Undateable

Thirty-Nine

"You don't have to speak to me like that boy," she narrowed her eyes.

"My apologies. I thought such language was appropriate due to the professional nature of our agreement," I pushed.

"Fine. I'll keep the repayments. But I do not wish to see you here, or anywhere outside of school with Kaia, other than for family events," Mrs. Harper adds, her hands grasped together on top of the desk.

"What? What do you mean?"

She snorted as though I said a joke. "You can't honestly expect me to approve of you being my niece's boyfriend, do you?" she asked.

"Why not?"

"Uh, must I remind you of our agreement?"

"That's in the past, Mrs. Harper. I broke up with her just so I can break this agreement, and so I can start again with her with a new leaf."

"Do you think I would be okay with that? You manipulated my niece into dating you because of money."

"Actually, no. It was because of curiosity. I already have money," I noted.

"You are not suitable for my niece. She's a lovely young girl, with a bright future and you are nothing but a trouble maker. You did bring up her confidence, and I thank you for that. But she does not need you anymore. She's stronger now and whatever you could do for her, she already has," she argued.

"I don't want to date her because I want to help her. I want to date her because I want to be with her," I retorted.

"Even if we did not have this agreement before, I still would not have approved of you and Kaia," Mrs. Harper stated.

"Why? Because I'm a trouble maker? How am I any different from your daughter's boyfriend?"

"You are very different Cade. You are the type of boy who is amused by other people's miseries. You are the type who is willing to play with girl's hearts and break up with them when you are bored, you are the type who will get into fights to get out of class, and you are the type who loves breaking the rules. Do you think you are a match for Kaia? She's sensible, kind, charming and she is very smart. You will only bring her down. You two are not a good match and I'm sorry I didn't see that before, but I see it now."

"I have changed."

"No, you haven't. Because she still doesn't know the truth."

"I was going to tell her now," I responded.

"Alright, then go ahead and tell her."

It was very strange seeing this side of Mrs. Harper. It was like she completely changed persona. I know she loves Kaia very much, but I don't know why she thinks what she did was also acceptable? If Kaia learnt the truth, she wasn't going to be very happy with Mrs. Harper either.

"You do know that she's going to hate you too when I tell her," I pointed out.

"She will, but she is also my niece and I only hoped the best for her. I regret my decision in asking you in the first place, I should have respected her choice. But that doesn't mean it's too late for me now to protect her the right way."

"Making me stay away from her isn't the right way. That's her choice to make. Besides, you're not even her mom or dad. So, who gives you the right to say what she can or cannot do?"

"What's happening? Why are you two fighting?" I hear.

Mrs. Harper and I immediately enter into silence as we turn and see Kaia standing behind me. She's by the door wearing jeans, and flowy shimmery top. She looked beautiful and she looked like herself. Not any of the dresses Mrs. Harper makes her wear. But something she was comfortable to be in.

"How long were you there, sweetie?" Mrs. Harper asked.

"I didn't even know you two spoke to each other," Kaia added, ignoring Mrs. Harper's question.

"We have. For a while," I answered truthfully.

Kaia frowned. "Why? You two have nothing in common." She had a point.

I looked at Mrs. Harper. It was time to tell her and I felt bad I was going to be the one to tell her. Mrs. Harper looked slightly nervous. She was scared. She was as scared as I was. She was probably contemplating for a long time whether to tell Kaia the truth too.

"Kaia, there's something I need to tell you," I started.

"Uh, what's that?"

"Your aunt and I have spoken to each other a while ago, before you and I started dating," I said.

"Okay, congratulations?" Kaia was sounding more and more confused by each word. I didn't know how to tell her. It was terrifying.

"Oh dear, you are dragging this on for too long," Mrs. Harper groaned. "I have made an agreement with Cade that I will pay him a certain amount of money if he dated you for one hundred days."

Silence.

Kaia was frozen. She didn't say anything. Her eyes didn't move except that her mouth was slightly apart. I stood there, watching her and waiting for her to register everything in. She closed her eyes and shook her head suddenly.

"What?"

"It's true," I confirmed.

Kaia's eyes opened and she looked at me.

"What?" her voice became louder.

"I'm sorry, Kaia," Mrs. Harper said.

"What?" Louder.

"I paid your aunt back, Kaia. The day I broke up with you was the day I broke the contract," I added.

"How does that make anything better? You dated me for money?" She was breathing heavily, and I could see the anger pulsating through her eyes. She was glaring directly at me and I felt my heart racing from the fear of what Kaia was about to do. She hated me. She was going to demand that I leave and never see her again. I knew this was going to happen and I hated it, but she had to know.

"Yes, I did but that was before I had any feelings for you."

"You pushed and pushed me to go out on a date with you, manipulated me even when you knew my past, and my wishes to be single?"

I remained quiet.

"How dare you! How dare you do that to me? I knew something was wrong but... but... why would you do that to me?" Her voice broke and I could see her eyes beginning to water.

"I'm sorry," was all I could say.

She closed her eyes, biting onto her lips shut as she held back the tears. She tilted her body away from us and I could notice her chest heaving.

"Honey," Mrs. Harper voiced softly.

"No! You don't get to have a say! How dare you do this to me, Aunt Meredith? You're my aunt! You... how could you do that to me?"

Before any of us could answer, she turned around and stormed out the room, slamming the door behind her. I stood there in silence, my heart racing around rapidly with the one thought screaming in my mind over and over again: You lost her.