The Best Friend's Contract

"Good. I thought you were going to kill me,"

"I was," She replies, making me look up at her face as she remains smiling. Her lips are curved up into a wide grin before flipping her hair, "I just changed my mind."

Kenna's orders came, her usual apple pie and warm green tea being served in front of her which causes her to close her eyes and smell the aroma. My grin grows wider at the sight of her enjoyment when it comes to food, it's not an everyday thing to see someone has this much love for food. It's really, really, really mind-blowing.

"Here's the contract," I say before unlocking my phone and pushing it towards her, letting her look down at the screen. "You just need to sign under your name and then, I will make another copy for you." I add.

Her blue eyes move up to meet mine, "Is this one of your tactics to make me sign without reading the conditions that you have wrote?" She raises an eyebrow.

"Is it working?" I smirk, causing her to laugh.

She grabs my phone before scrolling up, reading the conditions that I have wrote. Her conditions are also in the contract which has been rewrote and stated, neatly with no alterations, whatsoever. "Wait a minute, number two is kind of funny to me." She says, turning the phone.

She reads it, loud enough for me to hear. "Kenna will not be allowed to see other men or go on dates except with Aidan. Once broken, there are consequences." She says in a confused tone, "What are the consequences?" She asks.

"I haven't thought about it yet but we can discuss them together to make it more fair," I reply. "I know that you're not seeing anybody right now but since you've stated that I shall be faithful to you... might as well add that to my conditions. It does not consider fair if it's only for the other person, doesn't it?" I question, taking a bite of her apple pie as she continues to read the conditions.

"Fair enough," She mutters. "The marriage shall last for three hundred and sixty-five days. Never less and never more under any circumstances, at all-yet, can be further discussed in the future." She chuckles a little bit at the end as she nods, "I like this one... it's discussable,"

"Only for certain situations. Serious situations," I nod and she continues to read, scrolling and scrolling as she takes a bite of her pie.

Her eyes widen as she bursts out into laughters which leaves me frowning, "Either party are not allowed to fall in love with each other under any circumstances. What makes you think this is going to happen?" She asks, her eyes piercing into mine as she chuckles, "I can't believe I just read that," She adds.

Dimitri was the one who convinced me to add the precise condition. He told me, anything can happen and I needed to take precautions. A year is not a short amount of time, especially when spent together... under the same roof. There shall be moments where both of us might get lost or confused and in order to avoid those kind of things to happen, he assured me to add it into one of my conditions.

"Dimitri added that," I say after shrugging. "You and I both know anything can happen and it's just a reminder so that it shall not happen," I point under her name for her to sign, in which she does before giving me back my phone.

She smiles, "So, he was worried it might happen? Us, falling in love... it seems impossible, don't you think? We have known each other long enough and nothing has ever happened before. I don't think it's going to happen now," She continues to say with both of her eyes buried into mine in which I fairly agree; spoke the words out of my mouth.

"Exactly." I agree, "I told him exactly that but he was being very stubborn about it,"

Both of her eyes roll as she continues to smile, letting me lean back on my seat. "We've signed the contract. It's really going to happen and it's going to last for a year. Now, there is no more turning back... we just have to go on with it," I say, loud enough for her to hear. To my surprise, I find my mother entering the café which causes me to immediately mutter curses under my breath as Kenna turns, her eyes meeting my mother's. Then, she looks back at me with wide eyes, matching my current expression. The two of us stare at one another for a few seconds until we hear our names being called.

"We're fucked," Kenna and I say, in unison.

"Thank god we ran into you guys here," My mother, says and I raise an eyebrow as she walks towards us. Both of her eyes are staring at me before turning to look at Kenna, smiling widely, "I called but none of you answered your phones and I saw your car outside. I just had to come in," She continues to say.

"We? What do you mean, we?" I ask, waiting for her to answer as she turns to point at Julia-Kenna's mother, standing near the entrance with Amelia, also known as Mia, my sister. My eyes roll in annoyance at the sight of my sister and my mother, knowing she won't stop bugging about the wedding.

