded aloud when it stepped on at 12 at midnight, along with the heavy horn of her father's car.

She quickly woke up and put on her size 38 rubber slippers, she walked straight to the entrance door very fast like her opportunity of a lifetime had just arrived.

She opened the gate widely to allow every part of the car inside the compound, then she closed it back quickly to go and meet her father.

"Welcome dad." Maria said.

"Maria, how are you today?" Mr George said.

"I'm fine dad."

He smiled at her as she approached his brown leather bag, which he handed over to her. Immediately she stretched out her hand to collect it.

They walked side by side inside the house together, smiling together until they went separate ways. When they entered fully, Maria dropped his bag on the couch and went straight to the kitchen to Microwave the food she had prepared for him, which was now cold and ice.

Her father went to his room, he off the suit and shirt, he also removed his black shoes and went to his bathroom for his night bath. He turned the bath tube water on and so many thoughts kept on running inside his head.

"How am I going to tell her who will help me out here?" Mr George asked himself several questions without an answer.

He turned off the flowing water in the bath tube for a while and closed his eyes for a few minutes, thinking about what he had done to save his daughter from death and embarrassment. He set his eyes on the transparent glass of his bathroom which was sending a sad message to him, as he could see himself through the glass like a mirror.

Maria had finished microwaving the food on time, and she took the food to the dining table, making sure it was well covered. The steamy saint of the delicious food filled the entire room so that one could sit down and imagine eating it without seeing it physically.

One of her hobbies is cooking. She learned to cook from the loneliness and responsibility of taking the position of her mother after she passed away in front of her when she was still 10 years old. The trauma reduced her self-esteem, which molded her into another person. She didn't have any friends, and she didn't even try to make any friends either in school or at home in Hallmond.

This was what motivated her father to apply for a transfer from Hallmond to London in order to start all over again and maybe if she enrolled in another school and met new people she might snapped out of it.

"Dad, your food is getting cold again," Maria said.

"I'm coming right away, darling." Mr George responded.

He rushed out of the bath tube, dried his skin with the towel he picked up on the tiny steel wall placed to hold the towel after the bath, he quickly wore a very comfortable pair of soft, fleecy pajamas in a warm, dark color.

As he was getting ready to go out of his bedroom for dinner, his mind never stopped thinking seriously about the long-term contract he had signed with his boss in the office and the thoughts of how he was going to inform his daughter about it.

And what would he say is the reason for the contract?

Maria was waiting for him at the dining table to serve his favorite meal before she began eating hers. Mr George arrived with his face looking refreshingly good but unfriendly. She could see the impression but wasn't sure what it meant, so she decided to ignore it and go ahead with the serving.

"Maria, have you eaten, or have you been waiting for me before you ate?" He asked in a rhetorical way.

"Yes father, I can't eat when you haven't," Maria said.

He knew she would also wait for him to come just like her mother before she passed away.

"Where is Max Maria? I haven't seen him anywhere in the house?" Mr George asked.

"He's probably sleeping in his little room right now, we both waited so long for you to come back, but he got tired of waiting and went to sleep."

It had been 4 years now, when she met Max on a very fateful day while she was coming back from school, she was stopped by a group of boys led by their arrogant leader, Marvin John.

Marvin is 24 years old, he is tall and handsome, he has a deep voice that keeps on getting deeper as years come and go in school. He is the son of a billionaire in London, the owner of 'Hamtex', a very huge manufacturing company in London where Maria's father works as an accountant.

He had been looking for a way to make beautiful and elegant Maria his only girlfriend, but she stood stern in her decision, right in front of the whole class to never be his girlfriend.

Ever since then, he had tried many advances towards her but all to no favorable result, so he made up a plan with his friends to force her after school where no one would be able to disturb or save her from him.

They waited for the right time before they traced her. Immediately she left the school premises on a narrow street that is always silent during the day, they carefully and slowly walked up to her without making any sound.

"Hey! Look who's here alone guys," Marvin said.

They all advance to the front to block her path, making sure she can't go through.

"Marvin, what's all this? You had better tell your friends to move their bodies before I report you to the authorities right now."

She quickly reached for her phone and she was about to dial an emergency number when one of the boys quickly snatched the phone away from her hand and smashed it on the floor so that she wouldn't be able to use it.

"Somebody help me." Maria shouted so loudly.

No one was around to help her, so they laughed uniformly at her and Marvin ordered them to hold her. They walked up gradually towards her and one of the boys stretched his hand to grab her, but the sun shone on her when they were about to catch up with her, there was a very loud barking of a dog echoing through the empty street behind them.

He barked at every advance they made and changed his teeth, widely opened and ready to attach anyone that lay their hand on her.

Marvin was a spoiled rich man that couldn't stand the barking of a dog, so he had to hide himself behind James. His best friend, James, who was also so scared of the dog who was pissing all over his pants, pushed him away, but the dog never stopped barking at them.

