The Bargain with the Billionaire

Chapter 16- Escape

"We all try to escape pain and death, while we seek what is pleasant." – Albert Einstein

Dominique's POV

"What?" That's all I'm able to utter after the almost twenty minutes of Chev's blabbering on the other line. And when I turned on my TV, all I could whisper is a cuss holy shit and nothing more as I was dumbstruck.

"Hey Dom, are you having a heart attack there, should I call a doctor?"

Very funny, he can still joke when we're in the middle of this mess?

"Oh, yeah, call a doctor now and have your brain checked?" I replied rather harshly. "Or better yet, go straight to Carl and have your brain operated, maybe there's something wrong with your hypothalamus."

I heard his rambling laughter from the other line. Seriously, he should throw his easy-go-lucky streak now and be heedful of the matter at hand because this event can be a changing point, either to betterment or deterioration of our lives. When media is involved, there are always two possibilities, its either they make you or break you as a person.

"Why so grumpy early in the morning?" He asked in much serious tone this time. "Relax; everything will be in its proper place in time. For now, let's just proceed with the plan of escape and cool off a little."

A long sigh escaped my lips to control my raging nerves. He's undeniably right. I should relax and think straight despite having hundreds or even thousands of titles that go with my name now – all of them not so delighting to the ears and pleasing to the eyes.

Dominique, the gold-digger...

Dominique, the player...

Dominique, the bitch from hell...

Dominique, the hooker...

Dominique, the whore...

And many more hateful adjectives that they decided will fit my name.

Plus, I can't deny the fact that millions out there, women in general, are cussing me right now for making a fool out of the four billionaires of their dreams.

It's ironic that when men fools around, society has the tendency to fell silent as if telling oh it's natural, but when the women are the one who are fooling around, society will put us in ridicule, cuss us in every way possible and look at us as if we're the most disgusted sinner that ever lived.

So much for the equality, sometimes society can be so unfair like that.

Maybe he's cussing me now with every shit words people invented and by the end of the day he'll break our engagement. So our story goes this way, 7-day fake affair, 24-hour fake engagement. It can be a title of a movie, a tragic one. But that's one hell of a show we had and I really enjoyed it. Now the show is over, I should carry on. Maybe Raymond and I are not destined to be together. Maybe it's time to really let him go.

No more running after him. No more hoping he'll show up at my doorstep with my favorite food in his hands. No more road trips in the middle of the night. No more arguments with the hot and intelligent lawyer. No more Latin sessions. No more everything-he-does that make my heart flutter.

And yes, no more Raymond Lee also means no more Leandro Valderama.

There it is again, the pain but I don't know if it's solely because of Raymond. I'm having a second thought. But I don't want to linger on that much longer. It's getting confusing and when it does, it means problem.