Mother chuckles, "Come on. Pay for the food and come meet us outside," She says before walking out of the café, talking to Julia and Mia as they turn to look.

Kenna glances down at her wrist watch, "I don't want to believe that they're outside. This is a nightmare," She says, her eyebrows furrowed as she closes her eyes. "How can they just pass by and see your car? Does she have a tracking device on you?" She asks. Knowing my mother very well, she will not drop the topic about the wedding once it is over. She will start to plan it as if it's going to best wedding of the century; not caring whether either of us are busy or not having enough time to discuss it any further. She's like that. This has got to be a mistake or even a nightmare for her to come and meet us here while we're having lunch. It appears as if she has hired a spy to locate my every move or location in order for her to find me, easily.

All of a sudden, Kenna looks down atCòntens bel0ngs to Nô(v)elDr/a/ma.Org

her ringing phone before picking it

up, "How severe? Am I needed at the hospital? She asks through the phone as she looks up at me," be there as soon as possible," Then, she hangs up the phone; leaving figuring it out to myself, she has found her way out of this.

"What happened?" I ask.

me

She sighs, "I'm sorry but there's an emergency at the hospital and they're calling the doctors as much as they can. Since it's lunch hours, a few are answering. There was an accident a few blocks away... a couple are dead and a few are severely injured. I have to get back to the hospital," She says.

"You're going to leave me alone? With her?" My eyes widen as she stands up, calling for the bill. Her hands are already looking for money in her jeans' pocket but before she can reach out, I've already placed a fifty dollar bill in Samuel's hand, causing her to look back at

me.

"Keep the change," I say as I grab Kenna out of the café, straight towards my car.

There's nothing wrong with Kenna paying for lunch but I've been raised to always be a gentleman. Be the one to pay for food or for any other things, depending on the situation.1

ld just let her pay but I would be feeling somehow guilty or something in me, for not being the one to pay. Maybe, because I was raised and taught this way, I'm not really sure but I've always been the one to offer.

"You two are free, right? We can go ahead and check in with the caterers," Julia says, making me turn towards Kenna who seems to be anxiously checking her wrist watch over and over again, seemingly her mother seemed to have caught her anxiousness, "Kenna, what's wrong?" She asks.

"There's an emergency at the hospital and I really need to go," She replies, "Aidan can be the one to help and choose the caterer," She adds which leaves me mentally slapping myself for her respond yet I stay still, smiling. "What?" I turn towards Kenna.

"I heard there was an accident that happened. You need to get back because of that?" Diana, my mother asks, and Kenna nods her head, apologetically pulling her in for a hug before gesturing for me to send her back to work. "Can we discuss this matter some other time?" I ask, but due to the looks Julia and my mother are giving me, I'm left sighing. "Just give me the address and I'll be there after dropping Kenna," I add, they both smile before nodding.

Without further ado, I step inside my car as I start the engine to drive down the road in a hurry. Kenna, on the other hand, is receiving a lot or calls from the hospital which is causing her to remain anxious about the current situation as she sits, quietly tapping onto her phone.

As she continues to tap onto her phone, I am starting to feel slightly anxious about it, too. My foot is pressing hard onto the gas pedal-trying my best to pass through cars and the heavy traffic which is impossible especially in broad daylight during lunch hours where people are filling the street.

I pull over at the entrance of the hospital, "Thank you and I'm sorry for leaving you in a situation like this just, tell me everything when it's all over." She says, smiling as she steps out of the car in a hurry before making her way inside, pushing through the amount of people.

My eyes wander around as I let out a deep sigh, noticing a few ambulances stopping near the emergency entrance. Doctors and nurses are quickly transferring the patients inside, cries of pain are heard; quickly, making me press onto the gas pedal to leave the area.

Then, my phone begins to ring which

causes me to connect the call

straight to my car, showing Flynn's

name. "Mr. Ashton, you have a meeting to attend in five minutest Where are you?" He asks, panically as Voices are heard at the back, "Please, tell me you're near He adds and within seconds find myself smiling down the road as I have earned the perfect excuse.

"I'm on my way," I reply, making a U-turn towards my office instead of a right turn.