His continuous barking sent an alarming message to Peter, who was also going home after a stressful day at school.

He stopped and ran to the scene as he heard the continuous barking of the dog, thinking the dog might be in danger, but unfortunately he saw all of them and a girl in their midst, who looked so scared.

"What are you all doing here?" Peter asked.

They were shivering like a snow man wearing only his undies in the snow.

"Peter, please help us from that thing that is barking at us, I'll give you anything you want." Marvin scarily said.

Peter got in front of them and dropped his textbooks on the floor, he stretched his right hand to the front and calmly approached the dog without rushing to him.

"It's alright boy, calm down, they won't hurt her, I won't allow it." Peter said.

Immediately, they saw him in the front guiding the dog away from them. They quickly ran and escaped from the scene, leaving Maria alone with Peter.

He was able to calm the dog till he left without hurting anyone. After the dog left, he picked up his textbooks and Maria's bag on the ground and handed it over to her.

" I guess this is yours? Peter asked as he handed her bag to her.

"Yes, thank you for saving me," Maria said.

Her heart filled with coolness as she showed gratitude for saving her.

" You are welcome. I am Peter Kelvin, by the way. What's your name? Peter said.

She responded to him very fast like she'd been waiting so long to hear his name.

"I am Maria Henshaw," Said Maria.

They exchanged good pleasantries, and then we were able to go home with smiling faces together before they went in their different directions.

When Maria was about to enter the small iron-made gate of their home, she saw the shadow of the dog that had been following her since she left the narrow street. She stopped and walked towards the dog who had saved her with a chocolate in her hand.

She stretched the chocolate to him. He bites it from her hand immediately like a hungry man, then she took him in ever since then and named him Max because of his abilities.

The hall was silent before the arrival of thousands of different students from different families, each holding their backpacks and textbooks, some of whom were freshers, like Maria and Peter.

All the walkways became so busy from different lectures on all kinds of studies and school activities that prevented the students from being bored, which is also the main reason for being there.

Peter, in his black T-shirt, was sitting quietly under an apple tree listening to a good melodious song coming from an A-list artist in London. His head was moving along with every sound coming out of the song.

He loves listening to music while reading and studying as well. His full attention was on the music playing in his headphones, but his attention was caught when his blue pen dropped on the grass floor. He attempted to get it up and continue with the poem he was writing in his black diary.

A fair-skinned leg in red shoes staring at the edge of a long white gown, and two beautiful eyes looking directly into my eyes.

"Beautiful Maria," he said.

He could hardly take his simple eyes off her for a minute, forgetting to greet each other.

"Morning, Peter." Maria greeted him.

He was still amazed to see Maria in front of him, their body language was so different, the hot weather became cool and calm, he gently picked up the pen and acknowledged her presence.

"Good morning, miss Maria. I'm Happy to see you again," Peter said.

She sat down beside him, and he asked him what he was writing. Without hesitation, he explained the poem from the beginning to the end of it without having finished it.

While he was busy explaining the whole poem to me, I was looking directly at his dancing mouth, and it never stopped.

I was fully into his words and expression of the characters in the poem, and I was imagining each one just like me. In my mind, I know this is the right man for me.

As she was reminiscing about the moments she had with her only best friend, Mr George's smile was odd, his pretense couldn't hold heart again.

His heart was beating faster in his chest because of the unexpected message he was about to convey to his darling daughter, who wasn't aware that her father had been on a long-term contract because of her and now there was a new development on the contract.

"Maria, I have something important to tell you, but I don't know how you will take it. Please, I need you to try and understand what I am about to say to you right now."

She dropped her spoon at that moment and focused her eyes on her father, looking at him directly as she moved her two legs outside the dining table facing them to the direction he was sitting.

"Father, what happened?" Please tell me. She asked anxiously.

"Dear, I have offended you in many ways. I have offended you when I was unable to save your mother because I didn't have money for her heart transplant, which led to her death. I blame myself for her death every day and night and, ever since then, I have promised to ensure you have the best education in a perfect environment."

"What did father just tell me?" Maria said loudly.

Mr George was trying to explain things but her curiosity and eagerness wouldn't let her rest, so she stopped him from the long talk and asked for the main reason he brought up the topic.

"Just go straight to the main point, dad."

"I have signed a contract today," Mr George said.

Maria adjusted herself and relaxed for a while with her mood swung into a happy one.

"Wow! That's great news, father. For the first time, your hard work has been rewarded. This reminds me Dad, I have good news. I have been waiting to tell you, father." Maria said.

She was so excited to hear such good news after a long time of their everyday struggles.

She was carried away by the word 'contract', which sent a good sensory message to her brain, and she didn't even wish to know which type of contract it was. Instead, she told her father she was now a real graduate because she passed all her examinations.

