The Best Friend's Contract

Aidan

With a deep breath, I raise my right hand to press onto the doorbell but as my finger is inches away, the door swings open; revealing Kenna who's currently putting studs on her ears. She eyes down my suit and tie, a smile plastered on her face before gesturing for me to come in.

"That was quick," I say as she closes the door behind us. Then, I turn to see her making her way towards the kitchen, glancing at herself in the mirror.Content bel0ngs to Nôvel(D)r/a/ma.Org.

Kenna chuckles as my eyes wander around her apartment, everything seems to be the same except for the sofa; it was not leather, before. Just as I'm about to ask her about the sudden change of sofa, I am left speechless as she turns to look at me-the beauty she holds mesmerises me, the dress glittering due to the downlight shining brightly.

It's not just her dress but it's her. The way her makeup enhances her face to make it more appealing than changing her natural features, she is an absolute goddess. My heart begins to beat utterly fast as I only stand and stare at her without her realising how much I see beneath her beautiful features, she's perfect... breathtakingly, perfect.

I gaze down her tanned skin, surprised by how they're glowing and somehow matching with the highlight on her cheekbones-leaving me clearing my throat as her lips begin to speak words I'm not able to comprehend or hear due to being lost in a world of my own. "So... I smacked him again," She says, chuckling softly. "I mean, he was being fairly annoying and I had no other choice we both know how Dimitri is whenever he sees me. He acts like a different person... babbling and just saying things I don't even want to know," She adds.

"Yeah, he's like that." I mutter after clearing my throat again, catching her attention after seeing her raising an eyebrow at me before taking a few steps towards me. "What?" I ask as soon as I realise how close we are, letting me uncomfortably shift.

She places the back of her hand on my forehead, "Do you have a fever? A sore throat?" She asks, making me roll my eyes and push her hand away. Our faces are inches apart but I pay no attention to her eyes nor even her lips because the lesser the distance, the more uncomfortable I'm currently feeling which causes me to take a couple of steps back, surprising her.

"I'm good, perfect... wonderful." I reply, fixing my suit as she shrugs, looking at herself in the mirror again-ignoring me, completely which eases me more.

There's nothing in my mind nor my heart other than my acceptance towards her beauty. She is very stunning... spectacular. Tonight, this time, right now, I admit she is by far the most beautiful woman I've ever met and no one is going to top her anytime soon. She's at it. "Can you help me?" She asks, making me turn to look at her. My eyes wander to her hands and seeing that she's currently pointing behind her neck, asking me to help her tie the dress which leaves me nodding, slowly making my way towards her with both of my hands tying the dress without wanting to make any skin contact yet I fail, miserably.

I look down at her back, clenching my jaw before pulling away as soon as I'm done.

She turns towards me, "How do I look? My hair? My makeup? My dress? Everything looks fine to you or do I need to change? You can be honest with me... I don't mind," She asks, her eyes are widening with every words escaping her mouth before receiving a nod from me.

"You look beautiful, Kenna." I reply, the compliment sincerely heading towards her with a smile appearing on my face which causes her to smile back. Both of us are staring at one another for a few seconds before letting me break the eye contact and make my way towards the front door, gesturing for her to step out whenever she's ready.

Ever since Kenna and I agreed to the agreement or more specifically, the contract, I've never paid much attention to other women in particularly for... enjoyment. I've kept myself busy and mostly focus on work other than enjoying my time like how I used to with Dimitri before the contract was made.

There's no way I'm going to ruin the possibility of my mother to stop asking me about my life, my commitment and my marriage with a temporary satisfaction. It's just a temptation that I have to endure for a year for the sake of my present and future. Of course, it includes my long-term friendship with Kenna because I don't want to ruin that, either.

Just as we make our way towards my car, I am left opening the door for her as she steps inside... slowly, not wanting to ruin her dress. Within seconds, I'm already sitting in the driver's seat with my left hand on the steering wheel and the other pressing onto the button to start the car's engine.

Then, we're on the road.

"Aidan," She calls out for my name which causes me to glance at her direction, "Do you think they'll believe us? Do you think we'll be able to play the role until the contract is over? What if we suddenly fail... don't you think that's a risk we don't want to take?" She asks, the same questions that has been bothering me, ever since.

I keep quiet for a few seconds before speaking, "It's unlikely for us to fail and the chances of them not believing us is also low. Remember when my mother wanted us to get married just because I couldn't stop seeing you? I couldn't even go on a week without even seeing you once. Do you remember that?" I ask, seeing her smiling as she nods.

"Senior year. I can never forget that," She replies.

"Yeah and how insane was she? We were both eighteen and she wanted us to get married just because I couldn't live without seeing you. I'm sure she'll believe us because we've known each other long enough to somehow... magically fall in love," I continue to talk, "In her own point of view of love," I add and we both chuckle, softly.

My mind wanders back to the

memory of us years ago, it was too clear to be years ago but then again, it was too long to be the present. I had to skip school for a week just because my parents wanted me to come with them to Australia, for their share company's anniversary celebration and apparently, Kenna wasn't feeling well to attend school for the past few days before I was on my flight straight to Australia.

I was no doubt, moody and even grumpy. The whole week spent in Australia was the worst week of my life because all I ever wanted was Kenna to come with me so that we could travel in a different country, see different sights but it was somehow... destined differently. So, when my parents and I got back from Australia, I headed straight towards Kenna's house and ran up her room to pull her in for a hug. Her parents were surprised and so was I, at that time because when I saw her, I was relieved.

My whole misery or even anything else that came in my way was all gone. It was solved simply by hugging her... that was all it took for my mother to let me marry Kenna. We were both adolescents and maybe our hormones were raging crazily, I don't know but it felt as if all I ever needed was Kenna for my life to go on with no interruptions.

"If we fail . . . I want you to know that

you can put all the blame on me," I add which causes her to turn and look at me while my eyes are focusing onto the road, "You can say that I forced you into it and everything was my idea but that's never going to happen," I shrug at the end as soon as I realise how the mood was slowly going a little bit low.

Both of her eyes are continuing to look at me as I stop in front of the hotel's entrance, the valet walking towards my direction immediately but I turn to look at Kenna, seeing her blinking a few times as she looks up front, sighing deeply. "We're here. Are you ready?" I ask, slowly.

"If I say that I'm not, will we make a run for it?" She responds back with a question which leaves me nodding my head before stepping out of the car and heading straight towards her side of the door, opening it and giving her my hand to grab.

As soon as her hand touches mine, I'm left gripping onto it before smiling down at her because I want her to know just how much everything will go as planned. We walk side to side, heading towards the hotel's entrance with the workers greeting us with full of respect as they open the doors, letting us pass through.

We step inside the elevator before it

stops, letting a couple of women stepping in with a smile on their faces as soon as their eyes caught mine. They purposely glance back at my direction without even noticing the presence of another woman beside me, leaving me turn to look at Kenna, seeing how she barely notices the women glancing and

smiling at me.

I grip harder onto her hand, letting her lean closer towards me which causes them both to notice the sudden gesture before clearing their throats and step out of the elevator as soon as they've reached their floor. As for Kenna and I, we wait for the elevator to reach ours. "Wait, can we run?" She asks, making me turn to look at her. Both of my eyebrows furrow at the expression of her face, seeing how she's panicking just by the sudden coldness radiating from her hand, leaving me turn to face her as I cup onto her face.