He was so glad to hear such great news from her that he almost forgot to tell her what the contents of the contract was all about. He raised the cup in front of him, and they cheered for more success in their family.

As a man he was hiding the fact within him, there was a long silence after the cheers, which she was suspicious of before she asked him.

Why are you moody dad? Aren't you happy for me? Maria asked.

He breathed in and out before he could talk.

"Maria, the contract was about you and Marvin," Mr George said.

"Marvin John!" Maria asked

He pushed his food plate to the front side of the table gently and held onto his daughter's hand and said to her,

"I signed an initial contract with Mr Patrick on my first day at the company. The contract says I must work for his company till you graduate from university and I agreed to the terms and conditions of the contract."

As she heard what her father had said, she gently unlocked her hand from her father's hand and stood up from where she was sitting with a sad look, then she snapped out of it when she got the hunch that if the contract was all about making sure she was a graduate, then it's completed and over which makes her father free from it.

But Mr George continued with the discussion.

"Maria, now there is a new contract attached to it which I have to abide by. If I want you to live long, Marvin requested your hand in marriage and his father made me sign a contract agreement that you would marry him immediately after you graduate from university and if you refuse him you might die, and I don't wish to risk your life for mine." Mr George said,

Maria was so furious at her father, her mood changed, and she angrily left the dining hall, crying all the way to her room. She collapsed on her body on the bed like a log of wood, she lay flat with her face down on the soft bed, tears kept on gushing out like a flowing river soaking the spot her two eyes were facing.

"Oh great, what a good idea. How could he have done that to his only daughter? Was he trying to sell me out because of money, or was I a burden to him?

Various questions kept on ringing like a bell in her active brain for a month. It got to her physically and emotionally on the day of her graduation. She behaved so sad and slow as she was announced by the MC on the occasion to come forth for her certificate as the best student in the department of Micro Biology.

Maria, in her long blue gown and her shining black shoes which were complementing her silver wristwatch, sat down beside her father and Peter and his parents were next in line.

She could see Marvin and his father sitting next to each other in the front seat gazing at her. He couldn't take his eyes off her as she walked up to the stage to receive her gifts. Peter and his parents, Mr Kelvin and Mrs Kelvin, were clapping and cheering for her like a superstar trying to receive an award.

The MC presented the certificate and the best student award to Maria, who stretched her left hand to receive both, and she was asked to give a speech, but she wasn't in a good mood, her whole body ached, and her heart had been stabbed.

"I say a very big thank you to the entire management of this great institution. I appreciate this a lot. The achievement is dedicated to my mother, who didn't give me up for a billionaire. I am just sad she has passed away, and she's not here to celebrate with me." Maria said.

After a brief speech, she angrily dropped the microphone on the stage.

Everyone was so shocked to have witnessed that. Her father quickly went to her, but she ran out of the hall without saying goodbye to even Peter, her only best friend.

Mr George and Peter searched everywhere for her on that day, but they couldn't find her, until she came out of nowhere with her eyes and face red and swollen. She has been crying since they've been searching for her.

"Maria, we've been searching everywhere for you. Where have you been?" Peter asked.

But she just stood tall in front of him for a few seconds watching his upper and lower lips dancing without hearing anything that was coming out of them. She hugged him before he even finished saying whatever he was saying and left without saying goodbye.

She didn't say anything else. Instead, she went straight into her father's car and slammed the door, then her father left Peter standing alone as he entered his car before he spoke to Peter.

"Boy, don't bother yourself, she will be okay." Mr George said.

Today, 20th of November 2019, makes it a year I graduated as a microbiologist, and it's also a year of my imprisonment in this villa. I had to comply with the contract immediately after my graduation to save my life and that of my father from the wicked billionaire Patrick and his arrogant son Marvin, who had threatened to kill me and my father if we didn't sign the contract.

Apart from the manufacturing of cars, Mr Patrick also owns a drug cartel in London, and they are known for their mysterious ways of dealing with whomever goes against their decisions or request.

He had visited his father in his office on one cool afternoon while he was arranging files. He was a tall and broad-chested man at the age of 50, he strolled into the office in his black suit and white, matching the white shoes he was putting on.

"George, I want to believe you and your daughter have signed the contract, because if you don't, I can't promise you what I can't give." Mr Patrick said.

He had witnessed his boss's anger once an employee was fired just because he was trying to correct him in a meeting with a business associate, he allowed him to finish the meeting before he invited him to his office and he relieved him of his duty without given him his entitlement.

Mr Carl sued him in court, but he bribed his way to the top. No judge in London could prosecute him, he had great connections all over the country.

Mr George was so scared to reply that he stood up from his chair and moved his head downward facing the floor of his office. He was so scared to look him in the eyes.